Signs of Spring and A Good Bi-annual Cleaning Circa 1919

Can you find him? He almost escaped my view as I was cleaning up the yard and garden.  To get an idea of size, he's on our chain link fence, next to a clematis vine.  He isn't more than an inch long.  He changed colors several times while I was working around him.

Spring is arriving late this year in Western, New York.  The lilacs aren't even fully out yet and today after several days in the 60s, 70s and even 80s, it's a rousing 40 degrees outside. So glad the scarf and wool coat were within reach. 

I've been immersed in Spring Cleaning and Yard Work.  

Spring cleaning is actually a seasonal cleaning.  I generally do the same thing with minor modifications in the Autumn as well.  It requires a stalwart commitment and fortitude and a great deal of stimulant beverages. The potential for procrastination is terrible, until one can no longer stand the ever present bits and remnants of old house dirt, dust, cobwebs and general clutter that no matter how regularly one cleans, in a house with two dogs, two children and one husband, it accumulates.

According to my 1919 copy of Lippincott's Home Manuals Housewifery by L. Ray Balderston, A.M., a regular room cleaning looks as follows:

• Dust and remove or put under cover small articles and bric-a-brac.
• Dust or brush furniture; if small, remove from the room. If large, cover with a dust sheet.
• Shake and brush curtains and hanging; remove the room or pin in dust bags.
• Roll up small rugs and remove from the room to clean; if large, sweep and fold back the edges toward the center.
• Dust ceiling and walls.
• Dust window shades.
• Clean radiators.
• dust closet floor.
• Dust floors.
• Dust doors, baseboard, and other woodwork to the floor and baseboard.
• Clean windows.
• Clean chandelier.
• Wash globes.
• Wash mirrors.
• Wipe pictures.
• Polish floor.
• Return rugs, furniture and bric-a-brac.
• Polish brass and silver unless all are done on a special day.

Living in a 224 year old home means dust is generated by the home's own unique life force.  It could be totally empty and without human or animal inhabitants and dust would happen.  I dust each week. We have no forced air or air conditioning, or duct work.  Dust just is. I don't even have a fireplace left within the home, so I can't blame that.  Whatever wood burning devices were here were taken out or bricked up long ago.  It's just one of the many bars in the song of the old house blues.  Along with plenty of ventilation year round, whether you want it or not.

But I wouldn't trade it for a brand new home, although sometimes I do fantasize about a mudroom, a separate laundry room, and a fully insulated, cook's kitchen with cupboards and drawers that work.  But I can't imagine living in a home without a soul. As much as  I wove a tapestry of obscenity in the air over my home the first two years I lived here as things broke, were never done right to begin with and DIY'd incorrectly to the point that the men on This Old House would openly weep, I have a strange and deep romance with it.  

The .75 acre yard that allows me to garden and plant until I run out of time, money and energy is a big selling point.  Along with the simple solidness of the structure itself.  When the wind blows, this house simply doesn't move.  There are days I vacillate between giving it all up in a few years and moving on, and being inexplicably pulled towards staying a little bit longer and leaving the old girl better than I found her. God knows when I do move, leaving the garden will be the hardest part.  All those years of mature perennials and fruit trees.  I can barely consider it at this particular moment.

Outfitting the Bride's Kitchen Part II ~ Utensils in Glass

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From Cheating the Junk Pile by Ethel R. Peyser ~1922

Chapter XIX

'We favor glass whenever it can be substituted for kitchen utensils as the most ideal oven utensil.  If your purse can stand it and its initial expense, it will save fuel, time and energy in the end and therefore money.'

Utensils in glass:

Three kitchen glasses................................ $.10
Baking dish oval............................................55
Baking dish deep........................................1.50

Lemon Squeezer with holes..........................25

Measuring glass.............................................15

Casseroles from 2 1/2 qts to 1/2 qt....up to 3.00

Spice Jars................................ (no price listed)

Individuals at.................................................75

Pie dishes shallow.........................................90

Bread pans..................................................1.75

Layer cake dish 9 1/8"..................................90

Custard cups 4 oz.........................................25

Fruit jars 1 qt.............................................1.20

Fruit jars 1 pt.............................................1.05

Glass butter crock, 1qt.................................45

Glass butter crock, 2 qts..............................70

Glass butter crock, 4 qts ...........................1.00

My Recipe for the Best Gluten Free Biscuits

Mr. Ken's Favorite Biscuits

Being married to a Texan comes with its own set of culinary requirements.  Being gluten free comes with another.  So making my husband's favorite recipes and having them taste good and familiar is a constant challenge.  

After years of experimentation (literally, we have been gluten free since 2007) I finally hit on the perfect combination of workability and taste.

These biscuits taste just like the real thing, are flaky, pull apart and delicious.

1 3/4 cup all purpose GF flour (I use Better Batter)

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp salt

2 Tblsp nonfat dry milk powder

1/4 c salted butter

1/4 crisco, lard or shortening substitute

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup whole milk plain yogurt

Combine the dry ingredients and mix well.  Cut in the butter and shortening until crumbly and well combined.  Mix yogurt into buttermilk and gently mix the wet and dry ingredients to bring them together.  At this point I use my hands to pull it together, gently knead enough to shape and turn it out onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  I form a rectangle and use a rolling pin to get the dough to about 1" thick.  You can cut your biscuits to size.  I usually do 9 medium or 6 large biscuits.

At this point you should let them rest at least 15 minutes.  I have refrigerated the unbaked dough overnight with no issues.  I even tried freezing the unbaked biscuits.  They still worked fine, but the texture was slightly different although not unpleasant.

Put them in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for 18-20 minutes.

Serve hot or lightly toasted the next day.

Outfitting the Bride's Kitchen Part I ~Utensils in Aluminum ~1922

From Cheating the Junk Pile by Ethel R. Peyser ~1922

Chapter XIX

'We moderns are so up to date that although we expect our women to marry, they know less of the kitchen needs and the infant's psychology than of the constituencies of the planets' atmospheres.  So to correct some of the deficiencies we are going to list in this article the prices of the necessities of the bride's kitchen at the present...

A first-class aluminum manufactory believes the following to be a complete set of aluminum for the home.

Tea Kettle............................. $7.05
Double boiler......................... 4.05
Sauce pan and cover.............. 1.40

Straight sauce pan (2)............ 2.35

Preserving kettle, cover......... 3.62

Strainer...................................1.20

Steamer Section.....................1.80

Coffee pot..............................4.15

Tea pot...................................5.85

Fry Pan..................................3.60

Griddle..................................5.55

Waffle mold..........................3.65

Pudding Pan (2)....................1.60

Bread pan..............................1.15

Tubed cake pan.....................1.85

Mountain cake pan...................85

2 jelly cake pans (ea).............1.20

Corn cake pan........................1.20

Gem pan.................................1.60

Roaster....................................7.20

2 pie pans (ea)............................62

Measuring cup............................60

Tray..........................................1.65

Water Pitcher............................6.00

Jelly Mold.................................2.90

 (additionally recommended per the author)

Funnel...........................................90

2 Muffiners, 6 cups...................1.65

Dish drainer...............................4.00

Ladle..........................................2.25

Quart measure............................2.00

Dripping Pan..............................2.95

Categories to be continued:  utensils in enamel, glass, earthenware, japanned ware, tin ware, iron ware, woodenware, cutlery, hardware, brushes, wireware, fabrics and paper, machinery and general.

A Timely Introduction or Everything Old is New Again

Courtesy of Vulcan Stove Co.  The smooth top 38" gas range takes the stoop out of stoopid cookery.

As we deal yet again in 2017 (some 95 years later) with the struggle to establish and maintain women's rights, Ms. Peyser's words could have almost been written yesterday.  There should be no negativity attached to the home being a woman's domain.  For even today as working women, mothers, caregivers of our adult parents or siblings, single or married, we find ourselves still the primary purchasing agent of home goods, decorator, and home maker.  Making a house a home still remains largely a feminine task.  The ability to do so should be a badge of honor, and not a prison or mark of shame.

From Cheating the Junk Pile ~1922 by Ethel R. Peyser

Introduction

The Housewife as Manager and Purchasing Agent

'Several years ago we heard a great deal of talk about women's place being in the home.  The slogan was used as a campaign challenge and as a sneer.  It was bandied up and down the country-side until we got pretty tired of hearing it.  Since the privilege of voting has been given women and since their weight is being felt in the elections, the cry has died down.  The simple reason is that neither the employment of women in war-work nor the radical challenges of the ultra-feminist has altered the  fundamental fact that the home is a women's realm.  Now you can banish her to the home and make it such a place of drudgery that she loathes it; or she can abide there as a queenly figure, director of its work.'

Housewifery -~Schedules, Dishwashing as Meditation and Work for the Common Benefit

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A well arranged and well equipped kitchen, New Rochelle, N.Y.
From The Efficient Kitchen by Georgie Boynton Child ~ 1915

This past month it finally happened.  My aged dishwasher that was here when I moved into my aged house, died an undignified death that involved smoke and the smell of burning electronics.

And I did the unthinkable...I chose not to replace it.  Cost was one reason.  The wiring would need to be updated, a plumber called, an electrician and more fees, fees and fees.  So I did what I had done in the past year when my toaster oven died (it was a taco shell related fire, let us never speak of it again...) I waited.  

I (overly) analyzed the purpose this dishwasher played in my life and I realized it was really a glorified and sometimes (smelly) dirty dish retainer and nothing more.  I couldn't be absolutely sure that it saved me any actual time between loading and unloading and rinsing and I knew for certain it didn't always get things clean and it certainly couldn't fit my greasiest, largest pans and cast iron ware that had to be washed by hand anyway.

I cook A LOT.  My son has celiac's disease, so by design, it is safer to eat at home most of the time.  I cook for two children, myself, and now a carnivorous husband.  I chalk up hours in the kitchen.  So with fear and trepidation, I gave it a week and I surprised myself.

Washing the dishes by hand wasn't nearly the horror story, time bandit I imagined it to be, and...my dishes were actually cleaner...and, I actually enjoyed it and found it somewhat calming and meditative.

It took me back to my childhood and standing at the sink next to my grandmother and how she taught me to run my hands over them to make sure they were truly clean.  It reminded me to slow down and be present. It reminded me of Brother Lawrence, in The Practice of the Presence of God who answered those who inquired about his devotion among the menial, monotonous tasks of the kitchen with "We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of him..."  and focused on God's presence by doing the dishes as though he were doing them for the Lord.   In short, it turned out to be somewhat of a gift.

In Lippincott's Home Manuals-Housewifery, L. Ray Balderston, 1919 a woman's day was estimated to look as follows, a mere estimate due to change on size of family and availability of help:

Food work 4-6 hours per day with 2-4 additional hours per week

Laundry-washing- ironing 3-5 hours per week

Care of clothing (likely mending and sewing) 4-6 hours per week

House care, cleaning, etc. 1-2 hours per day and 4 additional hours per week

Children and Miscellaneous 2-3 hours per day and 2 additional hours per week

Management, Accounts, Planning 1-3 hours per week

Of those 4 to 6 hours per day, dishwashing was a part of it.  Per most home manuals of the day and particularly The Efficient Kitchen from which the photo above came, there is a specific process.  

Two pans or sinks filled with hot water, one with soap (as hot as you can stand it)

silverware is put in to soak, along with plates and bowls if there is room

glasses get washed first

then dishes, bowls

then silverware

and then pots and pans

At this point any additional things that need soaking go in and then finally the water is poured out and the sink thoroughly cleaned.  Dishes can be put in a rack or if you are lucky dried by a helper along the way with a towel and put away.

"The advantage of this method is that it offers an opportunity to the children to work with their mother, giving them valuable training while they are greatly lightening a rather dreary task.  Where there are no children it cultivates in grown-ups the habit of burden-sharing and comradeship in the daily tasks, thus transforming the whole atmosphere of the home from one of drudgery to happy cooperation and companionship in work for the common benefit."