We entered November with a very nice, beautiful autumn day. The temperature almost reached 60 degrees.
My husband, Joe, took advantage of the weather and walked to the nearby woods where he will hunt deer this fall. Our children went with him to see where he will set up his pop-up tent. Shotgun season starts in two weeks, so Joe is getting excited to try his luck again and is trying to find the perfect spot.
I would have liked to have gone to take the walk with them but I am still battling sickness so I didn’t want to make it worse. Deer meat comes can be used in many different ways. I especially enjoy homemade deer jerky and summer sausage from the meat. Last year Joe came home with two deer and a neighbor gave us one. The extra meat sure came in handy over the winter. While all of them were walking in the woods, I found it relaxing to have peace and quiet in the house. It didn’t last long enough, though.
Brother-in-law Jacob turned 37 on Nov. 1. He and my sister, Emma, wanted us to come to dinner but I figured it would be better to stay home because of sickness. I would hate to have passed whatever is going around to Baby Marilyn. She is about 7 pounds already and has grown two more inches. She is so bright-eyed and such a sweetie.
I recently helped Emma process the last of her red beets for the season. We made 13 quarts of pickled beets and 7 quarts of buttered beets. We also worked up all of Emma’s remaining cabbage into sauerkraut. I am not sure how many quarts of that we made, but it was quite a bit.
Daylight Savings Time has ended now. The children left at 7 a.m. for school and it is now almost daylight when they leave, although it won’t be too long before it is dark again in the morning with the days getting shorter. Even though we have been living in Michigan for more than five years, it still takes getting used to the time change. Indiana didn’t move their clocks while were living there, although they have since changed then.
The boys are asking when it’s going to snow. They are getting excited about making more snowmen. I am in no hurry to see it come. We still have leaves all over the yard and our trees are almost bare from the recent rains we had.
Work for Joe at the factory is looking good, many Amish men have been called back to work. After this week they will even go back to a five-day work week. We do hope and pray that the economy will continue to improve for everyone.
It is a rainy Monday morning, so it looks like if we do laundry we will have to hang it on the porch and in the basement to dry. We have the coal stove going in the basement so that will help it dry. The clothes, though, always smell fresher when the weather permits us to hang them outside.
Meanwhile, fresh pumpkin from the garden continues to be used in recipes.
Homemade Pumpkin Bread
q 1 cup raisins (optional)
q 1 cup vegetable oil
q 4 eggs
q 2 /3 cup water
q 3 cups sugar
q 3 1 /2 cups flour
q 1 1 /2 teaspoons salt
q 1 teaspoon nutmeg
q 2 teaspoons baking soda
q 1 teaspoon cinnamon
q 2 cups cooked pumpkin (store bought or home-grown)
q 1 cup chopped nuts, optional
n Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
n Cook raisins in 1 1 /2 cups water until soft and then cool.
n In a separate large bowl, combine oil, eggs, water and sugar.
n Sift together flour, salt, nutmeg, soda, and cinnamon. Make a well in the center. Add the pumpkin and egg mixture. Blend until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in raisins and nuts. Turn into 3 greased loaf pans.
n Bake for approximately 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.
Lovina Eicher, a member of the Old Order Amish, hand-writes this column from her Michigan home. Anyone with cultural or cooking questions can send them to: Lovina Eicher, The Amish Cook, P.O. Box 2144, Middletown, OH 45042 or www.theamishcook.com.
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