The Hoe Gets Little Respect

The hoe is a lowly instrument used in various agricultural pursuits. It does not get the respect that it deserves! Farming has been around for thousands of years and I imagine that early farmers found it easier to dig and cultivate using a stick, or some precursor to the modern hoe, than it was to wear your fingers out scratching in the dirt. Regardless of how it developed, contemplating a hoe has produced many thoughts - some I can even share.

• The hoe can be used to pull or push dirt.
• The long handle enables a person to work crops with less bending and straining of the back.
• The long handle also allows one to lean on the hoe and “rest for a spell.”
• A hoe can be used to cut weeds off at the top of the ground or to dig up weeds and grass.
• A hoe can be sharpened to expedite the cutting of grass and weeds.
• The broad side of the hoe is used for various hoeing chores but the smaller side has its uses as well.
• A notch can be cut into the hoe handle so that the width of rows can be laid out consistently by using the hoe handle as a measuring device.
• Once the rows in the garden were made into “beds,” the hoe could be used to open the bed to plant the seeds, pack the seeds into the dirt, and cover the seeds.
• The hoe handle makes a natural pry bar (lever) with a built in fulcrum in the hoe itself.
• The hoe enabled one to reach farther than arm’s length and use something other than the hand to retrieve an item such as a “chicken snake” in one of the nesting boxes in the hen house.
• One type of hoe was used to make “hoe cakes” by pouring the batter on the blade of the hoe and holding it over a fire until cooked on one side, then flipping the “hoe cake” (flapjack, or as we now call it, pancake) to cook the other side.
• While using the hoe, one had plenty of think time to consider the relationships among God, Mother Nature, soil, weeds and self.
• Use of the hoe also provides ample meditation time concerning the qualities of crab grass.
• Five to six hours of using a hoe made any meal taste good regardless of what was served.
• As a young boy I spent hours perfecting the art of balancing a hoe in my hand.

This is a short list that certainly can be expanded, but it gives an idea of the uses for a hoe on the farm. We did not like to use the hoe because it meant work, but the hoe is a well designed instrument that did the job it was made to do.

Several crops on the farm were labor intensive, requiring the crop to be “hoed” to keep it free of weeds and grass. The largest crop in acreage to be hoed was cotton. It was called “chopping cotton.” When we grew cotton, there were no chemicals to keep out the weeds and grass, so we chopped cotton and at times hired other people to help us with this project. Another crop that had to be hoed was sweet potatoes. They had to be kept clean and weed-free so they could produce properly. The vegetable garden also had to be hoed to remove grass and weeds.

Hoeing was just part of life on the farm. One picture is of three hoes. One hoe has been well used over the years, as can be seen by the wear on the blade. I have had it for around 20 years and it was well worn before it came into my possession. It’s my favorite.

There are many life lessons associated with the hoe, but I will only use one scripture and a thought associated with it. 1 Corinthians 9:10 “Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope.” We always had hope when using the hoe. The hope may have been a good harvest or just to get to the end of the row, but we had hope