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Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Covid Journal, Day 199: Putting Away the Pears

A nice 56 this morning, and a beautiful day with a high about 77. Windy and sunny. We could use rain, again. Everything is so dry.

Larry picked what pears he could reach with the apple picker and brought them in for me to wrap. 



Our pears are the old-fashioned Bartletts that must be stored a while before they ripen. For the past few years my Octobers have been so filled with storytelling that I had no time to deal with the pears. How sad is that, when we both love canned pears? So this year I'm taking care of them, wrapping them individually to ripen. We have about a bushel--which became two bushels once all the paper was added.

I finally got this little set ready for the booth yesterday, opting to retain the original, beautiful wood finish and just cover the chair seats. The table is about 36" square, and when the leaves are down it's only 12" by 36" so it can be stored away easily without taking up a lot of space. 


I used the blue toile fabric just because I wanted to display these dishes with the set. Silly, right? But so pretty.


I spent most of today working on ebay listings and setting up a 30 percent off sale in my ebay store. I hope that stimulates sales; I've been doing pretty well but would like to reduce my backlog of inventory. So fingers crossed.

And I cooked. A few days ago Larry shot two rabbits that had pretty much ruined my late cabbage. No kraut because of those two--so today, one of them was dinner. I made it like I usually make squirrel: I cooked the rabbit in water with onions, chicken broth, salt, pepper and bay leaves. I left it to simmer for about 3 hours, to get the meat nice and tender. Then I removed the bay leaves, picked the meat from the bones and put it back into the broth while I made a roux with canola oil and cornstarch; then slowly added the broth and meat, some mushrooms, rosemary and thyme, and cooked until it thickened into a nice sauce. 



I cooked some homemade noodles to go with it, along with green beans, and fried apples from a few fallen fruits from our trees. Delicious and pretty much all from our land. 



I love to cook like this. There is just something satisfying about knowing that your land is providing for you, isn't there?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

8 comments:

  1. My grandmother loved nothing better than a swuirrel or a rabbit . . . but that didnt get passed down to my generation. I wish it would have been. Sounds like another good day!

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    1. It wasn't something from my childhood either, Nance, but this husband of mine was all about it, so I learned. I have to admit, I love the taste--rather like dark meat of chicken.

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  2. What is youe ebay account name, Sue?

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    1. grannysu is my seller name. My store is Bird In Hand GS. Here's a link: https://www.ebay.com/str/birdinhandgs You can copy and paste in your browser, should take you right there.

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  3. I like that you matched the chairs to the dishes. I hope it helps them sell.

    The rabbit stew looks so good.

    Do you have a link to your Ebay store in your sidebar? I can't seem to find it. I don't usually shop Ebay but I'd like to check out your sale.

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    1. Jenny, I don't, but that's a great idea. I'll add one. Here's my ebay information, though: grannysu is my seller name. My store is Bird In Hand GS. Here's a link: https://www.ebay.com/str/birdinhandgs

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  4. I remember my older brother, number two, skinning squirrels and frying them in a cast iron skillet. He always gave me the tails to play with. He loved the meat. The last time the electric stove caught on fire in the back of it. You could hear it burning inside the unit. They called the fire dept, and saved the house, it did smoke up the place and ruined a lot of wall paper and things inside up the chimney that ran to the basement coal furnace. . I had forgotten that I was the one who heard it sizzling while he cooked, old grease down in it I guess, but not burning his skillet or the burner eye he was using. He had no idea it was on fire.
    After the insurance finally paid for a new stove, Momma had the kitchen moved into the dining room, and my uncle put in all new Marsh birch cabinets for her, along with that gleaming new copper tone stove and fridge. I never remember him frying another squirrel after that day. Thank goodness! Momma was a poor widow woman, raising six kids by cleaning other people’s houses, and doing ironing here at home for them, $1.00 a laundry basket full of starched cotton. We would have been homeless if this little pesky sister hadn’t been bothering him while he cooked.

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    1. Annie, what a story. I am glad it had a good ending. Your mother was one of those unsung heroes--the everyday people who make it on their own. What a woman she must have been.

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