We have entered the month of March. Our weather made a change from warm sunny days to cold, ice, and snow again. Schools in our area were closed Thursday and Friday of last week and Wednesday of this week.

Our son Joseph, 13, is still on crutches, but only missed two days of school since three were cancelled due to the weather. X-rays showed there isn’t a fracture, just a badly bruised knee. He still can’t put too much pressure on it. It swells up if he uses it too much. He did manage to milk our cow Bessie a few times but is limited in what he can do. We really miss his help. We had to laugh because older brother Benjamin, 16, said he didn’t think Joseph did that much of the chores but now he can see how much Joseph really does do.

While we are having cold and snow, my sisters Verena and Susan are enjoying the sunny south. I talked to them over the phone and they are having a good time. They saw an alligator up close. They had 80 degree weather on the day I talked to them while here in Michigan the temperature was in the teens.

Mose (daughter Susan’s special friend) has been busy cooking maple syrup. He tapped our trees and also sister Emma and Jacob’s trees. He also helps his dad with their own trees. The sugar content is really low this year so it takes gallons and gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.

Son-in-law Timothy is also still on crutches, from the chain saw accident he had several weeks ago. He is still not allowed to put any weight on his foot. He was determined to try to go back to work this week. He runs the saw at the saw mill. He sat on a step stool or something to run the saw. After a day at work his foot was so cold since he can’t wear shoes yet. He stayed home a day and went to get toe warmers and thicker socks. At this writing, I haven’t heard if he managed to make it through the rest of the week.

Sunday evening we took supper to Timothy and Elizabeth and had a nice evening with them. It was warm so we walked to the river behind their house. Timothy does pretty well on his crutches whereas Joseph is still getting the hang of his.

Timothy and Elizabeth have also tapped around forty trees and have been cooking down sap into maple syrup. Elizabeth gathers all the sap for Timothy is able to watch over the sap as it cooks down and keeps wood on the fire.

Their horse ShiAnn had a colt with four white feet and a nice star on its forehead. It is a frisky little thing and he was really trying out his legs on Sunday in the sunshine. Izzy and Crystal had fun running outside with us.

I want to make a correction to one of my recent letters. I said my dad was the third of thirteen children. He is the second oldest. I also wrote that cousin Emma’s son died several years before her husband Andy. It was actually several months before. I just thought I should correct that. I have no idea where my mind was when I was writing that day—possibly too many distractions going on.

God bless you all!

Maple Custard Pie

1 1/4 cups brown sugar
9 tablespoons flour
9 egg yolks
6 tablespoons maple syrup
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 cups scalded milk

Frosting:

9 egg whites, beaten
3/4 teaspoon salt
18 tablespoons powdered sugar (1 and 1/8 cup)
vanilla

1. Mix flour and brown sugar and press into three unbaked pie crusts.
2. Beat egg yolks and add maple syrup, salt, and milk carefully and pour the mixture over sugar mixture. Do not mix. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, lower to 325 degrees and bake for 25-30 minutes.
3. Top with frosting and brown lightly in oven.

Lovina Eicher is an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. Formerly writing as The Amish Cook, Eicher inherited that column from her mother, Elizabeth Coblentz, who wrote from 1991 to 2002. Readers can contact Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at [email protected].