Nickel on the railroad

Thanksgiving 1957

The feast is over and the I am remembering our

hike earlier in the day.

It is a yearly thing, The Old Farmer takes us out

to hike the rail line that crosses the back road into town.

It is quite scenic, going around a curve and with shale like

cliffs on one side. It was chilly out today.

There were 4 of us kids. We tried to outdo each other

walking on the rails, follow the leader.

Picking up dead leaves and stones along the tracks.

We had a healthy curiosity as all kids do

We were full of questions, what kind

of leaf it this, what tree did it come from.

The Old Farmer had the answers and pointed

out the matching tree. 

What would happen if we left a penny on the rail?

Then The Old Farmer took a nickel from his pocket

And searched along the rock cliff for the perfect spot.

He swept off the debris and put the nickel there,

And told us all to remember where it was, next year

We would come back and find it!

Continued...present day...

 So the Old Farmer's Wife had a respite from family

so she could concentrate on the big dinner.
And when we went back to find that nickel...

...never could find it-after a year of anticipation! 

It was a mystery, did a squirrel or a bird dislodge it? 

Or did someone else actually find it!? 

What is a first cousin....

There were many discussions over the years 

Especially at Thanksgiving dinner,

about extended families and who was who. 

Especially Cousins. Can you imagine such a mundane
subject becoming intense! It can!

Who was a cousin, what was a cousin once removed? 

Who was a first cousin, who was a second cousin..

Oh good grief, now I am getting confused all over again! 

There were many opinions.  

I'll try to sort this out a bit,
First cousins, the children of siblings to each other.
Second cousin, the children of first cousins to each other. 

Cousin once removed. Once removed refers to generations,
So your once removed cousin is the child of your first cousin. 

Now The Old Farmer's Daughter is going on vacation! 

HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING FEAST

Let's celebrate our farmers who make this possible. 

Church Life

The Old Farmer's Wife was a good catholic. 

And the Old Farmer loved her so he promised to
go to church with her and raise the children as catholics too.

The Old Farmer and his wife were active community members

and both belonged to the church societies.
 The men of the church belonged to the Holy Name Society.
And the women had the Rosary Altar Society.

The men did the barbecuing at the yearly church dinner.
And helped run the lawn fete. This involved building booths
and running the games, there were darts and balloons, with one
small balloon in the middle for a bigger prize.
And the venerable ping pong ball in the goldfish bowls.
Pounding in a nail with hammer, can you do it in one blow!?

The women cooked and served family style at the church dinner.
They had a rotation for cleaning the church and bringing flowers in. 

My funny memory of the ladies was the teas at our house.
One older lady was something of a diviner.

I may have mentioned the Old Farmer's Wife had a teacup
collection and when she held the tea was proud to use these.
(No? well we will get to it!~)

She went out to buy loose leaf tea special.
And the diviner would read the tea leaves.
This always struck me as incongruous.
But it was "just for fun".

Elderberry Wine

The Old Farm was truely an old farm.
It appeared to be a prosperous farm in the 1800s.
The house was expanded in Victorian times from

its original farmhouse. 

There were old orchards; pear and apple.
A quince tree, vineyard, and black raspberries gone wild.
Walnut trees and a patch of elderberry bushes.

Elderberries (Sambucus) were/are used medicinally by many.

The berries are black or very dark blue and have a sharp, sweet flavor 

that makes them highly preferred for desserts, syrups, jams, jellies.

They are full of minerals, antioxidands, and vitamins.

For many years an old couple would come by in the right season

and ask to pick some berries. Of course permission was given.
That was the way in the country. 

A couple months later a bottle of elderberry wine would appear! 

ELDERBERRY JELLY
(From Kraft Foods page)

3-4 lbs ripe elderberries

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 packet sure jell

4 1/2 cups gran sugar

1/4 tsp butter

Place berries in a large pot and crush with a potato masher to release 

some of the juices. Turn the heat to medium and continue to crush

 as the mixture heats up to a boil. Once the berries and their juices reach a boil,

 reduce the heat to low and let the berries simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Slowly transfer the mashed berries and juice over the sieve (or 4 layers cheesecloth)

to strain the juice into the pot. Let strain for an hour. 

 You will need 3 cups of juice to make one batch of jelly if using MCP pectin, 

3 3/4 cups of juice if using SureJell pectin

Place 3 cups (or 3 3/4 cups depending on your brand of pectin) of juice into a large, 

high sided, wide pot (8-quart). Add the lemon juice and pectin. 

Bring to a boil on high heat. 

Add sugar and butter. Stir with a wooden spoon. 

Bring to a boil again. Watch the pot as the mixture will foam up considerably. 

You may need to lower the heat a bit to keep the foam from boiling over the pot.
Add  sugar and butter. Stir with a wooden spoon. 

Bring to a boil again. Watch the pot as the mixture will foam up considerably. 
You may need to lower the heat a bit to keep the foam from boiling over the pot.
Boil exactly 1 minute, ladle into jars and seal in a hot water bath, 5 minutes.