Another week has flown by.
Where does the time go? It's a chilly morning as I write this at 4 a.m. The temperature is 36, cold, but not frosty yet.
My husband Joe is on his way to work, and the children are still in bed. I folded a basket of laundry and was meditating on what I should write this week. Sometimes I feel like I'm writing the same thing over and over, but that's how some weeks are around here.
Last night we took our horse Itty Bit and our pony Stormy over to Jacob and Emma's. Jacob reshod both the horse and the pony. Joe used to do
ours, but his back doesn't seem to hold out to do it anymore. Since Jacob is slowly starting into this as a side job, we decided to just take our horses there.
Emma told us to all come along to eat supper there. She had potatoes, salads, barbecue beef sandwiches and ice cream.
Elizabeth and I did laundry yesterday and it all dried except a few pieces. Brrr, my hands were very cold until I had everything hung out. The sun came out and helped warm it up some. I have to get used to cold weather, as it's not too far away.
I remember in 1993 when Mom and Dad had invited all of Mom's family on Oct. 30 for an early Christmas gathering. This was the first year without Grandma and Grandpa Graber, so my parents had the gathering. That morning when we woke up, the ground was covered with a good layer of snow.
We had the tables and everything set up in our pole building. With heaters and all the people, it warmed up soon, though. Some of the women kept their little ones in the house for warmth. That was the year Joe and I were married on July 15 and still lived with my parents. Out of almost 400 people invited, 300 attended that cold October day.
Yesterday, the electric company came out and took out one of the big trees close to the wires down just to underneath the wires. There are electric wires that run on poles out by our road to the non-Amish homes in the area. Now Joe will need to cut the rest of the tree down, and we need to clean up all the branches. It was dying and was leaning toward the road and the wires. It would have been dangerous for us to cut it down. I always hate to see an old tree cut down, but for safety purposes it was necessary.
We still haven't started our coal stove but I have the propane lights on and it's cozy in here. I imagine one of these days we will have to start the stove.
Try this recipe to use up some of your pumpkin this time of year. This bread is a favorite around here:
Pumpkin Bread
3 c. granulated sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 lb. canned pumpkin
3&1/2 c. flour
2/3 c. water
2 t. baking soda
2 t. salt (scant)
1/2 t. ground cloves
1 t. each: cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg
Mix sugar, oil and eggs together. Add pumpkin. Then add dry ingredients and finally, water, stirring just until mixed. Pour batter into two greased and floured 9-by-5-inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Especially good spread with cream cheese.
Lovina Eicher is Old Order Amish. She hand-writes this column from her home in southern Michigan. Anyone with cultural or cooking questions can send them to: Lovina Eicher, The Amish Cook, P.O. Box 2144, Middletown, OH 45042. Read all of her columns online at www.record-eagle.com/amishcook.
Print this story
E-mail this story
