All About Spring These Days

First things first...The Easter Bunny came! He made a mess in my kitchen, made sure to eat up all the fixin's the girls left him, and left some pretty neat stuff in the girls' Easter baskets. He came several times during the day to lay eggs as well. The girls got to spend lots of time with grandparents and LOVED that! The best thing was being a part in helping the kids know that they can have hope in this day and every day because Jesus died on a cross and is alive today in our hearts. They got to watch An Easter Carol Veggietales and make Empty Tomb Rolls. These were easier that the cookie version. Wrap a marshmallow in refridgerated biscuit dough or crescent roll dough and roll in butter and cinnamon sugar. Bake according to package directions. At church we put a cross on the marshmallow with edible writers and after they were baked you could see the cross on the side of the biscuit but the biscuit was empty! The most rewarding thing is knowing that what I teach these kids will never leave their little hearts! So glad I answered the call to pre-k. It has really been rewarding!

We finally got some rain this last week. I'll be excited to see all we have planted sprout up a little bit. We planted squash, zuchinni, okra, banana peppers, jalepenos, black eye peas, tomatoes, cucumber, and Kinadie brought home her pinto bean plant from school to plant. We have also put in three berry bushes, some wildflowers, roses and sunflowers. Hopefully, things will start to look better around here. Our grass is coming around.

The girls have been excited about spring as well. We took them to see the baby chicks at Tractor Supply and they fell in love. Now all we keep thinking about is where can we put a chicken coop, a milk cow, and a couple of hogs and rabbits! Ha ha! With things costing so much now I keep wondering if this wouldn't be a bad idea. It has sure got me thinking about how our grandparents and great-grandparents used to live.

So with that in the back of my mind, it has inspired me to cut back a little and see what all I could do differently to save money. I read in one of my cookbooks about a sourdough starter promising to give me bread indefinately! So I thought that'd be a start. It has worked out really well and one cup of starter gave me four loaves of bread. I don't think they were perfect but it did taste pretty good.

I tried my hand at waffles but that may need a little more work or a different recipe. Try try again! But homemade butter on the other hand was really easy and really yummy. Not really saving money (cream is pretty expensive) but we made biscuits last night and put the butter on them and my sourdough toast with butter and blackberry jam for breakfast was divine! Now if I could figure out how to make jam. I'm really excited that I have buttermilk now, too! I'm still thinking about what to do with that.

This week I was given a cookbook from Kris' stepfather's side of the family. One of his aunts wrote in it about growing up during the depression. I thought it was great and I loved it. Here are some things she put down.

"Cooking was not only an art in the old days but a true and complete necessity." "Children led such a pristine life back then, about the only worries their parents had were keeping them clothed and fed and giving them as much education as they could afford. They respected their parents and shared the work load." "...happy times for children was getting to sleep outside on a hot summer night under a big blanket of stars, looking for the 'Big Dipper' and wishing on a star while saying the old familiar poem 'Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight...I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight.' Because there were no lights in the country, the stars showed up bright and thick and made you want to touch them or grab a great big handful." -Essie Harmon Hodel

She wrote about her Mama churning butter singing hymn songs to keep the pace, keeping one pair of school shoes in pristine condition in the winter and walking barefoot many miles to school in the summer. She also wrote about Christmas being like heaven and taking a chance on the snakes to get down to the cellar during a storm. She wrote about the phrases "Till the cows come home!" and "I hear that 'tater wagon rolling'" and "Whumper-jawed." Some of the phrases my husband still uses to this day. He's got me saying them, too!

I loved, loved, loved this book! Made me want to write down my life story and recipes for my grand kids. Ha ha I guess that's what this blog will be for! ;o) Anyways, thanks T and VG! It has made me wished I had known these folks and a little insight on how my grandparents probably lived as well.