Celebrating the change of seasons

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At Couick family reunions, and during weekends on the farm, I always enjoy hearing about “how things were” just one or two generations back. Each new story makes me realize how much life in South Carolina has changed—and how much it hasn’t.

The latest tale to be handed down through the generations comes from my Dad, who told us all the story of the neighborhood cornhuskings that took place each October back when my grandfather was a young man.

Shucking corn is nobody’s idea of fun, so the community found ways to make it interesting. Unshucked corn was piled 5 feet high, 10 feetwide and about 50–75 feet in length. The pile was “seeded” every 5–10 feet with a reward (at some of the most rowdy and widely attended cornhuskings it was pints of white liquor) and whoever shucked his way to the prize first got to keep it. As you can imagine, the competition was always fierce.

When the last ear of corn was shucked, everyone sat down to a table loaded with delicious home-cooked food. Stories, tall tales and outright lies were told, and there was always plenty of the good-natured ribbing. The day’s entertainment was provided in the form of “rasslin’ matches,”and you didn’t want to face off against my great-grandfather, Gideon Couick. He apparently specialized in a move called the “britches holt”where he would grab the bottoms of his opponent’s pant legs and upend him to the ground—match over!

Dad’s story made me glad I don’t have to“rassle” anyone at our family gatherings today! It also made me realize how much life in South Carolina still revolves around the changing of the seasons.

October is my favorite month, and just as my relatives looked forward to those old-fashioned cornhuskings, I look forward to these timeless hallmarks of the fall season:

  • Stepping out the back door early in the morning to grab the paper, only to be reminded that climate change is an annual event.
  • The State Fair: Fat, sleek show animals being groomed by a new generation of 4-H’ersand FFA members. Is it just me, or does the cooler weather make elephant ears, corn dogs and fries with malt vinegar taste that much better?
  • College football rivalries that divide friends,families and coworkers. Saturday’s results dictate what happens at work on Monday. Will I have an opportunity to crow about my beloved Gamecocks, or will I need to hide in my office?
  • Sleeping with the windows open. No heat,no air conditioning—just a stubborn cricket singing away outside my window, and the hint of chimney smoke from someone who couldn’t wait to build a fire.
  • Oysters, roasted and on the half shell. I miss the annual Bethel Volunteer Fire Department oyster stew supper.
  • Mountain apples purchased along Scenic Highway 11, green tomatoes saved from the frost and wrapped in newspaper, and newly cured sweet potatoes.
  • Tender greens, turnip greens or mustard greens served with pepper vinegar, cornbread and cold buttermilk.
  • Our coast, beautiful and uncrowded.

No doubt about it: Fall is a great time of year in our state, and I hope you enjoy the season as much as I do.