My family moved to Soperton, a suburb of Wabeno Wisconsin when I was in 4th – 5th grade.

One of my good buddies was Bobby.   In the summer Bobby and I would make the rounds of the neighbors gardens.  Whatever was growing, we would “harvest” a little of it.  We would get all sorts of vegetables in various stages of maturity.  We would find potatoes, corn, beans, peas, cabbage, carrots and many other vegetables.   We took whatever was available and made our own version of Hobo Stew.

After we had amassed a   collection of these treasures, we would find an old 5 pound coffee can, usually rusted and dirty.  While Bobby collected wood and made a fire, I would clean the can, punch 2 holes in the rim opposite each other and thread a wire hanger through the holes and make a handle.

We cleaned the vegetables and filled the can with them and water.  Sometimes we would sneak a small piece of meat from leftovers in our homes and add that to our concoction.  Once the fire had burned down a bit and we had hot glowing coals, we would hang the can of food from sticks that Bobby had fashioned into a tripod over the coals.  About a half hour later we would eat our “stew”.  It was delicious and we were very proud of ourselves.   It was our secret and we said we would never tell anyone.

Fifty years later when I did tell my mother about these adventures, she told me that she, Bobby’s mother and the neighbors were aware of what we were up to and would watch us to make sure we didn’t burn something down or hurt ourselves.  I was never aware of it at the time.