"We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve." ~ Author Unknown
Today's post is going to be a mash up of Genealogy Girl's #GenealogyPhotoADay prompt on Instagram for February 07 - #FOOD. As well as Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors prompt #InTheKitchen.
I've blogged a few times about my time spent with my grandmother, Mammy. Every other weekend until age twelve was spent with her from Friday night until late Saturday evening. If I wasn't having to help haul hay or work cattle, I was being groomed for adulthood and many life skills were intentionally taught to me. One of the most important was knowing my way around a kitchen and being taught to never show up to a meal empty handed.
A few things I can remember her teaching me to make was a zucchini cake with cream cheese frosting. The zucchni had come from her garden and on this instance my cousin Jennifer was there too. We each made a cake. I can still remember her telling us the importance of folding and stiring deep into the bowl to make sure there wasn't any dry ingredients hiding down there.
Another thing I remember her teaching me to make was biscuits. I can remember her teaching me to make a well in the center and not to over stir. And then there were homemade rolls. And the time I was taught a rustic dessert; apple dumplings. Everything else is a bit of a blur. For the most part I was her helper and spent so much time with my hands in the sink either washing dishes or rinsing them. For all the time spent in her kitchen though, I don't have a single picture of her in hers. I do have a picture of my aunts in her kitchen though, so I'm going to share it.
Notice all those plates hanging? There were stories behind each one. Unfortunately, I only remember the story behind that black tarnished one on the end. If anyone out there rembembers the significance of the others, I'd really love it if you'd share it with me. Also, see the oil lamp in the right corner? I am so grateful that I now have that!
I'm not sure I was as intentional while raising my kids about the significance of knowing their way around the kitchen, and I know I wasn't as patient but the lessons were taught anyway. Here are a few pictures I have of my babies (who are no longer babies) in my kitchen:
The girls making their Dad his 45th birthday cake
Here's Ashley with a cake she made her Nanny Kay with the miniature cake pan set she bought herself at Hobby Lobby.
Patrick frying deer meat for our supper. Not only did he kill, clean and process his deer, he has always been comfortable cooking in the kitchen!
Laney making green bean casserole for our Thanksgiving.
Ashley making hashbrown casserole for Thanksgiving.
Patrick making Christmas Wreath's from cornflakes, marshmallows a little butter and green food coloring and red hots for the berries. -- This was something Mammy always made.
Laney making Reindeer Tracks for Christmas - we learned how to make these from Nanny K
Ashley's special burger recipe. We still use this!
When I first moved out here to Chigger Haven, I wanted to decorate my kitchen with old black and white photos of our ancestors in their kitchens. I still haven't done that. Maybe this will prompt me to getting some printed off and hung. I would also like to get a glass top cut for my dinning room table and display old family photographs under the glass. Here are a few kitchen pics in my collection:
My Grandma Reba with her birthday cake! One of my all time favorite pictures.
Great Grandma Zula probably making cornbread.
Grandma Nall -- my great grandma Willie Belle serving Thanksgiving 1966
This is my step dad in his Grandma Conklin's house. He believes its the house they had in Creston, CA. Like Patrick, he is also very capable in the kitchen.
I'm still lacking any kitchen pictures from Jared's side of the family.
*Edit* I found this picture of Mammy and me and Patrick from 1999-2000 standing in her kitchen
Today some clips of a home video were shared with me on Facebook from the year 1995. This home video takes place at a little house on Hwy 16 in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, belonging to my ex-husband's parents at Christmas time.
This was the same year that I first started dating Gaylan. I was 15 he was 19. It really took me back in time. I don't think I met his family until Easter of 1996. I know that was the first time I met his sister, Cookie. So many people are now gone and sorely missed. These clips are truly how I remember the DOWDY/COUNTS family. They were a close, big, happy family. Brenda and Carolyn always prepared a big meal for the holidays. The house was full and loud. Cards were often played at the table and the girls would occasionally be huddled up in a bathroom or corner getting 'dolled up' to go somewhere. This was a good season to remember. Thank you Nerissa for sharing these with me.
For my kids: Your Dad is in the camo pants and sweatshirt in the back of the room. He is standing next to your Uncle Tony and 2 year old Jake comes back with a present and sits at his feet.
I wanted to do a quick post with a few snippets from yearbooks past involving my family.
I'll start you off with this page from the 1975 Prairie Grove Yearbook, mentioning my paternal grandfather, Charles Nall, for being on the school board.
This next one is pretty precious to me, because I don't have many pictures of my dad when he was young. Here he is in his 6th grade photo. The first year he was in Prairie Grove.
Here's another one showing my dad and step-dad both being members of the 1975 Letterman's Club
Another one from 1975. Dad was voted 'Best All Around'
1976 Mom was in FTA (Future Teachers of America) and Library Club
1983 my step mom Dawna was in Drama and Basketball
When I was growing up my Dad had the green table in the bottom left corner. I don't remember the chairs. I remember he had wooden folding chairs instead.
When I was growing up I can remember my Mammy making lye soap on one occasion. I wasn't there while she was making it, but I remember her telling me she used lard or suet from McClellan's. And I can remember it sitting in the laundry room curing. I also remember she had a large cast iron scalding pot that stayed outside that she said she used in making it. Maybe rendering the lard? I only ever remember her using that pot one summer to boil beets and then for fun adding in some white laundry to dye it pink.
Fast forward to my mid twenties. I had started breaking out badly--- much worse than my teenage years. Nothing I tried worked. Then in 2009 I ended up purchasing several bars of plain lye soap from Silver Dollar City when we went on vacation that year. It helped tremendously. From then on I would stock up on homemade soaps from The Cats Meow that would frequent our local Dogwood Festival. But in the back of my mind I always wanted to learn how to make my own.
In late 2016, when I moved into our RV at Chigger Haven, there was a lot of downtime. I remember reading an article in Backwoods Home or Mother Earth News about making soap and making your own lye to make soap. I knew right then I wanted to start learning how to master certain 'homesteading' skills that I did not already possess. I had already learned how to make jelly, can vegetables and had started raising chickens. Thanks to a Christmas gift I had learned how to cook on a wood stove. I had been raised bed gardening for a few years. But making soap still scared me a bit. Then, this year (2018) for Christmas, the hubs bought me everything I needed to make my own soap: lye, a mold and cutter, and an immersion blender. I still need to try making lye from scratch!
Another homesteading skill I conquered back in 2015 was rendering lard (the easy way) in my crockpot and putting it in mason jars to freeze for later use. My Dad is always good to give me some pork or beef when he has one slaughtered and I asked for the lard so I could try this. It was really easy -- though it does tend to make your house smell a bit.
The hubs and I watched several videos on YouTube on how to make your own soap and ironically we felt like the video from Becky's Homestead (posted below) was the easiest to follow. Here is her recipe:
40 oz. lard
5.4 oz lye
13.5 oz water
.33 oz or 10 ml of essential oil *optional* --- I later discovered this is a bit misleading since most essential oil bottles are 10 ml bottles. When making soap ALL MEASUREMENTS ARE BY WEIGHT NOT VOLUME. I have also started learning how to use SoapCalc -- an online calculator that lets you make your own recipe and tells you how much lye you should use and how much of each oil and how much fragrance . For Becky's recipe it recommends using .5oz WEIGHT fragrance.
Now for the steps:
For safety use gloves and goggles
Measure out all your ingredients first.
The lye always goes into the water, not the other way around. This solution will be VERY hot. And the fumes will knock you down. I always do this step outside.
You should also keep vinegar around in case of spills or contact to skin.
Warm lard to room temperature about 80° F. Before adding the lye solution to the liquid lard wait until the solution has cooled to 100° F The cooling process can take forever so it's best to mix the lye and water first and then you can measure and melt your lard and gather anything else you might need while waiting for it to cool down. Like I said, I do this step outside and its been in the 30's each time and it still takes about 30 - 45 minutes, if not longer.
Once the lye solution is cooled and the lard is warmed, *read this article* add lard to plastic or stainless steel bowl and then add the lye solution. Mix with spoon until thoroughly mixed then use your immersion blender beating in 20 second spurts until you see a "trace" or it looks a bit like pudding.
At this point add essential oil if you're using it. Mixing it in well. Then, pour into molds, cover with lid and wrap in towels. Leave it alone for 24 hours. Then you can cut into bars and let cure for 3 weeks.
This was my first batch -- Patchouli Sage. I sprinkled the top with dried sage from my herb garden.
There's a learning curve to cutting straight bars.
I didn't have enough lard from the hog Dad gave me to make another batch. So we contacted two of our local slaughter houses and were told they couldn't give or sell us unwanted lard because they weren't licensed to do so. So I learned another homesteading skill -- bartering. My husband belongs to several Facebook groups and posted in a few local homesteading groups that we were wanting lard/suet to make soap. Several people were willing to sell it to me, most often for more than I could buy already rendered at Walmart, but then one lady said she would gladly give me hers for a bar of soap. I gave her a bar of my patchouli sage and threw in a jar of honeysuckle jelly I had made. She sent me a message later telling me how much she loved my soap and couldn't wait to try the jelly. And then later that day her nephew contacted me to give me his lard. I think I'll be set to make at least 4 more batches of soap.
Becky's video:
There is a Soap calculator that lets you plug in what kind and amount of oils you will be using in your soap and it will tell you how much lye and water to use. I've made the above recipe 3x without much issue other than inconsistent gel phase on the last two batches (I wonder if I even had gel phase at all on the first batch). When I put it into the calculator it tells me to use 15.2 oz water and 5.36 oz of lye. I've also joined a group on Facebook for beginner soap making and was informed that less water makes it harden faster, quicker to cut, easier to unmold, and gives less soda ash.
To combat the gel phase issues I was advised to set my oven to 170* and to set my soap once in the mold into the oven. Wrap it in a towel like normal, shut the door, and turn off the heat. Leave it overnight -- I plan on trying this method soon. The last 3 batches I didn't wrap it in a towel at all. I just set it inside a small cardboard box, set another piece of cardboard on top for a makeshift lid and closed the box. I haven't had any inconsistent gel phase doing this method.
Fragrances
I'm still learning how to combine the right essential oils for the best scents. I've learned that
30% of a blend should be Top Notes
60% of a blend should be Middle Notes
10% of a blend should be Base Notes
That means if I stick to my recipe above using 10mL that means
3 ml should be Top Notes
6 ml should be Middle Notes
1 ml should be Base Notes
Top Notes
Middle Notes
Base Notes
Basil
Bay
Peru Balsam
Bergamot
Black Pepper
Cassia
Cinnamon
Cardamom
Cedarwood
Clary Sage
Chamomile
Cinnamon
Eucalyptus
Cypress
Clove
Grapefruit
Fennel
Frankincense
Lemon
Geranium
Ginger
Lemongrass
Hyssop
Jasmine
Lime
Juniper
Myrrh
Mandarin
Lavender
Neroli
Neroli
Majoram
Oakmoss
Verbena
Melissa
Patchouli
Orange
Myrtle
Rose
Peppermint
Nutmeg
Rosewood
Sage
Palma Rosa
Sandalwood
Spearmint
Pine
Valerian
Tangerin
Rosemary
Vanilla
Tea Tree
Spinenard
Vetiver
Thyme
Yarrow
Ylang Ylang
This is a great free EO blend resource where others share their blends: EOCalc
Below are a few scents I want to try based on diffuser blends.
Scents (repeat combinations until you have at least reached 10 mL )
Take A Hike: (5) Cypress (2) Tea Tree (2) Cedarwood (1) Bergamot *Made 2/25/2019*
I've had a bit of a habit of posting genealogy stories and memories on Facebook instead of my blog. There seems to be more readers over there. Well, today, I came across this post in my memories and figured I should preserve it here on my blog.
It's funny this was my memory, considering a conversation the hubs and I were having last night as we laid in bed waiting to fall asleep. The Mega Millions jackpot is now at a record $900M and we discussed our daydreams if we were to win the lottery, even though we haven't even bought tickets. I said that I would want a sewing room so I could make quilts. The older I get the more I find things like sewing, and crocheting less of a waste of time and more something productive I can do when I need to sit down and take a break. Something I can pass on to my children and maybe even grandchildren some day. It's funny how perspective can change in two short years.
When I was a young girl my Mammy and Grandma Nall tried to instill a love of hand sewing. I was given a little cookie tin to keep my thimble, needle, thread and fabric in and whenever they would get together I would get out my little tin. If my Bampy needed a button sewed on a shirt... out came my little cookie tin. I still keep a little tin packed full of sewing supplies today despite having BOTH of their nice sewing boxes that my Dad bought them one year for Mother's Day. So I decided to add all the contents of my little cookie tin into their sewing boxes and I came across this little treasure. In my great grandmother's handwriting, this is the pattern for our 2000 family quilt. For a few years, all the ladies of the family were instructed to make quilt blocks for the members of their immediate family and embroider names and birth dates on them and then Grandma Nall would make a quilt to be given away at the family reunion. I didn't get a quilt but I am happy to have this.
P.S. Despite their best efforts - I really dislike sewing. I'll do it. But I don't enjoy it.
Grandma Nall with her son Bo and daughter-in-law Bette and our 2000 Nall Family Quilt
I am still working on the post to go with yesterday's Instagram challenge but I thought I'd take a quick break to work on today's. It should be short and sweet.
Today the prompt set out by Genealogy Girl Talks is weathered and I have the perfect thing for this.
In 2014 my Uncle Mike and Aunt Lynn gifted me one of my most treasured heirlooms. My great grandfather's old wood cook stove. And for Christmas that year, my husband had it restored. It sits on my back porch and I use it often. Turns out, according to my great aunt Dena, her dad purchased it from a store still in Farmington today, called Chicken Hollar, in the 70's because he didn't like the way gas made his biscuits taste. He passed away when I was only 4 and I don't have many memories of him at all. In fact, I really only have one, and I'm not sure if it's a real memory or something I think I remember because I was told about it so often. But I think I remember him being really sick with oxygen on and sitting in a chair as soon as you walk in the door. When I walked in he would invite me to come sit on his lap and he would say "There's my girl with the golden curls."
I was able to find the specs for his little stove online here. I really need to find a way to print this off.
Anyway - I have one specific memory attached this little wood stove and I tell it often, but just in case my children are anything like me, and end up forgetting my little repeated stories, I thought I'd write it down for them.
My grandmother, Mammy, wanted to start a tradition of having back-to-school camp outs with all nine of her grandchildren. I'm not sure we ever did it more than once. But regardless that one time was really fun and a memory I cherish.
My Mammy's house sat on the top of a hill and below it to the East they had a pond that I would fish in every chance I got and below the pond was the field where we set up camp. My grandpa, Bampy, brought in the flat bed semi trucks we used for hauling hay so we wouldn't have to sleep on the ground that most likely would've been covered in cow patties. They also brought in this wood cook stove. That night we had fried taters, and in the morning Mammy and my great grandmother, Grandma Nall, made us biscuits, sausage, eggs, hot chocolate and chocolate gravy.
Here is the recipe in Grandma Nall's handwriting. She gave this to me one year as a Christmas gift, taped to a little plate she had picked up at Life Ministries, in Prairie Grove, where she volunteered. In case you have trouble with that first measurement it reads: 3 cups milk.
During that camping trip I remember when the sun started to set you could hear the big bull frog at the pond and how the boys went to catch it hoping for frog-legs. We sat around the fire, sang songs, told stories. I remember how cold it got at night despite the fact that it was August and how I loved falling asleep under the stars.
I would love it if my cousins would share their memories of this trip or any other memories they have.
Below are a few pictures of the cook stove after it was refurbished and a few of the meals I've cooked on it.
Even though I think there's room for improvement, I really do enjoy Facebook's feature to search through your old posts. In going back trying to find pictures to share I was able to come across the status updates that display the learning curve involved when obtaining the skill to cook on one of these things!
January 6, 2015
Goodness me, who knew there was such an art to getting a hot fire burning in a wood cook stove!! I've spent the past hour or so trying get a good fire going to no avail.... then I finally found my damper and I made a make shift chimney out of Laney's old dry erase board.... the white board is actually thin sheet metal. Now maybe with any luck I'll get this baby hot enough to cook a meatloaf in for supper. Maybe even boil the potatoes on it for our mashed potatoes. Wish me luck!
Same day, different post:
After fiddling with my stove all day without it getting hot enough to boil a pot of water, I think the consensus is that it's too cold outside to get my stove hot enough and my wood may be damp. It feels dry because it's so cold, but it may have moisture locked in it. I'm getting far too much smoke and not enough heat. I'm getting good coals and the occasional steady flame but its just not heating it all around. I'm nearly certain I'm burning oak, so the type of wood I'm using shouldn't be the problem. Also my flue may not be tall enough to draw the smoke.
Trial error, live and learn. I look forward to trying again on a warmer day.
Feb 15, 2015
Since I've been having so much trouble sleeping through the night... this time when I woke up, I decided to start a fire in the old wood cook stove. It feels pretty HOT... so hot it burns my hands to open/close the oven door... so I whipped up some drop biscuits in my old muffin tin and put Mam's cast iron skillet on the burners to warm up... fixing to head outside to make sausage gravy to go with those biscuits... wish me luck!
Feb 16, 2015
I think I decided my wood-stove problem was impatience. I don't think I let the fire burn long enough to burn the cold off the stove and I wasn't confident enough in my fire to close off the fire box door and keep all the burners on. Once I did that it got good and warm/hot - even on really cold days. I think I'm still going to look at Lowes for a better flu to draw the smoke up over the house, if for no other reason than I'm tired of smelling and breathing in smoke.
I eventually got the hang of it, but it does produce quite a bit of smoke at first before the fire really catches.
Anyway - I hope you've enjoyed this little part if my history. If you're a Nall cousin and you have a memory associated with this stove, please oh please share it. Or any memory of Grandpa Nall. I've heard he was a gruff man.
If you're just stopping by - I'd love to hear from you.
Until next time,
Becky.
P.S. Don't forget to stop by Days of Our Lives where my sister-in-law is blogging along side me.
Again - I have to love FB. Today in my "memories" a post showed up that had a few memories of Grandpa Nall. I'm going to place them here so they're easier accessed:
My Uncle Mike remembers, when he was 11 grandpa had him digging up stumps and Mike kept breaking the handle's so grandpa got Mike a rock bar said you can't tear this up well guess want he bent it in two days. He still has it to this day.
My dad's first cousin Angie shared this memory: Becky, I was pretty young when he passed. Not as young as you, I think I was 11. Most of my memories include watching the men working cows while we sat on the fence. One memory I have makes me laugh now but it wasn't funny then for me or Tracie. We were spending the night, and I think I was 4 or 5. We were getting ready for bed and I thought Tracie tripped me. (I now realize that I tripped on the bed but geez I was 4!) I cried and told on her. Papa spanked her. (Justice in my mind at the time) But hey, just proves Tracie McCoy is tough-she took a spanking from the Nall patriarch! It was the razor strap that used to hang in the bathroom. I don't think she stayed over there with me much after that!! I don't blame her.
I can't believe I'm already on post #8 of the 52 Ancestors challenge. This week our writing prompt was Good Deeds. This will lead me to share with you a recent discovery I made about my great grandmother Zula Jane (Acord) Stepp. But first, an introduction:
Zula was the oldest child of Clara Inda Evans and James William Acord. She was born September 6, 1903. She was named after her paternal grandmother Sarah Zulema (Kosier) and her maternal grandmother Jane (Conner).
When she was 19 years old, on April Fool's Day of the year 1923, she was married to my great grandfather, Newell McKinnley Stepp, son of James Johnathan Stepp, and Rebecca Matilda (Merrill).
This couple would go on to have seven children, only losing one at birth, a baby girl by the name of Minnie Pearl who passed away a few days after she was born in 1941. This baby girl was named after Zula Jane's sister Minnie Myrtle who had passed away a few short years earlier because of kidney disease, leaving behind a husband, Roy Betnar, and their two young boys, Clyde and Connie.
Connie was just a baby, not even two, and Roy needed help in finding someone to take care of his boys. My great-grandma took in young Connie while her mother, Inda, helped with older brother Clyde. After about a year, Roy came to take Clyde from Inda, but Connie would stay with my great-grandma for nearly 6 years before his dad returned to take him home for good. Before that time, he would come and get him off and on, always returning him back to Grandma. Connie's daughter recounted that he would get sent back by way of the mailman, riding with him by horseback to Grandma Zula's who didn't live too far off. It is said that when Roy came to get him the last time, Grandma had a difficult time letting Connie go. She told his father he could take him, but if he ever brought him back he wouldn't take him again. It's also said that grandma's brother Joe Acord was ready to do whatever necessary to help make sure grandma could keep him if the need arose. (I've heard a few stories about Uncle Joe, and I'm not sure I would want to cross him.) I just know Zula loved Connie like he was one of her own and I can't imagine how heart breaking it was for her to give him back to his daddy.
Connie is the little boy on the far left (looking at the ground) in front of Zula's mother, Inda. Zula is stnding next to Inda.
In 1949, when Connie was only 12, his father died and Connie was sent to live with his Uncle Glen Betnar, who received an orphan's check for $12. Times were different back then and as a young man you were often valued for your ability to work and earn your own keep. By the age of 12, I'm sure Connie would've been an asset for the family that took him in. His wife says that by that time Connie was big enough to work and travel to pick cotton and other crops. The Betnar's traveled to different states to work. Connie eventually joined the army as soon as he was old enough. He saw the military as a stepping stone to having a better life.
Connie passed away last year and I've only recently connected with his family (his wife and daughter), and they both convey Connie's love, appreciation and fond memories of his time spent living with the Stepp family and my Grandma Zula in particular. They've told me how often he would say the best part of his life were the years he lived on the mountain and if he had gotten to stay his life would have been very different. He felt that place was Heaven on earth. His daughter wrote to me telling me about how her Dad would take them to Zula's house as often as he could and how she got to stay with Zula for a week when she was 7. She thoroughly enjoyed it. She remembered camping on the mountain and how much her dad loved going to decoration at Evans cemetery. The Acords (Grandma Zula's maiden name and Connie's mother's too) held a very special place in his heart all his life.
Just to help you see how compassionate and fun-loving my great-grandma was, here's a quote from a friend of Connie's daughter that was able to accompany her that same week she spent with the Stepp's:
"I was only with Zula and her family for a week, but fell in love with Zula from the start. The kitchen had running water. But no bathroom. Outhouse, and a shower stall just outside the kitchen window. And a refrigerator near the shower stall. You open the refrigerator door and got behind it to undress and step right into the shower There were feather beds and no screens on the windows. 3 square meals a day. Swimming twice a day in 2 different locations. Corn fields surrounded the yard. Zula showed me May apples and the work of the beavers near the swimming hole. One of the swimming holes was named after a bull that had walked out onto a rock slab and fell in (Noble hole). I can also remember that she made "grape" gravy one morning." ~CBM
Grandma Zula's oldest daughter Merle recently shared a few stories about young Connie with me:
"When we lived at Spokeplant we had peach trees in the yard. One was planted by the porch and the limbs stuck out over the porch. We had taught Connie how to sing the chewing gum song and when he would want something he would sing the chewing gum song. One day we heard him out on the porch singing the chewing gum song and when we went out to see what he was doing he was looking up at a great big ripe peach hanging on the tree. He wanted that peach."
"When we lived at Spokeplant we had a lot of Chickens and mommy (Zula) would catch one and take it to the chopping block and chopped their heads off with the axe that we chopped wood with, and would cook them for supper. Some of the hens had baby chicks running around. One day while me, Argie and Art were at school ,Connie had went outside to play and mommy heard him laughing at something. She went to see about him and he had caught those baby chickens and had chopped their heads off. I guess he was laughing at them kicking around." <-- Can you even imagine?? Boys will be boys, I guess.
I myself never really knew Grandma Zula. We lived about 2 hours away and therefore didn't visit very often (or I was too young to remember it) and she passed away when I was 13. My one solid memory of her was the year we spent Easter with her and Grandpa Newell. I was about five or six. I remember a vague image of their house and I can remember her smile and I remember feeling her kindness - but unfortunately that's all I recollect.
I recently asked several of my mother's cousins and Zula's children if they would share some stories about her and it makes me wish so much that I had the opportunity to have grown up closer to her so I could've known her better. I will close you with a few of these stories, because they can speak of how much she loved and lived and laughed so much more than I could...
From her grandson James:
I always thought she had an endless supply of bacon because there was always some left under the sheet covering leftovers on the table. She made the best rice for breakfast or you could say a bowl of sugar and butter with some rice tossed in it. I loved her and she loved me the most! She made us all think she loved us the most"
From her granddaughter Diane:
She would have us at her house for a week at a time and told us lots of stories . They all started with "younse listen here" Like some of an Uncle being found dead with an axe in him. But most of all she would sing "Black jack David" with us. The three of us ( Diane and her two sisters, Michelle and Reine) sang that song all the time while walking to the mailbox at Spokeplant or going swimming in the Noble hole. Grandma Zulee told about her mom never remarried because the kids would run every man off. Some guy was talking to Inda at church and they threw rocks at the horse till he rode off.
From her granddaughter Robyn:
"One of my favorite memories of her is when I was about 12 years old. I absolutely loved her biscuits that she made. I asked her if she would give me the recipe and she said that she never wrote it down, she "just put a little bit of this and a little bit of that in". So, I watched her make them one day and wrote down every single thing she did. She literally would just pick up flour, or salt, or other ingredients with her fingers and throw some in. She never measured. I took my notes home and my mom and I tried to make her biscuits using what I thought was what she had done. Of course, they never turned out like hers. I remember Karen and James and Matt and I would go on adventures to the pine trees. I remember that it seemed like it was so far away from the house and that we had really ventured out. As an adult going back down there and seeing just how close the pine trees were to the house it made me laugh. Grandma would pack a lunch for the four of us to take so that we didn't have to come all the way back to the house for lunch. She also would fill her dish washing soap bottles with water so that we could make bubbles to play with. Also, I drank more water down there at her house than I ever did anywhere else. Only because I liked using the dipping ladle that she hung over the kitchen sink"
From her granddaughter Debra:
"One of the many memories I have of Grandma is when my foot got smashed on the pull bars of Dad's tractor. She took a brown paper sack and soaked it in vinegar and wrapped my foot with it. My foot healed and I've never had a problem with it!"
From her granddaughter Carmel:
"Grandma Stepp was the best grandma ever. She made the best oatmeal ever. She made coffee in a coffee pot without the perking parts. Just coffee and water and boiled it until you could stand a spoon up in it. Everyone in our family still calls strong coffee, Zula Stepp coffee. I loved when we got to make ice cream at her house. Frozen milk with sugar and any flavor that Watkins made. Black walnut was my favorite and still is today. I loved helping her do laundry. She would use pants stretchers in Tooter and Dwight's jeans. Once the clothes were hung on the line, she would take a long pole and raise the line up high so nothing touched the ground. She named her milk cow after me and I loved going to the barn with her when it was time to milk. I would squat down beside her and watch every move she made. She always wore dresses and when she walked to the barn or garden or wherever, she would swing her arm back and forth and swish the side of her dress with her hand. I can see her doing that still today. Mom had bought her a set of large tea glasses one year for Christmas and I loved those glasses. She kept them on the top shelf and would never use them because she didn't want them to get broken. I asked her if I could have those glasses some day, you know when she was gone, she said well honey you take them now. I said no later, before I knew it she had them wrapped in newspaper and in a box. That was 45 years ago and those glasses sit on my top shelf, they have never been used because I am afraid they might get broken. I could go on and on but basically she was the best! She always had a Mason jar for our lightning bugs. String for our June bug legs and she taught me what a tumble bug was. Grandma helped her mother (Inda) deliver Tony (Jayne's oldest) in the back bedroom of the house. I asked her how she knew what to do. She said by watching mommy. I was curious and wanted more details. She told me how she would hold the embilical cord and feel the heart beating in it. She would wait until it stopped and tie a string around it about an inch apart and cut the cord. I was very impressed that she knew all of this."
From her granddaughter Janice:
"I can remember one summer Mom (Merle) taking me and my sister and brothers to stay a week with Grandma. She also kept my cousins at the same time, I remember Diana, Reine, and Michelle being there. I think others were there also, but can't remember who. She had quite a house full of grandkids to take care of. The first morning after Mom left I remember grandma taking us all to the swimming hole. We couldn't swim, so she said she would help us. I remember her getting into the water in a dress and the dress went up and out into the water. We all laughed so hard. I also remember while we were staying with grandma she needed to go to the store. She had all of us children get in the back of the truck and off we went to town. She took all of us inside the store with her. On the way home Uncle Tooter got into the food and made a baloney sandwich. As he was eating it a guy riding a motorcycle was behind us and he held out his sandwich to the guy and ask him if he wanted a bite. All of us laughed at that."
From her granddaughter Karen:
"I love the story where all the men went deer hunting leaving grandma at the house while they we're gone a deer got caught in the barb wire fence and she tied it up! She had a deer captured when they all came home! I loved sitting on the front porch with her singing and rolling her apron and folding it over and over!! When she lived with us every night at supper we would say pass the butter just so grandma would tell the butter head Davis story of the soldier putting butter under his helmet and it melted! Mom would just smile at us as we acted like we never heard it before! She loved to help mom stir the potatoes fryin too. Nobody made fried taters like granny Grandma couldn't drive and she had a saying, "If you can drive it I can ride it!" She did too! Even 4 wheelers! I also remember the story of the Jehovah witness running over Doyle Karrs dog and called grandma to get their license. She got the screw driver ready to take their license plate off when they got there. I remember those same soap bottles (from Robyn's story) being filled with hot water and put in bed to keep us warm under all those blankets. We sunk down in the feathers and couldn't move"
From her granddaughter Tarona:
"My fondest memory of Grandma and Grandpa Stepp was drinking Nestle Chocolate Quick, Grandma's Oatmeal, and Roastneers canned in gallon jars - best corn on the cob EVER!!!! You couldn't beat Grandma's cooking! The garden full of fresh veggies too!"
From her granddaughter Michelle:
"I remember canning beets. Grandpa would build a fire under that big wash tub outside then grandma would put the beets in. After awhile she said, "They're ready!" and all us kids would stand around the tub and peel beets with our hands. Just squeeze a little and the peeling came off. Then we would go to Noble hole and try to get stains off. I also remember brushing grandmas hair. She would sing 'Froggy went a Courtin' "
From her granddaughter-in-law Kathy:
"I remember when Carmel and Vernon came back here and brought their boat. We went out to the lake and Grandma skied in her dress I think someone challenged her to ski and she did it!"
From her son Dwight:
"I didn't see this but it would've been funny to see - Mom couldn't drive and dad was working on the tractor. He couldn't get it started so he got mom to pull him with the truck. When it started he went to waving his arms. She thought the more he waved the faster he wanted her to go. They were going pretty fast until she ran out of field. When they got stopped she was laughing but he didn't think it was at all funny."
From her "adopted from the heart" granddaughter Ann (Connie's daughter):
"Jerry and I got too go spend a week with Aunt Zula. Their were a lot of her grandchild staying too. If my memory is right their were about 10 of us. My brother Jerry or my cousin Gail Betnar was the oldest and I was the youngest. Like other's I have wonderful memories of her great cooking, and taking us swimming. She would tell me things about my dad when he was little. She took him in and loved him like he was hers after his mom, her sister, died. She was the closest thing I to a grandmother on my dad's side. The summer we stayed Jerry spent most of his time carving a guitar in a big tree behind her house. She made me feel like I was one of her own grandkids. My dad always said little mulberry was a little bit of heaven on earth. I wish my daddy was still here. He had so many wonderful story about his love of her"
And last but not least, from Connie's wife Ivia:
"I sure loved her . When she had breast cancer, Connie and I went to hospital in Fayetteville to see her. We stoped at the nurses desk to ask her room number. The nurses began laughing saying they just loved her. The doctor was there and he brought her a ball to squeeze so she could build up her muscles. She told him she didn't need that old ball because she would be squeezing her milk cow's teats when she got back home and she would have her muscles back real fast! The nurses told us that half the doctors would come from all over the hospital to see her because she was such a delight. She was a very funny lady and would've made one famous stand up comic. You are all so blessed to have had her as a mom and grandma. She couldn't have been any sweeter or loving to me had I been blood kin."
Until next week,
Becky
And as always, be sure to check out my SIL's blog, Days of Our Lives, as she is blogging alongside me in this 52 Ancestors challenge. Her post is about her ancestor Ervin Alonzo Drake, who volunteered to fight in the Mexican American War. For a more analytical post about this same family be sure to check out her post from 2012 - here.
