Well, Howdy!
I haven't written in a couple of days - been busy outside as the temperatures dropped briefly to in the 80's so out in the garden I go. This Real Housewife mowed her garden (the grass around the vegetables), pulled weeds, retrained the vines of cucumbers and spaghetti squash, prayed over the tomatoes as they are only producing 1-2 tomatoes a day compared to 40-50 a day in a good year. So no cannin' goin' on at this Missouri Housewives kitchen. Called a friend while having my coffee and asked another Missouri Housewife what she was doing? "Just pickin' ticks off my dog." Launa came to pick up a big round bale of hay and as we loaded it in the back of her pick up, my husband noticed a large 3 foot plant in the back of her truck bed. He told Launa as he loaded the hay that he hoped he didn't hurt her plant. Launa started to giggle. She said, "Well the truth is, it's growin' in the bed of my pickup, I haven't cleaned out the old hay since last winter." Sure 'nuf it was growin' all right - it was rag weed. Only in Missouri and only with Real Housewives of Rural Missouri.
Jane, Missouri
Me and my horse ridin' buddy, Jeannie, went for drive a few days ago. Goin' for a drive in rural Missouri is always fun and interesting. Drove into the town of Jane, Missouri - tiny little town with a couple of old gas stations, post office, a diner and a little grocery store. That's about it as far as thriving businesses. There are other old buildings with two or three signs on them of past businesses, boarded up, vines growing up the front, junk stacked up in front or on the sides. As you drive through town, which takes about 4 minutes, you pass a beautiful little shady cemetery, sitting off to the side of the road by a stream. As we pass you can tell it is an old cemetery as some of the head stones are just that, stones. We decided to stop and look around. What we found was so moving. About 1/3 of the cemetery was filled with head stones of Civil War heroes. Some of the headstones were just big rocks stuck in the ground with no carving, some fallen over. A few of the head stones were so old and grown over with moss, that you could not easily read the name or the date.
On one of the graves was a man's name, Mr. Tom Kirkpatrick, with his birth and death dates. Then there was a much smaller head stone right next to him "Wife of Tom Kirkpatrick" with no dates. Another headstone read "Mrs. Heddy Rowe" no dates, but very old. As we wandered through this beautiful area we noticed many "death dates" of 1918 and a family of headstones all with that date but some days apart and some months apart. I did some research and the Spanish Flu had been the culprit. It was so sad to see whole families wiped out. You stand there in the shade of these beautiful trees, a soft breeze blowing and almost hear the stories of families. There are several family plots which were so old and had antique decorative cast ironwork fences around the plot. I wondered if any of these families had anyone left to visit the graves. Had the families been wiped out with either the Civil War or Spanish Flu or other illnesses that swept through when there was no medical way of treating it?
We spent over an hour and could had spent more as we drifted through families and tried to figure out their stories. Some graves had headstones with fishing rods and reels engraved on them, some with deer antlers carved on them, others with big logs indicating a timber man.
We left there with many thoughts about those families went through and maybe our families also. We wandered down the road, mostly with old wood sided homes, flowers in the garden, large trees and vines, curtains in the windows. Folks have lived here for a very long time. As we were leaving town we spotted a small store which sat all to itself on the curve of the highway. It was a very old building - dog trot style. "Dog Trot style" is a style of building and homes they built in the 30's and 40's which is a bungalow style. This store had a large big window. The front of the building was all done in old barn wood and the sign was made out of old barn wood with the letters "The Jane Store" painted in red. Writing on the front window advertised sandwiches, home made pies and cookies, good coffee, antiques and enamel ware.
We decided to stop. As we opened the old wooden screen door, which was controlled by a big spring, we were hit with the smell of fresh berry pie. The wooden screen door slammed behind us with that old familiar sound from when I was a kid. I used to sneak in the back door and sneak into the kitchen and get a handful of Oleo. Oleo was margarine and mom would leave it out on the table and it was soft and good. I loved it and it was responsible for many scoldings from mom.
We were met by an older (in her 80's) lady, Mrs. Pecks, dressed in a dress and big flowery apron. She immediately announced, "Howdy girls, I'm just baking some fresh berry pies and have some apple pies going in the over after that. Also have fresh cookies, tell your friends." She was so adorable, her hair all permed, shiny white and in place. The store had the old oak wooden plank floors, an old wooden counter with a register. There were shelves of antique this's and thats, which I love, and had to have that candle board - looks like a bread board with a handle and 3 metal candle holders on it so when you had to carry a candle through the house in the evening to light your way- you had 3 instead of 1.
In the center of the store were 3 little tables with 4 chairs each. The chairs were all those chrome style with vinyl backs and seats from the 50's. The tables had table cloths which were old handmade quilts covered in a thick clear plastic covering so they would not get stained. Absolutely beautiful! Mrs. Pecks said she had lots of quilts just layin' around so she decided to display them by putting them on the tables. Then the opposite wall of the little store had every color of enamel ware you would wish for. For those of you who don't know what enamel ware is - your grandmother most likely had a big popcorn bowl that was enamel ware - most likely black and white specked or blue and white or maybe even red and white. Before plastic, this was the cheapest ware for mixing bowl, baking pans and Honey pots (potty pots w/lids beside the beds at night so you didn't have to go out into the snow to go potty).
Mrs. Pecks daughter was tending the front of the store while Mrs. Pecks was baking in the back. Great conversations. At one point I asked if I could use the restroom. Mrs. Pecks heard me and said, "Yes, girl, go out the front door, take a right and go out into the woods and there is a white cement brick little building." Okay so I did as she said, out the door, took a right, and looked to the left. There out in the woods was a little white cement block building, the size of a wooden outhouse. This one had a old rusty tin roof and an old wooden door with chipping white paint. The old copper doorknob worked and the cement floor was painted white and covered with leaves. The wind had blown in a storm last night and guess some got stuck in here. There was a very old white porcelain pedestal sink with very old handles and a faucet which, of course, was dripping. At the base of the sink was a long hose which was to long so it looped several times before it hooked up the back of the old toilet. Well I found out what the hose was all about - when I flushed the toilet the hose started jumping up and down and looked like it was alive. Hmmm guess it was the water for the toilet.
Back in the store, filled with delicious smells, we bought some homemade still warm cookies. So good. They sold Amish jams, homemade pies and cookies, homemade sandwiches and real good country coffee. We will be going back to The Jane Store soon.
So for all those Real Housewives of Orange County, New York and where ever - this is what life is really like for "Real" housewives.
HOME FARM REMEDIES & HINTS: Bee stings, Hiccups and Hot Pepper burning/hands
Bee Stings - A slice of onion placed on a bee sting will take the pain away
Hiccups - Eat a spoonful of peanut butter to get rid of hiccups.
Hot Pepper burning - If your hands burn and sting after handling hot peppers, pour rubbing alcohol on them.
COUNTRY HOME RECIPES: Fried Oatmeal
For that leftover oatmeal try this!
Pressed cooked oatmeal into a cake pan 1/2-inch thick. Cool until firm.
Cut into squares. Fry in butter until browned, turning once.
Serve with syrup.
It's good!
Thanks for visitin' and come back soon.
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