A Traditional Farm Life
By Shasta Hamilton
Greetings from Enterprise, dear friends! We are enjoying steady rainfall once again
this Saturday afternoon—perfect weather for a cup of tea while we have our weekly
chat. I’ll pour a cup and be right back
. . .
Hip, Hip, Hooray!
The tomato and pepper plants are now planted in the garden! They finally escaped the confines of our
front porch Thursday afternoon. The
garden dried out just enough for the boys to get out there and “mud ‘em
in.” It was still much too wet to till
again before planting, so our tomatoes and pepper plants have dock and bindweed
as unwelcome, invasive neighbors.
On the east side of the garden, I was tickled to see a
few asparagus shoots coming up from the crowns we planted several weeks
ago. Thinking we had done something
wrong, I was about to give up hope--so it was very exciting to see some signs
of life there.
The girls continue to tend and plant their small
garden. The garlic is developing nice,
thick necks, so we have hope for good-sized cloves forming beneath the
ground. The field corn they planted has
come up and is growing nicely. It was a
pleasant surprise for them to see that the kernels they “re-purposed” from the
boy’s animal feed would actually grow.
The girls also planted three hills of Big Max pumpkins. The seeds were a
gift from a dear customer. It will be
interesting to see if they are able to grow any colossal 100-pound specimens
like the one on the front of the seed packet.
Progress is also being made on the round pen for horse
training. Michael helped the boys finish
up setting the posts Thursday evening.
All that remains is running the wire fence and hanging the gates. If it weren’t for the rain, they would be outside
working on the project as we speak.
Instead, we are spending the afternoon finalizing our
Farmer’s Market plans. Our boys
purchased a 10-foot tan-colored canopy to shade their tables of vegetables and
their sister’s Dog Biscuits. My
contribution will be much smaller this year, offering cinnamon rolls and
whatever else I may be able to “cook up” alongside my duties as wife, mother,
and restaurateur. It’s a delicate
balancing act that definitely requires a safety net!
You’ll see our familiar faces at the Abilene Farmer’s
Market starting Saturday morning, May 30, from 7 to 11 a.m. In addition to Abilene’s Wednesday Market
(beginning June 3, from 4 to 7 p.m.) we will also set up our wares at the brand
new Enterprise Farmer’s Market every Friday from 4 to 7 p.m.
Beginning Friday afternoon, May 29, the Enterprise
Farmer’s Market will be located downtown in the empty lot between Arc Angel
Firearms and the Community Center. This
happens to be right across the street from The Buggy Stop, so look both ways
before you cross the street and come say, “Hello.” If you’re “in the market” for a good
old-fashioned stick-to-your-ribs meal, we’ll have our BBQ Boneless Pork Ribs
and Bacon Jack Chicken ready to fill you up before you leave town.
While searching through my cookbook for new and different
way to use the rhubarb we were given this week, I stumbled upon a “Brownie Pie”
recipe. Being intrigued by the novelty
of this dessert spared the not-so-crazy-about-rhubarb folks in my family—and
perhaps in yours—from another rhubarb experiment.
Not having a commercial brownie mix on hand, I simply
mixed up a quick batch of my usual recipe and put it in a pie shell. The chocolate syrup and pecans sprinkled on
top made it look more distinguished.
Vanilla ice cream and more chocolate syrup on top make it a simple but
special dessert you can whip up in a jiffy.
Brownie Pie
Unbaked 9” pie
shell
1 (12 oz.) fudgy
brownie mix
(to fill an 8 x 8”
pan)
1/4 cup chocolate
syrup
1/4 chopped nuts
Vanilla ice cream
additional chocolate
syrup
1. Preheat oven to
350 degrees.
2. Prepare brownie
mix according to package directions.
Spread mixture evenly in pie shell.
Drizzle chocolatge syrup evenly over the top; sprinkle with nuts.
3. Bake 40 to 45
minutes, until brownie tests done. Cool
slightly. Serve warm with vanilla ice
cream and additional chocolate syrup.
Serves 8 to 10.
Copyright © 2015 by Shasta Hamilton
Shasta is a fifth generation rural Kansan now residing
in Enterprise, Kansas. She and her
husband own and operate The Buggy Stop Home-Style Kitchen with their six
home-schooled children. You can reach
The Buggy Stop by calling (785) 200-6385 or visit them on the web at www.thebuggystoprestaurant.com.
