How to Cook A Husband Recipe


*From a cookbook from the 1800's

  
A good many husbands are utterly spoiled by mismanagement in cooking and are so not tender and good.  Some women keep them constantly in hot water; others let them freeze by their carelessness and indifference.  Some keep them in a stew with irritating ways and words.  Some wives keep them pickled, while others waste them shamefully.  It cannot be supposed that any husband will be tender and good when so managed, but they are really delicious when prepared properly.
   
In selecting a husband, you should be guided by the silvery appearance as in buying a mackerel; not by the golden tint as if you wanted salmon.  Do not go to the market for him as the best ones are always brought to the door.  Be sure to select him yourself as tastes differ.  It is far better to have  none unless you will patiently learn how to cook him.

Of course, as preserving kettle of the finest porcelain is best, but if you have nothing better than an earthenware pippin, it will do---with care.  Like crabs and lobsters, husbands are cooked alive.  They sometimes fly out of the kettle and do so become burned and crusty on the edges, so it is wise to secure him in the kettle with a strong silken cord called Comfort, as the once called Duty is apt to be weak.  Make a clear, steady flame of love, warmth and cheerfulness.  Set him as near this as seems to agree with him.

If he sputters, do not be anxious, for some husbands do this until they are quite done.  Add a little sugar in the form of what confectioners call kisses, but use no pepper or vinegar on any account.  Season to taste with spices, good humor and gaiety preferred, but seasoning must always with great discretion and caution.    Avoid sharpness in testing him for tenderness.  Stir im gently, lest he lie to flat and close to the kettle and so become useless.  You cannot fail to know when he is done.  If so treated, you will find him very digestible, agreeing with you perfectly; and he will keep as long as you choose, unless you become careless and slow the home fires to grow cold.  Thus prepared, he will serve a lifetime of happiness!

From the Yankee Kitchen Cookbook...Author and Date unknown, but from the early 1800's

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Today at the farm was quite uneventful except for my son coming home from Savannh, GA. He had been there for 3 weeks visiting his cousin. I sure missed him! He is my youngest and the last one of my kids living at home.  My mother sent my 10 year old niece up from MS to visit with me for 2 weeks, while Jared was gone, then my Mother came up to get her , so I did have company to keep me occupied while he was gone and hubby was at work. Made the time go by faster. Anyways, he is home and I am happy!!!

With the weather being so blasted hot, i get my outside chores done then stay inside for the rest of the day. The grass desperately needs to be cut, but its been too hot for me. I finally broke down today and got the riding lawn mower out to cut grass and it didnt start. So, the repair man comes tomorrow and another day has passed without the grass getting cut. I am usually a stickler about the grass being kept mowed down because I am petrified of snakes. Im always afraid of one crawling across the ground and me not see it and step on it. Just the other day when I went to the chicken barn to get the eggs i saw a HUGE snake curled up in one of the egg boxes. It was laying on top of like 8 eggs. I was totally freaked out and didnt have anyone to call except for 1 person. I took a chance that he was home, and called. He was, thank goodness. He came up and got the snake out and he held it up and it was as tall as he is and he is 6'1". He says it was a Bull snake and not poisonous.  A snake is a snake is a snake to me. I dont like them and dont want them around. 

I know.....snakes live out here in the country and I need to just learn to get used to it but its gonna take some time, lol.  Eventually i will get used to them and just take a stick and scoot them on their way but for now, I think I did good just by not calling 911, lol. Heck, you should have seen me when we first moved in.....Keep in mind now that hubby was in Iraq so it was just my son and me. We are 6 miles outside of town and almost a mile from anyone else. New house, New to the country.......anyways, at night coyotes would come real close to the house and make these horrible sounds. I would stay up for hours watching for them out the bedroom window thinking they were gonna try and mess with the horses or get on my front porch. They caused me plenty of stress and lack of sleep. But, eventually i got used to their noises and talked to some other farmers and found out that they generally leave horses alone and that even though they sound like they are real near most of the time they aren't. After a short time I got over it and began to sleep thru the nights again. If I can get used to them I can get used to the snakes sharing the farm, eventually.

Well, Good Night All,

~Cathy

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I was doing some surfing on the net for books and ran across this web site. There is a forum running on homesteading books where people are listing the books that they own. Quite Cool ! Alot I have never even heard of. Tonight I am writing down all the books that I think I might want to read. I keep an on-going list of books I want in my purse so that when I go to a thrift store or used book store I have my list available. Im also a member over at Paperbackswap.com. I get lots of cool books there. In fact, today in the mail I received ....... Oke Family Cookbook, Amish Quilting Cookbook and The Prairie Traveler (Classic handbook for America's Pioneers traveling across the frontier).

Here is the link:

Backwoods Home Magazine

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These are my wonderful children. Jared, Chrissy and Ashley.

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This is my husband Robert (Rob) and his horse, Comet.

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I want to post pictures of the animals and eventually all of us so that everyone can put faces to names I mention. Here are our horses.The Dunn on the left is Dak, the one next to him is Jess, the Palomino is Riata and the brown one behind her is Comet.

~Cathy

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Here is a picture of the Hedge Ball Tree I mentioned in my last post. I have never heard or seen such a thing, but I find it sooo cool. I have been doing some searching online and what my friend told me about putting them in the basement to keep away bugs was correct. You can also put these inside your house, in corners , and it will repel spiders. We have plenty of spiders, those freaky creatures are ALL over the place out here so this afternoon I am going to go pick several to place around the house. Oh, and from the information I found on the web, alot of people claim they repel fleas too. 

I have sat here and played with my pics and found that i can put them into my Paint program and change the size that way. Im gonna post this like it is ..hopefully it wont blow up when its posted, lol.

~Cathy

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I am trying to add a few pics to my blog so i went to the section to where you add the pics and did so. When I previewed the entry it was HUGE ! Can anyone please tell me how to add the pics and make them normal veiwing size?

Thank You!!!!!

~Cathy

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What a hot day it was here in North Central Kansas. 103 degrees!! Makes me want to stay inside all day, but we cant do that though because there is so much to do that if you don't do it daily it gets out of control, like shoveling horse poo. My husband and I were out early shoveling the poo with sweat dripping off our faces. It was miserable!

Normally this chore gets done late in the afternoon when its not so hot but since hubby had to be at work early today we had to get it done earlier than normal. Hubby is in the US Army Mounted Calvery and they are doing demonstrations this weekend at the rodeo in Abilene, KS. Normally he is off on weekends.

This hot weather makes we almost wish Winter would hurry along. I'm ready for Winter this year. Last year was our first Winter in the country and boy was it miserable. If i knew then what I know now, it would have been no big deal but with my husband deployed to Iraq, me and my 15 year old son making this move alone and to new unchartered territory...lets just say we had a hard time.

We moved onto the farm last January, right after a huge ice storm so there was lots of snow and ice and it was cold, cold, cold. We are from Mississippi and in South MS there is no snow except for an occasional flurry every couple of years. It rarely even gets below freezing there on the coast. We knew it got cold and got below freezing in Kansas but what we didnt know at the time was how to prepare for it. We know now! . Now as I look back its funny. We learned how to adapt, overcome and improvise, just like two Marines, lol.

Once we got moved into our house we had the horses delivered. The next day the water hand pump( we have several of these around the farm) froze and we couldnt get water to their water tub. So, All Winter long we had to haul buckets of hot water from the house to the barn and paddock area and pour it over the top of the pump thingie to defrost it. I did not know there was electrical insulation you could by to prevent this from happening.

In addition to that there was the frozen sump-pump hose. Our washer and dryer are downstairs in the basement. The water from the washer drains into a hose that runs to a pipe that goes along the floor to a hole in the concrete where a sump pump is. The sump pump pumps the water up another hose that goes up and out one of the basement windows where it drains outside. Its crazy! Anyways...the part of the hose on the outside would freeze up because all the washer water couldnt drain out because of the constant snow on the ground so it would freeze in the hose. So, in addition the hauling hot water every dayto defrost the hand pump thingie to get water to the horses we were hauling hot water out to the West side of the house to soak the sump pump hose to defrost the ice inside it so we could get laundry done, other wise water would back up all over the basement floor instead of draining out. Which it did, several times, until we figured out what was happening..but thats another story.

 After Winter when i would tell people what we went thru, they thought it was funny. I was sooo embarrassed beacuse come to find out there were simple remedies to my problems. Now I know and am ready to tackle the next Winter.

Its amazing how much I learn every day here on the farm. Since we have moved out here we have met alot of farmers in the area and have made many new friends. The people in this area are so friendly and helpful and are just full of wonderful advice. Just today I learned what this big tree in my front yard with all these big balls hanging on it is. Its a Hedge Ball tree. Never heard of one, but my friend, Brenda, says alot of people take those hedge balls and place them in the corners of their basement in the Winter and it keeps the bugs and critters away. Wow, I'm gonna try that! I also learned today that I have a huge Walnut tree loaded with Walnuts and a Rose of Sharon bush that has just started blooming lovely white flowers. Its funny but I feel like I have just been released from living in a bubble all my life and Im on this new adventure.

 I love this new life in the country. I want to learn as much as I can so one day we can be totally self-sufficient. I want to learn how to make my own bread, can and jar my own food from my own garden, farm and harvest my owns crops, raise my own cattle for beef and pigs for pork, etc.etc..

First I have to learn the basics though, LOL.

Tonight It was just me at home since hubby was working so  instead of cooking I met up with my daughter and her boyfriend and his family at a quaint little place for a smoked rib buffet. It was wonderful. Tomorrow we have to drive into Kansas City to pick up my son, Jared, who has been in Savannah visiting his cousin for the last three weeks. His flight comes in at 9AM so we have to leave the house at around 6AM. So, im off to bed. Usually I am a night owl but after a long hot day I am worn out.

Good Night to All,

~Cathy

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Ever since i was a small child i have dreamed of living in the country and having lots of farm animals. In January 2008 we moved into a small farm house in Kansas that sets on 250 acres of land. We have 4 horses, 5 dogs and 12 chickens.

 We are originally from South Mississippi. Hubby is in the Army and was transfered here to Kansas . He only has a couple more years until he retires and we are hoping to retire right here where we are. Adjusting to life in the country has been trial and error for us, but tons of fun. Lots of work...but fun and rewarding.

I am a stay-at-home Mom. We have 3 children. Chrissy is 21 and is currently in the Army. She is attending the Army's Vet Tech school in Texas. Ashley is 20 and is a CNA. Our son, Jared is 16. He is the only one of my children that technically lives at home still.

I enjoy cooking, Thrift Store shopping and yard sale hopping. I am also an avid reader and collect old oil lamps, cookbooks and any books related to homesteading. 

I am excited about sharing with everyone a glimpse into our day to day life and our adventures as we learn the ins and outs of homesteading.

Off to bed I am ..Good Night all

~Cathy~

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