Lovina’s Family is Busy with Church Services, Shared Meals and Successful Hunting
Lovina’s Amish Kitchen
Lovina Eitcher,
Old Order Amish
Cook, Wife &
Mother of Eight
It is Monday evening and we just finished eating supper. It was an easy supper of leftovers from Saturday night’s supper. It consisted of barbecued chicken, wings, and macaroni and cheese. Our supper guests Saturday night were daughter Loretta, Dustin and their children Denzel, Byron and Kylie, son Joseph and Grace, daughter Lovina, Daniel and baby Brooklyn and Joanna (son Benjamin’s special friend). Joseph and Grace stayed here for the night.
Daughter Verena and Daniel Ray are hunting at daughter Elizabeth and Tim’s place. They also ate after they came back. We had plenty left. While out on their hunt son-in-law Tim shot a
10-point buck. He shot an 8-point buck during bow season. This is helping Tim and Elizabeth fill their freezer since beef prices are so high. This is daughter Verena’s first time hunting this season, so she tried a bow and now a gun. I’m glad she has the chance to try it. I never took interest in hunting. Or even fishing so my children don’t take after me on that. That side comes from their father. Haha!
Sunday morning our family all attended church at sister Emma’s house. It was hosted by my nephew Ben and Crystal. This would be daughter Elizabeth and Tim and daughter Susan and Ervin’s home church district. It felt so good to all be in attendance. I love seeing my family all in one place making memories. I feel blessed and often wonder if I thank God enough for his many blessings. It had been 3 to 4 weeks since I last saw our school age grandchildren. Time goes so fast and they all get busy with their own families. I’m thankful for our “Family Night”, which we take turns hosting on the third Friday of every month. This is a way to at least all get together once a month. We made a schedule of who is hosting and what we each need to bring.
Sunday our whole family spent the afternoon at Tim’s enjoying snacks. We then all went back to sister Emma’s house where we ate a delicious supper served by Ben and Crystal. An ice cream cake was presented to nephew Jacob in honor of his 26th birthday which is November 17th. The twenty-six candles on the cake were the kind that relight. Jacob was a good sport about it and we had a good laugh about it.
Recently, on a Sunday when it wasn’t our church district’s services, we spent the day at Joseph and Grace’s house. They had a delicious brunch and then made us supper before leaving for home. We spent the afternoon playing games and enjoying snacks. The day was enjoyable and went much too fast. Also joining us there were Dustin and Loretta and Daniel and Lovina and all of their children. Son Benjamin and Joanna spent the weekend in Holmes County, Ohio at her parent’s house and attended church out there. Joanna has moved out here to Michigan and lives with Dustin and Loretta. Their children love her! She is good with children. She works four days a week right now.
This past week we lost two more family members and regret not being able to attend either of the funerals. Thursday was my Dad’s oldest sibling’s funeral. Uncle Albert James Coblentz was 95. He had the same name as my Grandpa Bert. My dad was the next oldest of the 13 children but passed away too soon at the age of 69. Six of Dad’s brothers still living are William (Bill), 87, Menno, 86, Robert (Bobby), 84, Joe, 83, Melvin, 80, and Amos, 78.
On Sunday was the funeral for my cousin Amos. Amos was the oldest cousin on my mother’s side of the family. His mother (Aunt Leah) is my mom’s sister and is 90. Our deepest sympathy to both families as they mourn their loved ones. May God comfort them during this difficult time and always.
I’ll share a recipe with you that was sent to me from a reader from Maryland. Thank you James. James Coffey is the author of two canning books, Country Canning and Country Canning 2.
Until next week…. God Bless!
DEER SCRAPPLE
3 quarts broth (from cooking bones)
3 cups corn meal
1 cup flour (whole wheat / buckwheat)
2 cups ground meat
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper (more or less)
Bring broth to a boil. Add cooked meat. Mix corn meal and flour with water, then add to broth. It should be the consistency of corn meal mush. Cook slowly for 30 minutes using a heavy pan. Pour into cake or loaf pans. When cold, slice and fry on both sides until golden. Can be frozen too.
Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Her three cookbooks, The Cherished Table, The Essential Amish Cookbook, and Amish Family Recipes, are 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 Questionsforlovina@gmail.com and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails.
Lettuce Eat Local: Here’s Pumpkin I’ve Been Thinking About
Amanda Miller
Columnist
Lettuce Eat Local
Zucchini spice latte, anyone? What about a nice gingersnap cucumber cheesecake? Still no takers, hm, we could always do a squash custard pie.
You probably see what I’m doing here — we are all about pumpkin sweets and pumpkin spice treats this time of year, but the rest of the curcubita family don’t get much love, at least not on the dessert table.
There is at least one legitimate reason. Seasonality obviously matters, and fall harvest crops are better for, you know, fall, instead of the summer ones. I was thinking I was going to have more excuses for having pumpkin-colored glasses, but I’m struggling. I admit, there could be issues with a cucumber cheesecake, and I myself might balk slightly at the idea, yet I think it could be done with some open-minded recipe development.
A “ZSL” has all the catchiness of a PSL, if not more; and I’ve definitely made squash custard pie before, both spaghetti squash and butternut squash versions. In fact, chances are that you have made squash pie too, since somehow it is legal to label a variety of canned squashes as canned pumpkin. (Pumpkins are a type of squash, but not all squashes are pumpkins.)
I just find it interesting that we decided pumpkins should be almost exclusively utilized for sweet purposes. I’m as much a sucker for pumpkin-spiced anything as the next person — even though that simple terminology is annoying to me, since pumpkins are not spiced. They are also not inherently sweeter than other curcubits (except for melons, which I have conveniently omitted from this discussion…). Pumpkins’ sugar content is actually lower than other types like butternut, acorn, and delicata, not to mention lesser-known ones that actually sound sweet like carnival, honeynut, and sweet dumpling.
In all this, I can’t be mad at however we use pumpkins, because I love them; plus how handy is it to have food that doubles as inside and/or outside decoration! We store them on porch steps and end tables…until we eat them. Oh, they work as kids’ chairs and toys, too, and Kiah loves to stumble around the house transporting pumpkins for unspecified reasons.
I just think it’s time we branch out, making it more mainstream to use other winter squashes in cakes and pies, and work at accessing more of the pumpkin’s savory side. It’s not that it isn’t being done; I just encourage even more of it. I love meaty chunks of pumpkin within dishes like stews or roasted vegetables: not just pureed into things, but highlighting its own flavor too.
Perhaps I’m inclined towards savory pumpkin for personal reasons as well, as I’ll never forget that the last recipe I submitted before my husband’s farming accident seven years ago was for chili-spiced sauteed pumpkin. That newspaper article found its way to the SICU waiting room after my first-of-many nights spent there, and the leftovers rotted in the fridge in the intervening weeks before I went home again.
It might seem like an odd recipe to be sentimental about, yet even though thinking about it makes me feel sick to my stomach and I plan to never make it again, the memory fills my soul with deep thanksgiving. Our stories will always be full of the sweet and the salty, when our gratitude often mixes with our tears; if we go around the table saying what we’re thankful for this Thanksgiving, I’m not being trite or cliche if I say family.
On a different level, I’ll mean it too if I say pumpkin pie, even if I secretly wish it were buttercup squash pie.
Greens Salad with Roasted Pumpkin
With all the rich, heavy food typically on a Thanksgiving table, it’s always nice if there’s a fresh salad too. While I’m actually the one making pumpkin pie for our family’s celebration, I might cut up an extra pumpkin to dice and roast to have available for leftover-turkey salads. Like for essentially any vegetable (even though I know pumpkins are botanically fruits), a high-heat roast amplifies pumpkins’ natural flavor within, providing a nice flavor and texture complement to the rest of this salad.
Prep tips: we had just the last few garden-rescued tomatoes to use…but if you don’t have homegrown, probably skip them this time of year and use another flavorful addition like roasted (or pickled!) beets or sweet red peppers.
1 small pumpkin, peeled and diced
salad greens of choice: lettuce, spinach, kale, etc
a couple tomatoes, large-diced and salted
queso fresco, ricotta, or other crumbly white cheese
salted roasted pumpkin seeds
simple vinaigrette: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, local honey, salt
Toss pumpkin with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast at 425° until browning and roasty, about half an hour. Let cool, then refrigerate (and/or enjoy some as a fresh hot side with a meal).
Assemble salad by layering on all ingredients, saving extra pumpkin for another use. Season with salt and pepper.
Lettuce Eat Local is a weekly local foods column by Amanda Miller, who lives in rural Reno County on the family dairy farm with her husband and two small children. She seeks to help build connections through food with her community, the earth, and the God who created it all. Send feedback and recipe ideas to [email protected].
Competitively priced shingles
Shopping for farm and home products wuz a lot different back in the “good ol’ days,” compared to shopping for the same stuff these days.
Back when businesses in thriving small rural towns offered a full array of products needed in everyday rural life, farmers and ranchers didn’t have to drive miles to buy needed goods and services. Everything they needed wuz available locally.
Which leads me to the first story for this week’s column. It wuz told to me for the truth by my new Colorado friend, 96-year-old Bitsan Rowells, who lives in retirement near Greeley.
He told me about a job he got as a 9-year-old doing odd jobs that a kid could do at a lumber yard in a small rural town. He said he wuz on the job one day when he overheard the following conversation.
A local rancher came into the store and told the lumber yard owner he needed to buy a few squares of asphalt shingles for a roofing project.
The owner priced the shingles at “seven bucks a square.”
The rancher replied, “Well, that’s a bit much. The other lumber yard down the street has shingles priced at six-dollars a square.”
The owner, a bit miffed, shot back, “Nuthin’ keeping you from buying your shingles down there then.”
“Well, I stopped there first and it didn’t have the shingles I want in stock,” the rancher explained.
“Oh, that’s different,” the lumber yard owner countered. “I can easily beat that price. When I don’t have any shingles in stock, the price is only four-dollars a square.”
***
William wuz a local lothario in a small rural community. His antics as a womanizer gained him quite a reputation and the nickname “Wild Bill.” William made a living doing odd jobs in the community.
One day he showed up on the front porch for a little fix-up job. The woman who answered the door gave William a wide-eyed look and asked, “Aren’t you the guy they call ‘Wild Bill?'”
William looked at her, gave her a sly wink, and replied. “The men call me ‘Wild Bill,’ but most of the ladies call me ‘Sweet William.'”
***
My story last week about unusual farm land sales prompted a faithful reader, ol’ Rocky Rhodes, to respond with an e-mail story describing a land sale in the Flint Hills that also took place during the Great Depression.
Here’s the story: “As to farm land sales, during the depression, there was 120 acres just east of me and across the road south of my granddad’s land. Granddad said he bought it three times before he got it paid for. Twice, he put up the down payment on the sale, but couldn’t make the payments either time and had to let it go back to the seller. Finally, the third time, he got it paid for — and that was probably $10-15 an acre. At that time, banks and insurance companies owned a lot of Chase County.”
***
Recently, I’ve heard a couple of unusual wildlife stories. I’m sure the first one is true because my young deer hunting neighbor, Chris, from Emporia, Kan., sent me both a picture and a video that verifies it.
Chris wuz bowhunting one morning from his tree stand. The stand overlooked a nice clearing with timber edge both left and right. He said he saw a nice buck deer along the edge of the clearing on his right. It wuz out of arrow range and looking nervous.
About that time, his eye caught movement in the timber to his left and, “whoa,” a big, mature bull elk popped out of the timber and into the clearing. It wuz out of range, too, and Chris didn’t have an elk license. So, he whipped out his cell phone and snapped a picture and captured a video.
The bull had a huge atypical rack and, as it headed across the clearing, Chris said the buck deer retreated on the run.
Needless to say, Chris wuz excited about the elk sighting. The nearest elk herds to Emporia are about 75 miles away right here close to me on the Ft. Riley military reservation. Local folks around Riley have to drive with care not to collide with elk on the highways.
***
I can’t verify this second wildlife story as true, but it wuz told as true at our daily geezer gathering. The story goes that a local farmer wuz harvesting grain in the fall and left his grain truck in the field overnight. It’s windows were rolled down.
The next morning, he arrived at the field and opened the truck door and surprised a big bobcat that wuz basking in the sun on the seat. Apparently the farmer and the bobcat equally surprised each other. The bobcat hurled over the farmer’s head and disappeared into the uncut grain. The farmer wuz left scratching his head in awe and feeling lucky that he wuzn’t nursing bobcat scratches.
***
Words of wisdom for the week: “Thermometers aren’t the only things that are graduated with degrees without having any brains.” Have a good ‘un
KU News: New KU initiative uses cutting-edge sports technology to help Kansas high school athletes train smarter
From the Office of Public Affairs | https://www.news.ku.edu
Headlines
Contact: Justin Leonard, Achievement & Assessment Institute, 785-864-0753, [email protected]
New KU initiative uses cutting-edge sports technology to help Kansas high school athletes train smarter
LAWRENCE — A new initiative at the University of Kansas helps Kansas high school athletes train smarter and stay healthier, and it sets the stage for groundbreaking sports science research.
KU welcomed 30 student-athletes from Bonner Springs High School last week for a pilot of the Sports Translational Research for Improved Development and Excellence (STRIDE) program to collect performance data and improve student-athlete outcomes.
Headed by the Jayhawk Athletic Performance Laboratory (JAPL), a center within the Achievement & Assessment Institute, STRIDE engages coaches and student athletes from local high schools by introducing them to JAPL and professional-level performance testing equipment.
“There are in-school programs where coaches may be doing their own testing, but we provide numerous assessment capabilities that you don’t typically see in a high school,” said JAPL Director Thayne Munce, who is also an associate professor of health, sport & exercise science at KU. “We also have experts who help interpret the data and report it back.”
Students participated in a series of tests using cutting-edge technology, including force plate jumps, grip strength tests and motion-capture sprints. The data collected will be used to create personalized reports on each athlete and provide coaches with training recommendations.
“The data and the reports will help us better develop our athletes to perform better, minimize injury or eliminate it,” said Byron Mays, a strength and conditioning coach at Bonner Springs High School. “We plan on implementing recommendations immediately, and we hope to continue to have a working relationship with the University of Kansas to be on the cutting edge of athlete development.”
A large group of students testing with JAPL helps researchers better understand long-term athlete development across different ages and sports, potentially leading to valuable research findings in the field of sports science. The program also serves as a screening tool for early detection of health problems or habits that could lead to injuries.
“We want high school sports to be a good and memorable experience, whether the student plans to continue in college or not,” said Quincy Johnson, associate director of JAPL and assistant professor of health, sport & exercise science at KU. “If we are able to catch things at the high school level, we can introduce an early intervention that enhances athletic performance while minimizing injuries.”
Bonner Springs High School is the first school to participate in STRIDE. Program researchers plan to use feedback from coaches to improve STRIDE and make it more efficient and meaningful for future participants. The center is seeking funding for the program through funders like the Frontiers Clinical and Translational Science Institute.
Although STRIDE is in the preliminary stages, Munce and Johnson hope to see the program grow to include a cohort of schools excited to improve health outcomes for youth across the state.
“We know what poor health looks like, but what about the healthiest individuals?” Johnson said. “If we can collaborate with more schools and collect enough data, then we can look at healthy individuals on a larger scale and provide recommendations, health interventions and education opportunities across Kansas.”
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KU News Service
1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence KS 66045
https://www.news.ku.edu
Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]
Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs
