If 2 people’s hoes hit, they’ll work in the same field together next year.
I think the old piece of folklore above is true…well actually I’m not positive its true. But just in case, each year I make sure I hit hoes with everyone in the garden.
Now there’s you a picture for today. Tipper running around clanging hoes while the rest of her family think she’s crazy as a bed bug.
Tipper
Appalachia Through My Eyes – A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.
28 Comments
Becky
April 30, 2012 at 3:18 pmHey, come down here and click hoes with me, I could use the help. LoL
RB
April 29, 2012 at 12:15 pmNever heard that one before. And actually, when I read the title, I thought this was going to be an off-colored story that I’d have to delete instead of share. Thank God it wasn’t. LOL
God bless.
RB
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Jo
April 28, 2012 at 8:17 amI’ve never heard the saying, but my Mama would surely appreciate it. Mama truly enjoys her ho’ing. Always has the most pleasant expression while she works. Mama’s hoe is special. She has always used this same one: blade worn down to about 1/4 the normal size from use and hand sharpening, handle worn smooth and balanced. She would always take her own hoe when she went to help someone working in their yard, garden or field. Then return it to its special corner. Her hoe was never left outside in the weather. Mama is now 87. She began working with a hoe as a child in the cotton fields and tobacco patches and vegetable gardens. She was cleaning her flower beds this week with “her hoe” and enjoying the work.
Bill Burnett
April 27, 2012 at 5:57 pmB. Ruth, My Paternal Grandmother was the same about her Snuff. She once told me she started dipping around age of eight and she passed in 2006 four months short of her one hundred and third birthday. She lived by herself until past her one hundred and second birthday and it was her choice, she didn’t want anyone telling her what to do. She was precious but “Sot in Her Ways” and never changed. Had it not been for her dip she could have been clicking hoes with your relatives at one hundred and fifty.
dolores barton
April 27, 2012 at 4:00 pmJeepers! If I were Tipper, I would do the same thing. Work is work and it loves company to get it finished.
Charlotte
April 27, 2012 at 3:06 pmI like the idea, but usually mine is the only hoe in the garden!
Mamabug
April 27, 2012 at 11:33 amHaven’t heard this before Tipper. But the more hoes in the garden the merrier and surely will make the work go faster!
Luann
April 27, 2012 at 11:27 amHadn’t heard this folklore before, but like the idea…and you do ‘paint a great image’ of you clicking hoes with everyone!
Ken
April 27, 2012 at 10:48 amTipper,
I can just see the girls wondering
“uh-oh, mama’s at it…again.”
The only time I use a hoe is when
layin’-off the garden rows under a
string. I use a rake to pull dirt
over the stuff I’ve planted, it
covers more ground…Ken
Kimberly Burnette
April 27, 2012 at 10:48 amI have always loved this saying! You are the first person that I have heard mention it in years.
Mrs. K
April 27, 2012 at 10:04 amStrike away, TIpper, keep everyone working!
Ethel
April 27, 2012 at 9:50 amThat is a fun mental image! I have never heard of that before, but I am grateful for the tradition of family working in the garden together, it has nourished and nurtured so many generations. My daughter recently wrote a college essay about what our family gardening tradition means to her and it brought tears to my eyes.
Shirla
April 27, 2012 at 9:49 amI think the folklore must be true. No danger of hitting hoes with my ex-husband as he must have heard of the old saying. Years 1-28 found him sick, gone, busy, disappeared, too tired, asleep, backache, headache…
B. Ruth
April 27, 2012 at 9:43 amTipper,
and Bill Burnett…ain’t it the truth, so sad, not followin’ medical advice…I had a Grandpappy that lived to a ripe old age and a Aunt that lived to 103 nearly 104…now if’n it had’nt “been for the “snort”, “dip” and “chaw” they’d probably lived to a 150..
Ed Ammons
April 27, 2012 at 9:39 amSo instead of high five you are doing High Hoe?
High Hoe, High Hoe, it’s off to work we go!
B. Ruth
April 27, 2012 at 9:12 amTipper,
You know a hoe is a handy dandy instrument…One time I was in the back of the house..Between me and the dog, we spotted a Copperhead…Now then, if Copperheads stay in their space and not mine, we get along fine…but this one outstepped his bounds…I run to the shed thinking I would not find the hoe in time, as it sometimes (always) gets left where the last hoeing took place..
I found it, run back, the dog still holding the snake at bay…I hoed more than garden that evenin’…
I must’ve clicked hoes with someone that day, but that Copperhead shore didn’t…lOL
Thanks Tipper,
kris
April 27, 2012 at 8:34 amWhat a great idea hitting hoes. I would go so far as to invite all the neighbours into my field just so I could hit hoes with them!
Miss Cindy
April 27, 2012 at 8:07 amThat’s too funny, Tipper running around the garden clicking hoes! I can hear Chitter say “there she goes again” and Chatter replying “don’t tell anybody” LOL
Ethelene Dyer Jones
April 27, 2012 at 8:01 amI had not heard the folklore of “hitting hoes” and working together next year! But I think its a good sign–somewhat like planting by the signs–that the family will stay together and work together. So hit away, cling away!
Uncle Al
April 27, 2012 at 8:01 amHave had it happen before, but haven’t heard that folklore before. Sounds good to me.
Bill Burnett
April 27, 2012 at 8:00 amKinda makes one wonder just what “Ed of the Hooked Hoes” had in that water bucket. I know that some of the Old Timers had a little more Corn in the field than that they were hoing. I had a Great-Great Uncle who was a firm believer in that a little tody was good for the body. Many claimed it would kill him and eventually they were proven right, he passed away two months short of his one hundred and second birthday. The key word in his philosophy was “Little”, many medical professionals are now in agreement with him. Had it not been for the homemade twist chawin backer he used for ninety years he might have lived forever and still been “Hookin Hoes”.
kat
April 27, 2012 at 7:45 amTo be able to laugh while you work makes the job a lot easier. Am sure your family will be in the garden with you.
Mary Shipman
April 27, 2012 at 7:27 amWhat a great picture thatmakes in my head. Clanking my imaginary hoe with yours this morning Tipper, so we will still be ‘working together next year”. I had never heard that before, but I like it!
Canned Quilter
April 27, 2012 at 7:24 amNow that’s a new one on me : ) Happy gardening!
Sassy
April 27, 2012 at 7:22 amI like that way of thinking, more hoes= less work.
Beverly Cook
April 27, 2012 at 7:14 amSmiling thinking about you running around hitting everybody’s hoe : )
Ed Ammons
April 27, 2012 at 5:25 amNever heard of hitting hoes to insure good luck, but have seen hoes get hooked together. One person on each side of a row and one reaches too far and hooks the other’s hoe. And they ain’t so easy to get apart either. Both people are trying and neither does. Ends up with both laughing, throwing down their hoes and heading for the water bucket.
Gorges Smythe
April 27, 2012 at 4:25 amI suspect that you’ll all be working in the garden next year whether your hoes click together or not. 😉