Amanda Miller
Columnist
Lettuce Eat Local

In the grand scheme of things, an hour doesn’t seem like it matters much. 

There might be only 24 of them in a single day, but 168 in a week. A 30-day month consists of 720 hours, and if you look at an entire year, that number skyrockets to 8,766. That means an hour is only 0.0001% of a year…not a big deal, right?

Maybe not, until one vanishes into thin air. Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday, March 12, so at 2:00 in the morning, it’s 3:00.

Suddenly an hour feels very, very big. I find it a little cruel that this “spring forward” happens on a Sunday every year, although my kid(s) have always gotten up early enough that still getting to church on time isn’t hard. Naptime and bedtime later, however, are a different story. 

I do have to admit I find a little brutish humor at seeing which families clearly forgot to change their alarm clocks, based on their arrival at church; although with the synchronization of phone clocks, now probably fewer delays are based on lack of awareness and more on the difficulties of getting everyone ready an hour earlier. I will be watching an extra toddler this week, so I may have to laugh at myself this year. 

The “fall back” sequence in November when Daylight Savings ends never bothers me quite so much, but it still wreaks havoc on children’s schedules. And don’t get my mother-in-law started on what it does to the cows’ schedule. Needless to say, none of us on the farm are huge fans of the time change.

But it does get me started thinking about the importance of a single hour. 

It is a feat of nature what a mother can get accomplished in a mere 60 minutes when naptime goes well; I don’t mind saying I’ve shocked myself some days. 

I also don’t mind saying that I’ve shocked myself for the opposite reason on other days. My personality lends itself very strongly to being consistently productive, but being a mom has also shown me that sometimes the best way to spend my time is to not “do” much with it. Yes, I’ll still get the dishes done, but if the sun is shining and I want to go walk around outside, that’s also good. Spending time well can even look like wasting time, because sometimes it’s easier to sit and respond to texts while the two-year-old is sleeping instead of playing keepaway with the phone, and sometimes *gasp* I even take a breather and scroll Facebook or do the Quordle. 

And although it can feel like it, naptime isn’t actually the most important hour of the day. When I can let go of some of that drive for productivity, a simple 60 minutes with Benson and whoever else is in our home that day can be spent in such valuable ways. Instead of using half my brainspace thinking of prepping for supper; finishing the laundry; and yes, even writing an article; I can remember those are just things — necessary things, yes, but just things. And the people right in front of me, be they neighbors dropping in, friends stopping by unexpectedly, or my own crazy toddler, are people worthy of my time and attention. 

An hour spent being present is worth many distracted hours. So instead of lamenting the loss of an hour because of Daylight Savings, I’ll try to remember to spend the hours I have well. 

Time-Saving Banana Bread-fast Muffins

Somedays spending my time well looks like making muffins before Benson’s nap instead of during — although it would be much faster (and neater) to do it without him. These mini muffins make a perfect ready-to-go breakfast on a rushed morning, as they are full of satisfying wholegrains and good fats yet low in added sugar. It might look like a lot of ingredients, but everything just goes into the blender, so these muffins come together in a snap.

Prep tips: the riper your bananas are, the sweeter the muffins will be. In full disclosure, I added less than a tablespoon of honey to my batch, and they would have been better a little sweeter…but now that I poured melted chocolate on top, Benson loves them. 

2 very ripe bananas

1 egg

½ cup peanut butter 

1 cup buttermilk (or ½ yogurt+½ milk)

a good splash of vanilla

2-4 tablespoons honey (more or less to your taste)

1 ½ cups flour (I used a combo of whole-wheat, rye, and oat)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

optional: chopped peanuts for garnish

Add bananas, egg, peanut butter, buttermilk, vanilla, and honey to a blender; process until smooth. Add the flour, baking soda and powder, and salt; and blend on lowest speed, just until incorporated. 

Pour into buttered muffin tins, sprinkle with chopped peanuts if you want, and bake at 365°: 10 minutes for mini-muffins and 15-20 for regular size muffins. 

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen
Lovina Eitcher,
Old Order Amish
Cook, Wife &
Mother of Eight

It is a nice sunny day on this first day of March. We had a mild February, and now I wonder if March will make up for it with snow. The temperature is in the mid 40s already before noon.

I am having a hard time sitting down to write this column with too much work waiting on me. We worked until 9:30 p.m. last night mixing several batches of deer jerky and snack sticks. The snack sticks took so long to stuff in the casings. And of course something goes wrong when you want to hurry—the stuffer quits working, and our other stuffer doesn’t have the tube size for snack sticks, so we ended up using brat-sized casings for the rest of the snack sticks. We mixed 25 pounds of snack sticks that are ready for the smoker now. We still have 44 pounds of jerky to put in the 10-tray dehydrator, so it will take time and a few days to do it all. Fourteen pounds of that jerky is for Dustin and Loretta. That should wrap up the venison for this winter. We are waiting to butcher a beef until we get a colder week to chill it. What a relief it will be when it’s all done and in the freezers. And what a blessing to be able to do all that for another year ahead. 

We washed all the dishes up and the slicer, stuffer, and grinder, which all takes time. After getting done late and getting to bed later, I was ready for a nap after the boys and Joe left for work. 

Then I made a dessert to take to the viewing visitation of Chris, an older man in our church district. Chris and his wife Katie were in Pinecraft, Florida, for a while this winter already. Chris had a stroke while they were in Florida and then later died there. 

Our church members will all take supper in tonight and then sing for the family as people walk through the viewing/visitation. It makes it so nice to have the support of the church, family, and friends when you lose a loved one. 

I am writing while holding grandson Denzel. He will be eight months old next week. He sure brings a lot of sunshine to our days. He is amazed at my moving pen, but I’m sure my editors will see the consequences of my messy writing.

This is now even later and Denzel is sleeping. He wasn’t quiet just watching the pen—he decided he should move the pen with his hand. 

Before we leave tonight, I need to go to town to pick up Loretta’s prescription. She still needs a blood thinner shot every day, and she is out of them. Dustin is working 45 minutes away at a construction job and won’t be home in time to go get the prescription before they leave to go to the viewing tonight. 

Son-in-law Ervin is finally getting relief after going to the doctor for his cough he’s had a while. He has bronchitis, so the doctor prescribed antibiotics and an inhaler, and it seems to be helping. 

Sister Verena is staying at sister Emma’s this week. She also is battling a cough. Emma is a good nurse and sounds like she (Verena) is getting a lot better. I will sign off on this as I have so much on my agenda for today. Unfortunately, my work doesn’t run away. Haha!

I will share a recipe for Butterscotch Pie. Brother Amos always loved Butterscotch Pie. Rest in peace, dear brother. 

God’s blessings to all!

Butterscotch Pie

1/2 cup butter

2 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 pint water

1/4 teaspoon soda

3 pints milk

6 tablespoons cook-type clear jel (slightly heaping)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt
3 pre-baked 9-inch pie crusts

Brown the butter and sugar together in a saucepan. Then add the pint of water and cook until all sugar lumps are dissolved. Add soda and then 2 1/2 pints milk. Reserve 1 cup of this mixture and mix with clear jel. Bring remaining mixture to a boil and then add clear jel mixture along with the rest of the milk. Remove from heat and add salt and vanilla. Pour into pie crusts and let cool. Makes three 9-inch pies. 

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Her newest cookbook, Amish Family Recipes, is available wherever books are sold. Readers can write to Eicher at Lovina’s Amish Kitchen, PO Box 234, Sturgis, MI 49091 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply); or email [email protected] and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails.