Rt 1 Box 38 – The Luba Project 1975 – 1976

Biography, Houses

In November of 1975 the Emergency Land Fund closed the South Carolina office and moved Jim, along with us, to their model farm 30 miles south of Jackson, Mississippi.  We left Mt. Pleasant, SC and moved to Simpson County.  The farm was to serve as a testing ground and example of ways to make money on a small acreage.  There were rabbits and green house tomatoes with plans for raising potatoes and running a grading shed for cucumbers and potatoes.

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Ife and me pregnant with Ayanna 1976

We lived in the house on the 5 acres.  Two workers were to have trailers behind the house later.  We added goats, chickens and a garden.  Jilo started school at Piney Woods School.  We started going to Voice of Calvary in Mendenhall. I learned how to can, freeze and pickle. Jim and I learned how to milk the goat.  The chickens lived and we had eggs.  We met a couple from Maine, she was a nurse midwife and he raised goats.  He taught us all we needed to know about raising goats and rabbits. She delivered our third daughter, Ayanna at a friends house.  Our oldest daughter Jilo was awake and watched Ayanna born. Ife slept through it all.

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Tanya, Feline and Bambi – our first goats

I remember our first litter of rabbits and checking the goat, Tanya, a thousand times to see if she’d gone into labor yet. Finally finding the two kids, already up and around the morning after the night we didn’t check.  I remember picking black berries outside the back door and making pies and finally getting some milk from the goat.  Putting up 10 quarts of yellow squash and finding it mushy and inedible. Making cheese.

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Before Ayanna – Kris, Ife & Jilo

I remember the smell of pine trees on a hot summer day.  Tornadoes touching down nearby.  Jilo as a rock in the school play.  Jim’s 16 year old sister spending the summer with us.  All the visitors and work and milking and new baby and being tired. Going to Michigan and St. Louis for visits,  Learning to drive a jeep and a pickup truck.

November 17, 1975
Dear ma and Henry,
Here’s our new address.  The new house is fine.  Kitchen, living room and dining room are a large room with ceiling to roof, has three bedrooms, 3 baths, utility and former garage converted to den (very big. It’s clean, wall to wall carpets and paneled throughout. It’s brick.  There are three green houses, one in use for tomatoes and 8 rabbits.  There are near neighbors.  Four different houses about the distance at Old Plank, maybe a bit closer, not much – all white.  Black people are near though.
Jilo won’t be going to school until next year, but they’re doing fine.  Jim likes the work. Today they planted more tomatoes and there’s one man who comes to work with him, more on that later.
Will write more soon – did you all decide on the move yet?  Love, Kris

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Jilo and newborn Ayanna

February 11, 1976
Dear Henry and Mommy
I was really surprised to go out this morning and find 2 baby goats walking around.  She’d been giving us so many false signs, we didn’t keep checking last night and she delivered alone.  I figured she could do all right, she looks pretty rugged. This weekend we’ll start getting our own goat milk.  by fall we should be doing eggs, milk, vegetables and maybe honey.  Ta Tum.
We had to rush out there this morning and build the milk stand.  we got the wood a month ago, but as usual waited ‘til the last minute was passed to do the job.  Did I tell you I single handedly planted green house 1 with prunings #2.  all the seedlings just about died so, since some of the prunings in #2 were taking root where they were thrown, I decided to try transplanting them and now I just need to do about 10 more and it’ll be done. They look better than the originals!

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Jim holding Ayanna, Ife kissing her and Jilo


Jim rototilled the garden area and yesterday he and Mr. Reuben cut down some trees near the spot for firewood and to clear it out.  There were only 2 so I hope for no root interference.
What else?  Jim and I both had milking lessons and finally got little streams coming out. Luckily we met the goat people.  When we tried milking this morning we got not one drop.  The poor goat we so full.  Her udder and nipples are so large and low the kids could find them and had to be shown where they are. They look like those at Belle Isle with the droopy ears, like their mother.
I hope we have dry weather for awhile so we can plant soon.  Everyone and all the animals are doing fine.  I take my driving test tomorrow.  If I can start on a hill I’m ok.  I went to take it last week, but had to get a Mississippi permit first. Write soon.  Love and Happy Birthday – Kris
PS As i was going to the house this morning for iodine for the kids navel – i found 2 cattle on our driveway one went to the front of the house-about 20 min. later both were gone.  Some day!
On envelope: Ta Tum- i finally got my drivers license. and guess who called last night – Daddy!  Jim and I finally caught on to milking.  We got about 1 1/4 qts of milk and the goat kicked it over. Better next time.

Eventually the Emergency Land Fund wanted us to move to the Mississippi Delta to manage a soy bean farm. We decided to stay in Simpson county and moved to 173 1/2 St. John Road.

Jilo’s First Christmas 1970

Christmas, ,

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Nightgown & Undershirts –  Pee Wee and Winslow.
Sleeper – Grandmother Cleage.
Pop beads, music box, rings, boat, rattle – Ma and Henry.
Poppy $10
Louis $10
Barbara – back carrier.
Silver spoon – Gladys.
2 sleepers & clutch ball – Martha.
Jim out of town (St. Louis) .
Xmas eve at Miriams.  Living at Bro. Johns.
Xmas, went by Grandmother’s. first time she saw Jilo.
Dinner and spent the night at Ma’s.
Jim back on 30th.  Party at BCL (ugh).
Man across the street from Miriam’s hollering for help (“I’m not kidding Help!”)
Pearl and Micheal didn’t come home for Xmas.

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Holding my oldest daughter, Jilo

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Jilo and great grandfather Mershell C. Graham.

Christmas Bookmark from Uncle Clarence

Christmas, Reeds

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My great uncle Clarence Elwood Reed was 2 years older than my Grandmother Pearl Doris Reed. While doing some scanning of old photographs and newspaper articles recently my cousin Jan came across a book mark in my grandmother’s journal. Unfortunately the only thing written in this journal was my grandmother’s name, address and the date – December 25, 1903.  Perhaps it was a Christmas present.

Clarence is something of a mystery to me. I wrote about him several years ago – Madness Monday.  I still haven’t found him in the 1920 and 1930 census but I did find him in the 1940 census with yet another name for his wife, Mamie Reed. This census entry is the most confused I’ve seen. The head of the house is listed as Clarence Reed, a female and all of the other data is really for Mamie. Mamie is listed as a male and all the data is really for Clarence. Pretty confusing. It’s just a whim that I decided to check out this Clarence Reed who was born in Tennessee instead of Kentucky.

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Picture 3 A photo of 4845 S. Michigan in Chicago, Illinois taken from Google maps. This was Uncle Clarence Reeds address when he sent the bookmark.

“A Christ To Carol” – Christmas Sermon 1966

Christmas, Cleages
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Rev. A. B. Cleage Jr. Preaching and Teaching

While looking through the binder holding my father’s sermon notes I found these for Sunday, December 25, 1966.  Some were written on a small donation envelope. There is also a bulletin and two pages of sermon notes that are for the same Sunday.  Although page 2 and a possible page 4 are missing, I think that there is enough here to give the gist of the sermon.

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A Christ To Carol
Go tell it on the Mountain Jesus Christ is Born

II. Christmas Spirituals
= Carols written by slaves
= “Good News”?=
Glory Manger
Po’ Little Jesus Boy
Jesus first came first to down trodden and oppressed.
“Tell John…”

I.  Child waiting for Christmas thinks only of Santa Claus
= Child for whom Christmas means most – not one who receives most in terms of material gifts –

III.  “Gospel” was the Good News of the possibilities in human life –
Slaves may have been closer to realizing possibilities than many of us today.

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We tend to judge everything today in terms of materialistic value –
EVEN CHRISTMAS – Commercialized
(How much we can give)

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Henry Cleage – Christmas on Scotten

Christmas, Cleages

Henry Cleage Christmas
This photo was taken the same year and from the same place as my Grandfather Cleage’s photograph.

My uncle Henry. If it was during WW2 he had come in from the farm while Hugh stayed out there to take care of the chickens and cows.  They alternated holidays. One of the last stories I remember Henry telling was how he was coming back from Christmas in Detroit. There had been a heavy snow storm and the roads were un-plowed.  He was walking out to the farm when he passed a man walking into town and realized it was Hugh.

Warren’s Christmas Birthday Party, 1958

Christmas, Cleages, Photographs, sepia saturday, , ,
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Front row: Jan and Dale Evans  Middle: Pearl Cleage, Warren Evans, Ernest Martin  Back: Me (Kristin Cleage) If only Ernie had stepped a bit to the right you would be able to see both of our faces.  Why is Dale making that face? Must be because he’s 8.

My cousin Warren always had a party on his December 30th birthday. All of the Cleage cousins gathered at his house where his mother, my aunt Gladys, made a punch of Vernor’s ginger ale with orange sherbert floating on top. There was ice cream, chips, party favors and of course, cake. His cake, shown below, looks like a product of Detroit Awrey’s Bakery.  My cousin Jan corrected me and said it was probably a Sanders cake. Sanders also made cakes and the best chocolate miniatures ever. But I digress.

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Because I count 11 candles on the cake, I’m going to say it was his 10th birthday which would make it 1958.  The 11th candle would be 1 to grow on.  There is no sign of his youngest brother who wasn’t born until July of 1959.

Unlike the Sepia Saturday prompt, there is no bus and no Santa in my photo but the people are sitting facing each other and it was taken during the 1950s.

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To see more Christmas Sepia Saturday offerings, CLICK!

 

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Christmas
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Holiday foods and homemade food gifts.

An Australian reader asked me how to make candied sweet potatoes after reading about the food we eat for Christmas.  We have candied sweet potatoes at both Thanksgiving and at Christmas. The rest of the year I just bake them and sometimes mash them.  The recipe my mother used is the same one I found in her old cookbook, although I’m sure that the one her mother made didn’t come from a cookbook but they tasted similar. Maybe Nanny’s were a bit sweeter.

The sweet potatoes are boiled and peeled. They are sliced and arranged in a baking dish with brown sugar and butter laid on top of each layer.  They are then baked at 350 to 375 for about 45 minutes or until the syrup from the brown sugar and butter is as thick as you want it.  I remember that sometimes parts of the sweet potatoes were crispy with the syrup. These days my oldest daughter, Jilo, makes the sweet potatoes for family gatherings.

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Candied sweet potato recipe from my mother’s cook book with her note on the side. “Good, but not very sweet.”
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Candied sweet potatoes made by my oldest daughter for Thanksgiving dinner,2012.

You can read about the history of the sweet potato here. I was surprised to learn that people candy sweet potatoes all over the world. I thought it was a recipe from the southern United States.