>> I am "only" 52 and I remember it well. It was a real social event. My uncles would all play fiddles and guitars and sip on their homemade "medicine". I remember the frsh pork loins the women would cook up. It was "good".<< >>I'm guilty of calling it a churn stick alright. That's the part i was allowed to do. Woould sure enjoy hearing some of those stories sometime<<. Short Story: My Grandpa had seventeen children and he had to make a lot of molasses! When one of my uncles was about ten years old, he liked to appear older than his age, so one night when they were going to boil molasses.. he put on a new suit grandma had made him and came out to where everybody had gathered around the boiling pan...stood around the grown-ups, hands in his pockets, trying to look important and older than his age.. When the molassess was done, the pan was removed from the fire and placed on a sloping place so the molasses could be dipped out.. Grandma had popped a big dishpan full of popcorn and as soon as the last of the molasses had been dipped out, she poured the popcorn into the remaining molasses to make popcorn balls for the children...but..about that time...my uncle, who was standing at the upper end of the pan, hands in pockets, leaning slightly backward, looking "grown-up", stepped backward and fell into the molasses pan..SLID HEAD-FIRST.. to the lower end..popcorn went everywhere.. and he rolled over three or four times.. trying to get out of the still-hot pan! When he finally got out, he was covered from head to foot with molasses and popcorn! He ran and jumped in the creek which was almost cold as ice.. The molasses hardened and stuck the popcorn all over him! luckily, he wasn't burned and he grew up to be a pretty good feller'... Infact, he turned out to be a real "Cracker Jack"!! That is a TRUE story! G. Lee Hearl...Authentic Appalachian Storyteller.. Abingdon, Va... P.S. I will be appearing at the Barter Theatre in March and November this year, Drop By!