The Sermon of St. Francis by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

0 comments Posted by Kristine at 8/06/2010 10:02:00 AM


Up soared the lark into the air,
A shaft of song, a winged prayer,
As if a soul, released from pain,
Were flying back to heaven again.

St. Francis heard; it was to him
An emblem of the Seraphim;
The upward motion of the fire,
The light, the heat, the heart's desire.

Around Assisi's convent gate
The birds, God's poor who cannot wait,
From moor and mere and darksome wood
Came flocking for their dole of food.

"O brother birds," St. Francis said,
"Ye come to me and ask for bread,
But not with bread alone to-day
Shall ye be fed and sent away.

"Ye shall be fed, ye happy birds,
With manna of celestial words;
Not mine, though mine they seem to be,
Not mine, though they be spoken through
me

"O, doubly are ye bound to praise
The great Creator in your lays;
He giveth you your plumes of down,
Your crimson hoods, your cloaks of brown.

"He giveth you your wings to fly
And breathe a purer air on high,
And careth for you everywhere,
Who for yourselves so little care!"

With flutter of swift wings and songs
Together rose the feathered throngs,
And singing scattered far apart;
Deep peace was in St. Francis' heart

He knew not if the brotherhood
His homily had understood;
He only knew that to one ear
The meaning of his words was clear.

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Apple Dowdy

0 comments Posted by Kristine at 8/05/2010 11:00:00 AM


Last night, blessed with an abundance of runty apples from a neighbor, we tried out a simple and delicious old-fashioned recipe that I thought worth sharing. The recipe, which can perhaps be traced back to the earliest European settlers in America, is Apple Dowdy - also known as Pan Dowdy.

Here's another excerpt The Country Kitchen, by Dora Lutes:

"To make it you peel and quarter firm tart apples, and you lay them in a deep earthen pudding dish (The dowdy would probably reconcile itself to a glass baking dish if it had to.)

You fill the dish with apple, and over this sprinkle light brown sugar, the amount depending upon the tartness of the apples, and the size of your dish. Add a slight scattering of nutmeg, a little letss of cinnamon, a dash of salt.

Now, with generous judgement, cut some slivers of butter over the whole, say about a teaspoonful to each serving. Then add half a cup of warm, not hot, water.

Make a rich baking-powder crust. (One cupful of flour, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, two tablespoonfuls of butter, one-fourth teaspoonful of salt and half a cup of milk. Note - This will make a *very* soft dough, mine required a bit of extra flour ) Roll this out to three-fourths of an inch in thickness, cut a dido in the center - you know, a big S with eyelet holes slashed alongside - and lay the crust over the apples, pinching it to the edge.

So far, so good, but the proof of the dowdy is in the baking. It must be baked in a slow oven (300 degrees) at least three hours. When done it will be delicately brown on top, a rich fruity red on the inside, and delicious withal. Serve it as Aunt Hanner did, with thick cream slightly sweetened and flavored with nutmeg."

According to another old cookbook I consulted, after baking it should be placed where it will keep hot for one hour before serving. Another variation of the recipe, involving cider (yum!) can be found here.

Since I started ours rather late in the evening, we baked it for a mere hour-and-a-half. It probably could have baked for another half hour, but certainly not a full three hours. Next time I'll reduce the heat just slightly and extend the baking time. Catholic Culture suggests serving Apple Dowdy for St. Swithin's Day, which we missed by about a month!

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Winter Preparations

0 comments Posted by Kristine at 8/05/2010 09:49:00 AM


Our garden was SUCH a flop this year, for the first time ever, so needless to say, I can only dream of having a pantry such as the one described below (from The Country Kitchen by Della T. Lutes). It makes me long for those "simpler" times and is an inspiration to do more (and better!) next year.

"Autumn is here. The blue of October sky grows thick, is filmed with grey. The apples are picked and barrelled, to put in bins. Baldwins, selected for long keeping, Northern Spies, Greenings, Jonathans, Seek-No-Furthers, Russets, Gillyflowers, in the bins for more immediate use, or, if the cellar is unsafe in coldest weather, in the apple pit outside. Lovely names, incomparable fruit. Cider and vinegar barrels are full. ---

Cellar and pantry are stocked. There is a barrel of wheat flour in the latter, at least a twenty-five-pound sack of white sugar, with as much of brown, and a sack of buckwheat flour, with another of corn meal. When these are used up we shall go to the mill. There is molasses in a big jug, and coffee, tea, and other groceries on the shelves. And the bean barrel - we must not forget the bean barrel, for it plays no inconsiderable part in the winter diet.

In the cellar, besides the bins of apples and potatoes, the piles of squash, turnips, and cabbage lying on the uncovered ground, there are cupboards and shelves full of canned and preserved fruits. Perhaps a pan of broken honeycomb, for my father always kept a few hives of bees.

My mother (as did all her contemporaries) began this preparation for winter with the strawberry crop. When the best and heaviest pickings were over - those that brought the best price - the preserving began, until there were dozens of glasses standing in back in a dark corner in order that the delicate colour might not fade.

Following the strawberries came raspberries - 'rawsberries,' we called them - black caps, and red, also transmuted into jam to be eaten on freshly baked bread for supper or used in tarts; gooseberries for a 'fool' or to be served with game; currants - many, many glasses of jelly, for this makes the best jelly roll, and is the best accompaniment to the chickens, turkey, or game dinner.

Jars of cherries, plums, pears, peaches, and small stone crocks opulen and fragrant with preserves: citron, quince, gingered pears.

And pickles! No end of pickles. First of all there was a barrel of cucumbers preserved in brine. These would be taken out as needed, freshed in cold water, and then soured in spiced vinegar. There were crocks of sweet pickles, mustard pickles, chowchow, piccalilli, watermelon rind. Bottles of catsup - chili sauce. ---

In the attic were bags of nuts, strings of peppers, and bunches of herbs - sage and savoury, as well as those of medicinal nature. And dried apples in some! Ah how pungent was the air, how teasing at every turn was the odour of this provident brewing during all the days of summer and fall. How infinitely satisfactory to the housewifely eye was this cumulative show of conserved surplus, this prescient gratification of anticipated need, this lavish prospicience to individual and family appetite.

Not the cleverness of a well-turned verse, nor the glut of colour in a glowing canvas, can more fully slake the thirst of creeation that does this rich provision for her family's needs satisfy the true home lover. And as a remedy for boredom, ennui, or a flagging spirit, I can recommend nothing more salutary than a garden for production and a cellar for preservation of its harvest."

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Public Domain Books: Exploration and Discovery

0 comments Posted by Kristine at 7/31/2010 08:27:00 PM

The Knighting of Sir Walter Raleigh

Copies of any of the following can be ordered via the print-on-demand Espresso Book Machine at Third Place Books for around $9-13./book.

History Textbooks
Story Anthologies
Explorers

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Public Domain Books: Heroes and Heroines

0 comments Posted by Kristine at 7/31/2010 06:16:00 PM

The Accolade, Edmund Blair Spencer

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Holiday Stories in the Public Domain

0 comments Posted by Kristine at 7/29/2010 05:36:00 PM


Copies of most of the following can be ordered via the Espresso Book Machine at Third Place Book's Lake Forest Park location for around $9-13./book.
For a wide variety of thematic lists, see: Books for Boys and Girls 

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Public Domain Catholic School Books

2 comments Posted by Kristine at 7/29/2010 02:36:00 PM

Copies of any of the following can be ordered via the Espresso Book Machine at Third Place Book's Lake Forest Park location for around $9-13./book.

Religion
Language Arts

Stories for Boys and Girls
"Father Finn's Famous Stories"

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