The old home place

The roof on the old home place was leaking. Ellis and Allen talked about getting a crew together to go to MT and fix the problem.  We hoped to go over Easter vacation. Then that virus shut everything down. When MT opened up and before Allen and Ellis got swamped with work they asked the youth guys if any would be interested in helping. We had a great crew respond.

I tried to get these pictures in the right order and two were so obnoxious as to get in the wrong places. I will need help from my editor.  ;)

The guys had a great time and so did the gals. My sis-in-law and I made breakfast and lunch. Supper every evening was down the road at a cousin's house. 

The weather was great for two days in a row allowing the guys to get old shingles torn off and a good start on the tin. We heard that rain was in the forecast so every surface that didn't have tin was covered with tarpaper.

We went to bed Friday night to the sound of rain and howling wind. In the morning we found the tarpaper and lathe held up under the onslaught of rain and wind. There were snow flurries at breakfast. This called for some serious site seeing so the roof had time to dry.

We are thankful for all of the Lord's mercies. The timing of the project, the response of those who helped, safety on the roof, safety in travels --

We want to give God all the glory !!

Around noon they were able to get started again and kept working until the job was done at 6:30 - 7:00.

A gigantic thank you for all involved.

May 2020

Time flies when we're having fun. A year ago we were getting ready for this big day. There were three weddings last summer and one in late fall. (Youth from Prairie Mennonite Church) Many times there have been four or five years between weddings at our church. Those four couples are glad they aren't planning weddings this spring/summer. 

This winter, before covid 19 took over, Ellis and I visited Texas. We went to visit Krysta and her husband, Allen. They were working in an area that had been flooded. Allen was a crew leader and Krysta helped with food preparation. New groups came each week to help rebuild homes that had been flooded. 

While we were in Texas we found out a baby is on the way to join the Nolt family. We are excited to meet our new grandbaby!

Back to the 60's. 

   Krysta, posing in her 

           Grandma's maternity outfit ...

And more modern days

April 2020

Happy Days!

Brown Bread

The whole process of making bread was very satisfying. Especially the kneading. It just felt good to work off some extra energy.

Of course eating the bread was super! I was reminded of my Grandpa Ben. He always said the bread Grandma made was bread. Anything you buy at the store is "brind"  --more wind than bread.

Here's the recipe I used. I cut it in half. The original recipe called for 24 cups of flour and made 8 loaves. I didn't feel that energetic!

                        Brown Bread
4 cups warm water
1/2 cup honey
2 T. molasses
2 T. salt  (I think I will use less salt next time)
1/2 cup shortening
6 cups whole wheat flour
4 - 6 cups white flour

Mix 2 T. yeast with 3/4 cup warm water.
Stir everything together and add 6 cups whole wheat flour. Mix very good. Add 4 cups white flour and start to knead. I keep some shortening on hand to grease the sides of the bowl and my knuckles to keep dough from sticking. Then knead, knead, knead. About 10 minutes or more if you really get into the mood. Great for your arms!

Here comes the great controversy... do you knead dough in the bowl or on the counter?
You know what? It doesn't make any difference.  It's all personal preference. Do what you have always done. Or if your mom always kneaded bread dough in the bowl and you'd like to try kneading it on the counter, go for it. If you've never heard of such a red neck method of keeping the dough in the bowl to knead, maybe you want to shake up your life and try that. (It's one less surface to clean so that's my reason for doing it that way.) Lazy or efficient - whatever you want to call it.

Let the dough rise until double, grease pans and knead the dough again, then shape into loaves and let it rise again in the pans. I poke the loaves with a fork before they rise. Again personal preference. It makes a cool design on the top of the bread. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes. Take out of pans and cool. Makes four loaves. Freeze the extra loaves or give them away.

I got teased by my husband who thought I'd forgotten how to bake bread. It comes back to a person - a little like ice skating or riding bike. How did I happen to have yeast and whole wheat flour, molasses and honey on hand? Even white flour for that matter...
Everything was right here in my freezer and cupboards just waiting to be mixed together.