Eggless cake

EGGLESS CAKE

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed1 1/2 cups water1/3 cup vegetable oil2 cups dark raisins2 tsp cinnamon1/2 tsp ground cloves*1/2 tsp ground nutmeg*1 tsp baking soda1 tsp salt2 tsp water2 cups flour1 tsp baking powder(*I substituted 1 tsp Allspice in place of these 2 spices)
Preheat oven to 325°. Combine sugar, water, oil, raisins, and spices in a medium saucepan and boil for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
Dissolve baking soda and salt with 2 tsp of water (I re-used my 1/3 cup measuring spoon to avoid dirtying a bowl). Add to raisin mixture, be careful because it will foam and rise up some.Blend in flour and baking powder, mixing well. (I just did all of this in the pot since it was big enough and to avoid dirtying a mixing bowl!)Pour batter into a greased 9 inch square pan and bake for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

This recipe was one used by many during the depression. It is a cake that can be made without dairy products or eggs. It is very rare to find a good cake that can be made without these. My grandmother (Lois May Fox Wolfe)(on my mother's side) passed this down to me from my great grandmother(Rose May Collins). We don't know a whole lot about her before she met my great grandfather(Tom Collins). My middle name is also May after her and my grandmother. We do know that they came from New York and that she left her husband and kids to go with Tom. He was suppose to have been raised in an orphanage, but have had little luck locating it. It seems that he gave himself the name maybe even after the drink which was popular at the time.

It is a different recipe, just like it says when you add the baking soda mixture it swells almost like making fudge. It sure filled the house with a wonderful smell. I hope the class enjoys it tomorrow.

Palmetto State Park Water Tower

PALMETTO WATER TOWER

This is the water tower that supplies water in Palmetto state park. It was built by the C.C.C. boys in 1933-1936. It is still in use today. The walls of the tower give the history of the palmetto plant and the potential future. Company 886 built the tower, but there was more than one company working in the park at that time. C.C.C. or Civilian Conservation Corps started in 1933 and it sent boys out to projects in the US and $25 dollars was sent home to their family and they got to keep $5. The story of who built the tower and a wooden plaque are located on the tower. Also the hydraulic pump is visible and they ask that you do not touch it. It does not have a historical marker, yet it is part of our history. The C.C.C. boys built many of the state parks in Texas as well as around the country. This water tower is a reflection of their hardwork. It was not just cheap craftmanship, but true worksmanship. They tower is still there and still worker to this day. The pictures reflect the down slide of the Palmetto and the loss of our swamp lands which is where the Palmetto primarily grows. There are other things in the park that also have the wooden plaque. The refectory and several tables, and also the main office was erected by the C.C.C. boys. All of those things are still in perfect shape. I am really interested to visit other parks to see there handywork. The hydraulic pump pumps the water out of the artesian well and pumps it in to the water tower.

Florence Sewing Machine

FLORENCE SEW MACHINE

My mother in law gave us this antique sewing machine. I didn't know much about it when she offered it to me, but we also have a roll top desk that she gave my husband some time ago so I decided to go ahead and take it. The first time she showed it to me, she also showed me the historical papers and the orginal manual. At the moment she can not remember where she put them. I do have the information off of the top of the sewing machine, and I have done some online comparison. The North Hampton Historical Society is who published the historical papers on the machine. The last date stamped on the top is July 18, 1863 which would put it at civil war time. The number stamped that others were calling a serial number was 19809. The closest I could get to a price comparison was a purchase on ebay of $120 dollars. It seems a little low, but maybe a collector would pay more. With the historical papers even a little more. It looks as if you threaded it, it would work. I have not tried it. It has really pretty little gold leaves on it, lots of art just for a sewing machine. The foot peddle is designed to place both feet and move at the same time in rythem. It was made in America. Leander W. Langdon started producing them in October 1855. In a little town called Florence Mass., however Florence no longer exists. Florence machines were popular and it was the 6th largest manufacturer in the country, but then when singer introduced purchasing on credit, Florence only excepted cash. They took a turn for the worst. My mother in laws brother purchased it, but she is not sure where. He died in a construction accident and left it to her. I could not trace any other history on this particular machine.

Raising Goats

First I want to mention that goats are not cheap. They are cute and fun, but it all comes with a price. The feed is about 7 dollars a bag which isn't too bad if you have grass to feed them. Unfortunately that was not always the case when we had the goats. Also in September of 2005 we got a miniature horse to then go out with the goats. He thought that he was a goat. They all have to eat and be watered. I did pass some of this chore to my children. They also had to be put up at night. This was in the back pasture in a corral. It had to be done rain or shine, tired or not, cold or hot. We did not want them to get eaten by coyotes. We took other measures as well. I have very large white great Pyrenees that was suppose to protect the goats from predators. We moved the goats to the back pasture not to long before we got the horse. It gave them a lot more room to move around. We also took in some female goats from the gentlemen we bought the goats from to impregnate. One of those goats got sick and died before giving birth. We had to cut her open and try to save the babies, but without success. Boer goats are good for meat. Most people who eat them do it when they are young. That is what you sell them for, at this point we still had not made any money, because we still didn't have any live babies. In February of 2006 we had our first live births. They were born Feb 18th at 7:30 am they were sister's.We woke up that morning to the mama yelling and got to witness the first one being born. It was only in the 30's. It was definitely an experience. She then delivered the second one. We watched as she cleaned them off and in the picture is my mom helping one start to nurse. They don't always latch on. Later on we would lose one of these sisters. The belief being that our male got too aggressive. He got to be about 200 pounds and we could no longer control him. We had to take him to auction. We only got 150 for him. The girl goats continued to be escape artists and were constantly over at the neighbors eating her trees. They could somehow get out, but not back in. They would stand outside the gate until one of us would let them back. My husband was transferred and we ended up taking them all to auction. It was an experience I will never forget.

Goat raising

Learning about Goats

In the spring of 2005 I started thinking about raising goats. We had 10 1/2 acres outside of Austin and needed some livestock on it. My mom and I decided it would be a joint venture. We started looking around at local goat farms and settled on one to visit. It was located close to the house and the gentleman was eager to let us learn the ins and outs of goat raising. Boer goats would be our goat of choice. They looked so calm and friendly on someone elses property. The first thing we would learn was how to give shots and worm them. I was not prepred for how strong they would be. Jay had some baby goats that we would purchase when they became old enough to leave their momma, and until then we would train. The adults range in the 140-150 pound range and most still have their horns. Worming requires putting liquid into their mouths and forcing them to swallow. First you climb onto the back of the goat and grab by the horns. Then the next person puts the syringe in the mouth while covering the nose and mouth to force swallowing(the goat however does not like this). Sometimes you have to chase the goat first. We also learned to give injections and exactly where the injection sites were. This all seemed hard at first, but with practice became easier.

We continued this until May, when finally our goats were ready to come home. Those goats pictured were our first babies. Adam the only male(because they can service a hundred female goats) is looking at us, Eve the white one,(these two proved to be dominant), and the twins Rebekah and Rachel. It would be months before they would produce new goats, and until that time we would care for them. We decided the best place was directly in the back yard. We were very protective over our goats. We converted a shed into a bed for them. Adam was from champion linage and should produce a champion blood line.

What we found out is that goats get into everything. As you can see in the picture we had to block off the tree. They also started going under the fence.(Goats can squash themselves down and go under the fence it is amazing.)

Ottine Cemetery

These are some of the grave sites I encountered while at the cemetary. You can see the gates surrounding the family plots. Most of the sites were simple. Not much art to them. Some contained a small sentiment to the person who was buried there. You could tell most people buried here weren't too wealthy, yet they were respectful of their dead. They cemetery is still in use and a few people are awaiting their burial here. The cemetery has good drainage because of the slope. I do think though that it would be a little creepy to have this in my back yard.

Ottine Cemetery

OTTINE CEMETERY

LOCATED IN THE VILLAGE OF OTTINE

Ottine was named by combining Adolph Otto's last name and his wife's first name Christine.

I visited Ottine Cemetery on Friday Nov 27th 2009 at about 8 in the morning. It is located in a pasture in the Village of Ottine. When I walked in the first thing I noticed was the school bell. The bell was placed there in 2001 during the renovation of the cemetery. There are many grave plots that are surrounded by fence, glancing at these I can tell they are family plots. According to the sign there are more people buried here than there are headstones and their where abouts are not known. This makes it feel a little strange, because you might be walking on grave sites. There is a large Otto plot which means the Otto family must have either come back or some remained when Adolph Otto got sick and went to San Antonio. He is not buried at this cemetery, but rather at a cemetery in San Antonio. You can tell that there is German descent in the Otto's because they use K in Oct. instead of the C. Most of the adults lived average lives. Researching the village has led me to believe that most worked in the Grist Mill. Ottine also was know for it's thermal waters. In the 1939 the first center was opened for children with polio. The water was pumped in and the children used it for theraputic benefits. Some of the children in this cemetery may very well have been in the hospital here. There are unknown markers through out the cemetery, but I am not sure if they are any of the people listed on the marker at the front of the cemetery. Most of the the head stones were made of stone and were old and weathered, but you

could still make out the names and dates. It truely made you interested to find out more about them. I did not find anything particular about the individual names, but the town however has its own ghost stories. The people in the town disagree, but outsiders have made all sorts of claims.I however stayed not to far from the town and don't have any ghost stories of my own to share, but I know I'll be looking for them next time. The cemetery is located on someone's property and seems to be well kept. I sure have more questions after the visit than I do answers.