3 minute read
Jerry Crownover – Summers with the sling blade
from OFN July 6, 2020
by Eric Tietze
just athought What’s On Your Mind, Ozarks?
Life Is Simple Life By Jerry Crownover is Simple By Jerry Crownover A s a kid, I used to dread this time of year. By now we usually had all of the corn hoed, the second cutting of alfalfa hay was in the barn, and the summer heat would begin to create little wavy patterns in the creek bottom air, enough to make one think that they were looking at a mirage in the desert. Jerry Crownover is a farmer and former professor of Agriculture Education at Missouri State University. He is a
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Just when I would begin to think we were native of Baxter County, “caught up” on the farm work, Dad would bring Arkansas, and an out the sling blade, look at me and say, “Those author and professional fence rows are starting to look like a sharecropspeaker. To contact Jerry, per’s farm. We need to get them cleaned up.” go to ozarksfn.com and And by “we,” he meant “me.” click on ‘Contact Us.’
The sling blade I used is referred to by different names by different people, but I looked up pictures of the device I toiled over, and saw it identified as a “hand-held sickle scythe.” It had a blade approximately 2 1/2 feet long, that my father would whet to the point of razor-sharpness. The handle was fashioned out of a curved piece of hickory, with two hand-holds attached to the handle with metal straps. Until all of the fence-rows were cleared of ironweed, poke stalks, milkweed and mullen, the scythe would be like a third appendage to my upper body.
Each morning, after regular farm chores, I’d put on my straw hat, grab the water thermos (a gallon jug filled with ice and water; wrapped in an old denim jumper) and head to the fence row. By mid-morning, one or two of my friends would ride by on their bicycle and stop to talk. The first day of the summer task, I could usually pull a Tom Sawyer and convince them how much fun it was, but they would usually ride on after about 10 feet, or so, of fun. The second day, they would just wave as they passed.
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Ozarks Farm & Neighbor accepts story suggestions from readers. Story information appears as gathered from interviewees. Ozarks Farm & Neighbor assumes no responsibility for the credibility of statements made by interviewees. © Copyright Ozarks Farm & Neighbor, Inc., 2020. All rights reserved. Printed in USA.
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