By Elijah Mangum
On Assignment for Darkhorse Press

Agricultural demonstrations were held at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum’s annual Harvest Fest.

Costumed demonstrators taught guests skills common in the 1800’s such as washing clothes, corn shelling, and cast iron cooking. There was also a fully operational cotton gin, saw mill, blacksmith shop and print shop.

“The great thing about Harvest Fest is it has something for all ages. We have activities for the kids and demonstrations for them to see,” said Justin Nipper, Ag Museum Marketing Specialist.

Husband and Wife Barry and Lamenda Mclemore were up early on the final day of the event to cook breakfast with cast iron cooking utensils to serve guests arriving at the museum.

“We started off with breakfast this morning. We had bacon, patty sausage, deer sausage, and homemade biscuits Lamenda had made. Also, we had homemade sweet rolls,” said Barry Mclemore.

Later for lunch, the Mclemore’s made rabbit stew, beans with sausage, a sweet potato dish, and apple cobbler for dessert. The couple emphasized the importance of food in the harvest.

“Everyone works so hard during the harvest time when you’re harvesting all the vegetables or whatever you may be harvesting. You know that you always have to have a good meal to feed everybody. You can’t expect the people who’ve worked hard in the field all day not to come home to a good meal,” said Barry Mclemore. “That’s why we like to prepare a really nice meal to feed everybody. We want to make sure everyone is good and full with good nourishment for the day to get through the day.”

Harvest Fest began on Tuesday and ran through Saturday.