In those old days, when we butchered, we would fry the meat and put it in stone jars, pouring grease over it. Sausage was made into patties, fried, and stored in crocks filled with lard.
Mama put up tomatoes, cooking them in a kettle and then pouring them into half-gallon syrup pails. She sealed the lids down with sealing wax.
Here are some of the homestead food dishes and breakfast menus we liked: hot baking powder biscuits and milk gravy; buckwheat pancakes made with yeast and set overnight, with sausages; homemade bread toasted in the oven, spread with homemade butter and liberally sprinkled with sugar, with coffee and cream poured over all. For that last dish, only homemade bread would do. Mmmmm, good!
Mrs. Moody Messick
Marysville, Kansas
Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then Capper’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from Capper’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.