NEWS FROM THE HILLS
“Oh sun and skies and clouds of June
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October’s bright blue weather.
by Helen Hunt Jackson
It is here; that glorious autumn season when the senses are saturated with the beauty that October brings. The blueness of the sky goes on into infinity, with a few wispy white clouds hovering near the horizon. Hot sun shines down upon a changing landscape, but evening brings refreshing coolness.
When we witness the summer season changing into autumn in the hills, it makes us thankful that God ordained it to be this way. I think of the scripture in Psalms 104-24, which says, “O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom thou hast made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.”
Verse 32 says, “He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.” When the white mist rises up from the hills early in the morning, I like to think that God is looking on our hills.
Evening finds us gathered on the front porch, talking over the events of the day and laughing at the antics of the grandchildren. We agree that this is the best part of the day, when we can get together and find security and love in our family bond. These simple things are what our grandchildren and great-grands will remember.
Some of my most comforting memories center on the old porch of my childhood. I can see Grandpa O’Dell, leaned back in a split-bottomed straight chair, slapping his leg and laughing at some humorous comment. The woodbine that climbed up the rough porch posts would be turning red, and the adult conversation would be low and murmuring.
There was security there where three generations of family lived, although the old house was rough and shabby. No matter how affluent the family, or how luxurious the house, without love and security, it is not a home.
It seems as if family and food are inseparable, and the old-time meals that Mom prepared stay in our memories. Billie Santrock of Scott Depot is looking for a recipe that her mother used to make. She says that when she was small, her mother took the cooked oatmeal that was left from breakfast and made the sweetest cookies she ever tasted. She says they were about the size of a Moon pie, only not as thick.
She has tried to duplicate the recipe without success. She states that her mother probably didn’t have a recipe—in those days you just mixed it up and it came out good. Has anyone ever heard of this recipe?
My sister Mary Ellen, who is a wonderful cook, does the same thing. She can take crumbled cookies, melted ice cream, coconut, nuts, and whatever she has on hand and create mouth-watering concoctions. I can make a mess.
Although the gardens are mostly gone, we are already looking forward to next spring’s crop. Ronnie Shaffer of Servia brought us a mess of the best beans I have ever tasted. I thought nothing could be better than half runners, but these were. They looked like a ripe yellow bean, but were crisp and fresh. We cooked them in a pressure cooker just as we do half runners (about six minutes, and brought the pressure down by running cold water on the cooker.) They were fabulous.
He called them “corn pole beans” and promised to save us some seed. He also brought some “fat man” bean seed, which he said was very good. Our neighbor, Liddie Coon, used to raise what she called “fat back beans.” I wonder if they are the same.
Kay Miller from Charleston writes, “Are you aware of the healing power of the scripture? Have you heard where the scripture in Ezekiel 16-6 can be used to stop bleeding? It is true—I have seen its power and heard of it stopping all kinds of blood.
“There is also a scripture to stop the pain from burns, but I do not know where it is found in the Bible. I wonder if any of your readers might know it.”
We have a request that arrived today from Genevieve Fagan of Poca. She says she was reading in her mother’s diary, dated back in 1952, of her baking a Golden Nugget Cake. She is curious about it, and wondered if anyone would happen to have the recipe.
Pawpaws are ripe now, along with many other fall foods that are begging to be tasted. Our younger generation needs to learn that there is more foods to be tried other than pizza and cheeseburgers. Parsnips are another vegetable that is different and delicious. The Lord has provided our hills with so many wild foods, it is a shame not to take advantage of them.
Alyce Faye Bragg can be reached at alycefaye@citlink.net or 2556 Summers Fork Road, Ovapa, WV 25150.
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