84-Lanc«st«r Farming, Saturday, September 2, 1995 \ On Being a Farm Wife (and other hazards) i Joyce Bupp It’s over. Summer, that is. Regardless of the actual official calendar notice, summer is pretty much gone kaput Some dead-giveaway clues: the first lavender blooms on the early mums... school buses back on the road... having to dig out the sweat pants for evening wear ... super market shelves empty of canning supplies. That was the main reason I’d gone to the supermarket in the first place my supply of canning'jar lids was dwindling. And the toma toes were ripening, a bushel or bet ter every few days. Usually, I try to stock up a cou ple of boxes of jar lids earlier in the summer, before the demand cruncty Most of those were already used—and the tomatoes still mer rily ripened. Only bare gaps and a few lids of less-popular size sat, lonely, on the store’s shelves. How many weeks of the year do local supermarkets run out of jar lids? Not many, I betcha. But late summer’s bounty of wonderful produce tomatoes, peaches, grapes, early apples nearly alway stirs a buying run on this BOOK Poems Teachers Ask For Fifty years ago, it was published in two separate books. In this reprint, we have combined them into one book with almost 300 pages and around 400 poems. There are many old favorite story-type poems such as "Tommy's Prayer", "The First Settler's Story", "The Leak in the Dyke" and "The Village Blacksmith". Also included are humorous poems like "The Railroad Crossing" and "A Boy and His Stomach". You will shed tears at "Guilty or Not Guilty" and "The Boy Who Didn't Pass." P ot^ s AS^ fO* 1229 Diamond St., Akron, PA 17501 (717) 859-1272 6 Books - $52.50 8 Books - $68.85 BETTER PRICES AVAILABLE FOR BOOKSTORES seasonal item. Or at least it does in our area of the country, where “puttin’ up” is still a fairly wide spread tradition. Among my treasured worldly possessions are a couple of the blue-tinted antique canning jars, some with their galvanized, reus able lids. Their graceful shapes, delicate color and little bubbled flaws in their glass represent, to me, a wonderful freedom of choice. To can or not to can? That is the question (with apologies to Shakespeare). Consider our grandmothers and great-grandmothers, who had to “put up” virtually everything in those blue glass jars, including canning meats for the winter. If shelves weren’t filled with canned fruits and vegetables as summer was drawing to a close, their fami lies faced meager and monotonous winter eating. And. they had to fill those jars with the heat generated on a wood or coal-fired cookstove, no less. If lucky, they might have had a “summe* - kitchen” away from the main one to avoid over- $9.99 postpaid. Order from: Martin's Pretzel Bakery (Mrs. Clarence Martin) 10 Books - $85.25 12 Books - $101.65 heating the entin*. house on heavy duty food preserving days. Today, with markets filled year round with mere foods than most of us will ever even try, we can stil choose to presave our own food. Or choose to buy it, ready to open and pop into a pan. Having the taste, texture, and convenience of my own home canned specialties is a fair trade for working over a steaming stove on a 90-degree August day. Tomatoes, applesauce and apple butter, jellies and jams, peaches-, plums and pears if they’re readily available. Preserved and lasting exactly the way I like them for our use. And the canning/preserving methods recommended today pro duce a safer product than Grandma often could. For instance, sealing jellies with paraffin the method I grew up with is now consid ered unsafe. The mold that some times formed under that paraffin never did appeal to me; neither did pitching out a product into which I poured pounds of sugar, a pack of pectin, and some sweat equity. Besides, those pretty jelly jars with shiny lids and rings look much more appealing than old pickle jars or whatever sealed with wax. With the supermarket empty of boxes of plain, standard size lids, I hauled home a box of combination sealing lids and the rings. Some of my canning-jar rings are getting rusty, anyway, and it was another dozen lids for the t0m..0 marathon planned the next morning. Summer’s over. But several dozen jars of it are squirreled away in the basement "tf y CLOSED SUNDAYS, NEW YEAR, refeLJ EASTER MONDAY, ASCENSION DAY, WHIT MONDAY, OCT. 11, THANKSGIVING, ra a aim i Christmas a December zsth FISHER’S FURNITURE, INC. NEW AND USED FURNITURE USED COAL t WOOD HEATERS COUNTRY FURNITURE & ANTIQUES BUS. HRS. BOX 57 MON.-THURS. 8-5 1129 GEORGETOWN RO. FRI, 8-8, SAT. 8-12 BART, PA 17503 GOOD FOOD OUTLET STORES See Our Original Line Of Golden Barrel Products Plus All Kinds Of Beans, Candies, Dried Fruit, Snack Mixes, Etc. At Reduced Prices * BAKING MOLASSES * MARE SYRUP * It'S. « * BARBADOS MOLASSES A PANCAKE A WAFFLE * BLACKSTRAP SYRUPS MOLASSES * sorghum syrup m, JK fll top* 1 * CORN syrups * liquid a dry sugar M „ * high fructose a pancake a waffle SYRUPS SYRUPS * ' P"~' ' * CANOLA oil J ; \ts If your local ilore * COCONUT OIL Al/ 1 doe« not hive it, * CORN OIL SEND FOR J cottonseed oil BROCHURE a peanut oil A SHOO-FLY PIE MIX Processors Of Syrups. Molasses. Cooking Oils, Funnel Cake Mix, Pancake ft Waffle Mix ft Shoofly Pie Mix GOOD FOOD OUTLET Located At Good Food, Inc. W. Main St., Box 160, Honey Brook, PA 19344 610-273-3776 1-800-327-4406 Located At L & S Sweeteners 388 E. Main St.. Leola, PA 17540 717-686-3486 1-800-633-2676 - WE UPS DAILY - Foods And Nutrition Programs Offered LEESPORT (Berks Co.) Penn State Cooperative Extension of Berks County is pleased to offer the following foods and nutrition programs. All the programs will be held in the Agricultural Center. Workshop I Sugar is Not Poi- son Come and learn why sugar is not the forbidden substance for diabe tics that you may have thought it was. New information will be shared to help diabetics understand how sugar, sugar substitutes and foods that naturally contain sugar can be used in a diabetic diet that meets the dietary guidelines. An over view of the exchange system will also be given as well as new recipes. Sugar is Not a Poison will be held on Thursday, September 7, from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. and repeated again at 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. The cost per program will be $l. Workshop II New Weigh of Life Classes My New Weigh of Life (NWOL) is a Penn State Universi ty weight management program designed to help you make neces sary choices to reach your desired body weight. Come and learn how to; safely lose weight; maintain weight loss permanently; recognize your options; make appropriate choices and increase your level of physical activity. New Weigh of Life will be held 12 consecutive Tuesdays starting September 5, from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. The cost for the program is SSS which includes a participant’s manual, instructional classes, and special incentives. Workshop m Nutrition For Basic nutritional needs of the toddler will be discussed, plus tips for the caregiver on how to handle some common eating challenges. Suggestions for creative menu planning, encouraging favorable food attitudes and good eating habits will be given as well as how mealtime can be a happy time for you and your children. Nutrition for the Preschooler will be held on Wednesday, Sep tember 13, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The cost is $5. Childcare pro viders and anyone else who cares for children are encouraged to attend. Credit will be offered for licensed childcare providers. Susan Browning, Registered Dietitian, will be the instructor for the classes. To register for any of the classes (make check payable to: Berks County Cooperative Extension Special Account) or, to get more information, contact Fay B. S trickier, Berks County Cooperative Extension. Berks County Ag Center, PO Box 520, Leesport, PA 19533 or call (610) 378-1327. SPECIALS FOR SEPTEMBER BARBADOES MOLASSES 1 Quart - Regularly $2.79 Wow $2.29 VEGETABLE OIL 1 Gallon Special Brice $4.19 NARROW MOUTH BLACKSTRAP 1 Quart Regularly $2.19 Now $1.49 1 Lb. Preschoolers * FUNNEL CAKE MIX * PANCAKE & WAFFLE MIX * ASSORTMENT OF CANDIES * DRIED FRUIT * SNACK MIXES A BEANS * HONEY ★ PEANUT BUTTER * BAUMAN APPLE BUTTERS * KAUFFMAN PRESERVES * SPRING GLEN RELISHES ITA
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers