For the Taste of It

The following article appeared in the October 2014 issue of the Laurel Mountain Post and begins on page 26. Click on the issue cover to view it as published in a PDF format.

It’s ten on a Saturday morning; the orange-yellow and crimson-striped fruit hangs tantalizingly just a few inches out of reach. Leaning into the fragrant somewhat itchy vine, it’s plucked and placed with the rest of the Mr. Stripey, Cherokee Purple, German Pink and Homestead varieties of tomatoes … one hundred pounds off to the kitchen. This batch is destined for quart jars of crushed tomatoes.

In the house Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa are playing on the stereo — greats from the past, a perfect accompaniment for a day disconnected from being too connected. On the stove sits the black and grey-specked enameled processing pot, just a little too big for the burner it rests on. Two eight-quart stock pots, bowls, knives, glass jars, and lids are all strategically placed waiting their turn. As water boils and tomatoes are peeled, quartered, crushed and boiled, we dance a little, reminisce a lot, and remark how wonderful the hard, hot work is.

It’s eight in the evening, and the last seven jars now rest with the others, cooling on the counter. The tell-tale metallic ‘klink-pops’ can be heard down the hall. The kitchen is humid and hot from the long boils for each batch, and the countertops are full of garden-fresh goodness to be enjoyed all winter long.

Today many people can for the fun of it, but when my grandmother was a girl it was essential to survive the winter. She often spoke of times when they would use the outdoor kitchen to dehydrate peas and other vegetables. Pressure canners were not as reliable or safe as today. If you wanted it later, you had to can it, dry it or ferment it. Meats would be smoked, cured, jerked or made into sausages for winter – some may even be canned.

We enjoy the canning and preservation of home grown produce for its unique genuine flavor. Our goal is to grow or raise unique foods such as emmer wheat, barley, millet, sorghum, heirloom toma-toes, beans, eggplants, root vegetables, chickens for eggs and meat, and eventually some baby doll south-down sheep, goats and more.

It is just within the past few generations that people get most, if not all, of their food from a retail store, many not knowing or caring where it was grown or what variety of pea or carrot it is. In fact, most produce in your store is a specific variety grown for its shelf life and appearance. This has caused many original varieties of produce and breeds of livestock to almost completely disappear. Sadly many people today have never experienced some of the delightful flavors that long ago regional varieties and breeds had.

Modern food science has come a long way. On average, the ingredients in a typical meal on an American table have traveled an average of one thousand five hundred miles to get there. Early on, that can of crushed tomatoes would be filled with brownish liquid — not the brilliant red you expect today. The flavor of canned peaches today only varies by the amount of fructose sweeteners in it. Time, money and science give you perfect color and texture, but muted flavor. You can get fresh vegetables and fruits from all climates any time of year now. Before modern transportation methods, much of the produce you see in winter coming from Chile like grapes, strawberries, and plums were missing from the markets until next year. Now, the produce from South America or other countries is actually picked green, and later exposed to toxic ethylene gas to trigger ripening.

Today, however, there is a new resurgence in knowing your food. The farm to table movement is everywhere these days. Numerous farmers markets are springing up everywhere, benefitting local farmers, gardeners, and the host municipality, as well as eager shoppers. They offer opportunities to try long-forgotten varieties, artisan cheeses, wild flora such as mushrooms, and expertly crafted smoked meats or sausage as well.

During the great depression, home vegetable gardens were encouraged to help people provide food for their families and to instill a sense of confidence that one’s efforts could yield a reward. Later the victory garden or war garden helped the country feed itself and our troops abroad.

Relatives of ours remarked on our raised bed kitchen garden, inspiring them to build one of their own. Having sampled some of our home canned goods such as pickles, salsa and jams, they started experimenting on their own. At a recent family gathering they remarked that when they make something, it is often exclaimed: “we can CAN that!” This year they’ve made barbecue sauce, salsas, pizza sauce, apple sauce, pear sauce and fruit butters: all this from their parents’ little orchard and a small twelve by ten-foot plot of ground tucked beside their own patio and hot tub.

Here at Fairview Farm, we have 35 acres under cultivation — this year its corn. While the corn hasn’t been harvested yet, the calculated yield is 4,375 bushels or 122.5 tons. From our garden we have harvested 350 to 400 pounds of tomatoes, 14 pounds of raspberries, 10 pounds of carrots, 45 pounds of potatoes (first try at these), 70 to 80 pounds of cucumbers, 50 pounds of peppers, 20 pounds of onions, 40 quarts of snap peas, 40 quarts of green beans, and 2 bushels of apples and pears (from our neighbor’s orchard). We are in the process of developing our new elderberry and black currant patches, as well as continuing to fend off deer from our new fledgling orchard. Additionally, we are preparing to rebuild fencing for our pastures in order to add livestock.

We hope to grow, thresh and mill to flour our own wheat, rye, and other grains. Sorghum is another plant we wish to try. Its grain is high in protein, and the stalks –when pressed – yield a sweet, dark m-lasses. You need just a few tens of square feet to grow grains, and sorghum makes a great hedge-type wall. Chickens will be our first reintroduction of livestock to the farm, followed by sheep and goats. Cattle may not be an option as pasture and hayfield yield may not support more than a few of them.

You don’t need vast acres to enjoy home grown or raised food: resources are every-where to help you. Dirt doesn’t hurt, green growing things are good stress reducers, and if you’re adventurous, chickens can be raised for eggs and meat right in your back yard. Goats are good for milk and cheese, and if you’re daring, a free lawn mower guaranteed — no pushing required.

While driving or walking if you’ve ever seen an old orchard with fruit on the ground, try to find the owner and ask if you can pick the trees. They can only say yes or no, but I’m sure not having to rake and dispose of rotten apples or pears would be an encouragement to say yes. Use the rewards to make jellies, jams, apple sauce. The yield can be frozen or dehydrated into chips. Let your imagination and palate be your guide.

Realistically, you don’t need to preserve for survival today. You can, however, contribute to your own well-being and save a few pennies. You can savor your own creations, grown by you or from a fresh air market. That special variety of tomato that you can’t get anywhere else awaits you.

America’s farming history is still young. Unlike Europe where farming practices were necessitated by lack of space for many centuries, here if your land went bust you picked up and moved west. The many superb regional cuisines of Europe are a result of using everything you grew in your diet: not just that delicious emmer wheat, but the barley, mustard greens, and legumes you used for rotation to keep the soil rich and vibrant for the emmer wheat.

If you are truly looking for new flavors, search out the farmers who are growing a diverse array of heirloom crops — or better yet, start your own garden or reinvent it to offer more than salsa ingredients.

Go grow it!

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A complete online guide to canning and preserving can be found at: www.freshpreserving.com

Composting

The following article appeared in the Summer 2013 issue of the Laurel Mountain Post and begins on page 20. Click on the issue cover to view as published in a PDF format.

“If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.” – Dale Carnegie

Farming is often about the little jobs – the dozens of small chores that need to be done every day, week, and month as the seasons flow from one to another. My dad always hated what he called “detail work,” and would often defer these tasks to me, then a young girl full of energy and often by his side trying to take it all in. As a classic tomboy, there was no farm challenge I refused to accept, though at times grudgingly: shoveling manure, stacking hay bales, driving the tractor, painting fences and walls, pulling weeds, carrying wood, picking eggs, and feeding cows . . . the list was endless.

In fact, as I got older, we had charts listing all the jobs we could do to earn our money – different amounts for varied tasks. My big sister, Michelle, always rushed in and loaded up on the higher point values ($1 or 50 cents), leaving the often unsavory or smaller 10 and 25-cent chores for me. But I didn’t mind very much, as money had no grip on me then (and it added up eventually anyway). Michelle preferred to get her work done as quickly as possible so she could retreat to her room and read more books. Hours later I was still outside working on my little chores.

I actually enjoyed the smaller jobs and completed them at a leisurely pace. Some viewed this as a “lazy,” “lolly-gagging” and time-wasting approach, but I looked for and found the joy in each task. My daydreaming would sometimes lead to forgetfulness, but I could tell you a lot about each hen in the yard, and her eggs picked from the coop. As I filled and delivered milk buckets, I spent a lot of time petting and playing with the new calves we bought from the auction, and I believe this improved their lonely transition from mother to pen.

When it came time to clean my own personal pig sty, I often got sidetracked with every treasure I re-discovered – except for the decaying dead mouse under my bean bag chair. I may have even screamed like a girl. No wonder my parents called me “Pig Pen.” But I think I realized, then and there, the importance of every chore, not just the ones I liked or considered important.

Last year, we built raised beds for our new garden and had a fabulous seven-variety tomato crop. We made sauces and salsas (taking orders for this year) and saved our heirloom seeds. The tomatoes got the glory, but the secret to our success was in the dirt. My husband, Greg, took the time to carefully mix some old mushroom compost my dad had started years before with existing farm soil, peat, and new cow manure. We filled every bed with this FREE, rich mix, and our plants thrived.

Good garden soil comes from past chores often overlooked. We are careful to save our kitchen scraps and take them to our bin (made from stacking old tractor tires), along with grass clippings, leaves, wood ash, newspaper and other things most people throw away in plastic garbage bags each week. A lot of people fear compost with ugly thoughts of a rotting heap in the back yard, but it is really much easier than you think – and the rewards are huge! On the next page, we’ve printed a simple infographic to get you started, compliments of the University of Illinois Extension Office who re-sized it just for the LMP page! If you would like some hands-on instruction, contact the knowledgeable and friendly staff at Westmoreland Cleanways (www.west morelandcleanways.org or call 724- 836-4129). They offer workshops and special rain barrel sales: the next one is scheduled for June 1 from 9-4 in the Green Forge Building parking lot, 226 Donohoe Rd. in Greensburg.

Some Important Composting Facts (sidebar)

• Over 600 lbs of organic yard and kitchen waste materials can be diverted per home through backyard composting. According to the Clean Air Council, forty-three thousand tons of food is thrown out in the United States each day.
• Curbside waste reduction through backyard composting saves valuable landfill space.
• Backyard composting reduces organic materials going to landfills, thereby reducing the production of methane gas, a potent and harmful greenhouse gas.
• Residents save their municipalities valuable tax dollars by composting at home. Backyard composting is much more cost effective and environmentally friendly than municipal collection and disposal.
• Compost is a great soil amendment for lawns, gardens, potting soils etc.
• Compost can also save money by reducing your curbside waste; providing free soil amendment; and by retaining soil moisture, reducing your water bills.
• Residents can make a difference. Home composting using the Earth Machine™, combined with recycling and yard waste programs, can reduce resident waste at the curb by up to 80%! Leaves, grass and kitchen scraps represent as much as 50% of waste materials going to landfills.

 

Let’s Go Get Some Shoes

The following editorial was published in the March/April 2008 issue of the Laurel Mountain Post. Click on the cover to view as it appeared in a PDF format.

“A man is a god in ruins.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have entered a mid-life world where my children are now responsible for the bulk of their mother’s cultural literacy. It seems like only yesterday that we were reading Beatrix Potter, watching Shakespeare and Bugs Bunny, and listening to my personal versions of classical music: The Beatles, David Bowie and Elvis Costello. I have been quite the pack rat over the years, and eager to share my time capsule of renaissance information with my kids as they grow up. But thanks to the internet, my library of CDs, books and video tapes make up only a fraction of their always-expanding catalog of reference and experience.

They are always on the internet looking for news, funny videos, global music and things to read. I can’t really keep up, but always take a minute to stop and view something my junior editors find interesting and worthy of my time. Several months ago they introduced me to “Shoes,” a video on YouTube* by comedian Liam Sullivan. My first reaction to the simple and sort of vulgar video was “Gee, how immature and annoying.” I quickly dismissed their interest and moved on, growing more irritated each time I heard them play it.

But I realized later that the more I saw it in unintentional bits, the more time I took to really watch and listen, and the more I participated in the experience with my kids, the more it began to grow on me. When I let go of being the generational warden, the detached observer—and became one of them, an enthusiastic participant—I started to love it. It spread to friends my own age, and we developed our own fun catch phrases based on the dialogue. I am embarrassed that I initially viewed it with such derision. In that moment I was too caught up in the narrow definition of myself.

As we get older, it’s a lot easier to be comfortable with who we are. We grow more confident, and that’s a great thing. When we were young, we were adventuresome and on the hunt for new and exciting discoveries, always trying to define ourselves. The problem comes when that self-satisfaction turns to security and eventually closes us off from everything else. We learn to resist change, or anything that’s different.

We forget how it felt to be that blank canvas who sought color and inspiration. The layers of experience caked upon our faces become a prison whose walls grow thicker each year, separating us from the freedom of knowing new things. Monotony becomes a way of life because we are too complacent to try or tolerate an alternative.

Two weeks ago, I tasted butter pecan ice cream for the very first time. Regretfully, I have been subtly afraid for 38 years that other varieties would let me down compared to the enjoyment I always found and trusted in vanilla: it’s white and has no foreign parts or complications.

Racism, homophobia and other disrespect for others comes from the same rigidity of familiarity. We sometimes refuse to see any view but our own, let alone allow ourselves to imagine where another person has been or consider what road led them from mocked ruins to the place they are today.

This issue is filled with many stories about culture, history, and diversity, celebrating the best of the world that found its way to Western Pennsylvania. So let’s go get some shoes, or simply take a walk to the ice cream shop in someone else’s.

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*Shoes has since won the 2007 People’s Choice Award for best user-generated video and has been viewed over 12 million times. YouTube was co-created by fellow IUP graduate Chad Hurley.

 

 

 

Trails to Heartache and Success

The following interview was published in the Summer 2013 issue of the Laurel Mountain Post and begins on page 26. Click on the issue cover to view it as published in a PDF format)

An Interview with Country Music Artist Jeffrey Michaels

In the 1980’s, when I was a sophomore in high school, there was a boy who could always make me smile – which was quite a feat back then when I was well-known for my stoic ways. His name was Jeff Ruffner, and he was constantly clowning and performing for Lee Ann, Lance, and me. The four of us hung out a lot together that year, but soon after, we drifted our separate ways.

A few years ago, I caught up with Jeff (now known as Jeffrey Michaels) through the power of Facebook , and we bonded again over mutual back problems. I was still recovering from the kind of spinal surgery he had several years before. He encouraged me to accept my situation – the pain, the heartache – and to smile again as I got back on that horse called life.

His hard knocks experience and endless optimism drives his music. With a voice that swoons between the likes of John Denver and Dwight Yoakam, his original songs are no quaint imitation of past greats – they are genuine country classics that echo the sights, sounds, and soul of the western Pennsylvania we once knew and still love. Thank God for country boys . . .

How did Jeff Ruffner become Jeffrey Michaels?

Simple. My middle name is Michael. Jeffrey Ruffner had a lot of F’s. I was Jeffrey Michaels in high school: I just had a hard time convincing y’all of that.

Where did you grow up?

Loyalhanna. Woot! Woot! Shout out. Derry Area High – most of the time that gets a laugh when I tell magazines. My family still lives back there. My folks, Jerry & Rita Ruffner, are great and very supportive. My dad was a welder, retired now. Mama was a mama. There were five of us kids, and they all live in Latrobe, PA.

How did you make the transition from cargo pants and breakdancing at Danceland to jeans and cowboy hats in Honky Tonks?

I  started out playing Country music, and always stuck to the roots. As far as the breakdancing, I was just rollin’ with the times. I’m a Renaissance Man.

Tell me about the journey from Loyalhanna to California.

I packed up and rode my beat up old motorcycle out here 20 years ago. The gypsy wind called, and still does.

I was your exclusive, personal makeup artist for the stage back in high school plays and musicals. Do you miss me and my skills for creating that natural, but fake 3-day stubble?

Of course! That make-up inspired my sideburns.

Tell me about your personal life. Have you dated lots of Hollywood starlets?

Never married. Came close, but it didn’t take. No kids. Hollywood starlets? Hmmmmmmm, I’ve been seen with a few.

Describe a day in your life, other than performing.

Horses, Horses, Horses. I’m in the studio a lot. I produce and play on other artists albums. Mainly I just do what I do best. Show Off!

Drifter and Treble are my horses, and I work and train others. I have a small house in Burbank, and my neighborhood is zoned for horses. It’s funny what they call horse property out here.

What types of venues do you play in – mostly honky tonks? Explain the difference between the California bars and the ones in Western PA.

A lot of honky-tonks, rodeos, corporate gigs, and festivals. Crowds are different all over. California has a lot more line dancing than anywhere else.

How many shows do you perform per week? Where does touring take you?

I play three or four shows a week and have managed to play in 48 of the states and Canada.

How often do you go on the road and do you get back to Pennsylvania very often?

I do several week-long trips throughout the year and weekenders. About twice a year, full tours. I don’t get back to Pennsylvania enough. 2005 was the last time.

What are your favorite things about western PA?

Haluski, Halupki, Perogies. I love Hunkies.

Upcoming dates in Pennsylvania?

May 18th At Vickie’s Crossroads with my band, and a few casual acoustic gigs TBA. Jon Gold, one of the founding members of Oingo Boingo with Danny Elfman, will be on bass. Jon is also a multi-instrumentalist. We’ve been playing music together for about 17 years. He played piano and keyboards and The Jews Harp aka Jaw harp on my albums.

How many albums have you recorded?

Four solo albums, and currently working on a fifth. And an untitled Christmas EP this year.

• Endless Road
• I Chose A Different Way
• Jeffrey Michaels (self-titled)
• No Fast Lanes on a Country Road
• The Trail to Heartache

How long does it take to make an album – from writing to recording to release?

I’m always writing. Not every song makes it on an album. Sometimes they’re just for me. Sometimes they just don’t work for the overall sound of an album and make it on the next one. I’ve taken two years to record a CD; sometimes two months.

When I think of country music, I think Patsy Cline and Willie Nelson. Who are your country music heroes and influences?

Marty Robbins, Buck Owens, Rodney Crowell, Marty Stuart, EmmyLou and Allison Krauss.

Who is the best guitar player of all time? (I say Chet Atkins, father of the Nashville sound)

ME. Haha! Don Rich was one of my favorites. He played for Buck (Owens).

When and where did you learn to play so many different instruments and define your vocals?

I had classical vocal lessons at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and studied with several instructors in L.A. I spend hours at the piano doing scales every day; I take singing very seriously. I love music and playing. My folks got me guitar lessons when I was a kid and opened up a whole can of worms. I’ve been a struggling artist since I was five.

Of the instruments that you play, what is your favorite, what is the most challenging, and are there any you would still like to learn?

My voice is my favorite instrument – and my most challenging. I work on it daily. I really enjoy playing fiddle live, but when I’m sitting around the house there’s always a guitar in my hands. I guess that’s my first love, but I wanna play every instrument.

Name some interesting people you have met along the way.

I’ve worked with and played alongside some greats. Delaney Bramlett and Buck Owens are biggies.

What inspires you as a songwriter – are these your personal stories or slice of life depictions?

I draw a lot from real life. Names On A Headstone was inspired by the cemetery in Mechesneytown. A lot of the headstones are from the Civil War, and there are a lot of them that have two names from mothers and babies that died during child birth. There’s a soldier buried there who died in Custer’s Last Stand. It’s a very cool piece of history.

I Chose A Different Way was written on one of my visits back home. I was driving past the house I grew up in.

Redneck, White Trash, Blue Collar Guy. Enough said.

Burning Through the Night is about a time I hitchhiked back home from California. I got a ride from a truck driver who played guitar. He would call out to other truckers on the CB while I played old country songs for them.When he dropped me off, another trucker was waiting at the truck stop to pick me up. And so on, and so on. I managed to pick and sing my way across country and only had to put my thumb out for that first ride.

Blue Collar Man was written for my dad. I think a lot of folks from back home can relate to it.

As for Mountains I Climb, it’s in the lyrics.

If you wrote a song about me, what would it be called?

Shoulda Been, Coulda Been, Never Was . . . except for that one time in the barn.

I think you mean a single kiss on an empty stage, lol. I expect to hear that song on the radio some day.

What’s your favorite song that you have written or recorded?

Paul McCartney had the best answer for that question: “The last one.” As a songwriter, you’re always trying to improve. And the last song is always fresh in your head. If I had to choose I’d hafta say Blue Collar Man off my “Endless Road” album. I wrote it for my dad.

Which do you write first, music or lyrics?

Usually starts with a hook. I think of a lyric with a melody. I drive around singing it and keep adding on. Sometimes I have a whole song written before I ever sit down to a piano or pick up a guitar.

Do you write your own arrangements or do you work with someone else?

I do my own. I write charts for the musicians I work with. The first time they hear a new song is when they play it in front of an audience. My charts are done in the Nashville number system. Numbers and symbols represent different chords, notes and direction. I’ve studied so much about music and worked with great mentors.

Do you prefer yesterday’s honky tonk sound to country “pop” styles of today?

I love the traditional country music and real singers. There are some out there today.

Which is more fun – recording or live performance?

Being in front of an audience is what I love, but I also enjoy the outcome of working in the studio.

Your music has been described as a “Bakersfield sound mixed with an Appalachian feel.” Explain that.

I grew up watching Hee Haw and copying Buck Owens. A whole sound came out of Bakersfield, California with artists like Buck, Merle Haggard, and Wynn Stewart. They didn’t like what was happening in Nashville at the time. That sound mixed with my love of Bluegrass is a large part of what I do.

Tell me about your band, The Trail to Heartache – who are they and how did you get together?

It’s revolving door of hired guns. The band name is so people don’t think that they’re coming out to hear me and my acoustic guitar. However, the guitar player who will be joining me in Pennsylvania is Howard Yearwood of Nashville. We’ve been playing music together for about 10 years, and he co-produced my last album, No Fast Lanes On A Country Road. Howard has performed with Vince Gill, John Fogerty and countless others. AND MEEEEE!

Any advice for young musicians and small-town kids thinking about their future careers?

Be willing to starve. I gave up everything to do what I do, and it took some time before I could make a living with it. Perseverance is everything. And don’t let people tell you that you can’t.

What’s left for you to achieve?

I’ve been pretty blessed. For anyone who knows me, the fact that I stand up and walk every day is an achievement. I’d like to keep on doing that. I’ve learned to love the pain. It gets me out of bed every morning, and I do things that nobody ever thought I would. And if I end up back in a wheelchair, I’ll be there knowing that I lived.

And of course, I’m always after that big hit song.

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Hear Jeffrey Michaels live at Vickie’s Crossroads in Greensburg on May 18 and Neighbor’s Tavern in Jeannette, May 23. Look for tour dates and keep up with Michaels at ReverbNation.com/jeffreymichaels/where you can also purchase music and listen to tracks. CDs are also available at CDBaby.com and i-tunes.com.

Echoes in the Night

The following article was published in the October 2013 issue of the Laurel Mountain Post magazine as a “Down on the Farm” column and begins on page 2. (Click on the issue cover to view it as published in a PDF format)

My husband and I love to watch British television mysteries on Netflix. Our favorite show, Midsomer Murders, is set in the country village towns outside of London – places that remind us of Ligonier and some of the other farmland around Westmoreland County, with rolling hills and immaculate fields. Not an episode goes by, it seems, without the effective haunting soundtracks of vixen (female fox) cries in the distance or hooting owls. We love this, and have since become much more in tune with the sounds around our own farm, especially at night.

The first thing you notice on Fairview Farm at night is the silence. People who live in town say that it is eerily quiet out here in the country. I never noticed until I moved away to college: the cacophony of sounds in town (especially a dorm) overwhelmed my senses to the point of an autistic disability at first. I had to sleep with headphones and soft music to block the madness outside my door.

The night world on the farm is not as quiet as everyone thinks. If you listen closely, an entire community of spooky nocturnal creatures comes alive just after sundown. Their sounds are crystal clear without the busy drums of our daytime to drown them out, and when their odd melodies pierce the silence of night, it can be pretty spooky.

Usually, a dog howling in the distance (or our night watchdog, Bandit, right outside our back door) breaks the evening quiet. Superstition says that when a dog cries at night, there is a ghost right around the corner. This is also thought to be an omen of death or misfortune. A single howl or three short howls followed by silence supposedly means a death has just occurred nearby. With all the hunting that goes on in the fields at night (by cats, raccoons, owls and other creatures), that could certainly be true. As for ghosts, we have our fair share of stories to tell around here (and someday I will), but the truth is that the dog is just calling out to get the attention of its human pack. She might be hungry, thirsty, uncomfortable, sick or injured, lonely or bored – simply communicating with another dog in the neighborhood. I often wish I knew what they were talking about.

The most prolific talkers against the curtain of night are birds. Mockingbirds, whip-poor-wills and their relatives are the chattiest of the bunch, often repeating their name thousands of times a night. Of course, this is another superstitious omen of death, but night time bird songs are often triggered by increased levels of light, such as the full moon, street lamps, or moonlight reflecting on snow. There are other prompts, besides light, that can bring about nocturnal song in robins and some other birds. If a bird is suddenly awakened by a sharp noise like thunder, fireworks, earthquakes, gunfire — even a sudden shaking of its roosting tree — it may burst into song.

My favorite bird of the night is our barn owl. We have caught sight of him during the day, swooping out of the barn window and across the field after being startled by our presence. There are dozens of superstitions about owls, and seeing him during the day was apparently unlucky – but not as unfortunate as seeing him fly around the house at night, because that would mean the presence of death. The hoot of an owl is usually a territorial declaration, though not all species are able to hoot. Other owl vocalizations are loud and low-pitched, including screeches, hisses, and screams. Their cries waft through the night air, enabling them to locate mates and declare territories despite the darkness.

According to Owls.com, owls are thought to be messengers for witches and sorcerers (just like in Harry Potter). Other noted superstitions about owls that have survived throughout time include:

• An owl hooting or screeching at night could result in the death of a newborn baby, will cause the child to have an unhappy life, or possibly that the baby would become a witch. If the owl was heard screeching during cold weather it signaled that a storm was coming.
• Owls apparently are the only creatures that can live with ghosts, so if an owl is found nesting in an abandoned house, the place must be haunted.
• Death is often associated with owls, such as if an owl perches on the roof of your house or hearing an owl hooting constantly nearby.
• If a traveler dreamed of an owl, then that meant he would be robbed or possibly shipwrecked.
• A silly owl superstition is that if you see an owl perched in a tree, and you walk around and around that tree, the owl will follow you with its eyes, turning his head around until he wrings his own neck. (The reality is that an owl cannot turn his head completely around).
• Not all superstitions were bad. Owls were also believed to bring good fortune in some cultures. An Afghanistan legend states that it was the owl that presented humans with flint and iron so they could make fire. In exchange, man gave owls their feathers.
• The Aborigines of Australia believe that owls are the spirits of women and are therefore sacred, while in France is was a good sign to see an owl on the way to the harvest, as it meant that it would be a good yield that year.
• The owl is a symbol of guidance and help by the Inuits of Greenland, while the people of Indonesia saw them as wise beings using the owl’s different calls to determine whether to travel or not.

Shaw Creek Bird Supply .com has a great index of bird folklore and superstitions. Their section on owls states:

“According to an old Welsh tradition, if you hear an owl hooting amongst a densely built up area then a female in the locality is said to have just lost her virginity! To hear the hoot of the owl when pregnant, as it is traditionally believed in France, means that the baby will be a girl. In Germany, if one is heard as a child is being born, then the life will be an unhappy one. In the Southern states of America an old, traditional rhyme tells of the cry of the owl:

When you hear the screech owl, honey,
in the sweet gum tree,
It’s a sign as sure as you’re born a death
is bound to be;
Unless you put the shovel in the fire
mighty quick,
For to conjure that old screech owl,
take care the one that’s sick.

A dead owl has served many purposes including mixing some of the flesh with boar’s grease as an ointment to ease the pain of gout. Owl broth was once used to feed children to avoid whooping cough according to British tradition, perhaps because the owl itself never suffered in pain when making a similar sound. The eggs were also once thought to help prevent epilepsy, bad sight (for obvious reasons) and more amusingly to bring drunks back to their senses.”

There are many legends about owls, but the reality on the farm is that owls are very helpful to us because they are excellent at pest control, especially Barred Owls. They curtail the population of mice, voles, moles, rats, skunks, snakes, insects and slugs to name a few. He’s the perfect night watchman. Unfortunately for the poor old owl, folklore recommends nailing the skin of this bird to a farm building to bring good luck and protect it from evil. I prefer to protect my barn owl and continue to provide him with good shelter in our barn, perhaps even building him a custom eyrie in a cupola once we replace the siding and roof one day. We consider him a good luck charm!

Crickets make quite a racket around here at night, but they are said to be bearers of good luck, and to kill one would be unlucky for you. If you see one leaving your home it means an illness is on the way.

My son has a bearded dragon who loves to eat live crickets – but she always leaves one left over, like her own little good luck charm or companion, that sings all night long! I’m ashamed to say that we cheer when she finally decides to eat it with a tactful crunch, crunch, followed by an awkward silence. Not to be outdone, Native Americans believe that you can have a great singing voice if you drink an elixir of crickets, crushed and boiled.

Another favorite bug eater on the farm, the bull frogs at the pond have their own moonlight chorus. In fact, it’s the sound one of my old friends remembers most about our farm. The Frog Book, North American Toads and Frogs with a Study of the Habits and Life Histories of those of the Northeastern States (1906), by ME Dickerson, described the four distinct love serenades or mating calls of the bullfrog: “Be drowned,” “Better go round,” “Jug o’ rum,” and “More rum”; all said in a deep, hoarse but sexy voice.

Both day and night predators, they eat anything that fits into their big mouths, including insects, mice, fish, birds, and snakes. They sit quietly and wait for prey to pass by, then lunge with their powerful hind legs, mouths open wide.

World superstition says that killing a frog is killing the soul of a little boy or girl who died in childhood. When a frog croaks in the middle of the day, rain is due. If a frog jumps into your home, that’s a sign that good luck is coming to all in the household. Fairytale frogs have been used for love spells and also to cure warts by rubbing the frog over it. A country cure for thrush is to hold the head of a live frog in the patient’s mouth: as it breathes, it draws the disease away and into itself. Some say the dried body of a frog worn in a silk bag around the neck cures epilepsy and other fits. And in the sultry spirit of the frog, they are also used in love-magic. In one folktale, a girl whose lover was untrue will stuck pins all over a living frog and then bury it. The cheating man suffers extreme pains and eventually returns to her. She digs up the frog, removes the pins, and the pains cease; so the man marries her.

The screaming cries of the fox sound like an anguished woman, perhaps being tortured. They cry out in sets, increasing by 3-10 second intervals. Oftentimes this terrifying sound actually means danger – the fox may have been startled by an intruder.

Vixens use this terrifying scream to lure males for mating. Both male and female foxes are capable of producing this sound, and they often use it to assert dominance in turf wars. They also bark, just like their canine relatives, dogs, but foxes use it differently. When a female screams into the night, nearby males will bark back to her, often resulting in a fight to win the fair maiden in “distress.”

It is said that if a fox crosses your path, opportunity will come to you; if he stops and looks at you, your ambitions will be fulfilled. In Wales, this lone fox is considered good luck; but if one encounters a family greater than six, bad luck will follow you for months. If a fox comes near your home, an illness is coming.

There is so much going on out there in the “stillness” of a country night! Knowing about all of these superstitions makes me want to hide under the covers with headphones on. Like a tree falling in the woods, if I don’t see it or hear it then will the good/bad luck still come true?

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Gather Moments While You May

The following editorial (“End Notes” column) was published in the June 2015 issue of the Laurel Mountain Post and begins on page 46. (Click on the issue cover to read it as published in a PDF format)

“Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.” – From the television show The Wonder Years

It is said that nostalgia forms a very hazy image of the past – that we often dull or alter the details to fit our needs in the present. Scholars call it “revisionist history.” Combine that with the distortion of oral storytelling (and the deterioration of memory itself over time), and we are left with sketchy details at best.

Written history, film, and the preservation of artifacts has left the modern world with a better understanding of our past through accurate recording. We can touch and see for ourselves assorted pieces of important history now, rather than relying on the varied and often political interpretations of others.

Personal memories are even more important – they entertain and comfort us throughout life’s trials. Ruthie Richardson’s Memory Lane column in the Laurel Mountain Post is incredibly popular among our readers, both near and far. The BBC once called our magazine the “voice of Pennsylvania,” but Ruthie has become a voice of her generation, by saving personal artifacts and documenting their role in her life on our pages. Each story fills in the details of a local population’s past chapter.

“Everybody needs his memories,” award-winning writer Saul Bellow once said. “They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door.”

Our memories make us feel more important and less lonely by proving that we were once a part of something … that we mattered in some way to a person or a cause. But because the stories can convolute and fade with time, we often need to take another look at the evidence.

I am grateful to my parents for keeping various pieces of my early childhood. The bronze baby booties verify that my feet have always been big, though I was born tiny (5 lbs, 4 oz.). But the dated marks on the basement door frame confirm I was always tall for my age.

I have a few boxes of old letters and postcards, filled with love and friendship, and wish I had saved them all. There is another box containing my student council armband from junior high, volleyball knee pads, award medals, and treasured photographs of happier times in varied relationships. A book on my shelf preserves a pressed flower and the shortest, but sweetest note. My jewelry chest guards a plastic bracelet in my favorite color, right next to one from Tiffany’s. And every once in a while, I open a drawer to find some old cassette tapes that still play. Not every object is an intentional keepsake, however. We stumble across things … movies on TV or songs on the radio can transport us to another time and place as well. My parents’ first date was a Clint Eastwood western, and the same movie played on my father’s hospice TV as his breathing began to slow the day before he died.

Music is, perhaps, the most powerful transporter. Certain songs hold special meanings to many of us. Nat King Cole’s song “Unforgettable” was playing on a Revlon commercial in my hospital room while I held my newborn daughter – that song will forever belong to her.

Specific artists can also bring to mind old friends. Every time I hear Rod Stewart, I think of Joell; The Cure belongs to Mark; and Squeeze takes me back to my freshman year of college having adventures with my friend, Greg, who would become my husband 20 years later.

Somewhere I have a signed poster from the Squeeze concert at IUP. And I remember that I missed going bowling with them the night be-fore by 15 minutes. My lucky friends who did never appreciated that opportunity. Gather these moments while you may …

Good morning, yesterday
You wake up and time has slipped away
And suddenly it’s hard to find
The memories you left behind
Remember, do you remember?

(“Times Of Your Life” was written by Roger Nichols, Bill Lane)

My catalog of treasures helps me to remember. These items prove that I have been significant … that I have been liked, loved, and notable to others. Not every keepsake has survived, lost to temper tantrums or intense spring cleaning, and I regret their loss – missing precious pieces to the jigsaw puzzle of my life. But as time passes, I find less to scrutinize, and more to simply savor.

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FEEDBACK: “Maybe it’s my age, maybe it’s our generation, but I had the crazy notion that you snuck into my head and took notes on that one.” – Clentin Martin, Greensburg

 

A Contemporary Look at One of the World’s Oldest Professions – Midwifery

The following interview was published in the May 2015 issue of the Laurel Mountain Post and begins on page 16. (Click on the cover for a readable PDF)

I have been a fan of the PBS Series “Call the Midwife,” as well as the companion books by Jennifer Worth, for four years. Ever since I watched the first season and read the memoirs, I have thought about doing an article on modern midwifery for the Laurel Mountain Post. My knowledge of the profession was very limited, and frankly, I used to assume midwifery was something that had to do with hippies and swimming pool births at home.

Midwives have been around as long as human history. The Ebers Papyrus, which dates from 1900 to 1550 BCE, devotes five columns to Egyptian obstetrics and gynecology.

“The ancient Jews called her the wise woman, just as she is known in France as the sage-femme, and in Germany, the weise frau and also Hebamme or mother’s adviser, helper, or friend. The English ‘midwife’ is derived from Middle English “mit wif, or with- woman”(J.H. Aveling). The Latin term cum-mater and the Spanish and Portuguese term comadre, have the same meaning: with woman.” (midwifeinsight.com) 

The insightful CTM screenplays and memoir pages opened my eyes to the realities women faced in a time which seems so far removed from my own. Now in its fourth season on PBS, the online women’s magazine Bustle.com has called the series “the most feminist and socially-conscious show you’re not watching.” Set in the East End of London during the 50s and 60s, the show’s historical backdrop is perfectly timed to explore a variety of issues important to contemporary women: motherhood, career, social standing, economics, work-life balance, and the shifting cultural views of the post-WWII era that defined our modern age.

Thanks to the power of Facebook, I was able to reach out to a high school classmate and certified nurse midwife, Karen Lint-Nguyen, to find out more about the profession.

 

Have you seen or read Call the Midwife?

I have watched “Call the Midwife” off and on – I love the promotion of Midwifery as an honorable profession. I have read so many books written about Midwives, and I love it when I see documentaries on birth in the US and our fractured health care system. Midwifery has certainly evolved since the time period of Call the Midwife…

What is a midwife? 

My definition of a Midwife is a professional who is a safe keeper of normal birth and other common life events for women (i.e. Birth, Lactation, and Menopause). Midwife literally means “with woman.” In the USA there are several paths to become a midwife. The American College of Nurse Mid- wives is governing body, if you will, of Certified Nurse Midwives (like me) or Certified Midwives. Most are nurses first, and then continue onto graduate or post graduate education in Midwifery. CM’s have college degrees in other disciplines and then complete a Master’s in midwifery. The North American Registry of Midwives certifies the “traditional” home birth midwife, and no college is necessary. They complete an internship and then sit for an exam to become CPM’s (certified professional midwives). All types of Midwives deliver babies. Since I am a

CNM, I can best speak to my type of Midwifery. Nurse Midwives care for females throughout their lifetime. I can provide gynecology care, care during pregnancy and birth, some primary care issues, and lactation support.

How did you get into this job?

I attended IUP (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) after high school, know- ing that I wanted to be a Nurse. During my experiences in college in Nursing, and from becoming a mother myself throughout those four years, sparked my interest in Maternity nursing. I worked in HIV nursing, Neonatal ICU, and Labor and Delivery and found a deep passion for caring for women in labor. I had considered moving to Philadelphia to go to U Penn to study midwifery in 1995, but moved to VA instead. Within a year of my move to VA, Shenandoah University was developing a program for CNM’s. I applied and was accepted into its first class. Midwifery school was hard (like a Residency) and is a real test for the Mid- wife’s family. I figured that I could make a big difference in the community by passionately helping women with their healthcare needs. Being a nurse makes a difference, but being someone’s Midwife takes it to a whole new level. You become part of their growing family and a rooted member of the community.

I have been a CNM for 16 years now, and it has been such an amazing ride. The lifestyle is hard, since babies come when they want and not on any Monday through Friday schedule. But, if I have to wake up at 3 AM and go to work, I feel privileged that it is to welcome a baby into this world. It is sacred, and I do not underestimate the importance of being there for the birthing family.

How many babies have you delivered?

I have delivered over 2500 babies, and actually, I stopped counting since I can deliver anywhere from 10-18 babies a month. I have training in home birth, but I deliver in the hospital setting. I LOVE that women have some options and hope that this expands throughout my lifetime. We need to look at countries like the Netherlands and Sweden in order to improve our outcomes and promote healthy birth choices.

Is midwifery more than just delivering babies?

Midwifery is certainly more than just delivering babies. I love my yearly visits with patients for their GYN care. It is so rewarding to see a Grandmother, a mother, and her daughter for their women’s healthcare needs. As I said, you become part of their family. In the next few years, I’ll enjoy delivering a baby from a baby I have delivered. It will be a full circle of life event for me as a midwife. I guess if I practice long enough I could conceivable deliver the generation after that as well. WOW… what a thought!

I see patients throughout their pregnancy and stay with them throughout their labor and birth. We provide care after their birth, and then hopefully throughout the rest of their life. I love being with a naturally laboring mother in her course of labor. I love seeing a family come together and grow.Many births still make me cry, especially when a mother is so overwhelmed with joy at her efforts of giving birth. I have patients with epidurals too. I love to support women in whatever manner they choose to labor. “With woman” doesn’t just mean only women who choose natural birth. I never had a midwife for my own births, but I had fabulous MDs who supported my wishes as well.

What is a doctor’s role in the birth process when a midwife is involved?

In my practice, I work side by side with OB/GYNs. We complement each other well, and it makes the transition to high-risk needs and surgery seamless when we work together. If all is going well with a labor, the MD is usually in the office or at home. Most of the time they never even see the patient in her labor – unless I think she is going to need a Cesarean Section. And I never hesitate to ask them for help when the situation calls for it.

What is your favorite midwifery story?

I have one woman I have delivered seven times: I know her and her family so well now. Each time I am with her in labor is such a blessing for me. You get to be lifetime friends with women like this. I have been with mothers in good times and also bad times. My one patient had a baby who died near the end of her pregnancy for no known reason –being with her in this delicate moment of giving birth to her little boy has left a deep impression on me about grace and the strength of women to endure so many things in their life. She will ALWAYS be so very special to me, and I hope to place a screaming baby into her arms one day!

What does the future hold for you?

I grew up in Derry, PA. I went to your typical small town USA school and loved being part of a small community. I graduated from Derry Area High School, IUP for college in Nursing, and Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA for Graduate school. I am considering working on my doctorate, but for now, I am enjoying watching my children grow up and get married. I have one granddaughter that I got the joy of watching being born.

What are the biggest issues facing women today?

The biggest issues facing women is continued misogyny. Women have decreased access to many things and rights in this world. My greatest hope is that women will be respected and treated equally. My greatest issue, personally, is balancing work, family, and faith and trying to do all things well.