"Women and World War II"

Ike 125 Series: "Women and World War II" 

to Be Presented by French Military Historian

Dominique François

The second program in the Ike 125 lecture series commemorating the 125th anniversary of the birth of Dwight David Eisenhower will be presented by Dominique François. The French military historian will speak about "Women During World War II: Substitutes, Soldiers, or Scapegoats?"

The role of women during World War II is little known, obscured by attention to the men who fought and led. But women were essential to the outcome. In the U.S. and Britain, they volunteered en masse, serving in non-combat roles. Soviet women joined front-line troops. French women helped replace men sent to Germany as forced laborers, joined the resistance, or became "horizontal collaborators" later subjected to punishment and humiliation after their country's liberation.

Women in the U.S. moved into the workforce, symbolized by Rosie the Riveter, the fictional factory laborer performing what was previously considered man's work. Thousands of women in America and other Allied countries enlisted as nurses and served on the front lines. 

François will present the program both in Kansas City and Abilene. The Kansas City event opens with a reception at 6 p.m. and the program at 6:30 on Tuesday, June 23 at the Plaza Branch - Kansas City Public Library. François will speak on Wednesday, June 24 at noon for the Brown Bag Lunch program, including light hors d'oeuvres, at the Eisenhower Presidential Library Visitors Center Auditorium.

François returns to the Eisenhower Presidential Library where many will remember his 2014 program, "Normandy: Before and After D-Day." In his Ike 125 lecture, he will examine the roles of women--the true unknown soldiers of World War II. He will also discuss how the Allied armies probably would not have won the war without women's participation and unconditional support.

François, a resident of Basse-Normandie, France, has concentrated his study of World War II on D-Day and the subsequent Normandy military campaign. He has written 16 books and served as a consultant for NBC, the History Channel and Inertia Films.

Ike 125 is made possible by the generous support of the W.T. Kemper Foundation - Commerce Bank, Trustee. From frontier to frontier, the Ike 125 series examines the legacy of the greatest soldier-statesman of the 20th century - from his unquestionably brilliant wartime command to two terms as U.S. President that are viewed with increasing favor by historians and political scientists. It was a time of momentous change, bringing historic civil rights legislation, the Interstate Highway System, space exploration, and a prudent foreign policy that gave the country eight years of peace and prosperity. The series lends fresh analysis and new views of the plain-spoken Kansan who became a model of leadership.

Future programs in the six-month series will be held Aug. 4-5, Sept. 17-18, and Oct. 13-14.
Additional details of the Ike 125 series may be found on www.eisenhower.archives.gov or www.kclibrary.org/events/eisenhower125.

The Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home, a nonpartisan federal institution, is part of the Presidential Libraries network operated by the National Archives and Records Administration. Presidential Libraries promote understanding of the presidency and the American experience. We preserve and provide access to historical materials, support research, and create interactive programs and exhibits that educate and inspire. 

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Free Lunch Concert Friday

Free Lunch Concert Friday

June 19th

Noon- 1:00 pm

Courthouse Lawn

Free!!  Bring your lunch...picnic tables will be provided.  We are so excited to host a special military quintet that will be performing!

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A Traditional Farm Life - Roasted Baked Potato Chunks

A Traditional Farm Life

By Shasta Hamilton

Greetings from Enterprise, dear friends!  This may come as a shock to you, but it’s raining again this week as I write!  Fortunately, this time I can look out our window and see our garden is fully tilled.  After somewhat helplessly watching those weeds grow for what seemed like weeks on end, the feeling of satisfaction and relief of looking out on black earth is indescribable. Let is rain!

Weed control activities have not been limited to our garden here on the farm this week. The boys spent a morning this week helping their friend and business partner Dean Hansen hoe around their 183 tomato plants.  In my mind that feat is amazing in and of itself, but in the course of the same morning they also put cages around 120 of those same plants!  This turned out to be the most difficult job, as it took two men just to get each overgrown plant into each concrete reinforcement wire cage—one to gather up the plant and the other to carefully put the cage over the top.  Some labor was saved, however, by using the bucket of a Bobcat to insert the stabilizing posts in the ground.

While I was baking cinnamon rolls this week for the restaurant, Michael packed up a crew of five children and headed to Detroit to see if some friends who grow watermelons for local Farmer’s Markets needed any help with weed control. It turned out the melon patch was in pretty good shape, so the children grabbed hoes and helped in their vegetable garden.

The children also spent some time in a local cornfield one hot afternoon this week, gathering some of last fall’s field corn for this year’s squirrels.  They are harvesting from a corner of a field that was unable to be picked last fall, and the owners have generously given the children whatever they can glean from what’s left in the field.  This time they shucked it out in the field, and have bagged up the dry ears for sale as squirrel corn at the Farmer’s Market.

We have felt the Lord’s blessing upon our home this week as I have been able to shift from restaurant duties to domestic duties around the home.  The girls and I have been engaged in a massive decluttering effort as we seek to make up for lost time away from home.

I’m also trying to make up for lost time in the sewing room.  I guess it is no surprise that as the girls get taller their dresses get shorter.  My free time on Monday was spent drafting patterns as necessary and cutting out garments to be sewn in snatches of free moments throughout the week.  Yes, it takes time and effort to sew our girl’s dresses, aprons, and bloomers, etc, but we find great joy and blessing in doing so.

We recently stumbled upon a new way to use Friday night’s leftover baked potatoes from the restaurant for a weekend meal at home.  The back of the Lipton Onion Soup and Dip Mix box had a recipe for Onion Roasted Potatoes.  While it called for raw potatoes, we substituted our baked potatoes instead. 

I saved the empty box in the pantry for future reference, and today as I went to the pantry to find it for this week’s recipe I discovered it missing.  This, friends, is the one downside I have found to our recent cleaning spree.  Certainly the one straightening up the pantry saw no need to keep an empty Onion Soup and Dip Mix box!  

Thankfully, it’s a pretty simple recipe and easily doubled for a larger crew.  The recipe would, or course, be the same if you use raw potatoes, although the baking time may be longer.

Now, you might be wondering why folks who usually cook from scratch are using convenience food.  While it might be that using a purchased dip mix doesn’t quite qualify as “old-fashioned farm food,” being thrifty and using leftovers to make something new for the family is an age-old rural skill.  Waste not, want not!

  

Roasted Baked Potato Chunks

4 leftover baked potatoes

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 pkg. Onion Soup and Dip Mix

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2.  Cut potatoes into 1” chunks.

3.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the potato cubes, vegetable oil, and Onion Soup Mix; mix until evenly coated.

4.  Spread in a single layer on a greased baking pan.  Bake 30-35 minutes, until golden brown and crisp to your liking. Yield:  4 servings.

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.

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5 Star Arts Festival Call for Entries

5 Star Arts Festival Call for Entries

The Abilene Convention and Visitors Bureau requests artist entries for the 5 Star Arts Festival in historic downtown Abilene, Kansas. The festival includes the juried fine art and craft show, live entertainment, food vendors, and children's activities.  

The showcase dates of the festival are Saturday, Sept. 26 and Sunday, Sept. 27. Setup and optional events for the artists will begin Friday, Sept. 25. Salina-based artist Karla Prickett will be the juror selecting artists. Prickett, a visual arts consultant/mixed media artist, is the former director of the Smoky Hill River Festival Fine Art Show. Entry submissions are due by July 1.

The 5 Star Arts Festival is open to all artists. All artwork must be original in interpretation ad composition. Some amenities provided to artists will include a welcome reception, Sunday morning breakfast, free parking, 24-hour security, and volunteers to assist with load-in and load-out.

For more information and submission details, please e-mail 5StarArtsFest@gmail.com or visit @5StarArts on facebook, twitter, and instagram.

Special thanks to the Community Foundation of Dickinson County for their generous support. 

The CVB is the marketing arm of the City of Abilene promoting all Abilene has to offer and attracting visitors to this community. The CVB located at 201 NW 2nd Street, Abilene, is housed in the restored 1928 Union Pacific Depot along with the Abilene Visitor Information Center and 160-person meeting room.

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A Traditional Farm Life - Rhubard Oat Dessert

A Traditional Farm Life

By Shasta Hamilton

Greetings from Enterprise, dear friends!  A break in the rain earlier this week allowed our boys to finally till around the tomato, pepper, and okra plants in the garden.  This long overdue knock down of weeds was immediately followed by a thick covering of round-bale mulch.  Besides weed suppression, our hope is that with time the straw will provide organic matter to help loosen up our tight clay soil. 

While we’re on the subject of those green, unwelcome garden residents, Thursday morning I finally took the time to weed my fledgling asparagus row.  While some asparagus plants were already two feet tall, others were just appearing, and two of my twelve crowns still have shown no signs of life.  Even so, I am pleased with their auspicious beginnings.

The unplanted area of our garden still sports some very healthy weeds, but hopefully not for long.  That inch of rain we had Friday morning will keep the tiller out of the garden once again.

Friday’s fierce thunderstorm delivered unwelcome outcomes in the girl’s garden.  Their largest pumpkin vine was somehow broken off and blown several feet away.  The storm also knocked their first tomato right off the plant—a green, marble-sized specimen with the bloom still attached they had been watching very closely.

Turning to matters on the home-front, it’s well-known that being a wife and mother is often referred to as being a “balancing act.”  This I heartily agree with.  But what happens if you don’t have good balance?

A fall is certainly inevitable.

I’m certainly NOT a tightrope walker.  Balancing my roles as wife, mother, and restaurateur does not come easily.  Perceived success in one role often comes at the real expense of another. 

For the last four months my role as the “Mom” in our Mom and Pop business has predominated my life.  Getting a restaurant up and running is no easy challenge. With time we’ve settled into a routine, and my husband Michael is doing great with the day-to-day operations, freeing up some time for me around the lunch hour.

Now that Farmer’s Market season is upon us, the question of my role in our family’s Farmer’s Market booths has weighed heavily upon me and precipitated a time of reflection on how much is humanly possible for a busy mother.  Although I thoroughly enjoyed baking for the Farmer’s Market last year, it is now obvious I don’t have the time currently to devote to such an ambitious venture and still fulfill my obligations at home. 

This is bittersweet, as the letting go of something enjoyable can often be when duties elsewhere need tending to.  Even so, there is great joy in knowing I am doing what is right for our family.  After all, how can tidying up a cluttered, dirty house and folding truckloads of clean laundry be wrong?

This morning my oldest daughter was absorbed in the task of cutting up our most recent acquisition of rhubarb from the Farmer’s Market.  (Test kitchen tip:  kitchen shears work great for this laborious task.)  Our four-year-old daughter stood patiently by watching, knowing anything from the garden being cut up just had to be good to eat.  Her repeated requests for this unknown (to her) delicacy were consistently denied, but finally her big sister gave in to her pleading and handed her a small piece.  Her triumphant countenance quickly turned into a funny frown as the taste of sour rhubarb filled her mouth.  Would you believe it—she asked for more!

Shortly thereafter her other sister came into the kitchen.  “Try some rhubarb,” our four-year-old budding rhubarb enthusiast recommended.  “It makes me laugh!”

Dear friends, a cute out-of-the-mouths-of –babes story like this simply demands a rhubarb recipe.  My family groaned at the thought of another rhubarb experiment, but absolutely loved the finished product.  If your family generally frowns at rhubarb, this may be the recipe that finally makes them smile.  Who knows, they may even laugh! 

Rhubarb Oat Dessert

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

3 cups sliced fresh or frozen rhubarb

cold water to cover rhubarb

1/4 cup cold water

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ice cream, optional

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, nuts, baking soda, and salt.  Add the butter and mix with a fork until crumbly.  Press 3 cups into a 9x13” baking dish; set aside.

3.  Soak rhubarb in enough cold water to cover for 3 minutes; drain.

4.  In a saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch.  Add 1/4 cup water and stir until smooth.  Add drained rhubarb and vanilla and bring to a rapid boil; reduce heat and cook and stir for 5 minutes, or until thickened.   Spoon over crust; sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture.

5.  Bake 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve with ice cream if desired. Yield:  12 servings.

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

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Symphony at Sunset 2015 Honoring Service Branches

Symphony at Sunset Concert

Symphony at Sunset Concert to Commemorate D-Day at Eisenhower Presidential Library

 Click the Image to play the Video

The fourth annual Symphony at Sunset D-Day Commemoration Concert will be held Saturday, June 6 -- the 71st Anniversary of D-Day-- on the steps of the Eisenhower Presidential Library. The 35th Infantry Division Band (Kansas National Guard) will open the concert at 7 p.m. followed by the Salina Symphony headlining at 8:30 p.m.

This patriotic concert pays tribute to all veterans. Each year Maestro Ken Hakoda masterfully plans a beautiful selection of music. Salina native and award-winning tribute artist Les Lankhorst will perform as this year's featured guest artist. Lankhorst will pay tribute to the "Voice of the Century" marking the 100th birthday of Frank Sinatra.

In lieu of a ticket fee, concert patrons are requested to make a donation. Eisenhower Presidential Library Director Karl Weissenbach said that since no tax dollars are used to fund public programs, the contributions will be used to support this year's performance and future events. This free concert is a #PayWhatYouCan performance.  

Those attending the concert are invited to bring lawn chairs or blankets and to picnic on the grounds. Food and beverages including such items as barbecue, fritters, bierocks, pie, popcorn, nachos, donuts, candy, soft drinks and beer will be available from area vendors beginning at 5:30 p.m. Vendors include Amanda's Bistro, Cotton Candy Dreams, Cox Brothers BBQ, Dinky Dunkers, Fun Foods, West's Country Mart, Salina Symphony Guild, and Eisenhower Library/Trust Fund.  

Concert attendees are encouraged to come early and visit the museum and tour the Boyhood Home. Summer hours will be in place with the Boyhood Home closing at 4:30 and the museum at 5:45 p.m. The Visitors Center/Gift Shop will remain open until 10:30 p.m.

Symphony at Sunset sponsors include Marshall Motors and KSAL 1150 AM Radio, both of Salina and the Arts Council of Dickinson County. The concert rain date is Sunday, June 7 at 8:30 p.m.

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