One Halloween, our car was broken down. We had a 4-H Halloween party at Oak Grove. We got dressed up in our costumes. Mother and Daddy went-with us. We walked by lantern light to Oak Grove. When we got there, no one could guess who we were because we came out of the woods and had no car to give us away. I will always remember that beautiful walk through the woods late that night. It was spooky and exciting with a big moon and millions of stars shining, and Mother and Daddy to keep us safe.
grandma
Grandma’s Lebkuchen Recipe
Kathy sent in a copy of Grandma’s Lebkuchen recipe. Now someone will have to do some baking and let us know how it turns out (be sure you take pictures).
I found the recipe I always used for my Lebkuchen. It is about the size you would want to make.
- 1 cup molasses
- 1/3 cup lard or butter
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup butter milk or sour? milk
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1/2 tablespoon? salt
- 5 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 tablespoon cloves
- 1 tablespoon allspice
- 1 cup raisins
- 1/2 pound fruit currents, any preserve? or citon?
- 3/4 cup nuts
If this is weak molasses and doesn’t have much flavor, add some ???? molasses for flavor. You can make up the dough and let it set for a say or week and it will bake well. I sprinkle sugar and nuts over it when i roll it out and I like that better there. Some people use sugar icing after it is baked.
[after the recipe the letter continues:]
It’s very cold here. It’s 3pm and 6 below zero. Will be very low tonight. Otherwise the sun in shining and it’s beautiful out if you can stand it. Sending you all my love and best wishes and good health this new year. And good luck Loren with your cookies. [I can’t tell what the last sentence says]
Love you all,
grandma Sommerer
A Letter from Grandma
Aunt Naomi’s Story (Part 36)
Mother had a way with flowers of all kinds. We had seven sister roses in an arch over the garden gate and the front gate for a while (the gate on the deck). She had flowers all around the entire farmhouse and around at least one half the yard fence. In addition, she had other flower beds and flowering bushes she cared for. The seven sister roses always meant a lot to me as we were seven sisters at home. Mother was also one of seven sisters. Mother had daddy build a grape arbor over the old well. It was wonderful to sit under and eat grapes. The old well is still there, covered by rocks. I dropped my 10-cent ring in it one time to see if it would come back up when I pumped the handle. It did not.
The barn had about 10 stations to chain the cows and keep them in place when being milked. It had a wide concrete hallway and three divisions for horses. There was a storage room and the barn loft was always full of sweet smelling hay (except when it was full of tobacco). At the rear of the barn was a lean to that housed the bull and had another area for cows. Behind this was the silo. It was an exciting time when the silo was built. We enjoyed climbing up the outside. We had to throw the silage down a chute and then transport it to each cow’s station so they could be fed.