Warm and Happy Kitchens

 {From the Archives of Connie's Letters. Fall 2006.}

Mothers who have busy warm kitchens and happy hearts can make good bread.  Your yeast is alive and loves to be warm and active. I think old houses seem to make good bread. I think it is because of all of the other yeasts in the house.  Yeast is in the air and a housewife can learn to harness and use whatever yeast she needs. Like a sour dough starter is harvesting yeast for bread and rolls.

I know this house is loaded with yeast of all kinds. The Old time mothers knew all of this and used what she had to make her food.  But I usually tell a young mom that if she can’t make a good family bread then it was because she didn’t love it enough.

A happy kitchen with steaming soup simmering on the stove and the coffee pot perking is a joyful place to make bread. Your bread won’t rise in a cold kitchen and if is too hot it will die.

The old time mothers used to sing in their kitchens. An old friend of mine used to say that her Mom always sang a certain song when she made bread. When she got done with all of the verses then she knew the bread had been kneaded enough.

My friend thought as a child that the song was a part of the recipe. So when she grew up and was a young bride in her own kitchen she thought she had to sing the same song. So she did!

In the old days when the family needed to be cheered up, mother seemed to be the inspiration to get them up and going.  Mother would announce, “Well, you all are hungry so I will fix supper.” 

Maybe the afternoon was quiet and not much going on. But as mother would get up to put her apron on things would begin to move about again.  She would scurry the children about to pick up their games and get ready for supper.  She would tell the boys to bring in the wood for her cook stove and some for the fireplace.  Mama would tell the girls to help peel potatoes. Pretty soon the family would smell Mamas biscuits and fried meat on the stove.

Last of all before the family sat down to supper Mother would stir the gravy. As she stirred she would tell the girls to set the table and slice the bread, Light the lamp on the table and call Papa in for supper.

Meal time was an event, a time to fellowship with the family. After supper mother would set out a starter for bread making the next day.  After the supper dishes were done and the girls dried them and put them away, the table was cleared and Mother got out her mending. Papa read the evening paper and the children played games and did  homework.

The winter kitchen was the warmest place in the house and the family stayed in there and kept warm.

Is your kitchen warm?

 Love, Connie

* Order Connie's book, "Dear Kitchen Saints," available on Amazon. It is autobiographical and tells the beautiful story of her marriage testimony!*