Chester Chatter: A farm wife prepares for winter
Ruthie Douglas | Sep 30, 2019 | Comments 0
By Ruthie Douglas
©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC
Inside the farmhouse, the kitchen smelled of pickles and other canning of late vegetables, which was going on with the big pressure cooker making its noise. My mother-in-law and I made lots of apple sauce and relish. We bought peaches from the local farmstand to can.
Down the lane, into the night pasture, butternut trees lined both sides of street. We gathered up lots of the nuts to use them in candy, on top of ice cream and in cakes and pies.
We did not have to go to the store for much of anything when it came to food, even though on the farm three big meals a day had to be served. Often, breakfast consisted of roast beef, potatoes and gravy, leftover from dinner the night before.
When we remodeled the kitchen, I suggested that we have a fan installed over the stove. My husband, Don, nixed that idea, saying that when he entered the house after work, he wanted to open the door to the cooking odors.
News and notes from here and there
Nate Maly celebrated his birthday at a party with family and friends. A good time was had by all.
Chester’s Green was filled to the brim recently, with the 45th Annual Chester Fall Festival. The weather was perfect, folks enjoyed visiting the many vendors and getting some early holiday shopping done. And best of all, they got to visit with friends and neighbors and meet new people.
It’s a family tradition: Come fall, and the turning of the leaves, we head for the Mohawk Trail. Daughter Jeanie and I started off to Bennington, ending up in Greenfield, Mass. The memories of long ago rush back to me. I was a child at the gift shop, buying a tomahawk, a head-dress, a native American doll, spending all my allowance.
Some 85 members of the American Legion Post No. 67 attended a Tuesday night prime rib dinner, for those early birds who paid their dues early.
Jayne Flick, Jean Bolaski and I attended the Springfield Community Players to see Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. What a great job the actors did. Chester’s very own Anna Kendall played a leading role.
Paul Spicer has died. Paul was my new friend and card-playing buddy at Springfield Health and Rehabilitation Center. He usually won every hand. Paul will be missed.
Springfield High School Class of 1959 met for lunch at Riverside Restaurant on Friday. It was a great turnout.
Answer to last week’s trivia question: The Sale on the Green — now known as the Fall Festival — started in Chester 45 years ago.
This week’s trivia question: Batman celebrated a birthday this week. How old did he turn?
Street Talk
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Filed Under: Chester Chatter • Community and Arts Life
