My bend-over is broken

Finally winter let go of its harsh grasp on our state and there's a mad rush to get everything planted as soon as possible when the weather finally allows work in the dirt.

After five days of working outdoors, its time to start pulling weeds already, but my bend-over is broken. That's right. the muscles between the waist and the shoulder bringing your body up and down as you plant and dig. Pretty soon, you are crawling along in the dirt only coming up for air at the end of the row. Its the foibles of growing old and being more than slightly out of weight from working indoors most of the time. Boo Hoo. My heart belongs to the fresh air and sunshine.

So every planting season, I find that while the work wears me out, I never feel better than when I have accomplished planting the garden. This year, we brought in a load of horse manure and I shoveled nearly a full pickup load to all the beds before my arms gave out.

Once that planting is done, the weeding begins and then the mulching and then the waiting for the harvest. Watching those tomatoes begin to fill out and climb upwards makes my mouth water... In my mind I see those vines to the ceiling of the hoop house loaded with fruit. what a sight that will be pulling into the driveway.

Of course, the weather seems to have cooled off, good for all those radishes and cabbage hiding under the low tunnels.

Everyone used to garden. It was how they grew their own food for summer and winter meals. While some (my spouse) may think that I am a little more than ambitious there is nothing and I mean nothing that is more gratifying to me than growing something. From all the plants I babysat for months to the final cleaning out the dead vines - it's all good. And I will keep you posted on the progress... right now I'm fighting some tiny grasshoppers, the deer, a racoon and those darn weeds. But we will overcome. 

In the tradition of my mother and grandmother before me, I sow, so I can reap. But remember - You can seed and week and hoe, but only God can make it grow.

Making Vegetable Soup

Okay, so it's Christmas and I have been a little lax in keeping up with my videos on local foods. But here is one I made earlier that will work for this time of year. It's a good time of year to practice your soup skills. Gute Essen.

Pumpkin Pie with local squash

Sun rise and hoop houses

The weather has been beautiful lately, but it's going to change...

Living the Local Life...

Embarking on new adventures ... It hit me the other day that it would be a simple thing to share the local life with video clips instead of typing long sets of instructions mixed with my philosophical views...

So here is an introduction to next series of how-tos, in particular living the life of local foods. I hope you enjoy the clips and give me grace, as I do this myself and somethings just don't work out...

Remember you can email me questions at suebbalcom@gmail.com or comment at the bottom of the page. Good Eating...

Tuna and noodles and Cream of Mushroom soup

My darling daughter called the other day and asked about a recipe for meatballs she made when living at home. The recipe came from the Emmanuel Lutheran Church ladies, circa 1975.

“Copy the recipe,” I said. “But, don’t take my cookbook with you.”

When I was visiting my mom, we talked cookbooks with Edryse Miller who walked by us delivering Miller Family cookbooks to the Community Cafe.

“If you want a recipe for anything, it’s in that Lutheran Cookbook,” my mom said. If you cook like a German anyway.

Garrison Keillor pokes fun a the Lutheran Church Basement Ladies in his weekly Prairie Home Companion broadcast. He even sang a song dedicated to the “casserole” dinners held at the church on every occasion. It went lyrically – “tu-na and noo-dles and Creammm of Mush-room soup....”

Don’t laugh. Even my children said how much they miss the potlucks we used to have at the church for New Member Sunday.

We eat out too much today. If we were to revive the era of hot dishes and Jell-o salad, maybe we’d be healthier. It was a way to use up leftovers, too. Sometimes, when I am trolling for a recipe to use up some leftover ham or zucchini overflow, I check that Lutheran Cookbook.

It’s instant dinner when you use a vegetable, a meat and a can of “Cream of Something” soup. Add onions and celery and bake at 350 degrees for somewhere between 30-60 minutes. Serve with your favorite colored Jell-o with shredded carrots or fruit suspended in it and you have a complete meal.

Not all recipes in that book are for casseroles. The book also has my favorite pie crust recipes and something called Mexicali Vegetable Soup with Meat Balls in there. That recipe has my name attached to it because my mother submitted it. (There’s also a typo and it reads “Mixicali Vegetable Soup...” which is a better description of the ingredients anyway.)

Some church ladies were quite worldly their submissions. There are recipes in the Foreign Foods section for Blachinda, Basti, Finnish Flat Bread, Kuchen Dough and filling, Fattigman and Bohemian Butter Tarts.

Of course, if you grew up Lutheran, these are not foreign foods in your house.

There are also some recipes with some very “unusual” ingredients in them like: Prune Cake, Potato Cake and Sauerkraut Cake. Trust me on this one, the sauerkraut tastes like coconut and keeps the cake very moist. (But so does coconut, I believe.) Then there’s my favorite, Ammonia Cookies. Thank goodness I didn’t try this before my Aunt Alice told me there’s a difference between baking ammonia and Mr. Clean.

Like any good cookbook, my favorite pages are bookmarked by stains and torn binding. Most of the pages are sugar-coated and toasted with age. It was printed pre-computer and the recipes are typewritten.

To fill in the white space at the bottom of the pages, there are quips like: 
“The bonds of matrimony aren’t worth much, unless the interest is kept up” or “A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.”

And, yes, there are recipes for Jell-o salads and desserts, nearly every one used Dream Whip, Jell-o or Pudding mix as the main ingredient. There’s even a recipe for Tomato Soup Salad.

Most of all, the Lutheran Cookbook has memories. I recognize the names of ladies who cooked for the funerals and weddings on Saturdays and taught Sunday School on Sundays.  There are names of classmates and friends, people who have passed away and people who I still run into once in blue moon.

I’m thinking maybe we should have more potluck dinners in this world?

What would I do?

Never at a loss for things to do, I'm thinking I spend a lot of time doing things I don't really want to do in lieu of pursuing those things that I feel passionate about. Make sense, probably not. Every day I go to work, and it's not that I don't enjoy most of what i do, but in my heart I'm dreaming of other things.

This conflict has been torturing me for years now. At one time in my life when I was a working artist, and that includes starving, I felt I was doing what I was placed on earth to do. Those days were hand-in-hand with raising my two children. It was a good life. And, then things changed.

Somehow I thought to myself I can finish raising my children. They needed me at the time. Then, I can go back and pursue my dreams. Years passed and my confidence waned and continue to wane as I struggle to find my place again. I'm caught up in a life I really didn't expect, or ask for. So, what happened?

The week 6 chapter in a Bible study I'm doing online called A Confident Heart has unleashed a ton of feelings about my current life. I'm looking for some shoring up and decision making confidence.... but I'm lost.

Sunday, I had to go to church. I always tell people when I need to feel loved for who I am, who I really am, I go to church. It is where I found acceptance and love for the past 25 years. I poured my heart out to a friend of mine who told me that I was one of the most unique and talented people she has ever met - and then I ask myself... why am I afraid to let that work?

I'm waiting on the Lord, I'm really trying to look to him for the answer this time. We don't always listen now do we... it takes confidence. Within this morning's email was this paragraph from a post by Todd Henry on Michael Hyatt's blog via the Bible study hosts.

In the post, TH’s friend asks the question “Do you know what the most valuable land in the world is?” After numerous wrong guesses of places like diamond mines and oil rich lands, he replies, “It’s the graveyard… because with all of those people are buried unfulfilled dreams, unwritten novels, masterpieces not created, businesses not started, relationships not reconciled. That is the most valuable land in the world.”

That's almost to much to think about in a week's time, much less the 10 minutes I have spent in front of my computer this morning.

It reminds me of an art installation I created a few years back. It was ballet shoe covered with colorful crocheted flowers. Tucked inside was a photograph of my grandmother and at least 5 of her 12 children. The thought behind the piece was focused on how many wonderful ideas were not unleashed to the world, but rather tethered to my grandmother's hands, forgotten and discarded because of the work she felt she must do first. It was honorable work, work meant to feed her family, care for the farm and her husband.

We all must do what we have to do every day. I'm just hoping that today I find some confidence to do what God wants me to do. After all, I have been privileged to be blessed with many relatives, children and grandchildren; and God willing to reach another milestone birthday in this approaching New Year.

I'm glad it snowed last night. Winter is finally here - a blanket of white that gives me time to huddle and cuddle and reflect on my year.