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Mud

The mud isn't quite frozen yet here. About 34%. Got .68" of rain overnight. Getting about 1" to 2" snowballs falling from the sky right now. That seems to be alternating with 'regular' snowflakes the past hour.

The moisture was really needed and appreciated. Just hope and pray it doesn't turn into a calf killer storm! Grass has started pretty well, but needs more warmth nearly as much as the moisture. Very cool spring, so far.

Plums have bloomed, so probably going to get a killing frost before this storm ends. Wild plums rate right up with Bing cherries as his favorite fresh fruit for my 89 year old uncle, and I have a great plum thicket by my house, so he gets a good share of them. Last year, we had enough, and they were big enough, maybe almost two inches across, that I seeded and split them in half and froze them. Need to get some pies made one of these days!

mrj
 
There are several guys on this ranch who probably think I have forgotten how to make pie from scratch.

Guess I should surprise them one of these days while the weather is so miserable I don't want to be outdoors. But, they all have different favorites, so someone will probably disappointed when I make a wild plum pie. So be it, and some do think any pie is better than no pie!

I better get at it before I forget how to make home made pie crust.

mrj
 
mrj said:
There are several guys on this ranch who probably think I have forgotten how to make pie from scratch.

Guess I should surprise them one of these days while the weather is so miserable I don't want to be outdoors. But, they all have different favorites, so someone will probably disappointed when I make a wild plum pie. So be it, and some do think any pie is better than no pie!

I better get at it before I forget how to make home made pie crust.

mrj

Oh you won't forget. It's like skating.........

Have you ever made a grape pie?
 
Okay now I'm hungry with this talk of pies. I can't wait for the first Saskatoon pie!
 
Faster horses said:
Silver said:
Okay now I'm hungry with this talk of pies. I can't wait for the first Saskatoon pie!

Have I got a deal for you, Silver. You send me the berries and I'll make you a pie. :D

We may have a deal! :D
 
Silver said:
Faster horses said:
Silver said:
Okay now I'm hungry with this talk of pies. I can't wait for the first Saskatoon pie!

Have I got a deal for you, Silver. You send me the berries and I'll make you a pie. :D

We may have a deal! :D

Works for me. Send berries. :D

P.S. Don't worry about sending your return address... :wink:
 
jodywy said:
good crust starts with lard, Sue has lard cut into flour in the freezer so there always pie dough fixins

Absolutely, jody!!! 3 c. cold lard; 1 c. water and 1 tsp salt. Only way
to make flaky pie crusts. I learned from an awesome pie lady years ago!!

I was in Texas and a friend wanted me to make a Cocoanut Cream Pie.
I went to the store to find lard and couldn't find it. So I asked in the meat
dept. and the guy there said, "I'll tell you where it is, if you tell me what
you are going to use it for."

He didn't know lard made the best pie crust. :D
 
mrj said:
There are several guys on this ranch who probably think I have forgotten how to make pie from scratch.

Guess I should surprise them one of these days while the weather is so miserable I don't want to be outdoors. But, they all have different favorites, so someone will probably disappointed when I make a wild plum pie. So be it, and some do think any pie is better than no pie!

I better get at it before I forget how to make home made pie crust.

mrj

Tam says it's just as easy to make 5 pies as 1. :D :D
 
I agree with and use most of the pie making tips here. It is just laziness that has me putting off making much of anything taking more than a half hour, start to finish.

I have made a grape pie. Forget what color grapes I used, and it wasn't great so haven't made another one.

I've used butter for pie crust when I ran out of lard, and that was fine, too.

My mother-in-law used to say that she made better pies before her four sons got married and she had helpers in the kitchen when there was a crew to feed. She said she had to hurry so fast and that made a better pie crust, getting it put together, rolled out, and into the over much faster than when she knew she had more time. If what she made that she was complaining were not as good, I can't imagine how wonderful the better ones were!!! She was a legendary great cook.

We used to have some Saskatoons growing in a pasture. I will have to check and see if they still are there soon. We think they were planted by Homesteaders between 1906 and maybe 1920. We had a few pies from them, but the kids preferred jam. Now, I can buy decent Saskatoon berry jam made in Canada at Runnings store in Pierre.

FH, how much flour in that pie crust recipe? I also have one our school cook used, and some of the helpers (volunteers from the community, years ago, and we probably wouldn't be allowed to do that now) thought it was playdough from kindergarden, as it was so pliable, and stood LOTS of handling without getting tough. Can't recall it from memory. Will have to get out our old community cookbook and check it. I like to read cookbooks way better than I like to cook, anymore!

mrj
 
mrj said:
I agree with and use most of the pie making tips here. It is just laziness that has me putting off making much of anything taking more than a half hour, start to finish.

I have made a grape pie. Forget what color grapes I used, and it wasn't great so haven't made another one.

I've used butter for pie crust when I ran out of lard, and that was fine, too.

My mother-in-law used to say that she made better pies before her four sons got married and she had helpers in the SPAM!-SPAM!-SPAM! when there was a crew to feed. She said she had to hurry so fast and that made a better pie crust, getting it put together, rolled out, and into the over much faster than when she knew she had more time. If what she made that she was complaining were not as good, I can't imagine how wonderful the better ones were!!! She was a legendary great cook.

We used to have some Saskatoons growing in a pasture. I will have to check and see if they still are there soon. We think they were planted by Homesteaders between 1906 and maybe 1920. We had a few pies from them, but the kids preferred jam. Now, I can buy decent Saskatoon berry jam made in Canada at Runnings store in Pierre.

FH, how much flour in that pie crust recipe? I also have one our school cook used, and some of the helpers (volunteers from the community, years ago, and we probably wouldn't be allowed to do that now) thought it was playdough from kindergarden, as it was so pliable, and stood LOTS of handling without getting tough. Can't recall it from memory. Will have to get out our old community cookbook and check it. I like to read cookbooks way better than I like to cook, anymore!

mrj

I don't make as many pies as I used to either. :D
You have found Saskaton berry jam at Runnings in Pierre? I'll have
to check out the Runnings Store in Belle Fourche. It was Motive Parts
and Runnings bought it last winter.

My recipe calls for 1 c. lard; 3 c. flour; 1 t. salt and I just add water til
it feels 'right'. :P It makes 2 double crust pies and one single crust that
I usually freeze for another time.

I would rather make a pie as bake cookies. My pies were
always good, cookies, not so much. I have no idea what I do wrong. It's like
there is never enough flour to keep them thick, but if I add more flour,
they still aren't right. Therefore, I don't like to bake cookies. :D

The Grape Pie recipe I have is made with Concord Grapes. It is really good,
but it is a LOT of work,(hafta split the grapes and take out the seeds) so I haven't made it very much.
 
Guess that's my fault. Sorry! Strange how the mind works. No thought of changing the thread, just moving in a logical direction from frozen mud to frozen blossoms, to berries to pie, wasn't I! All inadvertently, of course, yet it did move us from that unpleasant subject of mud to the happy idea of pie, didn't it?

Back to mud again......looks like it may dry out here, with the sun almost bright enough to cast a shadow, though the clouds remain pretty threatening in places, and still overcast, just a little lighter sky behind them.

More rain forecast, and we have had a little more than 1.5". Great rain, really soaking in coming so slow. Only bad part is the chill. Lost a couple of calves born overnight in spite of check just before dark, and again very early this morning. Just too wet and cold, and maybe a not as good as we want job of 'mothering' from a young cow. We calve in pretty big pastures and can't always be there when we should. It's harder to be philosophical about that when they are so valuable, though. Would like to move our calving date back yet more, but worry that the extreme heat we can get even in earliest June might cost us the cow as well as the calf if we do that.

Oooops! Sorry, getting off subject of mud, again.

mrj
 

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