Moonshine Memories and Staggering Cows: Tales from Raleigh County

" However, one day, the lid had not been secured as well as usual. The cows smelled the corn and nudged the lid off. When grandfather returned, before he got to the still, he found the cattle stark drunk, staggering all over the field, as a result of raiding the mash barrel...."

I grew up in Raleigh county, in a little town called Beaver, in the state of West Virginia. I lived on a 100 acre farm in a family of ordinary means. When I look back to my childhood I realize how fortunbate I was to have clean air, clean water, vegetables from a thoroughly oganic garden, fresh cow's milk, butter, and buttermilk - fresh every day. We gave the hogs what was left from each day so we raised great pork. Recycling was a part of life, not something you had to work into your habit. Back then we didn't have thrift shops like the Goodwill, as we wore our clothes so long that they weren't fit for anyone else to wear. This is what it was like.

Many times I return to this quiet time in memory, and relax my mind and body.

-Pearl Todd Miller