Cow Chips

If you were not a “country kid” you may not have any memories of the following, however I think that several of us can remember getting to head outside to the pasture on Mom’s baking day to collect “cow chips.”

This was not a real unpleasant job if it was one that you had done in the past. The trick of course was to be sure that these were dry ones that you were picking up.

My husband shared that he and his sister got to go looking for cottonwood bark. Coming from the North Country, I do know that cow chips were no doubt more plentiful than the bark from cottonwood trees. Being too young to care at the time I never questioned why, but did these items produce better heat in the old wood stove?

I am pretty sure that it did not have anything to do with the flavor of the bread, which was usually the item to be baked. I am not sure, but I think we might still have an old wood range that could be retrieved, but I surely hope that we never see a time when that would have to be done!