MENNONITE GENTLEMAN MOWING THE LAWN

I had driven by this house several times.  But one day, this Mennonite Man was out mowing the lawn, so I took pictures.

ON MONDAY, ELMER IS BACK ANSWERING YOUR DWARF QUESTIONS.

SAUERKRAUT RECIPES AND VINEGAR RECIPES

Back on April 17th, Jean had some Sauerkraut Recipes on.  Well I was going through some books and found this cookbook.  Inside are two sauerkraut recipes along with three vinegar recipes.  I thought I would pass them on to you folks that enjoy sauerkraut and/or vinegar. The name of recipe book is: Cooking with Radio by Richey Airwaves, Inc. in New Port Richey, Fla.  I must have gotten this book when I lived in Florida, many years ago.

CHOCOLATE SAUERKRAUT CAKE

1 1/2 cup sugar
1 t vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa
3 eggs
1 t baking soda
1 cup water
1/2 c butter
1/2 t salt
1/2 c sauerkraut
2 1/2 cups flour
1 t baking powder

Cream butter and sugar, add salt, vanilla and cocoa continuing beating, for five minutes.  Add eggs, blend for 5 minutes or till light.  Sift remaining dry ingredients, add alternately with water to the creamed mixture.  Lastly add the washed and coarsely chopped, drained sauerkraut.  Bake in greased and floured pan at 370 degrees for 30 - 45 minutes.

SAUERKRAUT BALLS

1 cup sauerkraut, squeeze out and cut
2 whole eggs, beaten
1/2 t. salt
1 cup fine cornflake crumbs
1 t. worcestershire sauce

Mix all ingredients, well EXCEPT cornflake crumbs.  Form balls, take 1/2 cup cornflake crumbs, roll balls in that, put 2 to 4 spoons butter in skillet, heat, put in balls and turn as they brown 3 to 4 minutes, serve hot.  They do not taste like kraut.

VINEGAR COOKIES

1 cup shortening or butter
4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, well beaten
1 tsp soda
1 tablespoon vinegar

Cream flour and butter together.  To 3 eggs, well beaten add 2 cups sugar.  Dissolve 1 tsp soda in 1 tablespoon vinegar, mix all ingredients together, well.  Roll out very think.  Sprinkle with sugar, bake at 450 degrees, quickly.  Use knife to cut dough into odd shapes.

VINEGAR TAFFY

2 cups Karo syrup (blue label)
2 T butter
1/4 t soda
1 cup sugar
1 T vinegar
1 t vanilla

Combine Karo syrup, butter, sugar and vinegar in a large pain.  Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved.  Continue cooking to hard ball stage when tested in cold water.  Remove from heat, stir in soda and vanilla.  Beat until smooth and creamy.  Pour into buttered pan.  Let stand until cool enough to handle.Pull candy with fingers until satin like finish and light in color.  Pull into long strips and 3/4 inch in diameter, cut into one inch pieces with scissors.  Wrap individually in wax paper.  Makes 1 1/4 lbs.  Good to make to send men in service.

VINEGAR CANDY
This one is a little hard to understand.  I am going to print it just like it is in the book.

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
Butter

Cook sugar and vinegar in water.  Butter (I assume they mean add it) the size of an egg.  Pour into greased pan.


Hope you enjoy these recipes.

Marilyn

JEAN'S BLACK WALNUT PIE AND SHOO FLY PIE RECIPES

JEAN'S BLACK WALNUT PIE

4 eggs
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup black walnuts, chopped
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 cups dark corn syrup
2 medium size pie crusts

Sprinkle the walnuts over the crusts and then mix in the filling.  The eggs must be well beaten before adding the sugar, gradually.  Then fold in flour, corn syrup and 1 1/2 cups of water.  Bake in very hot oven (425) for three minutes and then reduce to medium (350) for 30 to 40 minutes.

JEAN'S SHOO FLY PIE

1/2 teaspoon soda
3/4 cup of boiling water
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup flour
2 Tablespoons shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 unbaked pie shell

Dissolve soda in boiling water; add molasses and egg.  In a separate bowl mix flour, shortening, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.  Form the mixture into crumbs.  Pour the liquid mixture in the unbaked pie shell, then add the crumbs on top and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

SAUERKRAUT RECIPES AND VINEGAR RECIPES COMING TOMORROW!

SUE ANN'S - THE END OF THE SEASON

THE END OF THE SEASON

We have pulled our last tomato plant and pulled the remaining carrots. In a few days I will put the strawberries to bed as well as protect the blueberries and rhubarb from our winter visitors. The asparagus is not quite ready to cut down and straw over yet, another week perhaps. Our weather has jumped to 35 degrees at night,with a high of 42!! I knew we would be having an early and quick Fall, there were just too many caterpillars already in September.

We had our first fire in the wood stove last night and all day today, so that routine will begin earlier too. I keep a kettle of kindling, a kettle of paper , and a BIG wood box, full, next to the stove. we have a large covered wood box on the back porch we fill once a week, so I can replenish the inside box easier.

This is the time of year that I pick up my knitting again, and my sewing, as I am indoors more. I miss my knitting!

I also start thinking about next year..what to plant, where, how much, when. What did well this year, and what did'nt, perhaps I need to move things around. There are three companies I will be studying this winter, and hope to order from them. They carry a lot of plants that are hard to find, and heirloom seeds.

jungseed.com

eBurgess.com

rhshumway.com

All three have good pricing on plants, bulbs and seeds, that I want to try next year- It is hard to find old fashioned varieties, and I am most interested in the old fashioned snow ball bush- hydrangea- the blooms are huge and white.

I have a 1937 planting guide, from Rural Progress Magazine, that will give you interesting insights to what people were doing at that time, for feeding their families.

For EACH person, in the family, you will need to plant:

8 crowns asparagus

60' beans

10' early beets

10' late beets (this refers to spring and fall plantings)

18 cabbage plants- early

18 cabbage plants- late

15' carrots- early

15' carrots-late

8 cauliflower plants

8 celery plants

100' corn

9' lettuce-early

6' lettuce-late

20' onions

6' parsnips

45' peas

5' radishes- plant every 2 weeks.

15' spinach-early

15' spinach-late

36' string beans

1 squash-early (summer)

3 squash- late (winter)

15 tomato plants

These are a selection, for a garden, obviously, not all vegetables are listed, but these were the most common then.

Keep in mind, this is what people grew to feed their families for the year, per person. All these things can be combined to make many , many things, canned, or frozen, or dried, for the winter. Amazing, huh?

We have never planted anywhere NEAR these amounts, but every year is different, and we have been known to plant a lot of some, and not so much of another. The herbs planted are astounding!! The use of dill, green onions, first as chives, then later for the onions, basil, thyme, a HUGE list, for the perennials.

So.. I am looking, thinking, planning, drawing it out, it will take me a few months to decide what I want to do come Feb., as we will re-plant strawberries then, to always have a strong on-coming crop.

I have thoughts for growing gourds. I grew mini gourds several years ago and loved them, but never had the time nor space to work with the larger varieties, and they are curious to me. This next year will be my "gourd year"!!

                  SOUR CREAM PUMPKIN PIE - from 1979

1, 9" unbaked pie crust

3/4 c packed dark brown sugar

2 T sugar

2 t cinnamon

1/2 t each, salt, cloves, nutmeg

1/8 t allspice

3 eggs

2 c canned or cooked, mashed, fresh pumpkin

1 1/2 c sour cream ( this takes the place of the evaporated milk recipes always use)

Mix all together well, bake, 375 degrees, 50-60 mins, till tested clean with toothpick.

JEAN AND DAVID ADOPT EDWARD AND KATIE

Well, we were back to adoption court again to adopt not only Edward, but Katie.  Katie's great-grandparents encouraged the court for us to adopt her now rather than wait a full year.  All Katie's great-grandfather asked was that he and his wife be allowed to visit her.  The court was going to make certain times when they could come, but David and I stopped them.  We asked that they call first and if we are home, they can come and visit Katie.  We don't need any certain time.  She is their great-granddaughter and they have a right to come and visit her when they can.  Although we are now legally her parents, they are still her family.  So that settled that.  The judge was surprised that we would feel that they could have the freedom to come and visit her, but he approved that.

Edward and Michael were thrilled they were now legal brothers.  They hugged each other.  As Edward is black and Michael is white, they say they are "coffee and cream" brothers.  Michael kept asking David and I, if they were really brothers in the State of New York and we kept saying yes.  I guess they felt better when the judge said yes.

Susan was jumping up and down when we told her that Katie was really her sister now.  She hugged Katie so hard, we had to break them up as we thought Susan was going to knock the breath out of Katie.  Then they hugged again.  I don't think Katie really knew what it ment.  David, I and her Great-grandparents tried to explain, but I am not sure she fully understands it.  Her great-grandparents wanted pictures of all of us.  It is again our ways not to have our picture taken.  They really wanted that picture.  Bishop Joseph was there and stated as the children had not been baptized, they could, in this case, have their picture taken.  So we adults had our backs turned and the children stood facing the camera when the picture was taken.  The judge stood along with us in the picture - he faced the camera.  Bishop Joseph told the great-grandparents that he would allow this because of Katie and their wanting it. He kindly explained that this would be the last picture.  Bishop Joseph asked for a second copy that could be put in with the pictures that we have of Katie's parents.  Of course, Bishop Joseph saw that Katie's great-grandparents were in the picture, too.

After we left the court house, we went where Katie likes to go for lunch, Mac Donald's.  We all ate our lunch there.  For dinner that evening, we had Edward's favorite dinner: pork ribs, greens, salt potatoes, and pineapple up side down cake topped with whip cream.  At dinner we had Bishop Joseph, Martha, and family, along with Katie's great-grandparents.  David also made, for Edward  and Katie a plaque on the wall with a medal copy of the adoption papers and what looks like our signatures underneath.  He made them so the children know they are our family, not only because the state says so.

During our prayers, that evening, we thanked the Lord for uniting us all in one as a family. The State papers are nice, but knowing that we are also a family in the eyes of Christ is most important.  Lord knew just who were the perfect young folks to cross our door and become our family. Both Michael and Edward told what they felt when they first came into our home.  Neither of them thought, that some day they would be a member of our family.

Edward wanted to go see his Grandmother's grave the next day, so we rented a driver and all went to Rochester to see where she is laid to rest.  We then went to where Katie's parents were laid to rest,  but I don't think she really understood.

After that we went to the Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences so we could have a tour and explore it.  When we left there, we had lunch at a restaurant.  After lunch, we went to take a tour of the George Eastman House, the man who founded Eastman Kodak Company.  As the little children were getting tired, we headed home picking up dinner at KFC on the way.

The next day, Michael, Edward and Susan were back in school.  Katie was home with me, learning her house duties and chores.  We are very happy now to be a family of seven.  Susan still thinks we should get another girl to even up the family.

Be With God,
Jean

NEXT MONDAY, ELMER ANSWERS YOUR DWARF QUESTIONS.

DOREEN TELLS US ABOUT COVERLETS

 Above are pictures of the Jacquard Loom and a few pictures, of my friends, Jacquard woven coverlet with the name and date of 1833 woven in the corner.
                                                
Coverlets are a woven bedcover. Unlike a quilt which is made from cloth that is sewn and pieced together, a coverlet is woven on a loom. Early coverlets woven in the 1700’s were mostly geometric patterns, but in the early 1800’s the Jacquard Loom was invented which simplified the process of weaving complex patterns in a short amount of time.

Professional weavers -who were men owned these jacquard looms, and they could weave intricate patterns like flowers, trees, stars, eagles, and even words. It was common for a jacquard coverlet to have the weavers name and date woven in the corner. Sometimes the name of the person who commissioned the coverlet was added. When you see a ladies name woven in the corner, it will be the owner, not the weaver.

Most coverlets were made from wool and cotton. The wool for these coverlets was often spun and dyed at home and then delivered to a local weaver who made the coverlet. The wool was usually dyed a dark blue from indigo or red from madder (indigo and madder are both plants), and the cotton was the un-dyed natural color. Because most looms are narrow, coverlets were often made of two woven panels and joined with a center seam. The cost was about $2.00 - $4.00.

After the Civil War, weavers could no longer compete with the cheap yarn goods being imported, so that was the end of the coverlet business.

Doreen

THANK YOU DOREEN FOR SHARING THIS WITH US.

MARTHA: BISHOP JOSEPH'S FAMILY

First I want to thank you all for your comments and prayers on my husband, Joseph, becoming Bishop.  We were very surprised at who God has chosen, but accept His will.  Thought I would tell you about our way of life now.

When Joseph became Bishop, it is custom that the Bishop goes to the home of each of the members of his Meetings (church) to visit them and hear of any problems they would like to discuss.  Usually, if anyone has problems they make appointment to discuss it with  Joseph at a later time.  Most people know us so they just visit.  When he got to Jean and David's and was offered a piece of pie - he just couldn't eat it.  He told Jean that he knew she was a great baker, but every house he went gave him a piece of pie, cake or cookies and he was full of sweets.  He did have a cup of coffee.  They thought that was funny.

Joseph was told by the previous Bishop to be careful what he says because if he says he likes something or that I would like something, or that we could use a item, the people will give it to us.  The Bishop is considered a great honor and the people feel it is a honor to give something or do something for the Bishop. So we have to be careful what we say.

When the Bishop gives a sermon, it is not written down.  It is all by memory.  Joseph was so nervous with his first sermon.  What if he should forget?  He had our retired Bishop next to him during his first sermon in case he forgot or something.  After Joseph gave his sermon, our retired Bishop said something to Joseph and they both smiled.  On the way home Joseph said the retired Bishop told him, the people were really going to like him.  Most Bishop's sermons are at least a hour, Joseph's was a half hour, which ment that our meeting (church service) ended early.  Since that day, Joseph is more comfortable giving the main sermon and it is now at least one hour.

Jean and David held a big picnic at their house the first Sunday after Joseph became Bishop.  All the members were invited.  Everyone bought a dish to pass.  Seeing the picnic was for Bishop Joseph, people felt they had to bring a gift.  People bought Bibles, religious books, a quilt, canned food, and more.  It took two buggies to bring everything home.

In our house, we took one room and are turning it into Joseph's office.  When people want to come to talk with Joseph, they can go into the office.  Anything that is said in the office, stays in the office.  If a lady or child should come alone to speak with Joseph, I must be in the office with them.  Should anyone in our house hear what is discussed, it must be kept in our house.  No one tells what someone said.

As the Bishop's wife, I will also be with  Joseph when he does Baptisms, which is twice a year.  When a girl is baptized, Joseph will put the water on her, but I will be the one that will kiss her on each cheek and welcome to our meetings.  Joseph is allowed to kiss the boys on each cheek, but not the girls.

People of our church and meetings are making Joseph a new desk and chairs for his office.  David, Jean's husband, did not like the old metal desk that we had, so he decided to make one.  That grew.  When the people found out David was making one, they all wanted to get in on the making.  So it grew from just a new desk to a chair with it, plus chairs for people to sit on in the office and also a book case.  We can hardly wait until they are finished.  Joseph offered to pay for them, but David and the other people wouldn't hear of it.

The Bishop's family is also suppose to be a model to others of the church.  This has upset some of our children, especially Erin.  Erin wants to move in with Kevin and Bridget.  He feels that all the eyes of the people are on us and he can't live up to what they want.  Joseph explained that we are not perfect and the people know that.  But, we must obtain our religious ways and beliefs.  Still Erin wants to move.  Joseph said no one is moving for a few months.  Becoming Bishop is a change for us all.  If Erin does not feel better, in a couple of months, then he can move to Kevin and Bridget's.

One of things that is causing a stir is Erin does have a car, which is against our ways.  The retiring Bishop said that Joseph should give a sermon against such evil.  Joseph and I discussed it.  Joseph says it's a  don't do as I do, do as I preach thing .  When Joseph was Erin's age, he did not own a car, but had a license and drove a friend's car.  The day I accepted Joseph's proposal, he turned in his drivers license and never drove a car again, which he feels Erin will do when he meets his special lady.  Erin is not the only young person that has a car.  Should Joseph give a sermon on the evil of cars or not?  He still hasn't decided.

Just wanted to tell you a bit of our new life since Joseph became Bishop.  He is still the same person, but has many more duties.  We do a lot more praying for understanding now than before.

Be With the Lord,
Martha

TOMORROW DOREEN HAS A POST ABOUT COVERLETS.