THE AMISH COOK
BY LOVINA EICHER
2014 is halfway over already. Hard to believe!
The sun is shining after a rainy week so we are taking advantage of the beautiful day. Benjamin, Joseph, Lovina, and Kevin are out in the garden pulling weeds. M y how those weeds took over!  Our garden is looking great other than the weeds.
Our days are filled with all the work that summer brings. We canned rhubarb juice and put lots of strawberries into jam and pie filling. Our strawberries were all from sister Emma’s patch. She had plenty for herself and to share with me.
Daughter Elizabeth turned 20 last week. She has now left her teenage years. What a nice young lady she has become. Being the oldest of 8 children made a very responsible girl at a young age. For her birthday I baked her a chocolate cake and then instead of using frosting to decorate it I used whipped topping and instant pudding mix . Timothy’s sister told me that she uses that instead of frosting. It was a hit in our family as the cake was gone faster than usual.
Verena is washing dishes and Loretta is gathering the clothes to wash. I feel like have no time to be sitting here writing. If only I could type fast instead of write I could be done sooner. So far I can still write faster than I can type. I’m getting better, though. I think it’s fun to type, if I keep practicing I might get better.
Today is my husband Joe’s last day before his vacation starts. He will go back to work July 7.
Today is also daughter Elizabeth and Susan’s last day before vacation, only they will get a 2 week break. They won’t have to go back until July 15. So we are as excited as they are that we won’t have to follow a schedule for awhile.
Joe and the boys have already planned to go fishing all day tomorrow. Susan’s boyfriend Mose will go with them and Susan is thinking about going too. She said bluegill fishing is fun!
We are trying to get all the work caught up around here so we will have more free time next week. After all a vacation shouldn’t be spent working at home.
Last Sunday evening we were invited to one of our church family’s house for supper. We were served a delicious meal of barbecued chicken, potato casserole, green beans, tossed salad, cake, fruit salt, chocolate pudding, ice cream, chips, popcorn, punch, and coffee. They live right beside a river so we saw a lot of canoes go by.
Next month we have 100 baby chicks coming. Â Half are for laying and the other 50 are broilers which we will raise for meat.
I made strawberry pie this weekend so I’ll share the recipe
STRAWBERRY PIE
3 /4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 3 ounce strawberry gelatin
4 cups sliced, fresh strawberries
Mix sugar, cornstarch, and water until smooth. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in gelatin until dissolved. Arrange strawberries in pre-baked pie crust. Pour mixture over berries. Refrigerate until set. This pie freezes well too.
brenda
I guess I must have missed something about learning to type in a previous letter. How great that she is continuing to learn new things. too often we mothers get so caught up in doing the things that have to be done to keep our homes moving along and forget to throw in those new learning challenges.
that was quite a menu their friends from church presented. I am looking forward to hearing how the family finds some time for relaxation during the vacation.