that partridge cochin is oNe bossy girl!

what a delight to see how happy they are - happy farming!

Beautiful bunnies!  I love bunnies, and squirrels, and cats and birds - I love to feed the birds - I would love to live where I could have lots of animals. 

I know you all think I'm off my rocker half the  time and truth be known, I probably am. 

But this evening I went to visit my sister and we started talking about the conversations that go on via NEO.  I was telling her about the chickens, the rabbits, the canning and gardening exchanges. We also talked about the old tales and back in the day stories.  This brought us to the subject of Sam's gas station on Fairfield and Neil's "pink" station on Clark (owned by Gillota Fuels).  We were trying to remember exactly how long he had been there - go to be more than 20 years maybe 25.

During this nostalgic visit, we also got on the subject of helping Sam build up his sales and it brought us back to when gas stations gave out S & H Greenstamps.  Which provoked me to come home and take a look through a canister I had in the attic.  Would you believe it, I still have some S & H Greenstamps, some Gold Bond Stamps AND some JFG Coffee Coupons from more than 40 years ago.  Wonder if you could get more with them now?  I've sure been saving them long enough.

Somewhere I think I still have a wash cloth that I got out of Silver Dust washing powders back in the early 60's.  Remember when dishes came in Oats (oatmeal) and peanut butter came in glasses with Zoro and the Lone Ranger on the side.  Bazooka Bubble Gum had wrappers with funnies and point value that you could save and get toys with.  I think Mellow Cups still have points inside.  Dan river material was sold in packaged 4 yard dress lengths. 

I was a designer back then.  I didn't care how ugly it was I would wear it to school.  Sewed it with my hands and sometimes it would come apart and nearly fall off before I got home.  I would take it off, sew it back up a different style and wear it again.

Just some stuff that crossing my mind.

 made us eat puffed wheat and puffed rice for what seemed an eternity so she could get an earring and necklace set...i have the earrings now!

I've been thinking .....sometimes that's not good, but anyway, I have been considering starting a quilting group and make it up sort of with old fashioned ideas.  I have a bag of old satin dresses (prom style) that I gathered up years ago and I want to use them to make a satin quilt. 

I think a quilting bee would be lots of fun and not only give ladies a project but it would also allow young girls the opportunity to learn how to sew and quilt.

We could shop out of thrift stores for clothes made out of old fabrics and collect rare buttons and lace and create pieces of art.  We could auction them off for charity or to help someone in need, etc.

Years ago I was involved with a group that made "baby bundles."  We'd make a baby quilt and then everybody would bring something for the baby and put it in the blanket and we would wrap the items up, pin the blanket closed with diaper pins and then give it to someone who had just had a baby. 

About 20 years ago, I met a little girl that lived in Africa - her parents were missionaries - but she loved to sew and fabrics in Africa were expensive - so I would gather pieces of pretty fabrics and threads and every so often send her a box.  Where they lived, their supplies and mail came by boat - so it would take sometimes two to three months before she actually got the material.  She was always so excited - she was about 11 years old at the time.  I don't know what happened, I guess she grew up - I finally lost contact with here.

 Jerleen, I remember the excitement of a new box of oatmeal and what treasure would be in it. I have a couple of the oatmeal glasses. I treasure them, use them a couple of times a year, and out them back before they get chipped. Don't know if they are worth anything other than the memories. ANd I do remember my Mom with dishtowels from flour sacks and I still try to buy dishtowels that may look like those. I am in heaven if I find an old pillowcase that could have been like one from my childhood. I don't remember Silver Dust. My mom always used Tide and I always had a rash that I thought was normal until I left home and used something different. Was Silver Dust  regional?

BTW, I turned out 3 pints of strawberry and 6 pints of peach jam. looks really pretty.

I certainly would not get rid of the glasses.  I wish I still had some of ours but they did not make it. Of course, nobody thought to keep any - we were all too anxious to use them. 

I don't know if Silver Dust was regional or not.  I just know that it always had pretty towels, etc.

Oatmeal went through stages.  They would offer glasses, bowls, cups and saucers.  Do you recall that people down South slurps their coffee from a saucer and not from the cup.  Every once in awhile, if nobody else is around, I get the urge to do that and I indulge myself.

Now, the flour sacks came in handy for a lot of things.  They were just the right size for pillow cases, you usually had to buy two 25lb bags to get enough to make a blouse or a skirt.  They came in pretty floral colors, made beautiful aprons, fabric for quilts and the plain ones are the ones I learned to emborder on. 

When I was about six, my mom would take a picture out of a coloring book and use carbon paper to trace it onto the fabric and then showed me how to emborder following the outline.  I remember the first set- she helped me emborder a yellow duck on the edge.

You really sound southern now, you canned some pretty jellies and jams.  That was always a big thing in the South, "she cans the prettiest beans, or the prettiest jam I ever saw."  You know your were praised when somebody said your stuff was the prettiest.  What about passing people's houses when it was wash day and you'd hear, "boy, she hangs out the prettiest white diapers I've ever seen," or "just look at them pretty white sheets."  I just thought of something else, everybody did their wash (worsh) on Monday.  No matter who you were Monday was "worsh" day.  Everybody would be out bright and early with a big tub of water over a fire to get hot for doing the wash  - and that homemade lye soap.  I hated the smell of that stuff.   My mom and grandma used to make that nasty stuff by the tub full too and after it hardened cut it up in blocks.  It's a wonder we have any skin left.

I love reading your stories jerleen1.  Very interesting memories and you tell them in such an entertaining way. 

 i have a huge box of my son's teeshirts (he lOved them!) that I started quilting. i made one for my father but never finished another. i would love to start up again!

I think I will check on a place that is sufficient enough to lay out fabrics - I have a place in mind.  Will keep you all in the loop - we'll pick a day that is good for everybody and show up with our sewing baskets, bucket, pail, etc. 

Anybody remember taking sweet milk and corn bread to school in an "Armour" lard bucket for lunch?

I am pretty sure that the west side market still carries these on ocassion.

BTW, I helped mom can tomatoes on Friday. It wasn't what I had planned for my day but they were ripe and therefore it was time. The way that it was long ago was that we went with what nature dictated: berries were ripe, go pick. Green beans ready, wash those jars and pick. Some things were predictible: when potatoes were dug and stored,  same with apples. But the heat of the summer, or lack of, determined the priorities for duties if the family were to have food in the winter for most produce. Kids were ok'd to take time  off of school in the early fall to help get the crops in because that was just life in the mountains. 

that is the way it works.  You took care of your daily duties when nature called.

What is that old saying, "Waste not want not."

People with families back then did not have a choice - they couldn't sit on their behind and say no harm no foul, we can get food stamps.  They worked hard long hours - making sure that when the snow came, there were no worries.

I am enjoying all your stories. I did n't grow up with female relatives that did much sewing , cooking or gardening but I must have felt I was missing  something. I learned to sew, a little from my Mom and through classes I took at Polaris and at Hoops n' Hollers, a quilt shop that was in North Olmsted for many years. I loved quilting so much I got a job at Hoops n' Hollers and worked there all through high school. The owner, Sandi Luther, was from the "hollers" of Kentucky -- she was an inspiring quilter and business woman. I still have piles of fabric I bought with my employee discount. I made a lot of quilts, but none very recently (since I became a Mom). I learned gardening and cooking from scratch too -- something my family members can't alway appreciate, since you can buy vegetables and bakery at Marcs and giant Eagle. I guess I get more pleasure from the process of making/growing something than they do. 

I can't wait to taste my chickens' first eggs. They look very happy. They are so friendly and they are enjoying fresh treats from our garden every day.

I used to go to Hoops n' Hollers just to look around.  I bought a couple of quilting templates from the store but to this day have never used it.  I guess old habits are hard to break - I still prefer to cut my pattern pieces or templates out of cereal boxes or some kind of light card board. 

I have some of the new modern day quilting and sewing tools but I guess I'm just too "old school" to use them.  I have all kinds of card board squares, triangles, etc., that I've been carrying around for years.  I don't know why I keep them - you can always make more - force of habit I guess.

I surely do get it about the fabric.  I am a fabric hoarder.  If there is a sale on fabric, I buy stacks and stacks just to have it - I love beautiful pieces of cloth.  I'm such a hoarder, I won't throw away even the tiniest scrap - I always think I'll use it - in a crazy quilt or scrap quilt.  Those are my favorite.  I love to collect quilting magazines and every once in awhile I'll use a pattern out of one of them - but I have more fun and enjoyment from creating my own designs.  I have three baby quilts to make in the next month and they have to each be different - since they're for two nieces and my nephews girl friend.  1 girl, 1 boy and 1 don't know plus my granddaughter has requested a Cinderella costume for Halloween. 

The mad rush of today's world has made it almost a necessity to run out and buy store bought clothes and food.  But there is nothing as good as food cooked from scratch.  The taste is so different.  You're so right, even fresh eggs taste better than store bought.