It is Labor Day, so everyone is home today. We washed the laundry, and it is drying nicely on the lines. Daniel Ray is mowing. He mowed my sister Verena’s yard before he started on ours. I pulled the red beets from the garden. We didn’t get a big crop of them. Hopefully, we will have enough to make plenty of pickled beets for church lunch this winter when we host the services. It usually takes around 3 quarts each time. I made breakfast omelets for a late brunch, then I made white gravy to put on top of the omelet. I make each one with whatever they want in theirs. I had bacon, ham, sausage, cheese, tomatoes, green and hot peppers, and onions that they could choose from. They should be called Have-It-Your-Way omlettes!
Last week, Daniel Ray pulled a lot of our sweet corn that we planted. He said there are still 7 rows out there. It made 16 quarts of freezer corn so far. We are enjoying eating it fresh right off the cobs, too. It is really tender and sweet. Hopefully we can get the rest picked before the coons find it. Our dog Hatchi keeps a watch out for them.
Last Thursday around 25 women gathered at neighbor Susan’s for a coffee break for sister Verena in honor of her 60th birthday which was August 22nd. Everyone brought a dish and we had more than plenty food to enjoy while we visited. After the coffee break sisters Verena, Emma and I headed out for Berne, Indiana for the viewing/visitation of Aunt Leah, age 91. It took us around two hours to get there. It was held in her son Simon and Judy’s house which was Uncle Emanuel and Leah’s house before they moved to a little house beside it. Uncle Emanuel died in November 2021. Their oldest son Amos died in 2025. Surviving are 5 sons, 6 daughters and a daughter-in-law, 130 grandchildren, 283 great grandchildren and 28 great-great grandchildren.
It brought back many memories of the times spent at Uncle Emanuel and Aunt Leah’s house. They gathered eggs in several chicken barns down the road from their house. We went along many times while we were there. When the grain bins were empty, we used them for our houses and we would play dolls in there. We would dress up their kittens in dresses and play with them as well. We ventured all over and would chop off salt from their salt blocks they had for the cows and horses to lick on. We would wash the chunks of salt off at the water pump. Yuck! I still can’t believe we did that but evidently it didn’t hurt us. Haha! It was so good to visit with all of them. We don’t see them often. Our sympathy goes to the family. May God comfort them! We were glad we seen Aunt Emma and her daughters before they left when we came to the viewing. She gets around with the aid of a walker. She is 85. Mom came from a family of eight children. Aunt Emma and Aunt Salome age 84 are the only ones living.
Friday night we had supper at daughter Verena and Daniel Ray’s. They made hobo dinners on the open fire. Sunday night we had supper at daughter Susan and Ervin’s house. We ate around the campfire. On the menu was mashed potatoes, noodles, roasted hot dogs, coleslaw, cottage cheese and watermelon. It was a nice evening for a campfire. It is really cooling off at night which makes for some great sleeping!
Daniel Ray and Verena had his family at their house for supper on Sunday night. They brought us quite a few watermelon they grew in their garden. His mother said they pickled 4 wheelbarrows of watermelon already. They have a good flavor.
Tomorrow I will go with daughter Verena to load and unload her mobility scooter for an appointment she has to go get another blood test at the hospital. I am hoping to get started cutting out my dress, cape and apron for son Benjamin and Joanna’s wedding. I will also cut out and sew daughter Verena’s dress suit and Joanna’s white cape and apron. Ervin’s mother has once again helped sew some of the wedding clothes for some of our family. I am so appreciative of her doing that for them.
This week I will share the recipe how I freeze my corn. God’s blessings to all!
Freezer Corn
4 quarts corn, cut off cob (uncooked)
1 quart water
4 heaping teaspoons salt
3/4 cup white sugar
Cook corn lightly for 10 minutes, then set pot in cold water right away. Ladle corn and liquid in containers. Freeze when cooled off completely. After setting it in water and cooling off quite a bit I set my containers or freezer bags in the refrigerator with lids or seals partially open until it’s cooled off.
Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Her three cookbooks, The Cherished Table, The Essential Amish Cookbook, and Amish Family Recipes, are available wherever books are sold. Readers can write to Eicher at Lovina’s Amish Kitchen, PO Box 234, Sturgis, MI 49091 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply); or email questionsforlovina@gmail.com and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails.