Cherry Harvest

The cherries are ripe a little earlier this year, thanks to that hot spell we had recently. Problem is they all get ripe at one time then. The crop isn't as large as it was last year and the birds are eating their fill. They are not afraid of me or that fake owl I bought to scare them off. Sunday I'm going to make one batch of cherry jam. I hope I won't cook it as long as last year, it was too thick. Also, I'm going to try a small batch of fruit leather again. I don't want to waste cherries on that if it doesn't turn out good. (Oh, so many projects.)

We have collected 190 recipes so far for the Winton Centennial Cookbook. Almost half-way there. I have an old recipe book from Winton, titled Winton's Recipe Roundup" compiled by Winton Women's Improvement Club, printed in 1954. Lots of familiar names in it, some relatives also. The cooks went to a lot more trouble back then. You can tell it's an old recipe when it calls for Oleo, or butter the size of an egg. Then instead of putting it in the freezer, you place it in the deep freeze. I haven't heard that expression for a long time.
The next Winton Hometown News newsletter (July/August) will be mailed out the end of June or first part of July. We will be reminding people that we are looking for their CURRENT recipes, not just the old ones from parents or grandparents.
We hope our readers will find our stories interesting and that they will want to send in their stories as well.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Carolyn and I attended the Memorial Day service at the Winton Cemetery today. Pictured is the Winton VFW's Color Guard. The program was nice, the weather cool; better than hot.
Mrs. Beltz's class sang several patriotic songs.Cousin Jackie played Taps (a duet with someone, name unknown to me.)
The program lasted about an hour, the Dirks family cousins then went to Foster Freeze in Atwater and had lunch and visited. That was the best part of the day for me. (Although, I did enjoy the program at the cemetery.)

Memorial Day

Monday, May 25th, the Winton VFW will have Memorial Day Services at the Winton Cemetery, starting at 10:00 a.m.
I will be there, so if you plan to attend and have recipes for the Winton Centennial Cookbook, look me up and add to our growing collection of recipes.
We have about 175 so far, hoping to get 500 or more.

Today

My sister, Carolyn and I went to the fund raiser for Grace Home in Livingston today. It started at 9 a.m., but we were there even earlier. We wanted to browse through the old books and get first chance at them. I was only looking for 2 particular books, so of course I didn't find them. Carolyn bought some books from the 'yard sale.' There was a lot to look at, but I only bought something to eat. The above picture is the ice cream machine. It sounds like a "Poppin' Johnny" one of the John Deere machines. The man had to oil it to keep it running smoothly.
It certainly made very good ice cream!!
We visited with quite a few people and had a good time. Next year, we may not go so early. And maybe it won't be so hot as it was today.
The two books I am looking for are, "Favorite Recipes From Our Best Cooks, Cookbook" and "The New Cookbook, Favorite Recipes of Our Best Cooks" by Women of the Atwater First Church of God. I do have a zerox copy of that one, but if I found an original, that would be good to have.
As you can guess, we are hot on the trail for recipes for the Winton Centennial Cookbook. We have permission from some relatives to submit a few of their recipes in their name. So, that is very helpful. We're hoping for 500 recipes, it's hard to get that many.

Mandy's Back on Rachael Ray Show

Mandy will be back on the Rachael Ray Daytime Show this Wednesday, May 13, 2009 for an update, along with other favorite guests of the show.
The above picture of Cojo, Mandy and the film crew was taken in October of 2007 for the show that aired the day before Thanksgiving in 2007.
It was a cute show, I hope you got to see it. If you missed it, here is a link to part of what they showed. And Mandy's makeover. Mandy had a phone call recently from one of the producers of the show in New York, saying they were doing an update on some of their favorite shows and Mandy was one of them. I'm so excited for Mandy!!! She's a great kid.
You go girl. . . Your Grandma is Proud of you.
Mandy's blog is here.

Winton Historical Society

This is a recent picture of the old John Borth house on the east side of Winton Way near Walnut Avenue. It has now been torn down and a new grocery store will be built at this location. Changes are always taking place.
The newsletter for the Winton Historical Society is now published every other month, instead of quarterly. Members now receive this newsletter 6 times a year instead of just four.
Another change was made recently, we voted to change the dues to $10.00 per year per household regardless of whether there is one person or two at the same address. Most of our members do not attend the meetings, (many live out of town) so it didn't seem fair to charge $15.00 a year just because there were two names on the label. It made more sense to us to just charge the one price per household.
It's really great getting stories from other people, it makes the newsletter more interesting. I'm hoping more people will want to send in their writings. I know everyone has a story.
If you live near Winton, California and are interested in the history of Winton, you are invited to attend our meetings. They are held the first Tuesday of the month at 1:30 p.m. in the C.L.E.O. office. We are a small friendly group. For more information on the Winton Historical Society, you can write to WHS, PO Box 554, Winton, CA 95388 or email me at WintonCA@aol.com
Do you have memories of Winton in the by-gone days? We'd love to hear them. Pictures of Winton, taken before 1975 or there-about? You can send them to the post office box or send as attachments to the email address.
We are also collecting recipes for the Winton Centennial Cookbook, so please send us your favorite recipes. Thanks to all who take the time to send us recipes, stories or pictures.

I'VE GOT GRASS!!

Today is the first time that my subdivision lot has grass planted on it. Up until now, we had ground cover in the front and a small family orchard in the back. I think the grass looks great. But, now I'll have to buy a lawn mower. And a weed eater. But it will be worth it.
My gardener is a fast worker and I have proof. If you look closely, you will see his right hand is blurred. Everything else in the picture is sharp.

Thursday Night Rain

Well, surprise - it rained last night and this morning it is still cool. So, what's the best thing to do on a morning like this? You go out in the yard and harvest those pesty snails. I grabbed the plastic bag the newspaper comes in and looked the Iris plants over. Sure enough, I found quite a few big granddaddies. It wasn't long before the bag was heavy with them. They really like the Iris and the Desert Primrose. Oh, and the Gazinas. Probably anything green and tender.
I have another Iris in bloom. This one is Ruffled Goddess. It's new to me this year, so I won't be transplanting it in July/August. I have decided though that when I get the six new plants from His Iris Garden in late July, I'm going to plant my Irises in rows, with furrows to irrigate them. Just like a real Iris garden. I'll dig up the Iris plants around the patio and plant something else there. I'm hoping to find some red Coreopsis. Maybe even a Bloomarang Lilac. The search goes on.