November 1991- As we went to church this morning, is it just a habit of going? Most people go to church on Sunday and some have the habit of going to church at other times. If anyone tells you religion is just a habit, we’d answer them that’s better to have that habit then not have it at all. 

As a family, you automatically get in the same habit. Especially in our adult life, habits are what cause us to live a “structured” life. We get up at the same time each morning. Some are going out to milk the cows, some are getting breakfast, and some getting their dinner buckets packed. The list could go on in what takes place in the early morning hours. It anyways seems it’s a hustle and bustle or should we say it’s a habit. It seems we eat much the same food for breakfast, dinner, and supper.

We get dressed, wash, and comb our hair and off to work we go. All without specific preplanning. The average person gets to work, they do their job but like a carpenter trade is somewhat different. They go from place to place. We then have a tendency to spend money after we get our paychecks for things we could do without, when actually it’s just a plain habit of doing so. It’s just the kind of habit that’s hard to change.  

January 1992- What’s next on the list to be done in the winter months? Butchering day! Ugh! It’s always such a messy and tiresome day. Yet, it’s good to have fresh pork even if we buy meat from the stores during the year. 

Our family comes home early in the morning to help butcher our couple hogs. The hogs are shot, of course, and then scalded in a butchering tank of hot water, taken out on a butcher table and what you might call shaven clean. Then the hogs are hung on a scaffold and cut wide open and the stomach, etc., removed. If the intestines are accidently cut into, it will make a messy job. The women like to see clean intestines come in as they usually take care of cleaning the stomach, intestines, etc. The intestines are scraped clean, which will be stuffed with sausage, which some parts of the meat was ground through the grinder. The hams, bacon, pork chops, or tenderloin, ribs are all cut out and later the hams are sugar-cured. Some can it by pressure cooker and fry down the meat. If fried down the next day, it usually goes in a crock and lard poured over it. After rendering lard, we’ll have those cracklings which some are so fond of. Liver pudding is made and then canned. It’s made from the head meat, etc., which had been cooked in an iron kettle. 

 At noon, there’s usually a good meal to feast on. After all the mess, the iron kettles and butchering items are washed. Greasy, but good eating afterwards. It’s just one of those enjoyable days together.

March 1992- All around us, tints of green begin coloring the drab landscape. Tiny green leaves deck the stark brown branches. In the ground, seeds and roots enliven with growth. Beautiful buds and blooms and flowers will come forth. Bright reds and yellows, sharp blues, deep and pale pinks, deep and pale purples, and pure whites. Very delicately are they formed and very pleasing are they to behold. 

House cleaning time again. How good to push up the windows and let the fresh air come in. An inner force impels us to be energetic. 

Tomorrow, March 11, it’ll be thirty-four years since Ben and I took up on housekeeping. So, it was quite a change to adjust after working at the nearby produce factory, for quite some years. Butchering chickens, etc. were among my duties. The produce plant is a thing of the past now. 

Like March 12, 1948, the temperature was seven below and then again in March 1986 we had a record high of 82 degrees. But I still planted onions, radishes, and lettuce. Not much of each. The ground was dry enough to plant more but I don’t like to replant. Too early for me. We had three thunderstorms last month, which was very unusual in this area. There are usually no thunderstorms this time of the year. It’s been a dreary month. It was a rainy morning, but has turned to snow now. 

MOTHER’S SWEET ROLLS (CINNAMON ROLLS)

Scald 1 ½ cups milk, add 2 teaspoons salt, ½ cup sugar and ½ cup butter or margarine (¼ pound). Add 2 packages yeast to ½ cup warm water and let stand 5 minutes. Add to above mixture. Add 3 beaten eggs and then 3 cups flour (Robinhood). Mix. Add 3 cups more flour. Let raise to double bulk. Roll out and spread with melted margarine. Sprinkle brown sugar on top and then cinnamon. Roll up. Cut up about ¾ to 1 inch in width. Let rise. Bake in hot oven 5-7 minutes. Frost when baked.

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 [email protected] and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails.