A Harvest of Mountain Memories

By Bob Heafner © 1985

Issue: October, 1985

Corn Shocked The Old Timey Way

Once corn shocks were a common scene on mountain farms, now with the advent of modern farming equipment, the corn, shock and all, is ground up and stored in silos or large plastic bags where it ferments and provides much more nutrition to livestock.

Today it may be more nutritious but it certainly isn’t more picturesque.

We stored the shocks in our barn where they were close by old Maude, our plow horse, for winter feeding. Dad would cut the corn stalks and my brother Ken and I would gather, stand and tie them into shocks. It was a lot of work but it was a picturesque site to see the shocks lined out across the field. Even old Maude played a hand in the harvest when she pulled the sled loaded with corn shocks to the barn.