Sleepy Man Banjo Boys

Prepare to be blown away... The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys are 3 brothers who can play Bluegrass like nobody's business! While every other kid in America has been busy playing video games, these boys have evidently been practicing. How did they get their name? Well, the banjo was so heavy that Jonny Mizzone learned to play it laying down!!!

Their CD America's Music can be found HERE

Today's Coop- Coop de Ville and Never Fail Dumplings

I love living in the country, even if it is a "planned neighborhood." We have many of the perks of country living; peace and quiet and our houses are spaced far enough apart that we don't feel like we are on "top of each other." Summertime days include crickets chirping, birds singing and if you listen long enough you can even hear a rooster crowing up the road at the neighbor's house. I love that sound. In fact, I love chickens. Yes I do!

My love affair with chickens began early, my parents had a small flock of hens that provided us with fresh eggs daily. They were free range birds, a phrase that wasn't even in the American vocabulary in the 1950's! Mom would turn them out of the hen house early each morning to forage for worms and fresh grass.

My Grandparents lived on a real farm and had chickens and cows. When we would go to visit I loved feeding the chickens their “scratch”, a coarse ground corn and mixed grain. They would crowd around clucking, grateful for the scraps that came from Grandma’s kitchen. The hens had a “pecking order” that determined where they would fly up to roost in the chicken house at night. My Grandma pointed out things like that and it stuck with me. The Rooster would keep a healthy distance, always watching over his flock. Living in the country meant their were dangers to the hens, like hawks, fox or snakes. His crowing was a way to alert the girls “Heads up, danger!” Roosters came equipped with a big beak and spurs on their legs that they would use to defend. A bad Rooster sometimes would misbehave and try to “flog” Grandma…big mistake. He could end up making a delicious pot of dumplings! Most times she simply would fluff her apron at him and that was enough to correct his impudence.

The chickens served double purpose on the farm, keeping the bugs and snakes at bay and providing delicious eggs and fried chicken. Yes, Grandma tenderly cared for that flock of chickens, but make no mistake they were there for food. During the Depression my Grandparents would sell eggs and dressed hens to the local market for income. My Mother can remember in the early spring Grandma would order “peeps,” newly hatched chicks and when they would arrive they would be kept in the kitchen to keep warm until the weather turned nice. It would have been easy to think of them as pets, cute little yellow sun drops!

Our local Farmers Co-op will order chicks for you each spring and when I was there last week they had the catalog out on the counter. Oh my, how I would love to have a nice little coop of hens to tend. I know that’s not possible, my neighbors wouldn’t share my love of chickens. Just think... they could eat my nasty little bugs and scratch around the yard. They could supply me with chicken poo. They could soothe my ears with their soft cluck-cluck-clucking!

A nice chicken coop would fit into any setting, even a backyard. This one is pretty nice, don't you think?

I like this one too, the "girls" would love laying their eggs in this cute little cottage!

What about this one? I have just the place for it at the edge of our woods!

It’s wonderful having fresh eggs to enjoy. They do taste different than store-bought and definitely have brighter colored yolks. Your local Farmers Co-op has everything you need to start your own little backyard coop, even the COOP! If you have the space you'll be rewarded with a simple pleasure that’s good for you!

Today's recipe comes in the mail from Aunt B. She shares a friends' Never Fail Dumplings. Aunt B. says, "My friend Ellen Sides is an excellent cook, her peanut butter pie is to die for!" I'm asking for that one TOO!

Never Fail Dumplings

1 1/2 cups flour

4 tablespoons shortening

1 egg, beaten

5 tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix flour, salt and shortening. Beat egg and water together then add to the flour mixture, making soft dough. Roll out into thin sheets. Dry 15 minutes or more. Cut into strips and drop into boiling broth. Don't cover. *Ms. Ellen doesn't tell us how long to cook, like most good cooks she just "knows" when they are done. For the rest of us, about 15-20 minutes on the timer should cook these tender dumplings through. Take one out and give a taste-test, maybe taste more than one...

PRINT RECIPE

The Farmers Co-op has some great recipes posted at their website HERE. If you have a good recipe you'd like to share, post under Contact Us or Email Me and I will pass along!

Grandma's Tips

Grandma Keeling may have been the smartest person I ever knew! That tiny little woman who's feet hit the floor before the sun came up each morning knew a thing or two about stretching a dollar. Every summer I would spend time with my Grandparents at Lead Hill, savoring the sweet freedom from the rules of my parents and basking in Grandma’s love! Their little rock house smelled of fresh baked pie, cooled in the summer by their black Emerson fan that set on the kitchen table. Grandma’s kitchen had a white enamel table where she and Grandpa would have breakfast. She spoiled anyone who came into that house with meals fit for a King. Hot bread for every meal, big fluffy “cat-head” biscuits or golden cornbread baked in an old cast iron skillet that she had used since they married in 1921. The first thing I smelled when my eyes popped open at my Grandma's was coffee. She perked it on top of the stove every morning in an old coffeepot with a little glass knob on top. After breakfast she would dump the Coffee Grounds into a bucket that was destined for the garden...

Compost Material – Coffee grounds release nutrients that make the dirt richer and more acidic.  Just spread them evenly in your garden and your plants will reward you by producing robust blooms.
Coffee grounds + egg shells = no blossom rot on tomatoes!

Grandma kept her pie crusts from burning by covering the edges with aluminum foil.  This may be one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it’s not the only way she used Aluminum Foil... 

Keep birds out of your fruit trees- Hang twisted strips of aluminum foil all over your fruit trees using fishing line. The light reflections and the sound will keep birds away from your fruit.
Protect saplings- Rodents and other animals sometimes chew on young trees in the winter. Protect your saplings by covering their bases with aluminum foil. Remember to change the covering
periodically as the tree grows.

Beer wasn't in Grandma's Fridgidare, but it was out in the shed. Grandpa would use it in the garden for pests...

Kill slugs and snails – Fill old pie pans or wide-mouthed bottles with beer about a quarter to half way up. Then bury these in your garden. The slugs or snails will be attracted to them and drown.
Kill mice – This may sound a little far-fetched but fill a bucket or pail about a third of the way with cheap beer with a board or something leading to the rim at the top. The mice, smelling this, will jump in, and not be able to climb out.

In the kitchen is where most of the magic happened at Grandma's. She knew every secret in the book...

If you happen to over-salt a pot of soup, just drop in a peeled potato. The potato will absorb the excess salt.

To banish ants from the kitchen, find out where they are coming in and cover the hole with petroleum jelly. Ants won’t trek through the jelly. If they are coming under a door, draw a line on the floor with chalk. The little bugs also won’t cross a line of chalk.

Before making popcorn on the stove or in an air popper, soak the kernels in water for 10 minutes. Drain the water, then pop as normal. The additional moisture helps the popcorn pop up quicker and fluffier with fewer “old maids.”

Don’t store your bananas in a bunch or in a fruit bowl with other fruits. Separate your bananas and place each in a different location. Bananas release gases which cause fruits (including other bananas) to ripen quickly. Separating them will keep them fresh longer.

To keep potatoes from budding in the bag, put an apple in with them.
After boiling pasta or potatoes, cool the water and use it to water your house plants. The water contains nutrients that your plants will love.

When making a soup, sauce, or casserole that ends up too fatty or greasy, drop in an ice cube. The ice will attract the fat, which you can then scoop out.

If two drinking glasses become stuck together after stacking, it’s not impossible to unstick them. Just put ice in the inner glass and dunk the outer glass in warm water. The warm glass will expand and the cold glass will contract, making the glasses separate easily! I just used this tip the other day with a couple of bowls that were "glued together!"

One more and this is a good one...
How to Trap Slugs with Grapefruit Rinds
1. Cut a grapefruit in half and scoop out the flesh, leaving the empty rind. You can just cut the sections up and enjoy them for breakfast!
2. Place the rind, upside-down (skin up, pith down), in your garden wherever you've noticed slug damage. A few of these halves scattered throughout your vegetable garden or perennial beds go a long way toward taking care of your slug problem.
3. Let the rind sit overnight.
The following morning, lift the rind up. Slugs will have gathered on the underside of the rind. Dispose of them as you see fit ( feed them to your backyard chickens or toss them in a bucket of soapy water, then dispose of them.) Replace the rind and repeat until you stop catching slugs or you stop seeing damage. Then just compost the rind!