Hello neighbor Welcome.
I have just about finished writing the things I remember as a little girl living on the farm. We just had the memorial service for my Mom who passed away on Nov. 17 at the grand old age of 102. We flew to Maine to hold the service in the big old church that my Mom loved so much. I did the service and we had a great time remembering and sharing memories about Mom. It was so great to see people I had not seen since I went to the one room school house. Most of my Mom's grandchildren from my sister who passed away at the age of 48 were there. So we had some great sharing times. After the service we went to the farm, with the permission of the now owners, and spread my mother's ashes in the very same spot where we spread my Dad's, over the place where he buried the dogs as they left us. That was a neat time, returning Mom back to the farm that she loved so much and to be with Dad again. So that sort of brings being on the farm to an end. But not to the simple farm girl that lived there. I am still that little girl, just a grown up size. So I intend to keep writing from time to time and will continue to share the life of this little girl as she grew into an adult with the simple farm still in her. Hope you will continue stopping by when you can and perhaps checking out my new blog that I have just introduced - "Sometimes I wonder about things".
Stop by again and see how this little farm girl continued into becoming an adult farm woman like my Mom did.
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
SAPPING TIME ON THE FARM
Hello Neighbor, glad you stopped by.
When it gets around February or March, depending on the temperature and weather, one gets to thinking that it's time to think about home made maple syrup. It is not an easy or quick job to do, but it sure is worth the effort.
First of course you need to have a number of good big maple trees. The farm house had some nice old ones that were around the yard, and there were others not too far away. First step was to put in some kind of spout for the sap to drip out of the tree and into a bucket. The early ones were carved out of a piece of wood and had a small hole drilled into it. When we lived on the farm we were able to buy spouts from the hardware store. Much easier by far. Anyway, these spouts would be pounded into the side of the maple tree and a bucket would be hung on a hook so the sap could drip, drip, drip into the bucket. The bucket would be collected at the end of the day and the sap poured into a container.
I remember that out back of the farm house someone, my Dad built this cooking place. The fireplace would be made of rocks on three sides with an opening on one end to put in the wood to burn. Then a long flat tin pan that was three to four feet long and a couple of feet wide would be set on top of the rock fire place. A fire would be started and kept burning to keep the pan hot. What sap was gathered would be poured into the pan to get hot and steamy. It would take a lot of sap and a lot of wood to keep it cooking.
As the sap cooked it would begin to change from the watery stage to the thicker stage. Once it was on the way to becoming syrup, most of the sap would be steamed away and there would be only a small batch of syrup. From the fireplace, the syrup would be taken into my grandmother's kitchen and put into a pot on the wood stove to finish cooking away the watery part until it became real maple syrup. Boy oh boy, it was a lot of work, but my oh my, nothing tasted better than home made maple syrup.
Stop by again some time and we will have another chat.
When it gets around February or March, depending on the temperature and weather, one gets to thinking that it's time to think about home made maple syrup. It is not an easy or quick job to do, but it sure is worth the effort.
First of course you need to have a number of good big maple trees. The farm house had some nice old ones that were around the yard, and there were others not too far away. First step was to put in some kind of spout for the sap to drip out of the tree and into a bucket. The early ones were carved out of a piece of wood and had a small hole drilled into it. When we lived on the farm we were able to buy spouts from the hardware store. Much easier by far. Anyway, these spouts would be pounded into the side of the maple tree and a bucket would be hung on a hook so the sap could drip, drip, drip into the bucket. The bucket would be collected at the end of the day and the sap poured into a container.
I remember that out back of the farm house someone, my Dad built this cooking place. The fireplace would be made of rocks on three sides with an opening on one end to put in the wood to burn. Then a long flat tin pan that was three to four feet long and a couple of feet wide would be set on top of the rock fire place. A fire would be started and kept burning to keep the pan hot. What sap was gathered would be poured into the pan to get hot and steamy. It would take a lot of sap and a lot of wood to keep it cooking.
As the sap cooked it would begin to change from the watery stage to the thicker stage. Once it was on the way to becoming syrup, most of the sap would be steamed away and there would be only a small batch of syrup. From the fireplace, the syrup would be taken into my grandmother's kitchen and put into a pot on the wood stove to finish cooking away the watery part until it became real maple syrup. Boy oh boy, it was a lot of work, but my oh my, nothing tasted better than home made maple syrup.
Stop by again some time and we will have another chat.
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
MMM-MMM HOME MADE BUTTER
Hello neighbor, glad you stopped by.
Have you ever had home made butter? It is the best. No wonder I like butter on everything. This is the way it works.
In my grandmother's kitchen at the end of the counter was this gadget, called a separator, that was used to strain the milk. Of course this milk is right from the cow kind, not that cooked kind. This gadget had a big metal bowl on top where the milk was poured into. I remember that there was this metal thing that had 10 or so discs and each one had a hole in it and these had to be lined up just right. When the machine was working, the discs would spin and somehow that would separate the cream from the milk. There were two spouts so that the cream would flow out of one spout and the left over milk out of the other. It was the cream that we used to make the butter.
So first you milked the cow and then you separate the cream from the milk. When you had enough cream we would then get the butter churn. We had two different types. One was just a small wooden one that had batters inside and we would turn the handle to make the batters work in the cream until it began to separate and you could hear the butter begin to form. The other was a large wooden barrel with a top that was clamped down. With this one we would turn the whole barrel over and over until you could hear the butter as it began to separate from the milk. It would make a splashing sound. Be sure you have clamped the top down good and tight or you would have a big accident.
Once the butter was completely separated, the next step was to collect it out of the butter milk (that was what the milk was called after it was separated). My grandmother had a big wooden spatula that she would work the butter to get all the butter milk out of the butter. Salt would also be added as the butter was worked.
When this process was done, the next step was to package it. I remember doing this step, too. There was a special kind of paper that you would wet it and lay it on the table and smooth it out. Then there was a small wooden container that was put together. The bottom piece had designs in it and there were two sides that fit around the bottom piece and hooked in place. After that was put together a lump of butter would be put in the box and with the wood spatula the butter would be pressed down until the box was filled. With the spatula you would smooth the butter nice and even.
Then you would take off the sides of the box and place the butter down in the middle of the wet paper and carefully life off the wooden bottom piece. Then you would wrap the butter in the wet paper and set it a side to dry. And that was how we made our butter.
Some times we had so many lbs. of butter that Mom would take it to one of the small local stores and sell it to them. I expect with all the health rules, etc. that would not be allowed today. I guess if you had your own cows you could make some for yourself. Then there is the shake a bottle kind of butter by buying some cream and put it in a bottle and just keep shaking it. A good project for kids to do.
Well, that's the way we did it on the farm. Stop by again and maybe we just might have some.
Have you ever had home made butter? It is the best. No wonder I like butter on everything. This is the way it works.
In my grandmother's kitchen at the end of the counter was this gadget, called a separator, that was used to strain the milk. Of course this milk is right from the cow kind, not that cooked kind. This gadget had a big metal bowl on top where the milk was poured into. I remember that there was this metal thing that had 10 or so discs and each one had a hole in it and these had to be lined up just right. When the machine was working, the discs would spin and somehow that would separate the cream from the milk. There were two spouts so that the cream would flow out of one spout and the left over milk out of the other. It was the cream that we used to make the butter.
So first you milked the cow and then you separate the cream from the milk. When you had enough cream we would then get the butter churn. We had two different types. One was just a small wooden one that had batters inside and we would turn the handle to make the batters work in the cream until it began to separate and you could hear the butter begin to form. The other was a large wooden barrel with a top that was clamped down. With this one we would turn the whole barrel over and over until you could hear the butter as it began to separate from the milk. It would make a splashing sound. Be sure you have clamped the top down good and tight or you would have a big accident.
Once the butter was completely separated, the next step was to collect it out of the butter milk (that was what the milk was called after it was separated). My grandmother had a big wooden spatula that she would work the butter to get all the butter milk out of the butter. Salt would also be added as the butter was worked.
When this process was done, the next step was to package it. I remember doing this step, too. There was a special kind of paper that you would wet it and lay it on the table and smooth it out. Then there was a small wooden container that was put together. The bottom piece had designs in it and there were two sides that fit around the bottom piece and hooked in place. After that was put together a lump of butter would be put in the box and with the wood spatula the butter would be pressed down until the box was filled. With the spatula you would smooth the butter nice and even.
Then you would take off the sides of the box and place the butter down in the middle of the wet paper and carefully life off the wooden bottom piece. Then you would wrap the butter in the wet paper and set it a side to dry. And that was how we made our butter.
Some times we had so many lbs. of butter that Mom would take it to one of the small local stores and sell it to them. I expect with all the health rules, etc. that would not be allowed today. I guess if you had your own cows you could make some for yourself. Then there is the shake a bottle kind of butter by buying some cream and put it in a bottle and just keep shaking it. A good project for kids to do.
Well, that's the way we did it on the farm. Stop by again and maybe we just might have some.
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