Granny and PawPaw Lynch lived beside my parents; in fact, it was PawPaw who sold my parents their acreage to start their own homestead. Daddy grew up on an Appalachian homestead doing all those things one imagines on a hardscrabble farm. They raised most everything they needed to eat (milk cow, chickens, hogs, garden, hunted, fished) and for many decades bought only salt, sugar, cloth for making clothes and farm tools. At twelve years of age Daddy started beekeeping which cut down on what white sugar consumption, there was, and that helped with the finances. Daddy also trapped beaver, foxes, swamp chicken (muskrat) and other critters for their pelts which were sold for cash. The first squirrel he shot is stuffed and sitting upright in their basement now.
I well remember being held up to the wall mounted telephone, mouth to horn, receiver to ear so I could talk to Aunt Esther who lived miles and miles away up river. Although Grandmother died in 1963, the party line lived on until 1996 with everyone knowing everyone else’s ring…Grandmother and Granddaddy’s ring was one long and five shorts, meaning one loonngg ring followed by five quick, short rings. Early days, Aunt Bonnie didn’t have a phone; as Daddy said in a somber tone, “Bonnie was hard pressed to put water gravy on the table and a phone was a luxury for many, many years.” Aunt Esther didn’t have a phone because she and Uncle Clarence used the company phone when needed. Actually, everyone at Number 4 used the company phone, no sense in wasting hard to come by money. Aunt Ruth’s number was a long followed by 2 shorts and everyone in between had their own ring and when anyone’s phone rang everyone would run to their phones to hear the news. It wasn’t gossip as much as it was news; there wasn’t a newspaper or radio much less a television. Even today, without satt you can’t get television, only sporadic radio and the paper is once a week. All four pages of it! (P. S. Although the party line lived on, folks got the new fangled phones…receiver and speaker in one piece, attached to the dialer by a cord. It was around that time, people also got a simple ring but…BUT…when someone’s phone would ring, there would be a little blip of a ring on everyone else’s phone, alerting them to “someone” getting a call. Folks would still rush to their phones, anxious to celebrate the good news or be sorrowful at the bad.)
The photo above is a building PawPaw (not my real PawPaw but my connected PawPaw, meaning we weren’t blood line kin but connected blood line kin) built when he first set up his homestead. PawPaw was born in Pittsylvania County and, as a young man, heard about land for sale in Amelia County. When he arrived in Amelia County in the early 1900’s he had a horse, a woman and an adz. With those things things he and Granny built a legacy and, when he died, (Granny died first) he left several hundred acres. That building is of slab wood; wood that’s split from a log and all pieces are used, not just the heart of the wood. In West Virginia, folks would build houses of slab (slab houses), using wood from saw mills the miller couldn’t sell to factories. Some of those slab houses are still standing and being used.
Daddy called me, regular ring, and said, “The apples are hanging at Levi’s place and Wayne (PawPaw’s grandson) said to come get them.” Y’all know by now when Mom or Daddy call and say, “Come…”, I go. When I got there, Daddy was working in the garden (it was “only” low 90’s that day) and said, “I’m going to the house, you go pick apples”. I climbed in the Gator and down by the pond I went, over to the orchard. Once I got there, I made a bit of noise, ran the Gator in a circle to alert any snakes it was time for them to leave.
Windfall apples are those you find, with the exception of labor, for free alongside roads, old orchards, pastures, woods and old homesteads. These apples are windfall apples and will be made into apple butter, apple sauce, pies, apple and walnut bread, sausage and apple quiche and anything else I can think of. Or, until they run out. The old shed is another PawPaw built, the Gator is Daddy’s and the picker belongs to my brother. Steve jury rigged the picker so it’s extended for another three or four feet which is nice but difficult to use as it’s unwieldy. Still, better than climbing the tree.
I picked about 2 bushes, left half with folks and brought half home. The first turn of apple butter is made and need to ready more apples for the next turn. I used to make apple butter over an open fire using an old iron kettle (which I still have) but with no one to help, it’s a lot of work for one ole woman. The crock pot works well but not as much fun. There’s no butter in apple butter but the name distinguishes it from apple sauce. My apple butter has cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, vanilla, brown sugar and demerara cane sugar and, if I have it, a splash of cider. If I don’t have cider, I’ll use a bit of water to help things along.
The apples are quartered, cored, peeled and sliced, in that order. You may do it different and that’s fine; there’s no right or wrong, just get the danged things in the kettle! A lot of cooks say use lemon juice to keep them from turning brown and I ask, “Why?” They’re going to turn brown anyway so why waste the time, effort, energy and money? I do things very similar to the way they were done in Appalachia by my kin. After all, if it ain’t broke, it don’t need fixin’, eh?
The apples were cooked on low for 8 hours then I turned the kettle off and went to bed. When I got up this morning and checked, they seemed a tot watery so I turned the kettle on high for a while.
I made biscuits and ate with apple butter, cherry jam made late last year and butter. A big ole glass of milk completed the meal and it was GOOOODDDD!
These aren’t my usual cat head biscuits but they were still fluffy on the inside and snappy on the outside. I always daub the tops with butter to help the browning process. The lower biscuit has butter and apple butter while the upper biscuit has butter and cherry jam. Something else I do differently is leave the apples with soft chunks of apple. I like a bit of tooth to my apple butter and even apple sauce…which reminds me, the different between the two are the kinds of spices used. There are fewer spices used in apple sauce, still just as good and I use both sauce and butter in making bread.
“k” asked for the recipe. Sad news…no recipe as I’m a cook, probably like your own Granny, who goes by a bit of this and a tad of that the taste to see if acceptable. I also don’t know, no one does, what kind of apple trees these were; it was enough to know they were free.
While I was in the kitchen I made croutons. When the store has bread on sale because it’s on or near the expiry date, I buy it. When I get it home, it’s sliced into bite sized pieces, distributed in a baking pan, a stick of melted butter poured in, mixed and slid into a 250 degree oven for about 90 minutes. I’ll taste and if it’s still soft, I’ll bake it for another 30 or so minutes. At this point, it’s a matter of watch, wait and see.
These croutons are garlic, three cheese and butter and are delicious! I’ve been known to eat them out of hand, just like chips. Any old bread will do but if it doesn’t already have seasonings, you’ll have to add your own. Do you like garlic? Add fresh, chopped or minced garlic or even garlic salt. Italian seasoning works well as does fresh, minced rosemary or basil. Whatever you already like will be good in your croutons.
When I get to the bread making stage, I’ll have a recipe (hopefully) but I’m not much on recipes as I think they’re mainly for suggestions. Even the flops can be made into something else…for example, if the strawberry jam doesn’t set, it’s used as in trifle or as a topping for cake or shortbread or even made into strawberry ice cream.
Mercy! So many memories, good times, sad times, good food…I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as I have. What are your earliest memories? I hope they’re good!
~k says
Many thanks for your blog, the newest manage to slip right on by me.
This is such good reading I am going back again for the third time, many ideas I want to ferret out and it does bring up “way back yonder” memories, make one smile, then grin, then get hungry.
Thank you for going into detail about your apple butter, I appreciate it!
PS) Thought swamp chicken was ol’ Mr. Bullfrogs legs?
Sandra says
Hi K, Daddy says swamp chicken is musk rat which I’ve never eaten but I have eaten frog legs and they are pretty good. I’m working on figuring out how to send new posts to folks who’ve signed up; that’s on the agenda for late afternoon today. So, if you’ve not signed up, now is a good time, grin.
~k says
Done!
Lisa Richards says
I LOVE apple butter! Even I could handle this crockpot version! 🙂 Do you can a lot of it? I don’t even own a water bath canner any more, but I could probably find one. Now to find some windfall apples! We built many makeshift buildings over the years, so this resonates with me. Good memories!
Sandra Bennett says
Lisa, crock pot apple butter is EASY. I made another turn yesterday and it stands ready to be put in
canning jars. I won’t water bath but will freeze…too much to do, not enough of me. lol
PawPaw Lynch’s buildings have been standing for decades; I remember them from when I was small and
that’s close to 70 years!
GretchenJoanna says
YUM! Sandra, you are making me hungry. I was given apples three times in the last two weeks and have been eating a lot! Then, I bought a dehydrator to deal with the fruit I’m starting to get in this new phase of life, and the first batch was yesterday. I did apples, figs, and raspberries. The apples were dry first, and they are really good. I kinda overdid the figs, but I like them very much. The raspberries were surprising; I thought they would dry out pretty fast but I ended up giving them 17.5 hrs and some of them were still not crispy. I thought their sweetness would be concentrated but that did not happen. I’m eager to do the next batch of all apples. So far they are my favorite dehydrated “preserve.”
Sandra Bennett says
Gretchen, I gave my dehydrator away; decided I’m not a huge fan of dried fruit. Dave made a great batch of
jerky, using hamburger, and thought that was good. My nephew uses my/his dehydrator and enjoyes it. I do
have some dried apples in the fridge, plan on using them for dried apple pie. Some day. lol
ellen b. says
Never a dull moment on a farm and homestead. You put in a lot of work on those apples that you can enjoy. Your apple butter sounds yummy. Hmmm run the gator in circles to scare off the snakes. Even though we live below rattlesnake mountain so far we haven’t seen one…thankfully. Sometimes I forget to look around. Hope your September is a good one!
Sandra Bennett says
Hi Ellen, I sure hope you see this…I’ve tried and tried to comment on your blog but wp is being obstinate and
won’t let me. I don’t know what the problem is,,,operator error to be sure…but wanted you to know I read.
Please don’t ever forget to look for snakes; I’m always on the lookout. We have copperheads and water moccasins
and black…which I don’t mind but the other two are killed when I’m able.
Vicky says
Hi Sandra, lovely post! I’m sad we can’t really grow apples here. Too much cotton root fungus in the soil. Pears and pecans though, that I’ve got covered.
Sandra Bennett says
Vicky, pears and pecans are good! Especially pecans…I need to do a post on my fruit orchard which
Daddy and I started, I added and other folks helped me add Damson plums, blueberries and grape.
Carol says
I have been rereading your previous 2 posts all week. They really spoke to me and so much wisdom, thank you.
My neighbor gifted me with 12 pints of pizza sauce today, still hot in the stockpot….what an easy canning project!
Apple butter is one of my favorites…..I keep thinking I should get some apples.
I did make a huge batch of 13 bean soup today, and cornbread. The seasons are definitely shifting
Sandra Bennett says
Carol, you’re very welcome although what wisdom I have comes directly from God. He said, “ask” so I take Him at His word! That pizza sauce sounds wonderful and ready to be canned…bless that neighbor! I’ve been thinking…cranberry beans (my favorite!) with some country ham, onions, potatoes and a pan of cornbread. Yesterday it was 91 so not quite ready but soon. Soon!
Pam R. says
I did enjoy the trip down your memory lane. Thanks for explaining the difference between apple butter and applesauce and for sharing your way of making croutons. I picked up a few tips. Great read!
Sandra Bennett says
You’re welcome Pam, thanks for stopping by. I’m finishing the apples tomorrow, another 3 or 4 pints.
Pom Pom says
Yum! I love apple picking time! I made rhubarb butter a while ago. I loved it.
Making good food is such a joy. I loved reading about your family! God be with you, Sandra!
Sandra Bennett says
Now there’s something I’ve never made, rhubarb butter and glad to hear it was good. Thanks, Karen, and God be with you as well.
Dewena says
Now is when I wish there was smell-blogging! Oh how wonderful your whole house must have smelled during all of this apple cooking. I do love apple butter and made it when I was in my 30s, not since. I put apples in homemade sausage too! I wrote down your crouton instructions and now realize why mine aren’t any good–you cook them a long time. What a perfect welcome for autumn you’ve put out in your kitchen!
My father’s and his siblings’ lives was so much like your father’s. That kind of growing up makes for good men and women. I love it that you drop everything when your daddy calls, Sandra. Good girl!
Sandra Bennett says
Dewena, bake the bread until it’s crispy so it’ll hold its own in a salad, which I had last night for supper. I’m back in the kitchen, using more apples today. Yep, when my elder’s call, I go running. It was the same way with Aunt Bonnie and Aunt Esther; if they needed me, I’d go. 5th Commandment applies to all Godly parents to my way of thinking.
teresa says
Hi Sandra,
…what a sweet and amazing story…I remember party lines…when I was little in the mountains of NC…I think we were related to everyone on our line…your apples look so good…
~Have a lovely day!
Sandra Bennett says
Hi Teresa – the apples are tart sweet and made into lovely butter. I’m glad to hear someone else knows a party line!