Turtles, Poke Sallet, Crosscut Saws, and Sweet Surprises
One hundred years ago, many southerners considered poke sallet an essential spring tonic. It’s that Merriam-Webster definition that includes the word poisonous that makes me leery to try it.
We didn’t have to eat poke sallet to have fun at the 40th annual Poke Sallet Festival in Gainesboro on Saturday.
When I looked up poke sallet in Merriam-Webster, the spelling was poke salad. It’s too bad they don’t know how to spell it. We must be right. After all, the folks in Gainesboro have been spelling it p-o-k-e s-a-l-l-e-t for at least forty years. The dictionary is correct, however, that poke sallet is a dish made from the pokeweed. It is my understanding that the old timers believe that poke sallet isn’t poisonous, when made from pokeweed leaves when they first come out in the spring. They were cooking it up and selling it at the Methodist Church on Saturday, but I decided to pass.
While poke sallet per se isn’t a part of the Poke Sallet Festival for us Notgrasses, we do enjoy the “trimmings.” By “trimmings,” I mean the booths, the live music, the kiddie rides for the grandchildren, the petting zoo, and the contests . . . . Well, actually not all of the contests — we only participated in the turtle race and the crosscut saw competition. I use we loosely. Ray and I were simply observers.
Our son-in-law Nate went down to Roaring River and grabbed a turtle on Saturday morning. Later in the day, he and our daughter Mary Evelyn competed in the crosscut saw competition.
Blitz the Turtle, a.k.a. entry Number 14, was our grandchildren’s pet for one day.
Having never see a turtle race before, I was fascinated with the starting gate and the finish line. Each turtle has his own stall. The finish line was a blue chalk-drawn circle about seven feet out from the starting gate.
They’re off!
Blitz didn’t go down in glory as a winner, but we were all proud of him for high-tailing it to the finish line and crossing it — after the race was over.
The crosscut saw competition was another highlight of the day. Eight teams of two competed. Each team was a pair of men, except for two teams. The winning team, with a time of 1 minute 41 seconds, included a man running for a seat in the Tennessee legislature and his daughter. She also won the poke sallet cooking contest. Mary Evelyn and Nate finished fifth with a time of 3 minutes 1 second.
I was as proud as a soccer mom! After all, Mary Evelyn is expecting a baby in 7 weeks!
Ray and I thought we were going to the festival just to hang out with our daughter and her family. We didn’t know she and Nate were going to enter the crosscut saw competition. Those kids of ours — they never cease to surprise and delight us! Enjoy your day’s surprises. Enjoy the delight.
Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Psalm 127:3
Charlene,
I had never heard the word pronounced Sallet. Very interesting story.
As a child my grandmother would point it out in the ditches near our home. She never stopped to pick any. I simply thought she left it there for the poor folks as she had told me when she was a young woman in the depression era she saw people who may have even starved had it not been for the wild plant.
Blessings,
Johnna
I am sure your grandmother was right that “Poke Sallet” provided nourishment to many poor people each spring during the Depression. How sweet that you have that sweet memory of your grandmother. Thanks so much for sharing this with me.
With joy,
Charlene
We still eat poke sallet, branch lettuce and ramps that we forage for in the spring. We live in the Great Smoky Mountains. Even with the convenience of a grocery store in this era, we enjoy these wild plants.