Druckvorschau Schließen

55 Treffer anzeigen

Archivische Beschreibung
Mit digitalen Objekten
Druckvorschau Ansicht:

Grandmother's sorrel soup

Sketch of a woman and two girls in the yard in front of their housebarn
"Grandmother's Sorrel Soup
Simmer smoked pork with bay leaf and peppercorns until done, then add cubed potatoes and coarsely cut greens - sorrel, onion, parsley, dill. When done add heavy clotted cream. Now, two generations later, whole milk yogurt does quite well too!
Sketches from a Canadian prairie Mennonite village childhood.
Picking sorrel in Grandmother Katharina Fehr Neufeld Reimer's backyard, Schanzenfeld
Coming to Canada from Russia at twelve in 1874, Grandmother Katharina Fehr married widowers John Neufeld and "Ütroopa Reima" successively, 1881-1901 and 1904-1923. Besides numerous step and even step-step children she bore twelve of her own of whom, however, only five survived to have families half the size of hers. Her only child by Ütroopa Reima, a son, was Watkins salesman in the Mennonite villages of southern Manitoba for many years. Auctioneer
Among other favourite foods grandmother made were yeast-raised Pāpânāt. Spice buns they are called in some recipes now. She used to bake them on large darkened pans and keep them covered with tea towels in the pantry by the backdoor. It was a most welcoming aroma to greet us in. Translated from her intuitive homemade yeast and honey sweetened one can still come close:
Crumble and sprinkle a fresh Fleischman's yeast cake into warm honey-sweetened water, stir in unbleached white flour, add a bit of salt, stir until batter slips off mixing spoon. Wait until bubbly, then stir in corn oil, pepper, and cinnamon with caution, keep adding flour while kneading to soft dough. Let rise covered in warm place, shape into buns, let rise again and bake in rather slow than fast oven..."

Goertzen-Armin, Marta, 1923-2009

Russian Mennonite Borscht

Sketch of a woman and her children gathering ingredients and preparing borscht
"Russian Mennonite Borscht (from the oral tradition): Simmer about 4 lbs. beef, mutton, or pork, with lots of bone until almost done, salt to taste, of course. Add a head of cabbage and about 4 onions, all medium sliced or chopped, three long stems dill, and a small handful of parsley. When done, add about twelve or so juicy ripe tomatoes and keep simmering until these are done. Served with sweet or sour cream: Umm-hmm!"

Goertzen-Armin, Marta, 1923-2009

Ons Weit es Riep!

Sketches of Marta's family going out to their wheat fields in a wagon and stopping for lunch
"Our wheat is ripe! The weather fine, the water in the barrel begins plish-plashing here in the back of the feedwagon. Lisa and Abe would rather come to the fields...
"Well, shall we break early for lunch?" in the fields everything tastes better! Cold potatoes, meat, bread with pickled cucumbers..."

Goertzen-Armin, Marta, 1923-2009

Mice!

Sketches of a family cutting chop and discovering mice in a stack of oatsheaf
"Towards spring once, when cutting chop, we found one oatsheaf stack (was) riddled with mice. What a squeaking, squirming and scampering - ranging from naked new-borns to stunned old ones! At first our barnyard cats leaped, startled, about among them. But soon, not knowing which ones to follow, bewildered quite, they turned tail and fled...
When the cats fled from the mice!!"

Goertzen-Armin, Marta, 1923-2009

Barefoot

Sketches of children playing barefoot outside their houses.
"We dash home: "Daddy, Daddy, may we go barefoot this afternoon (too)? The other children do!" "You don't say! What nonsense! The earth isn't even thoroughly thawed out yet!" "Who goes barefoot?" asks Greet. "Well...!" "Don't tell me you want to become such snotpots too!" Not even "barefoot-in-the-shoes", not yet..."

Goertzen-Armin, Marta, 1923-2009

Government Worker

Sketch of Marta's father and a government worker hauling ice in the winter
"This winter we have a government worker, Jacob, eldest son of the widow, Mrs. Fred Thiessen, from the village end. The government pays Jakob a few dollars a month, and something to father for providing the work and for his food. He eats with gusto (doesn't fuss), is always friendly, and helps willingly enough. We like this arrangement! Here he helps father haul ice from the (woods)creek..."

Goertzen-Armin, Marta, 1923-2009

Finally an ice cellar

Sketch of a newly-built ice cellar by a corner of Marta's family's housebarn circa 1395
"Finally we have an ice-cellar! It is built somewhat like a semlin. Other summers we hung our cream and butter in the well for cooling. If then sometimes the big cream can accidentally spilled, we'd have to pump out the whole well!
Milk buckets on a post - to drip (dry)
Circa 1935"

Goertzen-Armin, Marta, 1923-2009

Title Page

Handmade title page for Marta's sketches about her childhood on a rural Mennonite farm in Chortitz, Manitoba
"WHEN THE SUN
IS TWO
HANDS HIGH
SKETCHES
FROM MY CANADIAN PRAIRIE
MENNONITE VILLAGE CHILDHOOD
MARTA GOERTZEN
1923-2008"

Goertzen-Armin, Marta, 1923-2009

Chores before bedtime

Sketches of a family completing chores before going to bed for the night
""...Watch carefully now. We have quite enough cups without "ears"! says Greet to Tina and Lisa. They are washing dishes. Mary is sweeping. Abe and I can go along to help gather eggs. "Hurry so you can play before bedtime."
"Going to sleep with the chickens" is a good expression! We keep the young chickens separate until they're able to get up on the roost. A few hens always get startled and come flying down with a big to-do! In the nests it is dark.
Left hand drawing"

Goertzen-Armin, Marta, 1923-2009

Mother dies

Sketches of the funeral of Marta's mother.
"Our mother dies March 6, 1928. The aunts want to divide us among them, but father says no. "I'll keep them together..." Those village women who do that, have washed mother and put on her white dying-dress. The aunts have put mother's own red, pink, and white geraniums 'round her."

Goertzen-Armin, Marta, 1923-2009

October school

Sketches of children having lessons in a schoolhouse, and leaving when the day is over
"October 10, 1930 I turn seven. On the 11th I start school. The first half hour we have German Primer and the last half Bible stories... in between 9:00 and 3:30 we do everything the government requires. By Bible story time we're getting very sleepy. Miss Warkentin (the boys say forkentine) rads about Abraham and Sara. I force my eyes open to stay awake in the third grade. I wave my hand up. "Yes, Martha?" "Will we be in the Bible too one day?""

Goertzen-Armin, Marta, 1923-2009

Father comforts

Sketches of a family in their rural house in Chortitz, Manitoba.
""There now, Mary, you can soon stop crying already. Mother has no more pain. You and Tina can sleep on the big bed. We're living in the whole house now. When we moved here Mother was not strong. That's why we used only the front room and the parlour. Abe is at Aunt Mary's for now." Mary says she can hear mother at night still rocking on the rocking chair."

Goertzen-Armin, Marta, 1923-2009

Stuffing straw beds

Sketches of a family collecting straw and using it to stuff mattresses to sleep on circa 1930
"Stuffing our straw beds circa 1930.
Here in the strawloft it is scary; it is only of wide-spaced branches laid. One must step straddle-legged not to slide through!
How sweet the sleep then on such a high fresh-smelling flax strawbed..."

Goertzen-Armin, Marta, 1923-2009

The funeral

Sketches of the burial and funeral of Marta's mother.
"At the cemetery we wing, pray, and the minster "thanks off". Then he scatters the first handful of earth on the coffin... Village women brought butter and milk together yesterday to make the rolldough. This they carried to other women and took some themselves for baking. While we are at the cemetery, they set the coffee table: rolls, coffee and sugar cubes. The men eat first, then the women and the children."

Goertzen-Armin, Marta, 1923-2009

Ergebnisse: 1 bis 15 von 55