November 1902- A Note from Ingeborg
"Giving thanks always for all things to God." Ephesians 5:20
My dear friends,
I cannot believe how quickly Fall is flying past. Why it seems like just yesterday I was canning string beans and now we are thanking our heavenly Father for all He has provided. Come along with me and let's take a walk through my root cellar, I can't tell you how much I enjoy doing that.
Haakan dug this one when we built this new house. Before that we had the one near the soddy but the big flood of 1897 filled that one with debris and we didn't bother to dig it out again. Be careful you don’t bump your head on that beam as we go down the stairs. By the way, we have an outside cellar door also so we can cart root crops down in the wheelbarrow.
See all the jars of fruit and vegetables we put by this year? I call them my jewels. I'm sorry you can't see the colors as well with this lantern, but the beets--both canned and pickled--are a glorious deep red, as are the berry jams and jellies and some of my applesauce is pink due to the red skins of the apples. Over here in the crocks I have pickles covered with horseradish leaves to help keep them crisp; sausage patties sealed in lard, and pickled crabapples in the last.
We filled the barrels with apples alternating with layers of straw so one bad apple doesn't spoil the whole barrel as the old adage goes. Over here against the wall in the bins, we have stored the carrots, rutabagas and turnips in sand, the potatoes are covered with gunny sacks and a tarp to keep out the light so they won’t turn green nor sprout quite so quickly. Uff da, the time it took to dig all the crops. If you don't duck, you'll bump into the hams and bacon Haakan has smoked. He has more hanging out in the smokehouse, not finished yet. The spekekjøtt was dried up in the barn all summer. We sliced the dried mutton nearly as thin as paper.
Oh, those bags you see hanging from the beams? Those are dried shelled beans and dried shelled corn, along with dried onions. We hang them to let the air circulate. I know this looks like a lot right now, but by spring all this will be pretty much used up. I remember the days when we were mighty hungry come spring, and the first greens to be found were dandelion leaves. While they were a necessity then, they still remain a good spring tonic.
Mange takk for letting me show off the results of our labors. Now let's go upstairs and have a cup of coffee so we can catch up on all the wonderful things God has been doing in our lives. He says to live a life of praise. We have so much to be thankful for and one of my thank yous is that you came by.
Your friend,
Ingeborg
My dear friends,
I cannot believe how quickly Fall is flying past. Why it seems like just yesterday I was canning string beans and now we are thanking our heavenly Father for all He has provided. Come along with me and let's take a walk through my root cellar, I can't tell you how much I enjoy doing that.
Haakan dug this one when we built this new house. Before that we had the one near the soddy but the big flood of 1897 filled that one with debris and we didn't bother to dig it out again. Be careful you don’t bump your head on that beam as we go down the stairs. By the way, we have an outside cellar door also so we can cart root crops down in the wheelbarrow.
See all the jars of fruit and vegetables we put by this year? I call them my jewels. I'm sorry you can't see the colors as well with this lantern, but the beets--both canned and pickled--are a glorious deep red, as are the berry jams and jellies and some of my applesauce is pink due to the red skins of the apples. Over here in the crocks I have pickles covered with horseradish leaves to help keep them crisp; sausage patties sealed in lard, and pickled crabapples in the last.
We filled the barrels with apples alternating with layers of straw so one bad apple doesn't spoil the whole barrel as the old adage goes. Over here against the wall in the bins, we have stored the carrots, rutabagas and turnips in sand, the potatoes are covered with gunny sacks and a tarp to keep out the light so they won’t turn green nor sprout quite so quickly. Uff da, the time it took to dig all the crops. If you don't duck, you'll bump into the hams and bacon Haakan has smoked. He has more hanging out in the smokehouse, not finished yet. The spekekjøtt was dried up in the barn all summer. We sliced the dried mutton nearly as thin as paper.
Oh, those bags you see hanging from the beams? Those are dried shelled beans and dried shelled corn, along with dried onions. We hang them to let the air circulate. I know this looks like a lot right now, but by spring all this will be pretty much used up. I remember the days when we were mighty hungry come spring, and the first greens to be found were dandelion leaves. While they were a necessity then, they still remain a good spring tonic.
Mange takk for letting me show off the results of our labors. Now let's go upstairs and have a cup of coffee so we can catch up on all the wonderful things God has been doing in our lives. He says to live a life of praise. We have so much to be thankful for and one of my thank yous is that you came by.
Your friend,
Ingeborg
posted by Lauraine Snelling | 8:14 PM
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