Izzy & Pumpkin

I took these shots the other morning when I checked on the goats before my walk. The synchronization of their poses delighted me.


Your Pumpkin will soon be bigger than you, Mama!

Birthday Outing Continued: The Gardens at Conestoga House

After our tour of Rock Ford and a great lunch at a local Chinese buffet, we headed for what turned out to be the absolute highlight of the day - The Gardens at Conestoga House. I find it even difficult to put into words the utter beauty of these gardens - they are by far the most beautiful I have ever seen. The Conestoga House has been owned by the prominent Steinman family of Lancaster since the '20s. The formal gardens on the estate were developed in the '30s and used for their extensive and generous entertaining. When Mr. Steinman died, it was part of his will to open the gardens to the public which took place in 1982. Since then, every Wednesday from June through September, the public is invited to view these private gardens at no cost. The topiaries, beds, wreaths, window boxes, terraces and the like are breath-taking with flowers. My mom and I literally walked around with our mouths open the entire time in amazement. You can sit in the restored lime kiln; have a picnic lunch by the pool (first-come, first-served, thirty-minute-limit basis for tables); marvel over orange, lime, and fig trees and vanilla and coffee bushes; and hunt for the whimsical topiaries scattered throughout.

My photos don't do the estate justice - I MUST take my personal photographer there some time. He'll be walking around with his mouth open, too.

Birthday Outing: Rock Ford Plantation

Mom and I spent the day together yesterday on my yearly birthday outing (we do outings instead of gifts - love it!). Anyway, after several thrift store stops, we toured The Rock Ford Plantation in Lancaster. This historic 18th century home was owned by Edward Hand, a medical doctor and Adjutant General to George Washington in the American Revolution. The house is an excellent example of late-Georgian architecture as it sat virtually untouched for almost 200 years. We enjoyed the tour given to us by the director. I especially liked the basement kitchen where smells of the smoky hearth and dried apples still lingered from the open hearth cooking class held a few days ago. We loved sitting on the gorgeous wrap-around porch watching a deer munching apples from the orchard beyond. It was a lovely day to step back in time for awhile and think on tea parties in the parlor with the President, servants roaming the kitchen garden for herbs, and gorgeous ladies dressed in their elegant gowns. More on our outing tomorrow . . .

Planning A Barbecue

Yesterday morning when I was making some notes for an upcoming barbecue with friends, I came across this advice and these menus in The Family Book of Home Entertaining (1960) by Florence Brobeck:

A barbecue meal should be cooking on the grill or rotisserie, and be almost ready to serve when the guests arrive. The fragrance of the broiling food should be supplemented with thirst-quenching beverages ready on a buffet service counter or cart, and summer appetizers, such as radishes, a bowl of cherries and other small fruits. When the cook is ready to serve his steaks, chops or other foods, the guests sit down and a hot, wonderfully cooked luncheon or supper is theirs right from the grill.

Barbecue Menus for Luncheons or Suppers:

No. 1. Broiled breasts or halves of chicken; potatoes baked in foil and served with a mixture of sour cream, crisp bacon bits, and chives in place of butter; small hot cheese rolls in foil; iced watermelon, and iced or hot coffee.

No. 2. Broiled ham; sweet potatoes baked in foil; mixed, cooked vegetables chilled and combined with cold mayonnaise in crisp lettuce leaves; thin, warm cornbread. For dessert, parfaits of strawberry and vanilla ice cream alternated with crushed fresh berries, iced coffee or tea.

No. 3. Herbed chicken pan-broiled on the grill; stuffed acorn squash seasoned with onion, butter, salt and pepper baked in foil; stuffed tomato salads with curry dressing; clover-leaf rolls. For dessert, sliced peaches with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, iced tea or coffee.

My mouth is now watering . . .

Flower Arranging: A Hankie Vase

Easy. Just cover a small vase with a hankie and wrap a rubber band around the neck. Fluff up the hankie to conceal the band and fill the vase with flowers- in this case, mint in bloom and an unknown but pretty, pink wildflower.


The inspiration: The Five-Minute Centerpiece by Jane Newdick

Busy with Domesticity

I've been . . .

* freezing corn
* cutting up honeylopes, cantalopes, and watermelons
* making Italian Zucchini Casserole, Zucchini Sticks, and Sauteed Zucchini


* dicing peppers for the freezer
* baking Banana Bread
* organizing the freezers


* freezing cantalope
* re-stocking the pantry
* frying onions and peppers for Grilled Sausage Sandwiches


* baking Sock-It-To-Me Cake
* clipping coupons and finding bargains
* making waffles and ice cream sandwiches in 100 degree weather


* frosting Banana Bars
* picking tomatoes
* trying new recipes

. . . and loving every minute of it.

(Forgive the poor quality of the photos - my photographer is out on a week-long photo shoot.)

Vintage Recipe: Oniony Green Beans

Unfortunately I forgot to write down what vintage resource this recipe comes from - but no matter, the important thing is how good they are!

Oniony Green Beans

Melt 1 tabl. margarine. Add 1 1/2 tsp. dried minced onion and cook until brown over medium heat. Add 1 lb. of frozen green beans, 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 C. water and cook, covered, until tender.

Vintage Recipe: Ham & Scalloped Potato Bake

This recipe comes from the Original Crockpot Cookbook from 1977. Tomorrow I'll share the sidedish recipe that I served with it.

Ham & Scalloped Potato Bake

6-8 slices of ham
8-10 potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
2 onions, thinly sliced
1 C. cheddar cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Layer half of the ham, potatoes and onion on the bottom of your crockpot or slow cooker. Sprinkle with cheese, then add remaining ham, potatoes and onions. Cover with soup. For a crockpot, cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4. For a slow cooker, cook on level 3 for 4 hours.

Vacation Bible School: Taste & See

Last week was Vacation Bible School - an exhausting but fun time! The two ladies that "head up" our VBS always do an amazing job - they come up with a homemade program every year with a specific theme. The one writes the scripts for the puppet shows and skits while the other comes up with activities and projects to match the theme. The ladies creatively matched several stories from the Bible with baking/cooking concepts. The 30 kids also made food for 100 for the church picnic at the end of the week. Each night they made casseroles, salads, and desserts to freeze or store for Sunday. It was an insane amount of preparation and work, but I really looked forward to going out to help each night. I'm just glad that VBS isn't two weeks long!



The kids also made cocoa mix, trail mix, and cookies throughout the week to put in care baskets for the elderly, sick and shut-ins.



Some of their other projects included decorating mugs of kitchen utensils which they used each night in cooking, painting some ceramics and putting together mini cookbooks to take home.

The Blessing of Blooms

A friend brought me these flowers last week when she came to pick blueberries. She grows several rows of such flowers in her garden each year with the express purpose of sharing them with others. Glad to be a happy recipient of her generosity . . .

Cleaning Bucket Care Kits

Last week one evening we had the privilege of spending several hours with 80 other believers packing 500 cleaning bucket care kits for people in natural disasters around the world. We formed several assembly lines and packed the buckets filled to the top with various cleaning items, trash bags, clothesline and pins, dust masks, bug spray, and gloves. What a blessing to stand around the stacks of buckets, place our hands on them and pray for those who would one day receive the kits. It is, indeed, a privilege to serve.

Blueberry Coffeecake

This is a new recipe I tried the other day and served for dessert after supper. But I like it even better for breakfast the next day, warmed up and served with a hot cup of English Breakfast Tea. Oh, my.

Blueberry Coffeecake

1/4 C. sugar
2 tabl. cornstarch
1/3 C. water
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 1/2 C. fresh or frozen blueberries
1 - 18 1/4 oz. pkg. of yellow cake mix
1 1/2 C. quick oats, divided
8 tabl. butter, divided
2 eggs
1/4 C. brown sugar

In a saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Gradually whisk in water and lemon juice until smooth. Turn on high heat, stir in blueberries and bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and set aside. Combine cake mix and 1 cup of oats. Cut in 6 tabl. butter until crumbly. Set aside 1 cup of crumb mixture for topping. Stir eggs into main mixture. Spread mixture in a greased 13x9" pan with a butter knife. Spread blueberry mixture to within 1/4" of edges. Combine brown sugar, remaining oats and reserved crumbs. Cut in remaining butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over top. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Swim & Swam

Eli was thrilled recently to receive a "retired" fish tank from his great aunt. He quickly lined it with stones, set up some underwater vignettes, popped in a plastic aquarium plant and was off to the pet shop for fish. He picked out two Shub Goldfish and at my suggestion named them Swim and Swam. They are lovely-looking fish and very relaxing to watch. In fact, I glanced in Eli's room the other day to find him and Caleb laying on their bellies on his bed just silently watching the fish. Our favorite pastime as of late is feeding time every other day. It's quite comical to watch the fish darting around after their food and sucking it up just like miniature vacuum cleaners. Ah . . . simple pleasures.

Vintage Recipe: Cheese and Franks Bean Bake

This is an old recipe I adapted from a newsletter put out by the Kraft Company back in the '70s. Caleb and I enjoyed this for lunch one day, and I passed some of it along to my grandparents to warm up. The recipe makes a good bit, so you could cut it in half if you wanted. This is a perfect recipe for a potluck - throw it in your crockpot and go.

Cheese and Franks Bean Bake

1/4 C. chopped peppers (the original recipe called for green peppers but I substituted banana peppers from the garden)
1/4 C. chopped onion
2 tabl. margarine
2 - 27.5 oz. baked beans
7 or so hot dogs, cut into small circles
1/2 C. BBQ sauce
American cheese slices

Preheat oven to 350. Saute peppers and onions in margarine. Stir in beans, dogs and sauce. Pour into a casserole dish and bake for 25 minutes. Top with cheese slices and bake a few minutes more until melted.

More Summer Photos by E.