I'm a bit of an "old soul"

I spent some time today trying to down size some of my "treasures."  I love old things.  Old jewelry,  old doilies,  old cross stitch,  old hand embroidered pillow cases,  old table cloths,  basically anything old.  Have I always been that way or did I acquire this "old soul" later in life?  I can't remember.  Some of these items belonged to my Grandma Hicks,  some were from my Great Aunt, and some I picked up from auctions where they were crying out to me as I walked by to take them home where they will be loved once again.

Vintage Aprons!  I love them!

  Tell me how this apron made of this material was used for anything but making the cook look good!

And vintage handkerchiefs!  I did buy a shadow box to display my vintage handkerchiefs in.  They are so lovely and delicate.  I'm guessing no real lady ever went anywhere without their delicate handkerchief. And I'm guessing she never blew her nose on them either!

Doilies!  Starched stiff!  I can't imagine how long it took to make one.  It's a dying art I'm afraid!

And look at the detail in these raised doilies!  I love them!

                  Next is table cloths.  This one looks like it was made from old flour sacks.

These table cloths with matching napkins have been starched and ironed.  I'm guessing they were only used for special occasions. And these probably haven't been unfolded for 50 years!

And I love old hand crocheted dresser scarves

 I've noticed many have these little crocheted edges.  And I also noticed pink seems to be the predominate color.

And my favorite is the beautiful pillow cases

Alas,  I am afraid this fine stitchery is a dying art...  

And finally I love old sparkly jewelry!  Which I like to put in a shadow box and hang on the wall. 

Hope you have enjoyed pictures of my treasures!  And I hope you are an "old soul" too!  We might meet someday at a flea market digging through the bins of old doilies or at an auction where someone else's treasures cry out for another "old soul" to take them home and love them again!  See you there!

Grandpa Art

I love looking at old pictures not only of the people but the buildings, the animals and the surrounding countryside. Here's my Grandpa Art sitting on a stump with his dog, his guitar and his wife by his side. Hope the importance to him was not in that order. I think my brother has the guitar. Love looking at my grandmothers clothes, shoes and particularly that hat.

Grandpa and his horses. Grandpa always walked with a limp and my dad said a wagon ran over his leg when he was little but his mother would not let the Dr. amputate the leg - a fact which he was very thankful for later.

And this picture shows he raised sheep. Fascinating. Take time to listen to your ancestors tell their stories before it is too late. I plan on visiting one of my dad's cousins who is in the nursing home to see what he can tell me about this side of the family. Hope his memory is still good enough to be able to do that. My dad and his one sister are the only children living of Grandpa Art and Grandma Lizzie.

I've heard stories about how famous my Grandpa was for his huge watermelons and after looking at this picture I can see why. Now those are heirloom watermelons is my guess!

I only knew my Grandpa after he moved into town. But my favorite memory of him is teaching me as a little girl how to play a game called Fox and Geese. He made his own game board and we would play it every time we got together.

He always promised me his railroad watch and told me it had diamonds in it. Never did know what happened to that watch after he passed away but I do have the railroad watch belonging to his brother.

Now that I think about it I don't guess I can think of a singe thing that I have that belonged to either my Grandmother or Grandfather and I have a house full of ancestral treasures. I guess I need to see if my dad has any mementos left that belonged to them that he's willing to pass along. Hmmmm......

Grandma Lizzie's Mackerel Patties

As a little girl I have wonderful memories of going to dinner at my Grandma Lizzie and Grandpa Arts house in town. They lived at the top of what seemed like a very steep hill especially when trudging up it after swim lessons which I remember as being awfully early in the morning and always cold. I remember Grandma as being a good cook and I can still see her lifting a giant granite pan full of patties out of the oven.
Here's the recipe from my sister Carol for Grandma's patties:
For each can of Mackerel, Salmon or Tuna (which has been drained well and deboned) add 1 egg and crackers that have been crushed up very fine. Salt to taste. Mix well into patties and fry slowly in hot oil till brown.

Kick it up a notch by Granddaughter Joyce- Add green pepper, celery and onion and wrap a piece of bacon around each patty held in place with a toothpick. Then fry till brown.

Sister Carol assures me Grandma fried them so I can only think she must have put them in the oven to keep them warm until family arrived.

I also remember eating Sour Kraut with wieners, the most wonderful homemade rolls, Lemon Pies and another favorite was baked pie crust sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. May have been during hard times but I remember the food tasting wonderful!

It's 11:00 at night and I'm making Salsa...

I started out this morning early by calling my extension person. I said "I've got 40 cups of chopped tomatoes and I need to know how much vinegar I need to put in the batch. Is there a formula I can use?" I don't think she was impressed! It seems you should make it in smaller batches so don't do this much at a time. I had to guess at how many cups of peppers and onions I had added and that didn't help much either. But she did figure it for me. I thought it tasted a little too vinegary but she probably erred on the safe side.

Anyway.... I had 30 pints of Salsa and now I am up late doing the water bath thing. But everyone seems to like the Salsa. So maybe it will be worth it. I can't eat it because it does bad things to my ulcer when I eat spicy stuff. And I put jalepenos in this batch. Used the same recipe as the one on my previous post, except I am now going to water bath it instead of freezing it.
These will look nice lined up in my pantry. I'm rapidly running out of room in there!

The well's up and running ...pumping water....

The boy's Poppy  got his pump and is ready to get the drilled well that was on the property when we bought it up and pumping water. We want to be able to water the garden and the chickens with this water rather than using the Consolidated Public Water that we are on.
He painted the inside of the well housing and also added a light socket so we could plug in a heat bulb in the winter.

Notice he had lots of help.

Putting the new pipe down the hole with help from our son-in-law Steve.

Had my daughter Rachel on the 4 wheeler pulling a rope.

Enjoy this picture because as soon as she sees it on here she will take it off.

Here's a close up of what the pipe that went down the well looked like.

The finished product. Everything's all done.

Put the temporary top back on. Before winter we'll have to build a insulated cover of some kind.

This switch box is located in the shop. In case I ever need to turn it off or on I guess.

Now we have water up at the barn....

as well as down at the chicken house and garden area.
This is what I call "free water". Guess it wasn't free to get the well up and running, but now my water will be free coming from the well.

If hard times get any worse, I think they are already here, having our own water supply will be a plus. So if you too have a water supply on your homestead, get it up and running, for goodness sake. I'm glad we finally did!

Making Jelly on the 4th of July....

What better way to celebrate the 4th than by making blackberry and gooseberry jelly.  Again, jelly making is buying your pectin (I use SureJel) cleaning your berries and following the directions.

This is my Grandmother's colander. Anyway, that is what we always called it. She gave it and her rolling pin to me before she died. The rolling pin was given back to my mother for a while but is now back in my possession. And I treasure both of them. And still use them.


Wanted to get you a good shot of the wooden part of the colander.

Here's the berries being cooked down.

And here's the final product.

I also had enough gooseberries to make 5 pints of gooseberry jelly. Doesn't it make a pretty pink colored jelly? Over-Ripe gooseberries are purple so throw some of both colors in while you are picking.

Give making homemade jelly a try. It really isn't hard and the flavor beats anything you buy from the store by far!!!

Count your blessings if you have acreage or have access to land with blackberry vines or gooseberry bushes on them that you can pick.

Nothing like pickles!!

Stopped by my local Farmer's Market on the way home from the grocery store and bought a whole bag of little cucumbers so am going to make pickles today. Just not quite like grandma made hers.

Here's my secret to good pickles. Mrs. Wages. Little mixes you buy in the store. Love them!!

First, make sure your pickles are washed good so the little prickly things are gone. And make sure you have fresh cucumbers. Grandma always said pick them in the early morning every other day. But anyway, I did the next best thing. Bought them from farmer's market.


The directions on the package say "Combine dill mix, 3 and 1/3 cups vinegar (5
0/0 acidity) and 7 and 1/3 cups water in a large non aluminum pan. Bring mixture just to boil over medium heat stirring constantly until mixture dissolves.


Pack cucumbers into sterilized jars leaving 1/2 inch head space . Evenly divide hot pickling liquid among the packed jars , leaving 1/2 inch of head space. Remove air bubbles and cap each jar as it is filled. If more liquid is needed for proper head space , add a mix of 1 part vinegar and 2 parts water.



Process pints 5 minutes and quarts 10 minutes, in a boiling water bath canner.

Product is ready to eat after 24 hours. Before serving, chill to enhance flavor and crispness.

Gotta love homemade pickles. These were Kosher Dill but I plan on making Sweet and maybe Bread and Butter pickles too. Will have to hit the local Farmer's Market later this week again.

Happy pickle making!!