A Few Years Older, A Few Years Wiser

 I started my old Farmers Daughter blog as a homage to the life our parents provided for us. So many stories to tell!

To review, the old farmer was a printer by trade doing 40 hour weeks. He loved the farm and spent much time plowing and planting and harvesting. The old farmers wife was a good homemaker and canned the produce.

So when writing my blogs from my point of view, now that I have a few more years (sic) on me I am seeing things from the old farmers point of view. 

The old farmers family grew up and on, scattered to the four winds across this large country. His wife crossed to her eternal rest. He was a strong man. 

He made his days a routine to keep going. And often decided on the spur of the minute to drive 8 hours to visit. While I may have liked a bit of advance notice 🙂, I see his joy in making a surprise visit. 

He once said the day of his marriage was the happiest day of his life. 

He lived many more years, moving to live near one of his children until it was time to join his wife on the other side.

A STRAWBERRY SOCIAL

In the old days we used to have Strawberry Socials in the season.

     No that little fellow up there wasn't invited!

The Old Farmer's Wife had a strawberry patch. 

This was a business venture. The best berries
were sorted and boxed to sell. 

The Old Farmer's Daughters were recruited to help pick.
We also ate a LOT! 

The Strawberry Social would arrive at our Grandma's church.
Dressed in our Sunday best off we would go.
There was a lot of visiting and catching up among the adults.
The children waited for the Main Course.
Strawberries and Ice Cream! 

The season passes all too fast but a thrifty housewife
would have many berries put up in the freezer
and many jars of strawberry jam on the pantry shelves. 

For the new homemakers who wish to store good homegrown food out there, 

freezing berries is about the easiest thing.
Wash the berries (do this in small batches as they easily become waterlogged!),

 cut off the leaves, slice in halves or thinner slices, I like them thinner.
More surface exposed to sugar, more syrup forms and more delicious! 

Put in your freezer containers and sprinkle on a good amount of sugar! 

I eyeball it, but say a quart container or ziplock freezer bag about 1/2 cup.
More if the berries are tart. You don't have to use sugar, but quite honestly
they keep their color and flavor better with sugar. 

Frozen sugared berries are great for yogurt smoothies!

The Old Farmer's Wife has a Green Thumb

The Old Farmer's Wife had a green thumb.

 While The Old Farmer grew the vegetables and she canned them,
her real domain was the flower garden.

And in keeping with the season today I look at the indoor plants. 

African violets were in a room with westward facing window

and they thrived. Watered from the bottom when the top
felt dry to fingertip...

In the bay window was a large old snake plant,
impolitely mother in law's tongue
or ie sansevieria trifasciata.
These do not bloom often, I remember her's blooming.

 

  And the Christmas cactus, 

still living many years later.
Here it serves as a nice backdrop 

for this hat advertisement.

The trick to making these bloom
is 12 hours of daylight
and 12 hours of dark in the months
before Christmas.
And there is a peek at the
mother in law's tongue in
the background too!