COMING UP: ELDERBERRY FEST 2010

This year we're holding our first ever Elderberry Fest on Saturday, October 16. We've had Elderberry Fest in past years, but it was just me with Mike's help and we didn't call it a fest. But this year Nick and Hallie are coming from Seattle because they want to experience firsthand the making of elderberry jelly – from picking the berries to processing the juice to making the jelly. That I should be considered an expert in anything – let alone elderberries – is truly remarkable.

Mike and I were newlyweds when my dad gave us a jar of his fresh elderberry jelly. Mike was immediately hooked. That's the way with elderberry jelly: you either love it at first taste or you say, "Yeah? What's all the fuss about?" But Mike loved it and when my dad was gone, he would occasionally come home with elderberries for me to make into jelly. I had to learn the process by reading the jelly instructions, and even now I research and review. A few years ago, Sure-Jell dropped elderberry from its recipe list, but we can still find it at their online site.

And elderberry jelly (amongst other jellies) also makes Nick's eyes light up. We have quite a few elderberry bushes on or near our property and know of others in various nearby gullies, etc., and he and Hallie plan to prune some of them while they are here. The Fish and Game guy who came last year said he was surprised to see so many elderberry bushes because they usually don't survive in the agriculture country.

So, anyway, I'm getting ready for Elderberry Fest. I have checked my list at least twice:
Stock pot – check
Cheesecloth -- check
Candy thermometer -- check
Plenty of jelly jars – check (I hope it's enough)
Rings and lids -- check
Canner located and cleaned – check
Canning rack -- check
C&H Pure Cane Sugar (no Idaho beet sugar!) – check
4 boxes Sure-Jell – check
Many fresh lemons – check

The weekend's festivities will open with a tour of various local elderberry bushes seeking the fullest, most promising clumps of ripe berries, after which we will return to the house (time approximate) to clean and rake berries from clumps into the stock pot for processing of juice. Following that lesson, we will make jelly in earnest. I expect to make one batch of jelly without Sure-Jell in order to demonstrate "sheeting." After a productive afternoon, a friendly yet competitive game of Dominoes is tentatively scheduled for the evening.

In the event we can't find berries, I have prepared elderberry juice in the freezer. A little apple juice added to the elderberry increases natural pectin and tempers the strong flavor, so I also processed juice from apples picked off the old tree on the Senter property. Not wanting to waste the pulp, I then ran it through the food mill, sweetened it with sugar and added a cup of red hots. Some kind of good!
Oh -- and I almost forgot. Son Clint says he's coming to the farm Friday night to spent some time and share a couple of meals with us. His family also loves elderberry jelly, though Clint has not professed interest in actually making the stuff.

Photo: Nellie doesn't enjoy the hustle and bustle of housecleaning. She waited patiently in a sunny spot while Mike and I both ran vacuums. KW

PHEASANT OPENER

Deer season in Idaho always opens on the 10^th of October and pheasant season usually opens on the second Saturday in October. This year that Saturday was the 9^th which meant deer season opened the following day. I much prefer bird hunting to deer hunting and try to get a deer just for the meat because I prefer it to beef. I hunt deer only on the farm and naturally the easiest time to bag one is opening day. Deer prospects haven’t looked good lately and pheasants even worse. Idaho Fish and Game predicted very few birds and my observations agreed with their predictions.

After a very successful partridge hunt Tuesday in town (1 chukar and a limit of huns) we left for the farm. I had told Ken, my hunting partner, that I most likely would not come back to town for pheasant opener in view of the prospects and the fact that I would have to come right back to the farm that same afternoon. However, after scouting for deer and confirming those poor prospects I decided to make the quick turnaround trip to town to hunt with Ken. I always enjoy hunting with Ken and since expectations were so low I wasn’t likely to be disappointed.

We didn’t get into town until about bedtime and as I was into a good book and couldn’t sleep I didn’t dose off until about 2:30 a.m. and I was back up a little after 5:30. Ken and I went to our usual opening pheasant area near Lapwai a little ways southeast of Lewiston. Apparently the poor forecast had discouraged all the hunters because we saw only two all morning and didn’t hear any shots (except our own) in the area. We started up a draw and hadn’t been out of the truck 15 minutes when 20 or more pheasants began flushing above us. One was close enough that Ken even took a shot but didn’t get it. Long story short, in two hours we both had our limit of 3 pheasants. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve bagged my limit that quickly on opening day. What was really funny was that the forecast had virtually eliminated the other hunters. Well, it almost did me too. M/W

QUICK TRIP TO TOWN

Mike vacillated all last week over whether or not to return to town Friday night in order to participate in opening Idaho pheasant season on Saturday. The pheasant population is down – blah blah blah; it might rain – mumble mumble mumble. "If I go," he said, "I'll just leave you here. It will be easier that way."

LEAVE ME HERE?! Am I so high maintenance that it's hard to take me? Just because I carry along a laptop, an iPod, a cell phone, a camera, and a bunch of books – does that make it hard? Don't answer that! After all, for a quick trip, I'd be willing to leave behind the sewing machine and four accessory cases.

When Ken called Friday afternoon to say he would definitely hunt Saturday morning, Mike decided he wanted to go, too – big surprise! – and sensing (?) that I wanted to go, too, he decided taking me along probably wasn't such a bad idea. After all, I could do the shopping while he and Ken were out. Yes! Jo-Ann Fabrics – here I come!

I had actually prepared a shopping list for Mike: milk and bananas – I knew he could do that; and then the bias tape and rick rack from Jo-Ann's – that had me worried. Can you really send the average man to shop for sewing notions? I've seen it on rare occasion. One afternoon as I shopped at Jo-Ann's, a prominent local businessman came in and asked to be shown the iron-on patches. I know him to be a bright man, but he pondered over that rack for quite a while. Hmmm. And I once conversed with a man buying an armload of 4-ply yarn for his mother, a shut-in. He hoped she would be happy with it. And I could just see Mike there in his now-soiled, ratty-looking hunting clothes asking for the bias tape and rick-rack. I was pretty sure he could get the color right – black -- but would he come back with double-fold tape and jumbo rick-rack? My hope was that some associate would see my list with the samples pinned to it, read my mind, and select the correct items from the display. And they would probably wonder if this indigent-looking man had the price of the stuff on him. But now I didn't need to worry about all this because I was going to shop for myself.

So, after supper Friday evening I quickly gathered all the necessary books and electronics and we headed to town. It was good. My order from the Vermont Country Store – three bottle brush canes for holiday decorating finally at a price I would pay – was there at the back door. Already the trip had paid for itself in my book.

So Mike was off to pick up Ken and Duke for the hunt early Saturday morning. I waited until stores were open and headed off on my appointed rounds. No problems – unless you count that my Costco Amex credit card had expired. They checked me out through customer service and told me – rather forcefully, I thought – to call Amex as soon as I got home. Turns out Amex had updated Mike's address when we moved – six years ago – but not mine. So, Mike's card, which he has had for years – has an expiration date of 2013 – while mine, which I have had forever, expired 9/10. 

And as if on cue, the mailman knocked on our door with my order from Keepsake Quilting. I treated myself to a charm pack of '30s replica fabric, a selection of 10-inch squares in Christmas fabrics, and a charm pack of fabrics in autumn colors. I hope to practice with some simple quilting patterns.

So, yes, here we are at the farm until mid-week, when again we will dash to town for activities. KW

LITTLE CITY GIRL

This portrait of Granddaughter Emerson taken as she turned two just begged to be posted. Her blue eyes have been inviting me to play. I think the photographer did a great job of capturing her smiling right into the camera.

HUNTER GATHERERS

Here it is – the second Friday in October and the flickers are picking on our old country house. It's always something . . .

My mother used to insist on a fire in the furnace during the first week of September. She said if she didn't heat the house a little on chilly mornings, at least one of her children would take cold. Well, you know, the whole weather change thing . . . It has yet to be chilly enough to warrant consistent heat. Overnight temperatures haven't even approached freezing. Mike and I were reminiscing that this time last year – at opening deer season – it was cold.

Yesterday morning Mike was up early and out to scout for sign of deer. After tramping the property for an hour, he came back to report that he had seen neither "hide nor hair." We're into a rainy spell now and the deer are just pretty savvy. They know when it's time to seek shelter. So – if you were rootin' for the deer, the score is already Deer-1, Mike-zip, though the season doesn't open until Sunday, the 10^th.

After a little morning rain gave way to a lighter sky, Mike suggested we should head over to the woodlot at the Senter place. Our last trip to town (Tuesday, Sept. 28), Mike drove the big old Dodge Ram with a load of wood, pulling the utility trailer, also loaded with wood. The trailer-load of limb wood went to Ken, who sustained a tendon injury the last time he and Mike went into the woods. The pick-up load is now stacked neatly on pallets behind the shed in town. We had already brought a trailer-load here to the farmhouse. We are pleased for this opportunity to be working a year ahead on our wood.

"I won't take all of it," I heard Mike tell our neighbor, Chuck. "Probably just some limb wood."

"That's okay," responded Chuck. "Take all you want – leave the rest. No one else has spoken for it."

And I notice that little by little we've worked our way into taking most of the wood. Mike was pleased to discover that the locust splits easily – or so he says – and we have cut trunks into measured lengths to be split and stacked. My part is to handle the measuring stick, throw limbs and branches on the slash pile, and assist in loading. The elm, however, is another story -- resistant to splitting.

So yesterday forenoon the three of us headed back to Senter's where we had left the trailer. We loaded what was already split, then cut, split, and loaded more. On our way back to the house, we stopped at an elderberry bush to pick some luscious-looking clumps, but you know how it is with elderberries. When we approached the bush, luring us with its promise, we discovered that the berries were just out of reach, hanging off a steep, rocky drop-off. Even if Mike could have negotiated the drop-off, he would have been too far below the berries to capture the clumps. We tried with our long hook but to no avail. But, as it is with elderberry, we were able to pick a few clumps here and there and fill a two-gallon bucket.

And Nellie! – she picked up a clump that dropped on the ground and ran away with it. When we asked her to fetch, she disobediently munched the clump – berries, stems, and all.

After lunch at the house, I processed the elderberries into two quarts of juice in preparation for Elderberry Fest 2010 to be held October 16. I was just ready to head for the vintage sewing room to work on an apron I'm making, when Mike announced his intention to go back to the woodlot and finish loading the trailer. I knew it would be hard for him without me, so I volunteered to go. The worst of it was knowing that I would be really tired at the end of the day, but at least I had leftovers to serve for supper. We worked hard for several hours hearing thunder in the distance and watching a storm develop to the south and east. You know how it is with "scattered showers." It doesn't rain everywhere, and we really didn't get much at the farmhouse. Anyway, during a break in our work, I picked a few more apples from the Senter's old tree.

We were able to bring another trailer-load of wood to our woodshed – already split and ready to be stacked. KW

[Bloggers new photo feature which allows for captions under pictures is great, but as is often the case, working with it is frustrating. Captioning prevents opening the picture for a larger view, and a couple of readers really enjoy seeing the photos in larger format. I will use captioning sparingly.
Photo 1 -- Morning storm to the northwest.
Photo 2 -- Mike target shooting.
Photo 3 -- Mike at the Senter woodlot.
Photo 4 -- Storm to the southeast from the Senter place.
Photo 5 -- The old apple tree.]

RURAL ELECTRIFICATION

The Julian Dobson Family in June, 1922: Shirley, Ina, Vance, Julian (Jack), Earle, Ethel, Pearl, Myrtle. The family is having a spot of fun with inept Aunt Bertha behind the camera. Except for Julian, that is.

In 1932, my Grandma Ina began to write to my dad about the impact of the Depression and diminishing markets on farm life. Here and there she mentions the age issues affecting Julian's ability to continue the strenuous work of farming with horses. Questions, such as "How much longer can we hold old on?" and "What would we do if we had to leave the homeplace?" hang unspoken in every letter. Eventually those letters would come to rest in my correspondence file. However, I don't have any record of Grandma Ina's thoughts a decade earlier when readers of "The Farmer's Wife" were discussing whether or not their daughters should marry farmers.

Here's what I do know about Ina's life in 1922: Her dream house, built just five years earlier in 1917, had no wiring, no running water, no plumbing, no central heat – in short, no modern conveniences nor any hope of gaining those. They carried water from a spring, split wood for the cook stove and fireplace, lit kerosene lamps at dusk, and bathed once a week in a wash tub set in the kitchen. Jack and Ina never had an automobile and Jack farmed with horses until he died, the horses dying shortly after he did.

Now with Jack "out of the picture," some are contrite.

I never thought the life of the homesteader / farmer was one of prosperity. Farming was subsistence living. The farmer grew crops which supposedly enabled him to meet expenses and buy seed for the next year's crop. In addition, he was able to live off the land, growing his own food – fruits, vegetables, and meat. He had the privilege of being his own boss, but only the lucky few found success in terms of money and goods. There was little left over for material goods. The farmer and his family worked hard and never got ahead – not really. And if he got behind on expenses, maybe through no fault of his own, he had no recourse except to go further into debt. A young man might sell out and move on. For an old man, the plight was worse.

Of course, it wasn't that way for all farmers, but according to my research, it was true for the vast majority. In 1930, 90% of U.S. urban homes were electrified but only 10% of rural homes. This lack of electrical power prevented modernization of the farm without which conditions were none too healthy. So most farms were behind the times in modern improvements – plumbing, running water, refrigeration, and central heat. According to the statistics I read, 90% of farmers were still without electrical power in 1935. Privately-owned electric companies were little interested in rural electrification because of the expense and inability of farmers to pay. Some farmers formed co-ops in an effort to bring in electricity but without funding they couldn't meet the expense. Passage of the Rural Electrification Act (REA) in 1936 is said to be the most significant legislation to come out of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Through the REA, co-ops were granted low-cost loans to bring electricity to the farm. By 1950, 90% of American farms had electricity. Ina's was one of the 10% that did not. The last utility pole was at the neighbor's a quarter mile distant. In 2000, Clearwater Power Company, a rural co-op, placed the three poles that carry electricity to Ina's house.

I'm sure that the farmer's wife didn't need conveniences to love her life and see its benefits, but when writers in 1922 make sweeping statements that farms everywhere are now modernized, it's just not true of the country in general.

Even with rural electrification, we were unable to save farming in our country and stem the tide of movement to the cities, but as we became an urbanized society, I'm not sure the government was interested in the small farm anyway. I always remember my mother's words: "I hate to see the small farm disappear," she said sadly. "It was a good way of life and a good place to raise a family." Then she added, "Our government spent years convincing people to move to the farm and then couldn't move them back to the city fast enough." KW

JUST HAVING FUN ON THE PRAIRIE

Unlike Kathy’s thoughtful and insightful blog contributions mine are just about my little adventures. Bird season opened in Idaho (except for pheasant) Saturday the 18^th. Ken and I made the opening day hunt on a local doctor’s land that borders the Snake River a little south of Lewiston. Ken is still recovering from an injury sustained in one of our firewood cutting adventures so he pretty much stuck to the top of the hills bordering the fields whereas I ventured further down the mountain. We had gotten an early start hoping to catch the birds (chukars and huns) up high as they often feed in the stubble early. We weren’t very successful with that strategy although we did get up a covey or two just below the rim. The star thistle was the worse I’ve ever seen it – in many areas chest high and very thick and wide spread. It was very hot before mid morning and my new setup this season consisting of a hydration pack on my back and a belt with a game bag and shell bags worked well. The heat is really tough on our hairy hided hunting partners and the water is mostly for them. Nellie went through 2 liters in about 3 hours. In spite of the heat, slippery rocks from the previous evening’s rain and star thistle we had a pretty good hunt. Ken bagged 3 chukars and I got 5 chukars and 2 huns. However, we found the chukars in this area were mostly juvenile birds.

Tuesday, the 22^nd , Kathy and I headed for the farm. After completing a few chores Thursday morning I had a Tootsie Pop and discovered on the wrapper an Indian shooting a star with his bow and arrow. Grandson, Jackson, says that’s good luck. Combined with the date being the 23^rd and I’ve always liked that number and I remarked to Nellie that maybe we should venture out for a little hunt. Now I’m not superstitious at all, but what the heck, let’s go hunting.

Game birds on the farm are mostly restricted to huns (Hungarian or gray partridge) which are the fastest flushing and most challenging birds to bag in this country. This morning I was carrying my favorite partridge gun which is a 12 gauge Remington 870 pump. We entered the stubble down by the east edge of the pond and we had no sooner entered the field when Nellie hit a hard point. Huns usually flush so fast and coordinated that I very seldom get more that one on a covey flush. This time, however, I got two birds with the first shot, a third one with my second shot and yet a fourth with my third shot. Wow – my first ever home run on huns! Nellie quickly brought back the first three birds but had not seen the fourth one which had flown west toward the pond and had fallen in chest high grass and weeds rather than in the field. I directed her over to the general area and within a couple of minutes she had the bird. I like to hunt the huns all season so I usually restrict each hunt to 2 birds or one covey rise so I figured that less than 5 minute hunt would be it for the huns.

I had seen a covey of quail down at the corner of where our lane leaves the road toward the house so we thought we would see if we could find those. So I take Nellie down there and sure enough she goes on point. When the covey flushes I drop two in the dense thicket on the hillside and hit a third one that flutters over the field above. We spend 10 or 15 minutes hunting for the two quail in the thicket and eventually give up on finding one of them. Nellie had not seen it fall and I wasn’t sure just where it had hit either. I suspected the third bird had flown quite a ways out in the field above or maybe didn’t fall at all. Nevertheless, you have to look. No sooner had we entered the field than Nellie went on point again and I figured it must be the wounded quail. To my surprise another covey of huns flushed out a ways and I dropped one with the only shot I had time to make. Not wanting too much of a good thing we headed for the house after a quick but very successful farm hunt. M/W