Old Beet Pulp Advertisement

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today: 

Saturday, August 19, 1911: Such a pleasant surprise awaited me when I came down to breakfast this morning. Mollie, my cute little heifer had a calf this morning. Wasn’t that grand? But the unromantic part about it is that I have to break her. I tried it this afternoon and found that she kicked some but not nasty. Saw my name in today’s paper about that picnic.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma must have owned one of the dairy cows on the Muffly farm. Mollie apparently had just had her first calf. Young cows that haven’t yet had their first calf are referred as heifers.

It can be a challenge to get young cows used to the milking process—and it sounds like Mollie was being really stubborn. At least she didn’t kick Grandma too hard.

I wonder if Mollie would be eating differently now that she’s a mother. When I was growing up on a farm many years after Grandma’s time, we often fed the milking cows a richer diet than the young stock.

Advertisement  in July, 1911 issue of Farm Journal

In the July 1911, issue of Farm Journal I found an advertisement for beet pulp. I would have guessed that a hundred years ago that dairy cows would have gotten most of their food during the summer by grazing on pastures—and that in the winter they would have eaten hay, silage, and grain raised on the farm.

I was surprised that at least some farmers were already supplementing their cows’ diets.

Name in Paper

In 1911 when people wanted to tell their friends about recent events they submitted them to the local newspaper. Apparently Grandma submitted an item about the August 16th picnic that she’d organized to the newspaper.

Next time I get into the Milton Library I’ll have to search the old microfilms of the Milton Evening Standard to see if I can find her name in the paper.

For more information about how newspapers reported even minor social events a hundred years ago, see a posting that I did last winter called Tweet ‘Tweeting’ in 1911.

Catching Minnows

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today: 

Friday, August 18, 1911:The Frontz kids were here today. Had some quabbles down in the run about the minnies, which they were trying to catch. There was a boisterous wind storm this afternoon. Ruth went to a party tonight. I was invited, but didn’t care very much about going.

Minnow (Photo source: Wikepedia--US Government Photo)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

I’m not sure who the Frontz kids were—but the diary entry suggests that they were younger than Grandma. They probably came out to the Muffly farm from McEwensville to catch minnows  in the creek. The minnows would then have be used as bait to catch larger fish (perhaps in the West Branch of the Susquehanna River at Watsontown.)

Grandma used lots of regional dialect in this entry. Minnows were referred to as minnies, the creek was called a run, and quabbles are similar to squabbles.

Had to Work

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today: 

Thursday, August 17, 1911: Was so sorry I had to work today, when yesterday I didn’t have to do hardly anything. I guess it is a good thing not to have everything you want sometimes. I’m afraid I’d take all the play and not enough work.

Recent photo of Muffly house.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

The previous day lots of friends attended a picnic  that  Grandma held at her home. She’d spent more than a week planning it—and it was a huge success.

I suppose that she needed to clean up after the picnic—and that her parents had lots of chores for her to do now that the big event was over.  Based on the diary entry, it appears that her parents  have inculcated the value of work into their daughter.

Picnic Was a Success!

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Wednesday, August 16, 1911: That picnic was a success after all, even if I did have doubts as to its number. They were all there, that were invited except Carrie, but I don’t care a snap. We had lots of fun, went in wading, and did so many things. Some of the girls put on trousers, and then they pretended they were our beaus, only we didn’t happen to bring any along with us, so we accepted the girls in their place. Had almost as much fun.

Maybe the picnic had a watermelon theme--"A watermelon party in midsummer provides a good chance for pretty table decorations. " Ladies Home Journal (July 1911).

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Yeah, the picnic was a success!

In a weird way, I’m relieved that it turned out well. I know that it makes no sense for me to care about how an event that occurred a hundred years ago went—but Grandma spent so much time planning it (it was  first mentioned in the diary ten days ago) and was so worried that people won’t come.

It sounds like fun. Friends wading in the creek on the Muffly farm and doing many other fun things.

I wonder how fancy—or laid-back the picnic was. One moment I can picture 16-year-old Grandma making party favors and decorating tables for the picnic—then the next moment I think, no way and that it was a very informal pot luck picnic.

The previous day, Grandma went to town to buy nick-knacks for the picnic which suggests that she may have had a theme or at least did a little decorating.

Or maybe the picnic was held on the porch. (Photo source: Ladies Home Journal, July 1911).

Old-Time Cucumbers and Onions Recipe

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today: 

Tuesday, August 15, 1911: Went to Watsontown this afternoon to get some nick-knacks to take to the picnic. Makes me to mad Carrie isn’t going after all our planning. I have a presentiment that perhaps no one will be there except its originator, but the morrow alone can tell.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

What could nick-knacks for a picnic have been? . . . Crepe paper? . . . paper nut cups? Neither of these items seems exactly like a nick-knack or right for a picnic, and they may not have even existed a hundred years ago.

Why isn’t Grandma’s friend Carrie Stout going to come? Carrie had been involved in the planning since the very beginning. Did Grandma and Carrie have a disagreement? Was Carrie grounded for some reason?

I wonder if Grandma had begun to makes foods for the picnic. An excellent old-time food for a picnic in August is Cucumbers and Onions.

Cucumbers and Onions

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

2 cups cucumbers, peeled and thinly sliced

1 cup onion, sliced

Stir together the vinegar, sugar, and water in a large bowl. Add cucumber and onion; gently stir to coat vegetables with liquid. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

This is one of my favorite old recipes. I frequently make Cucumbers and Onions during the late summer and early fall. The vinegar, sugar, and water are in a 1:1:1 proportion—and, depending upon how many cucumbers and onions I have, I will vary the amount of syrup that I mix up. The liquid should almost cover the vegetables. (Many old recipes are based on easy to remember proportions and were never written down.)

It is okay if there is a layer or so of the sliced cucumbers and onions above the liquid because after a few hours the amount of liquid will increase as some of the liquid comes out of the vegetables.

First and Last Taste of Cantaloupe for the Year

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today: 

Monday, August 14, 1911: He passed by here this morning, but I didn’t see him though. Miss Carolyn was over this evening. I had a taste of several cantaloupes this evening. They were the first taste I had of them yet, and I guess it will be the last. Too bad, isn’t it.

A hundred years ago green-fleshed cantaloupes were more popular than they are today. ( Photo source: Wikemedia Commons)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

In 1911 people ate by the seasons, and the various fruits and vegetables were wonderful fleeting tastes. Since Grandma had her first and last taste of cantaloupe for the year a hundred years ago on this date, I guess that the cantaloupes in the Muffly garden didn’t do well that year.

Maybe it had been too dry (or wet), or maybe the Spring had been too cool and the seeds hadn’t germinated well, or maybe pests had damaged the plants and they produced few melons, or maybe the soil was not well-suited for  melon raising.

A hundred years ago people ate by the seasons–sometimes there was a surplus of some fruits and vegetables (and everyone tired of the food) and other times a crop did poorly–and people savored every bite. I bet that when Grandma wrote this entry that she was already looking forward to the 1912 cantaloupe season.

People

“He” probably refers to a guy Grandma had a crush on. In other recent entries she referred to B. and B.G.—but never used a complete name.

I have no idea who Carolyn was.

Chocolate Cake Recipes A Hundred Years Ago

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today: 

Sunday, August 13, 1911: Went to Sunday school this afternoon. I guess that picnic is to be realized after all, if it isn’t I’ll certainly be very disappointed.

Source: Lowney's Cook Book (1907)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma and her friend Carrie have been planning a picnic all week. They came up with the idea while taking a walk the previous Sunday.

Was Grandma thinking about which foods to make for the picnic? Perhaps she flipped through a cookbook or two and looked at the pictures for ideas.

Here are two cake recipes from an old cook book:

Walnut Chocolate Cake

¼ cup Lowney’s Always Ready Chocolate Powder

½ cup butter

1 ½ cups flour

½ cup milk

1 cup walnut meats

1 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons hot water

1 teaspoon salt

Cream butter; add sugar, yolks of eggs well beaten and flour in which baking powder has been sifted, milk, and chocolate which has been moistened with hot water; beat well and add walnut meats. Bake in buttered jelly cake pans about twenty minutes.

Spread one cake with one half cup of Lowney’s Sweet Chocolate Powder moistened with one fourth cup boiling water and flavored with one teaspoon vanilla. Sprinkle with broken walnuts, cover with other cake, and ice with White Frosting.

Lowney’s Cook Book (1907)

Chocolate Sponge Cake

¼ cup Lowney’s Always Ready Chocolate Powder

yolks of 3 eggs

¼ cup sugar

whites of 3 eggs

2 tablespoons hot water

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup pastry flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat yolks until lemon-colored and thick; add sugar and continue beating. Mix chocolate with water, add to sugar mixture; cut and fold in flour, salt and beaten whites. Flavor and bake in buttered pan in a moderate oven three quarters of an hour.

Lowney’s Cook Book (1907)

I enjoy reading old recipes—though I’m often befuddled about exactly how they need to be adjusted for modern use. One suggestion in the Lowneys’ Cook Book for making cakes says:

Attend to fire, making sure, if it is a coal fire, that there is sufficient coal to last through the baking.

Hmm—Is that the same thing as a 350 degree oven?

The cook book was published by Lowney’s–a company that sold baking chocolate and cocoa. (I guess that brand name advertising and PR has been around for a long time.)  The supermarket sells Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa. Would that work as a substitute for Lowneys’ Always Ready Chocolate Powder?

I suppose the beating the yolks means either using a hand beater or stirring them rapidly by hand.

The Chocolate Sponge Cake recipe calls for very little flour—actually it seems like very small amounts for several ingredients. It must make a really small cake—or maybe there are typos in the cook book.

Whew, I’m getting a head-ache trying to interpret these recipes for modern cooking. I guess I’ll just assume that these cakes tasted awesome and not try to make them.