IT’S A HOLIDAY?

 

Bess and I were enjoying an overnight staycation while Mike and Clint rode their motorcycles to central Oregon and back. And as we took our morning constitutional, I couldn’t help but think how quiet it was in the neighborhood. It was time for people to be dashing off to work, but nothing was happening. “You’d think it’s a holiday,” I said to myself. It wasn’t until an hour later when I was driving into town that I heard about the June Teenth holiday. It's was equally as quiet when we walked again this morning. Folks have obviously taken advantage of the three-day holiday to leave town or celebrate quietly indoors.

Hot temps are upon us again, and now they’re probably here to stay. I’m finally into my summer PJs for the duration. We need some cookies, but I’m thinking twice about turning on the oven.

The tomato plants are still thriving in my poor dilapidated raised bed that looks like it could fall over at any time, but fear not! Help is on the way. Under Hallie’s leadership, the frame will be rebuilt. The materials are waiting on the porch, and I hope the new frame can be built around the old mound. We’ll see. It will all work out some way. Doesn’t it always?

I broke down and bought two potted zucchini hills. One had two plants, the other three. It’s late in the transplant season now, and I was afraid if I tried to reseed, it would either fail or be too late for the squash to mature.

I’ve never seen such strawberry plants! They’re either very happy or running amok. I keep hearing my dad say, “Kathy, you over-fertilized. Your strawberry plants have gone to leaf.” But – I didn’t fertilize them at all.

ANOTHER CORN RECIPE

Here’s another recipe from Grandma Ina’s box, this one attributed to her sister-in-law, Ida Chandler Dickson. Ida was married to Ina’s brother, Ben, and my dad and his siblings called her “Ida-Ben” to distinguish her from the other Aunt Ida, Ina’s sister.

CORN SALAD

1 head cabbage

12 ears corn

4 tbsp mustard

2 tbsp salt

1 cup sugar

2 pts vinegar

1 red pepper, chopped

Mix together and let simmer 35 minutes; seal in jars.

I know I’ll never try it. KW

THE RETURN OF THE WASHING MACHINE

 

The repairman came twice to this rural place to fix our nearly-new Whirlpool washing machine. I see it as “nearly new” because in the two years since we bought it, it’s seen six months of light use. The dealer and the manufacturer see it as a two-year-old machine that’s out of warranty. 

Despite his two visits, the repairman didn’t fix it, and the dealer suggested that we bring it to the shop. At first Mike said no. Then we borrowed a dolly and the two of us finessed it through three narrow doorways and onto the front porch where we rolled it onto the bed of the pick-up. 

The initial problem was a faulty mother board, which the repairman replaced, but the machine still didn’t work. My opinion was that the replacement mother board was also defective. That makes sense, doesn’t it? If the manufacturer is dealing with faulty mother boards, the new ones might be faulty, too, but the repairman and the dealer didn’t think so. However, working with the machine in the shop, they indeed had to replace the mother board again. 

So, the dealer called to report that the machine was fixed. They had run five loads of laundry through it and it worked fine. Mike agreed to pick it up, then he called back and, as he puts it, pulled “the old man card.” “I know you came twice, but you didn’t fix it. I’m an old man. You could deliver it for me.” And they agreed to bring it on their next trip this way, which was Saturday (the 13^th). 

So, I’ve done a couple of small loads in the machine, and it ran the cycles fine, but I’m just guardedly cautious. If the original mother board and the first replacement were faulty, how long until it fails again? I expect it to be on its best behavior because it can be replaced, but they say all washing machines today are junk on account of plastic parts. It’s shameful that manufacturers put out faulty stuff and then make the consumer responsible. Both the dealer and the consumer are caught in this web. 

“It’s a terrible system we’re getting to have in this country,” said my sister Harriet. Things have not improved in the ten years since she left us. KW

WATER

A lull between storms

If I had known it would be this cold in June, I would have replanted the peas and spinach. Well, I don’t know about the spinach. Something ate it. But the something that ate the spinach, doesn’t care for peas. It did like the zucchini, though. The only zucchini sprout I noticed has disappeared. The tomatoes are slowly growing and blooming, and the strawberries still look good. I have to wonder what signals this cold snap is sending to the plants and fruit trees, though.

Hallie suggested I plant marigolds to ward off insects, but Walmart didn’t have any. I had thought I would jumpstart my zucchini by buying plants, but Walmart was selling single plants for $5 each. Okay – I know I have a concept of $5 that’s straight out of the ‘70s, but it’s still too much for just one plant, especially when it could be like throwing $5 away. I’ll just replant, and if worst comes to worst, maybe this year I’ll have to buy zucchini. I wonder how much zucchini $5 will buy. Maybe not much.

Mike has now completed his annual farmhouse window washing. Knowing the forecast was for rain, he saved the protected downstairs windows for Tuesday, and it was a good thing because we had intermittent storms much of the day. It was also chilly – between 50 and 60 -- and today is yet another cold, rainy day. I was glad for the rain, though, because we need the moisture and it replenishes the cistern (my garden water). 

Southern view obscured by weather

On the subject of water, Hallie and I recently discussed water conservation, specifically the sharing of bath water. In Ina’s house, the family bathed in the wash tub just once a week – on Saturday night – whether they needed it or not. The cleanest people – women and children – bathed first and then the men.  Perhaps they occasionally added hot water, but they didn’t totally change the water. The water source was a distant spring or the cistern. Either way, water was a precious commodity to be used sparingly. My brother Chuck told me that when the men were working, such as during harvest, they did bathe in the evening. And I also think that everyone washed up as needed. 

And it was “dry land farming,” too. They didn’t irrigate the crops or the garden, and they didn’t need to because in those days it occasionally rained during the summer. I don’t know if they might have carried a little water to some struggling plant. Perhaps they did, but they certainly didn’t have sprinklers or drip systems.  

Hallie commented that the sharing of bath water seems like a practice born of poverty. Well, maybe so, but they had to conserve, AND we should be rethinking our water use today because the future of water in our world is at risk. I don’t think Hallie liked what I was saying, but even in Seattle where we think of frequent rain and lush gardens, she speaks of the need to water. She also said that their lawn is already turning brown and questions how much money she wants to spend to keep it green. It’s a question that homeowners have pondered for decades. KW 

HOW TO CAN CORN

 We have so little popcorn this year as something got so much of it before we gathered it in. Nearly half of it must have been gone when Mama and I went down to gather it. – Shirley Dobson, December 1932

Several posts ago, I wondered why Ina made no mention of corn in her little canning notebook. My dad enjoyed growing a large patch of corn at the farm, so I naturally assumed that he was carrying on the family tradition. I still think that Ina and Jack must have grown corn. At any rate, I found a number of corn recipes in Ina’s recipe box. Perhaps the corn was Jack’s responsibility.

“Ettie” sent this recipe to Ina with the following note: “Maybe you already know this method. If you do, no harm done. Lots of people don’t.” To can corn on the cob, remove husks as to cook. Place in pan. Blanch by pouring boiling water over it and let stand in water til cool. Pack in jars. Take vessel bigger than jars and fill with cold water. Immerse jar sideways in water. When bubbles stop, seal and cook about 15 minutes or ½ hour. And to cook, remove, wash and cook as usual, only add a little sugar. You can shave corn from cobs after blanching and can same way.

Here’s Mrs. Cordell’s recipe for canning corn. (Mrs. Cordell was a neighbor.)

10 cups corn cut from cob and milk scraped out,

1 cup sugar, 2 tbsp salt. Put on in open kettle. Add no water. Cook 10 minutes stirring constantly. Put in sterilized jars; seal and boil one hour.

And there are other corn recipes:

Corn Chowder

Corn Casserole

Corn Salad

Corn Relish

Here’s the recipe for corn relish:

Chop one head cabbage, sprinkle with salt, let stand one hour. Boil 12 ears corn, cut off cob. Grind 4 large onions, one large or 2 small peppers. Add chopped cabbage and cover with 1 ½ quarts vinegar [That’s what it says. No wonder I remember a house that smelled like vinegar!], 1 tsp mustard, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp celery seed, 1 cup sugar. Let all come to a boil and cook about 20 minutes and seal.

On the back of this recipe in Ina’s penciled scrawl is this recipe for corn and tomatoes:

Corn, tomatoes, onions browned in butter

Bacon diced and browned – added.

If I were to try this simple dish, I’d brown the bacon and remove from pan. Then I’d saute the corn, tomatoes, and onions in the same pan with a small amount of bacon fat. I’d crumble the bacon and stir it into the vegetables and add a sprinkle of pepper. I bet it would be pretty good.

[The photo here is of my other grandfather, Charlie Portfors. He planted a garden on a vacant lot he owned on Brown Avenue near “A” Street in Orofino. He was proud of that garden, and rightly so. It looks like he has squash in front of the corn. No date on the photo, but it was the mid-1950s.]

JUST A QUICK REAL-TIME UPDATE

We were in town all last week while Mike attended the NAIA World Series. Our local Lewis Clark State College lost out early in the week, but Mike enjoyed the games. And while he was busy, I enjoyed quiet time with my projects.

The three of us – Mike, Bess, and I – drove to the farm in the old pick-up on Sunday (May 31). The old Dodge RAM is a gas-guzzler, so we made the trip count both ways. We carried pavers and treated wood to the farm which will be used to renovate the raised bed when Hallie comes later this month. After offloading those supplies, we loaded the disappointing Whirlpool washing machine which we delivered to the shop in town today. Murray had volunteered to come help us on Monday, but Mike was able to load it with a dolly and my assistance. We senior citizens like to solve our own problems as long as we can.

The first thing I noticed as we drove into the farm was the bed of dazzling purple iris on the bank behind the house. I regret they were not in bloom on Memorial Day weekend.  

The tomatoes and strawberries seem to be doing well, but “something” is eating my green beans and zucchini sprouts. Hallie suggests I plant marigolds in that bed, and maybe I should. I’ll have to buy them. Too late to start from seed. I’ll also buy a zucchini plant – and some slug bait. I don’t think it’s too late to replant the beans and hope for the best. KW