Grandma's Garden

Well, it seems my readers are liking my stories about growing up in East Tennessee so I thought I would share another story with you about my Grandmother. Here she is pictured in front of her garden

Growing up in East Tennessee, most of the food we ate came from the kitchen garden. We always had plenty to eat. The garden was located just outside the back door, very handy to the kitchen.

As soon as the snow was gone in the spring we would begin preparing the garden. During the winter the cornstalks were dumped on the garden after the corn was shucked. Ashes from the wood stove had been dumped into the garden. One corner of the garden was dug up and used to plant tobacco seeds for when we were ready to transplant them to the field. In the end of the tobacco bed would be planted lettuce.

After the tobacco bed was planted the plowing would begin and then the disking and the harrowing and the ground was prepared for planting. Lettuce that was grown at the end of the tobacco bed was the first spring crop. After the winter of not having fresh vegetables that lettuce was a special treat on a nice spring day.

The garden was planted the same way every year. We had peas, onions, lettuce, carrots, beets, cabbage, swiss chard or turnips, beans, potatoes, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes. When the peas came off we dug them up and planted more beans. At the end of the garden we grew horseradish, on the side there was rhubarb. We always planted two rows of peas and two rows of onions We planted different varieties of beans. We had half runners and cornfield beans were planted in between the corn, their vines grew tall and wrapped around the cornstalks and were great to pickle along with the corn. We also raised pole beans. A makeshift trellis was set up in the garden using pieces of lumber and twine string. Those pole beans just grew up the string. It was easy to pick them because you could stand up. Pinto beans and October beans or shellies were planted with sweet potatoes after the tobacco bed was harvested.

The first year we had electricity was 1951. It was determined that our electric pole would be placed in the edge of the garden. My grandmother had just planted her garden and the peas were beginning to sprout through the black dirt. I remember my grandmother being so worried that the men from the REA (Mountain Electric) would stomp on all her peas and we would not have any peas to eat. As luck would have it, those men dug the hole, placed the pole in the ground and strung the wire , all without a footprint in Grandma’s garden. She was so proud.

That's it for today.

Cookie Time

Well, It's getting close to Christmas and I've been getting out the cookbooks looking for some cookie recipes.

Now, I am a collector of cookbooks. I love to read a good cookbook. My all time favorite recipes are from the Dorothy Dean Cookbook. Now you've probably never heard of Dorothy Dean. Let me give you a little background. Dorothy Dean was a featured article in the Spokesman Review newspaper from the 30's to the 80's. You bought a binder with recipes in it and then you subscribed to a mailing list and you were sent new recipes every month.

I looked forward to the mail that held an envelope of new and exciting recipes. Each year was prefixed by a different letter of the alphabet. They were basic recipes and very easy. One of the things that impressed me most was the index to each set of recipes. If there was an ingredient that was not normally found in your pantry it was listed in parentheses ( ) so you knew right off what you would need to make the dish.

She also had theme recipes such as Shamrock recipes for St Patricks Day or Halloween Recipes, Bridal Shower or maybe a Spring Luncheon. At Christmas there were always recipes for Christmas treats. This is one of my treasured cookie recipes from one of my cookbooks.



Applesauce Cookies


1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups applesauce
2 ½ cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups uncooked rolled oats
1 ½ cups raisins
1 cup chopped nuts
Cream shortening and sugar; blend in eggs and applesauce. Sift flour with salt, spices and baking soda. Stir into the creamed mixture. Add oatmeal, raisins and nuts. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.
Yield: 5 dozen cookies

These are great no bake cookies.

Butterscotch Haystacks
1 12 oz. pkg butterscotch morsels
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 medium can chow mein noodles
1/2 lb peanuts

Melt morsels with peanut butter over low heat. Remove and add noodles and peanuts. Drop by teaspoonful onto wax paper. Chill.

I always made these Bourbon or Rum Balls at Christmastime.

Bourbon Balls

2 cups finely ground vanilla wafers (1 box)
1 cup finely ground pecans
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
3 Tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 cup bourbon (or you can use rum)
powdered sugar

Combine vanilla wafer crumbs, pecns, powdered sugar and cocoa. Add corn syrup and bourbon. Mix thoroughly until all ingredients are thoroughly dampened. Roll between your palms to the size of walnuts. Then drop each into a mound of powdered sugar, turning til well coated. Store in refrigerator.

and now I must get back to my baking. Happy Cookieing!!

That's it for today.

Sit Around Saturday

Well, the weather has not improved much and the weatherman is predicting high temperatures in the thirties for the next four or five days. That together with the rain and fog is incentive enough to stay inside. I have been catching up on my reading and writing and doing some research on the internet.
Now I wouldn't exactly call this research but here are some hillbilly jokes I found while searching around....you know how I like those hillbilly jokes since I are one.

Q: What's the difference between a hillbilly wedding and a hillbilly funeral?
A: There's one less drunk at the funeral.

Q: How do you get a hillbilly out of a bathtub?
A: Throw in a bar of soap.

Q: How do you tell the bride at a hillbilly wedding?
A: She's wearing the cleanest shirt.

A reporter asked this hillbilly what he thought about the Presidents civil rights bill. He answered: "If he owes it, I reckon he should pay it."

A hillbilly came running into the store and said to his buddy, "Al, somebody just stole your pickup truck." Al said, "Did you see who it was?" The hillbilly replied, "I couldn't tell, but I got the license number!"

and my favorite one.

In the mountains of Tennessee there is a hillbilly who is still untouched by the complexities of modern economics. He depends on the nearby river and forest for his fish and meat, grows a few vegetables, and drinks spring water. A neighbor visited him recently and urged him to wise up, move to a city and get a job in a factory that was paying high wages.
"You ain't getting anywhere just staying here where you was born, doin' nothin'," the neighbor said.

"Ain't gettin' nowhere?" the hillbilly exclaimed. "I wouldn't say that! When my pappy died and left me, I didn't have nothin'. But look at me now. I got nine dogs!"



And that's it for today!

Leather Britches or Shucky Beans!

Well, it is just another day here in Spokane. The weather is too cold to get out much but it does bring back memories of another comfort food.

When my mother said " I'm going to cook up some Leather Britches today" we knew we were in for a treat. Basically they were dried green beans reconstituted, cooked and seasoned and were they good! We called them Leather Britches or Shucky Beans. I have also heard them called Fodder Beans.

We would begin the process in the summer when we had an abundance of beans by preparing some of them for drying to eat during the winter. It saved on the amount of jars we used for canning and also helped to use all the beans we had without them going to waste.

We would pick , string and break the beans and place them on a screen that was hung over the cookstove. The heat from the wood fire would dry the beans . We usually left them for about a week or ten days until they were shriveled up, brittle and a kind of light tan color and completely dry. Then we gathered them up and put them in a white sack and hung it behind the kitchen door.

Another way we saved them was to leave them whole and string them on a string. We used a darning needle and a double piece of thread about two feet long for stringing. To begin stringing we would poke the needle through the first bean then wrap the thread around it and tie it in a knot. All the other beans would follow by just poking the needle through the bean and leave the ends dangling. The strings of beans would then be hung out in the sun to dry during the day for a few days then it was behind the door on a wire.

My grandma didn't like to put them on the string because she didn't like the size of the whole beans in the pot. In the winter we would take some of the dried beans and soak them over night then rinse them with clean water and put them in a pot with about 3 or 4 cups of water, salt and pepper, and a little side meat or salt pork or maybe a ham bone and cook them up.

You had to be careful about how many you cooked because they tend to swell up and what looks to be a couple hands full would make a whole pot. Also you need to cook them pretty slow so they had plenty of time to plump up and get soft. Usually around two or three hours at a fast simmer. Put those on the table with a big pone of cornbread and a few slices of onion and you will be so busy eatin' you will forget how cold it is outside.
Now, if this post makes you hungry, wait 'til I tell you about "pickled beans".

That's it for today.

Funnies

Well, there's not much going on here today. Since I have been using my pea brain for something other than a hat rack the last couple days I thought I would share a couple jokes with you. If you have already heard them - read them anyway. They may be funnier the second time around.


Redneck Fisherman

A redneck was stopped by a game warden in Central Mississippi recently with two ice chests full of fish. He was leavin' a cove well-known for its fishing. The game warden asked the man,
'Do you have a license to catch those fish?'
'Naw, sir', replied the redneck. 'I ain't got none of them there licenses. You u must understand, these here are my pet fish.'
'Pet fish?'
'Yeah. Every night, I take these here fish down to the lake and let 'em swim 'round for awhile. Then, when I whistle, they jump right back into these here ice chests and I take 'em home.'
'That's a bunch of hooey! Fish can't do that.'
The redneck looked at the warden for a moment and then said, 'It's the truth Mr. Government Man. I'll show ya. It really works.' '
O. K.', said the warden. 'I've got to see this!'
The redneck poured the fish into the lake and stood and waited.
After several minutes, the warden says, 'Well?'
'Well, what?', says the redneck.
The warden says, 'When are you going to call them back?'
'Call who back?' '
The FISH', replied the warden!
'What fish?', replied the redneck.

Moral of the story: We may not be as smart as some city slickers, but we ain't as dumb as some government employees. You can say what you want about the South, but you never hear of anyone retiring and moving north.

The Monkey Story

Once upon a time in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.
The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest, and started catching them.
The man bought thousands at $10 and as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort.
He then announced that he would now buy at $20 each..
This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.
Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms.
The offer increased to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch one!
The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on his behalf.
In his absence, the assistant told the villagers, 'Look at all the monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at$35 and when he returns from the city, you can sell them to him for $50each.'
The villagers rounded up with all their savings and bought all the monkeys.Then they never saw the man nor his assistant ever again; only monkeys everywhere!

You now have a better understanding of how the Mortgage and Stock Market work.

That's it For Today.

Northern or Southern?

Well, Wow, thanks for the emails and the comments about my last blog.... first let me explain about the title...twice around the edge once across the middle refers to how you stir the apple butter. Once around to the right and up the middle then to the left and up the middle.


One comment I got was about my word slathered. I was accused of making up new words for my blog. Well I didn't make it up and when I looked it up in Merriam Webster the definition is to spread thickly or lavishly. I have heard this word ever since I was small. It could be that it is a southern expression and northerners haven't heard of it.

And for you Northerners here is a few ways you can tell a true Southerner.

The difference between a Northern fairy tale and a Southern fairy tale, you ask??
A Northern fairy tale starts out "Once upon a time.."
A Southern fairy tale starts out "Ya'll ain't gonna believe this

All Southerners know exactly when "by and by" is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.

Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who’s got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. If the neighbor’s trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin'.

Only Southerners grow up knowing the difference between "right near" and "a right fur piece." They also know that "just down the road" can be one mile or 20.

No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.

A Southerner knows that "fixin" can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb.

Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines ... And when we’re in line, we talk to everybody!

In the South, y’all is singular .... All y’all is plural.

Northern girls say you can. Southern girls say y'all can.

Every Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.

Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk." Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it - we do not like our tea unsweetened. "Sweet milk" means you don’t want buttermilk.

And a true Southerner knows you don’t scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say, "Bless her heart"...And go your own way.

And to those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Southern stuff ... Bless your hearts, I hear they are fixin’ to have classes on Southernness as a second language!

And for those who are not from the South but have lived here for a long time, all y’all need a sign to hang on y’all's front porch that reads "I ain’t from the South, but I got here as fast as I could."

And in the words of my father, "That's Hit fer Today".

Twice Around The Kettle - Once Across The Middle

Well, when I was in Tennessee last fall I went to the Cranberry Festival in Shady Valley. The Cranberry Festival is held each year and the proceeds from the festival go to support the Shady Valley School.. One of the events is the apple butter making. The apple butter is made on site and "jarred" then sold.

When I was growing up the beginning of fall meant apple butter making time. We had a big copper kettle that was used for making the apple butter. A few days before the actual making began we would begin gathering apples. We had lots of apple trees but the one that made the best butter was one we called the Pound Apple Tree. It was a huge tree and always produced these huge apples. Many of them were at least a pound or so thus the name. That old tree still stands today and stil produces apples. I snapped these photos this fall some fifty years later.

It was our chore to go to gather the apples on the ground every day but when we were ready to start the butter we would take the ladder and shake the tree picking up all the apples that fell to the ground. We would have six or seven bushels of apples and then it was time to start peeling and coring. We would sit in the shade of the porch and peel and cut apples. We saved the peelings to make apple jelly and the core was thrown away. We would have a big washtub full of fruit ready for making the next day. We would then set up the kettle .

We used a metal stand with three legs to support the kettle and keep it about a foot from the fire. We had an apple butter stick that was used to stir the apples. The stick or stirrer as it was called was about 4 inches across and about as deep as the kettle. The bottom was rounded to fit the contour of the kettle so you could keep the sides from burning. It had a handle about 6 feet or so that kept you away from the fire.

The actual process took all day usually about eight hours or so. Early in the morning we would fill the copper kettle with apples cover it with water and build a fire underneath. It was important to begin the stirring process as soon as the fire was built. It was tough stirring to begin with but it was necessary to keep the apples from sticking. Once the kettle warmed and the apples began cooking it got easier. Everyone took their turn at stirring. It was kind of a neighborhood event. The neighbors would stop by to visit and they took their turn too.

It is hard to pass a boiling kettle of apple butter without taking your turn.

After the apples have turned to sauce we added apples and water until all the cut apples were gone. At this point it is necessary to keep the fire steady and the stirrer continuously moving to prevent scorching. When all the apples are cooked into a fine sauce it is time to add the sugar. After the sugar has been added the last step was to add about a cup of cinnamon and a cup of sugar and some whole cloves. Continue to cook for awhile and then it is time to begin the tasting process. You want the taste to be a little sweeter than normal because after it cools it mellows out a little and is not quite so sweet. Keep on stirrin' and keep on tastin'. When it has turned a deep reddish brown and isn't watery anymore it is done. It was then ladled into clean jars and sealed left to cool overnight before it's final step to the cellar.

While the apple butter process was going on outside, inside the apple peelings were simmering on the wood stove. When all the juice was cooked out of the apples they were then squeezed through a white cloth and sugar was added to make the jelly.

Our kitchen table always held a jar of apple butter or jelly sometimes both. There is nothing better than eatin' a hot biscuit slathered with butter and apple butter. It made all the hard work worthwhile.

That's it for today.