Interview with Conrad Smith, June 24, 2015

Partial Transcript: I also try--what day is it today?

Segment Synopsis: [Interview introduction--Incorrect date said on recording, actual interview was Wednesday the 24th.]

Conrad discusses being the 7th of 10 kids, being born on Coles Branch, and being in the community all his life except for 10 years. He discusses old rock schoolhouses in the community. He discusses programs at the Jackson Community Center and the War on Poverty programs he participated in including Neighborhood Youth Corps (NYC). He also discusses Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) workers in the community.

Keywords: Coles Branch; Jackson Community Center; KCEOC (Knox County Economic Opportunity Council); Lend-A-Hand Center; NYC (Neighborhood Youth Corps); Stinking Creek; VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America); War on Poverty

Subjects: Communities.; Knox County (Ky.); Volunteers in Service to America

Partial Transcript: So what was it like growing up here?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad discusses his family being born in the immediate area and his dad purchasing their property in the late 1940s. He discusses his father's work as a coal miner and later as a logger, and his mother's work at a cleaning business and at the KCEOC. He discusses coming back home from working in Ohio in 1978 to take care of his mother, and living with his father for 30 years.

Keywords: Coal mining; Crummies Creek; Farming; Hammonds Fork; Harlan County (Ky); Hell's Creek; Hospital; KCEOC (Knox County Economic Opportunity Council); Mary Helen; Sawmills

Subjects: Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Employment--Kentucky; Families.; Knox County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: So what was it like growing up here on Coles Branch?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad discusses growing up on Coles Branch and working the fields growing up. He describes how his parents worked in Michigan during WWII. His father then came back and worked for a sawmill and then a factory in town. He discusses how his father didn't like factory work after working in farming. Conrad worked from 1967 to 1978 in a factory in Ohio making magazines. He discusses the large outmigration in the area during the mid twentieth century.

Keywords: Coal mining; Coles Branch; Factories; Farming; Michigan; Munitions factory work; Ohio; Sawmills; World War II

Subjects: Employment--Kentucky; World War, 1939-1945

Partial Transcript: And there's even a song I've heard--

Segment Synopsis: Conrad talks about the song "Trail of the Baloney Rinds" to describe the outmigration of people from the area going north for work. He talks about people going north for work and often staying.

Keywords: Factory work

Subjects: Employment--Kentucky; Migration, Internal; Rural-urban migration--Kentucky

Partial Transcript: So, so what--growing up--so you--what kind of stuff did you have in the garden?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad discusses what produce his family raised growing up and what he has added in recent years. He discusses raising cane for sorghum molasses and the necessity of raising food. He talks about saving seed and taking corn to be ground at the local mill. He mentions that his father did not make much money and that they killed their own hogs and made lard. He discusses having bees and planting corn up on the hillsides and having corn and hay in the bottomland.

Keywords: Bees; Corn; Cornmeal; Gardening; Hogs; Lard; Mill; Molasses; Produce; Sorghum

Subjects: Agriculture.; Country life; Family farms; Farm life.; Livestock.; Rural conditions; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: Now imagine a field full of corn, now we had to plow it by two mules with a turning plow.

Segment Synopsis: Conrad describes how to farm with mules and the different kinds of plows and steps involved in the process. He talks about planting the corn at the intersections of the plowing rows. He also talks about using a hand corn planter.

Keywords: Bull tongue plows; Corn; Corn planters; Fulcrum plow; Hillside agriculture; Layoff plows; Mules; Plowing; Turning plows

Subjects: Agriculture.; Family farms; Farm life.; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: So when did the tractor come along?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad discusses the transition from plowing with a mule to using a tractor. His father got the used tractor from another family in the community around the 1970s. Conrad talks about seeing the progression from mule power to tractors. He says the old tractor was better than the newer one he bought. He talks more about plowing with a mule and how it was like artwork.

Keywords: Agricultural change; Mules; Plowing; Tractors

Subjects: Agriculture.; Family farms; Farm life.; Farm mechanization; Subsistence farming; Technological innovations; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: So your, your business that you started, that was the transportation?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad discusses doing carpentry work after coming back to the community in 1978. He describes how around 1980 he began having mobile homes for rent and buying pieces of property. He describes how in 1997 he started a medical transportation business that eventually had 15 vans and 10 drivers and drove over 2 million miles. He describes his business' relationship with RTEC (Rural Transit Enterprises Coordinated) and the increasing cost of business. The business closed the end of 2003. He describes the satisfaction from helping get people to the doctor and the need for that sort of program in the community. He talks about using early cell phones and pagers.

Keywords: Carpentry; Cell phones; Entrepreneurship; Medical transportation; Mobile homes; Pagers; Public transportation; RTEC (Rural Transit Enterprises Coordinated); Renting; Transportation

Subjects: Employment--Kentucky; Small business--Ownership

Partial Transcript: What--so you've mostly been on the Creek pretty much your whole life. What's it like--what is Stinking Creek like?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad describes how Stinking Creek is home to him. Conrad thinks Stinking Creek may be considered a community and says that he tells people he lives on Stinking Creek. He talks about the area being a poor community, with not a lot of people working and people being on government assistance programs. Conrad doesn't think the community has a particularly bad reputation and says he tries to make it a better place.

Keywords: Community; Government assistance; Stinking Creek

Subjects: Communities.; Knox County (Ky.); Poverty

Partial Transcript: Um, what about the, what about the Stinking Creek book? Did you ever read that?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad discusses the book "Stinking Creek" by John Fetterman and how it portrayed the community. He tells how the book focused on the poorest areas of the community.

Keywords: John Fetterman; Representation; Stinking Creek; War on Poverty

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Communities.; Knox County (Ky.); Poverty

Partial Transcript: What do you think--what are some of the biggest issues on the Creek? Since we're on that topic.

Segment Synopsis: When asked about issues on the Creek, Conrad wonders what they are since there have been many changes over the years, like paved roads. He talks about how the blacktop roads came into the area. He talks about walking to school, and televisions coming to the community in the 1950s. He tells how they got telephone in 1973.

Keywords: Dewitt; Radio; Stinking Creek; Telephones; Television; Transportation

Subjects: Country life; Knox County (Ky.); Rural conditions; Rural roads; Rural schools--Kentucky; Technological innovations

Partial Transcript: What was it like, um, at that--in the one room school? Did you like that?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad describes the two-room school he went to. He talks about electricity coming to the community and having it in the new house built in 1952.

Keywords: Electricity; Elementary schools; Grade schools; Two-room schools

Subjects: Country life; Knox County (Ky.); Rural conditions; Rural electrification; Rural schools--Kentucky; Technological innovations

Partial Transcript: Um, does any of your family still live on the Creek here besides you?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad talks about being the only member of the family still living on the Creek. He tells how his family is spread out across the country. He talks about coming back from Ohio in 1978 to take care of his mother and making a life in the area. He talks about staying with his father and taking care of him. Conrad describes using the Troy-Bilt tiller for decades. His current tiller is from the 1980s and made out of two different tillers and a new engine.

Keywords: Family; Mules; Stinking Creek; Tillers; Troy-Bilt

Subjects: Agriculture.; Families.; Family farms.; Farm mechanization; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: So you, so you pretty much grew up doing all the gardening and the farming and stuff like that. Why do you, why do you still do it?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad explains that he continues to garden because he enjoys it. He shares it with the family and needs help during harvest time. He talks about canning and putting up food. He remembers how green beans became expensive but he has never sold a bushel. He tells that he doesn't really like to sell produce, but will give it away. He has sold some strawberries and peppers but nothing else. He talks about giving food away to family and growing peppers. He describes what food he buys in the store and having fruit trees.

Keywords: Family labor; Food preservation; Fruit trees; Gardening; Green beans; Harvest; Peppers; Selling produce; Sharing

Subjects: Agriculture.; Canning and preserving; Country life; Crops; Family farms.; Farm life.; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: Growing up who did what? Was it mostly your mom did the canning or your dad, too? Or who did you learn the canning from?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad describes how his mother canned in a washtub, and building the fire. He talks about putting up potatoes and freezing food. He talks about getting a new washer and dryer around 1965. His family didn't do much food drying, but dried beans on the car hood. He talks about canning beets, and says that they didn't have greens growing up but had cabbage.

Keywords: Agriculture; Beets; Cabbage; Canning; Dryers; Drying; Food preservation; Freezing; Gardening; Potatoes; Produce; Washers; Washtubs

Subjects: Agriculture.; Canning and preserving; Country life; Crops; Family farms.; Farm life.; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: And then, uh, yeah to make mo--to make money we had strawberries growing up.

Segment Synopsis: Conrad talks about having a big strawberry patch growing up and selling strawberries. They went to Pineville, Kentucky and sold door to door. He tells how he learned different skills doing that and how his mother made sure they got good plants. He tells how their berries were better than their neighbors' berries.

Keywords: Berries; Gardening; Pineville (Ky); Selling produce; Strawberries

Subjects: Agriculture.; Country life; Crops; Family farms.; Farm life.; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: Who, uh, did most of the cooking in the house?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad tells how his mother did most of the cooking and later taught his father who taught him. He tells about making a veggie mix of produce out of the garden and freezing it. He talks about making an omelette with it. Growing up he says he never went hungry, and that they slaughtered hogs.

Keywords: Food preservation; Freezing; Produce

Subjects: Agriculture.; Canning and preserving; Cooking; Country life; Crops; Family farms.; Farm life.; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: So do you still do hay on those fields down there?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad discusses making hay and how growing up they did it with mules and by hand. He talks about putting the hay on the stack. He talks about getting a baler that was loaded by hand and adjustable to different size bales which were tied by hand. He tells about automatic cutter, rake, and baler attachments, but that they didn't have those.

Keywords: Hay; Mules

Subjects: Agriculture.; Family farms.; Farm life.; Farm mechanization; Subsistence farming; Technological innovations; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: What does, um, what does agriculture or gardening, what does it mean to you?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad is asked what agriculture means to him and he says that it is his way of life. He tells about some of his renters that have struggled with growing plants after he tried to help them out.

Keywords: Gardening; Meaning of agriculture

Subjects: Agriculture.; Family farms.; Farm life.; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: And I think, you know it is a, you said, a way of life, and I think it is a way of life, you know, that is on the decline. What do you think?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad doesn't think the agricultural lifestyle is on the decline, but that people recently are getting back into it. He thinks people do it for health reasons. He talks about the Grow Appalachia program saving people money and the community gardening together. He talks about how he enjoys gardening throughout the whole cycle. He talks about using commercial fertilizer but also using manure. He thinks they started buying chemical fertilizer in the 1970s. He talks about having milk cows, chickens, and canning blackberries. He tells about a person selling peaches and canning them, and having apple and pear trees.

Keywords: Agricultural change; Chickens; Cows; Eggs; Fertilizer; Fruit trees; Gardening; Grow Appalachia; Manure; Milk; Peaches

Subjects: Agricultural chemicals.; Agriculture.; Family farms.; Farm life.; Livestock.; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: So did your mom do the canning out of a book or she just knew how to do it or do you remember?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad talks about his mother's Presto canner and using the book with instructions. He talks about hot water bath canning and cooking for hours on an open tub. Conrad thinks subsistence agricultural lifestyles persisted in the area longer than other places like the city. He thinks people don't garden much because they don't want to put the time in and they draw a check. Also growing a plant is a risk and has to be taken care of like a kid. Conrad talks about how he views his produce versus what is available in the store. He talks about how he won't buy certain produce in the store and how it is important to know where food comes from. He talks about growing sunflowers in the garden and having a good spot in the garden.

Keywords: Food preservation; Hot water bath canners; Pressure canners; Presto; Produce; Sunflowers

Subjects: Agriculture.; Canning and preserving; Country life; Crops; Family farms.; Farm life.; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: What's that sound?

Segment Synopsis: Conrad talks about different night sounds including the whippoorwills. His dad said that when the whippoorwills start it is corn planting time. He talks about owls and coyotes. He tells that there used to not be deer in the area until about 20 years ago. He talks about the deer being released in the area and now having lots of deer that raid the garden. Conrad tells a story of seeing a bear on the farm around 20 years ago and taking a picture of it. He tells of a neighbor seeing a bear and a cub. He talks about elk in nearby counties and how there used to not be any turkey until around 20 years ago. He said the mountains around him had not been cut since he had been there. He talks about hunting deer and turkey recently and how his father hunted quail, rabbits, and squirrel and sometimes mud turtle or rattlesnake. He talks about killing chickens and having fried chicken on Sunday, and not going hungry.

Keywords: Bears; Chickens; Coyotes; Deer; Elk; Hunting; Mud turtles; Owls; Quail; Rabbits; Rattlesnakes; Squirrels; Turkeys; Whippoorwills; Wild game

Subjects: Animals; Country life; Rural conditions