Aunt Ellen: "Dirt bank up. Fire make on dirt. Big pot. Cook. Fry meat.
Come PeeDee get off flat. Bake. Bake. Iron oven. Stay PeeDee week. Bake.
Pile coals on oven top." (Another slave told of scaffold--four posts
buried and logs or planks across top with earth on planks. On this pile
of earth, fire was made and on great bed of coals oven could be heated
for baking. 'Oven' means the great iron skillet-like vessel with three
legs and a snug lid. This oven bakes biscuit, pound cake, and some old
timers insist on trusting only this oven for their annual fruit cake. It
works beautifully on a hearth. Put your buttermilk biscuit in, lid on
and pile live-oak coals on top. Of course only the ones who have done
this a long time know when to take the lid off.)
"Dirt camp to stay in--to hide from Yankee." (Her gestures showed earth
was mounded up.)