Pickin' blueberries

We've been so busy for the last 6 weeks picking blueberries on our farm. We picked about 70 gallons. (Now think about the size of a blueberry. It takes 1 1/2 hours to pick a gallon.) We sold most of them, made blueberry cobblers, and eat them fresh. They're so sweet this year, perhaps because of the 90-plus degree heat every day. But we're relieved they're gone for this year. Tiring and hot work. We prefer buyers pick their own, but not many are willing to put forth the effort anymore. It's easier for them to pay somebody to do the work. Figs are starting to ripen and looks like tons on the tree, if the birds will allow. I'd like to make several jars of fig preserves to have for my Fig Preserve Cake that's so good. I don't have any now because we got zero figs last year due to hornets taking up residence in the fig bush. And hornets are not like other bees; they'll fight you if you try to go along about your business. They refuse to be ignored. In September we'll have muscadines (a southern grape) and they too make absolutely delicious jelly. William has been sharing okra with us and nothing beats a fresh pan of fried okra. It's not summer without fried okra. And of course the obligatory fresh sliced tomatoes. We've picked tons off 4 - you read it right, 4 - plants. One day we got 2 5-gal. buckets full. I froze and canned them for later soup, chili, etc. use. Again, all the difference in the world in store-bought ("vine ripened" HA!) tomatoes and picked ripe off the plant at home. We have the Parks Whopper variety that I grow from seed, starting February 14 in the basement on a hot box. A viable seed given heat and moisture has no choice but to sprout and grow. I did grow some late Better Boy variety because I found the seed in the basement. Just now starting to bloom. We'll see if this was a good idea. But I'm always trying new things, wondering what to do next.

More 'Life on the Farm'

Today we have a total of 8 baby goats with 2 more mamas ready to have theirs. This afternoon a mama had triplets and they're all jumping around and eating - and eating, and.....

Life on the Farm, etc.

We have three baby goats, all male, which is not good. Only need one male here and they don't sell for as much as the females, which will produce and have more. Several other mamas are very pregnant (one's going to burst if she doesn't soon give birth). But the babies are so cute bouncing and leaping around, full of energy. The branch in the pasture where they water is drying up bacause of the serious drought we're in and that means we'll have to start watering by filling up tubs with a water hose. But we take it as it comes and do what's needed.> Now's the time to dig up and divide daffodils as I did today. The foliage should be nearly all dead and dig slightly away from the clump of bulbs so you don't split any. They'd have to be thrown away. They're ever so lovely in the early spring with their many different types and colors.> I plan to make a batch of homemade Brunswick stew this week. It takes days to make in getting the pork cooked and shredded and the baking hen cooked. I use an electric grinder for the pork and finely chop the chicken. Then all the other ingredients are added and cooked together for several hours. I cook it in a very large heavy-gauge aluminum (won'd stick to pan) pan I'd bought at a garage sale years ago. My pans are treasures to me but nobody cooks in this manner anymore so when I'm gone the pans will be of no use to anyone. My main iron frying pan I've been using for over 50 years, and the inside is smooth as silk. Also have a very old iron Dutch oven that's equally great for cooking just about anything.

storing winter blankets

I'm in the process of putting away the winter blankets and I have a wonderful storage idea. The large zippered bags that come with comforters, mattress covers and other items can be used to store blankets, or anything else. After you wash and dry them and put them in the zippered bag, then put the bag under the bed. One of the best storage places in the house. The bed covers usually come to the floor and no one knows it's there but you. Unused space put to good use.

Poke Sallit

When I was talking about the collards I should have mentioned eating poke salad(sallit, as old folks pronounced it). You know what a poke berry weed is, has the red berries that birds like and it will stain everything. Sometimes comes up in a flower bed, grows wild beside the roads. In the spring folks would gather the young leaves of the poke salad (every part of the plant is poisonous) and cook them. The cooking water(pot likker) would have to be drained off several times so it wouldn't poison you. (My husband says if I ever cooked them (I haven't) that I'd lack one time in pouring off the water and kill him). They cook up sort of like spinach, a little slicky. I've seen my mother-in-law cook and eat them. I've never tried them, thank you very much

spring collards

You can grow collards if you have a flower bed and growing your own ensures they're pesticide free and clean. I grow my plants from seed and put the plants in the ground early fall. They'll make huge leaves that you cut from the plant (leave the stalk, I'll tell you why later.) Get a cutting board in your lap, place each leaf on the board and use a sharp knife to cut down each side of the pithy stem (trust me, that stem will not cook tender), stack 5-6 stems, roll like a cigar and make crosswise cuts, making "ribbons". Much easier to wash this way and already cut for serving. Cook in large pan till tender (the amount will shrink considerably), then can pressure cook with a piece of fatback for ultimate tenderness and flavor. Good with cornbread and mashed potatoes. Leave the stalk in ground for winter, in spring will sprout new tender leaves for more harvest. In early winter before the first hard cold gather all the leaves for cooking; those leaves won't make it through the winter, then wait for spring and more collards. Nothing tastes better!

Cream Puffs

This recipe is so easy and foolproof. You can put chicken or salad in them or use them as a dessert with pudding and chocolate topping, Chocolate Eclairs

Cream Puffs
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs

Heat oven to 400. Heat water and buttr to rolling boil. Stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or till mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Beat in eggs, all at one time; continue beating till smooth. Drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 35-40 min. or until puffed and golden. Cool away from draft. Cut off tops with serrated knife. Pull out any filaments of soft dough. Carefully fill puffs with desired filling - pudding, salads, etc.
To make eclairs shape dough into "fingers" 4 1/2 inches long and 1 1/2 inch wide. When cool fill with Vanilla Cream Pudding and frost with Chocolate Icing: Melt one ounce unsweetened chocolate and i tsp.butter over low heat. Remove from heat, stir in 1 cup confectioners' sugar and about 2 Tbsp. hot water. Beat till smooth. Refrigerate eclairs till serving time.

raising goats

Most often a buck(male) goat is mean, the girls, never. The buck will come at you with his head down and horns ready to run into you. Sometimes they'll come at you standing on their back legs and waving their front feet - out to get you. To prevent a lot of that we use a "hot stick", a long yellow stick that has batteries and delivers a powerful shock. The buck we had knew exactly what it was. If you came in the barn with it, he'd take off. When Perry goes down the driveway and stops, the goats think he's brought them something to eat and will come running. One day he was working with a shovel - with a yellow handle - to fill up a hole. The goats came running and when Perry picked up the shovel to put it back in the truck the buck ran the other way as fast as he could. He remembered that something that looked just like that shovel delivered a jolt he didn't want again. So goats have memories and they know their colors. The girls stuck around; they'd never been shocked and yellow meant nothing to them. We'll be having more babies in about 4 months; gestation is 5 months. Nothing is more fun than baby goats and their antics.

Chicken 'n Dumplings

2 Tbsp. butter
2 1/4 cups White Lily self-rising flour, divided
3 (14.5 oz.) cans chicken broth
1/4 cup Crisco, chilled
1/2 cup milk
2 cups cooked, diced chicken
black pepper

Note: Don't even think about using canned chicken broth. Buy chicken, pressure cooker it and you have fabulous broth and tender chicken. Now to the rest of the recipe.

Melt butter in Dutch oven. Whisk in 1/4 cup flour. Reserve 1/2 cup broth to make dumplings, then add rest of broth into Dutch oven. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat.
Place 2 cups flour in large bowl. Cut in Crisco using pastry blender until mixture is the size of peas. Blend in just enough broth till dough leaves sides of bowl. Pour any remaining broth in Dutch oven.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead 2 or 3 times. Roll dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut dough into strips, about 2x1-inch. Return broth to boiling. Add dumpling strips to boiling broth.
Cover; reduce heat to low. Simmer 15 minutes or till dumplings are cooked through. Stir in milk, chicken and pepper. Cook till heated through.

Pear Cobbler

I'm sure Kay's recipe for Fruit Cobbler has now circled the globe, but in case you missed it she's enlarged on it with a fresh Pear Cobbler. She needed to use up some pears she'd bought that wouldn't seem to ripen and I'd just torn a recipe out of the Sunday newspaper's magazine and helped her out. She made it, brought some to my house and it's soooooo good. The original recipe she's used for many years came from her great-grandmother, Carrie Smith, on Tom Smith Road.

PEAR COBBLER

4 1/2 Tbsp. butter
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
3/4 cup milk (can use cream for a richer taste)
1 1/4 tsp. vanilla
8 small pears (some soft, some harder, about cups), peeled and sliced or diced.

Cut butter into chunks and place in a Pyrex dish. Place in a 350 oven 5-8 min., till butter is melted. Whisk together dry ingredients in bowl. Add milk and vanilla and whisk till smooth. Pour batter over hot butter, top with pears. Do not stir. Bake 45 minutes or until top is browned and a toothpick poked into center comes out clean. As they bake pears will sink to bottom. Serve slightly warm from the dish.

Brunswick Stew

2 (2 1/2- lb.) chickens (A large baking hen works well; has more taste )
1 (3-lb.) Boston butt pork roast
3 (14-oz) cans diced tomatoes (or equal amt. fresh tomatoes)
1 (16-oz.) packages frozen whole kernel corn
2 (16-oz.) packages frozen butterbeans
2 med. onions, chopped
32-oz. chicken broth (use broth from cooking chicken)
1 (24-oz.) bottle ketchup
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon black pepper
2 Tablespoons (or to taste) hot sauce

Cook chicken in pressure cooker. Remove meat from bones and chop (or use a food grinder). Save broth. Cook Boston butt in same pan. This meat chops or grinds best when cold. Refrigerate. In same pan pre-cook the butterbeans, then the corn. Combine everything in a LARGE pan and cook, stirring occasionally, 2-3 hours. Makes about 8-10 quarts. Freezes well. (A note: Be careful when cooling a large amount in a pan. Can spoil if not handled properly. May have to ladle out into smaller bowls or pans to cool for freezing) Hint: Boston Butt pork goes on sale often; this week you can find it for $1.29 a lb.

Scalloped Potatoes

I have an easy and delicious recipe for scalloped potatoes.

8 medium potatoes, thinly sliced in food processor or mandolin

In saucepan: Melt 2 Tbsp. butter. Add 1 small onion, minced. Cook 4 minutes, then add 2 cloves garlic, minced. Cook 30 seconds,
Add 3 cups heavy cream 4 sprigs thyme and 2 bay leaves. Bring to boil, add sliced potatoes, cover pan and slow simmer for 15 minutes. Pour into baking dish, remove bay leaves (can't leave them in your food). Sprinkle 2 cups grated Cheddar cheese over top, bake in 350 oven for 20 minutes.

Brunswick Stew

I made Brunswick Stew today, homemade and from scratch. Some things you just can't make a small amount; can't do it. So I have about 10 quarts. But then it takes so long to make you'd want to make a bunch at the time. If you want the recipe let me know and I'll print it for you - or you can buy the Yellow River cookbook and the recipe is in there. Excuse me now, I have to go get another bowl of Brunswick stew.