I recall my stepdad always planted potatoes on Good Friday. Mom always made a cough syrup out of sliced onions & honey - baked until syrupy. I did this for my own kids in the 60s and it worked. If we stepped on or got cut by a rusty nail it was always salved down with lard. I never could figure out how some of those things were supposed to work. She raised 12 of us and we're all alive and well <grin> Antoinette waughtel@oz.net Pat Oneal wrote: > For those of you who plant small vegetable gardens, this might be of > interest: > > Signs were used for home remedies as well as planting crops. > The family farm was one of bounty. My grandfather provided produce for the > wholesale market in Middlesboro, KY, in the early 1900s. Legend has it that > a local tongue-wagger remarked that he would "miss the day of resurrection > because he'd be off and gone to the market in Middlesboro." > Crops were planted according to the astrological signs. According to Mama, > in early spring a layer of manure was spread over the potato bed and a layer > of rich dirt was spread over the manure. The time to plant potatoes was > half way between the old and new moon. If they were planted at the > beginning of the new moon, farmers discovered the potatoes would grow to the > surface of the ground and sunburn. If planted during the old moon, they > burrowed deep in the ground, making it difficult to dig them when harvesting > the crop. Sweet corn was planted when the signs were in the arms and during > the new moon. Signs had to be in the head when planting cabbage, and > cucumbers were planted when the signs were in the arms and feet, otherwise > called the Twins. My grandmother planted her bed of beets when the signs > were in the heart, thus, producing the best beets in the valley. Pap > planted sugarcane in white sandy loam during the full of the moon, and he > was credited with producing top quality molasses from the cane. (There's > More!) This aught to tell the younger readers that there was a time when > the Moon was used for something besides romancing and for astronauts to land > on! > Although I am involved in genealogy, these stories certainly have been > enlightening to me in that I am learning how our ancestors had to use their > ingenuity to survive. Pat > > ==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== > #2 A large database of SURNAMES and the researcher's email address can be found at > http://www.fortunecity.com/millennium/quarrybank/194/swabc.htm > You may have your SURNAMES included by posting them and your address to the > LIST and NOT to the sysop/owner. -- Researching: Alkire, Breckenridge, Burton, Cann, Claypool(e), Denton, Daugherty, Dunbar, Evans, Gorrell, Hagan, Jimenez, Keel, Keith, Kern/es, Ladner, Lawler, Leffler, Littell, Merrifield, Norris, Pettyjohn, Ponsler, Robertson, Robinson, Rogers, Sinex, Sinnickson, Stiddem/Stidham, Tossawa/Tussey, Vantreese, Wachtel/Waughtel, Walker, White, Wilcox, Winfield