We tried to can one hundred quarts of berries, one hundred
quarts of green beans and peas, six bushels of peaches and all the apples that
were left. We also canned pickles, jelly
and jam. We always had fresh eggs, milk
and butter, and we always raised all the red potatoes and sweet potatoes we
needed. So all we had to buy was flour,
sugar, coffee, tea, white beans and brown beans, baking powder, baking soda,
and salt.
One of my jobs was churning the butter. We had the big crock like churn with a
paddle, but my favorite way was to put the cream in a gallon jar and sit in the
kitchen and talk to mother sloshing the cream back and forth until the little
flakes of gold started to appear. As
many times as I have made butter, that was something that always fascinated me. I always wondered how the first man felt when
he accidentally made butter for the first time.
When the butter was finally made, you had to take it out and
put it into a bowl of cool water to wash away all the mild that was left. Salt it, and walla, butter. The milk that was left over was buttermilk.
