Home

I'm back home. Tired and emotionally spent, but home. We gave Dad a pretty good send off, and I'll go back in the summer to finish the job. We will scatter some of his ashes on the farm at that time and perhaps plant a couple of apple trees - one for Dad and one for Mom. I will also have to dispose of all the furniture. I plan to ship a couple of things North that are special to me but the rest will be put in an estate sale. Dad's car will go to his partner, and the farm equipment will stay with the farm for now. We are also going to try to find someone to work the fields. I am not ready to make any decisions about the farm house and buildings. All in good time.

Reading over what I've just written, I realize it's all very mechanical. I don't have the energy to go any deeper. Perhaps another time.

While I was home, I found an old cookbook of my grandmother's, with recipes recorded in her handwriting on every available blank space. The book was published before the advent of electric stoves, at a time when nothing was wasted and when the only non-local produce, when available at all, was lemons and oranges. I suspect in my grandmother's house, there was neither of these things. Here's a sampling:

Boiling Potatoes
To boil a potatoe (sic) well requires more attention than is usually given. They should be well washed and left standing in cold water an hour or two, to remove the black liquor with which they are impregnated, and a brackish taste they would otherwise have. They should not be pared before boiling; they lose much of the starch by so doing, and are made insipid. Put them into a kettle of clear cold water, with a little salt, cover closely, and boil rapidly, using no more water than will just cover them, as they produce a considerable quantity of fluid themselves while boiling, and too much water will make them heavy. As soon as just done instantly pour off the water, set them back on the range, and leave the cover off the saucepan till the steam has evaporated. They will then, if a good kind, be dry and mealy. This is an Irish receipt, and a good one.

Russian Jelly for Invalids
Instead of throwing away the peel and core of apples from making a pie or pudding, put them in a jar and pour over them a pint of hot water; put the jar by the fire or in the oven until the water tastes strongly of the apples; strain the apple-water off, and throw away the peel; then add to the apple-water one tablespoonful of large sago*; set it to the fire until the sago has absorbed all the water; then put it in a mold, and it will be ready for use; to be eaten either hot or cold. A little lemon juice added improves the flavor. The proportion of peel and water must be according to the quality of the apples, as some are so much sharper than others. No decay should be allowed to be in the peel. Rhubarb may be used in the same way. The jelly should taste strongly of fruit. This jelly is most refreshing in sickness.
*Note that sago is similar to tapioca - I had no idea what it was so I had to google it.

Calf's Foot Jelly
Take two calves' feet; add to them one gallon of water; boil them down to one quart; strain, and when cold remove all fat; then add the whites of six or eight eggs (well beaten), half a pound of sugar and the juices of four lemons; mix well. Boil for a minute, constantly stirring; then strain through a flannel bag.

There are also sections in this cookbook that offer cures for everything from malaria to nervousness.

Nervousness
This unhealthy state of system depends upon general debility. It is often inherited from birth, and as often brought on by excess of sedentary occupation, overstrained employment of the brain, mental emotion, dissipation and excess. The cure of nervous complaints lies rather in moral than in medical treatment. For although much good may be effected by tonics, such as bark, quinine, etc., there is far more benefit to be derived from attention to diet and regimen. In such cases, solid food should preponderate over liquid, and the indulgence in warm and relaxing fluids should be especially avoided; plain and nourishing meat, as beef or mutton, a steak or chop, together with half a pint of bitter ale or stout, forming the best dinner. Vegetables should be but sparingly eaten. Sedentary pursuits should be cast aside as much as possible, but where they are compulsory, every spare moment should be devoted to outdoor employment and brisk exercise. Early bedtime and early rising will prove beneficial, and the use of the cold shower bath is excellent. It will also be as well to mingle with society, frequent public assemblies and amusements, and thus dispel that morbid desire for seclusion and quietude which, if indulged in to excess, renders a person unfitted for intercourse with mankind, and materially interferes with advancement in life.

Don't you love that last sentence?! Oh, and I just found another section in this book called Hints and Helps. But I'll save that for another time.