Cooperative Living May 2018 - 6

Mailbag
WRITE US!
STORY TOOK READER BACK IN TIME
I would like to thank you for your
February story on Highland County's
Maple Festival. It took me back 55-plus
years to my first rural-Virginia
experience on a small sheep farm in
Hightown, Virginia, in Highland County,
near Bluegrass.
Being a " city girl " from Germany, it
was an eye-opening experience to see
the lifestyle of an American farm family,
being mostly self-sufficient, with
homemade butter,
bread, meat in the
freezer from the
slaughtered hogs
and a side of beef,
as well as deer meat
and rainbow trout
to supplement
the menu.
Let's not forget
the jams and all the canned veggies from
the garden. That was my introduction
to American " Southern " cooking. The
folks (neighbors) in the area were
wonderfully cooperative and it was a
peaceful, happy existence. I fondly
remember visiting throughout the year
and even feeding little lambs that were
abandoned by their mothers in spring
with bottles of cow's milk.
I do remember one year visiting a
neighbor's maple-syrup-cooking
operation, looking down into a huge
boiling kettle.
Your article brought back a lot
of memories.
Thank you for your wonderful
magazine. I read it cover to cover
each month.
- Edda Carter
Lake Frederick
WhatzIt?
Each issue, we publish a photo of a familiar but
unidentified object. You are invited to make your
best guess and submit it in writing, along with
your name, address and phone number by mail
to Whatzit?, c/o Cooperative Living, P.O. Box
2340, Glen Allen, VA 23058-2340 or guess online
at www.co-opliving.comunder " Contests. " The
deadline for this issue's entries is May 18, 2018.
Correct entries will be placed in a drawing and
the winner announced in the July 2018 issue.
The winner will receive a check for $25. n
4 | Cooperative Living | May 2018
HENSLEY RECIPES PROVE
POPULAR WITH READERS
I have heard from two
Cooperative Living readers
who tell me they enjoyed
making my " Easy Coffee
Cake, featured in the
March-April edition's
Commonwealth Kitchen.
We want to hear from you - comments, opinions,
suggestions. Your letter must be signed and
legible. We reserve the right to edit for grammar, style
and length, with a 250-word maximum for acceptance.
Write: MAILBAG, P.O. Box 2340, Glen Allen, VA 230582340;
or email mailbag@co-opliving.com. Please include
your name and city/town of residence, with Mailbag as
the subject. You can now also go to www.co-opliving.com
and click on " Mailbag " in the menu bar to submit a letter.
Quite a number of folks let me know
that they are still using my " Blender
Scalloped Potato " recipe that was
published in August of 2001.
Another person misplaced my " Snappy
Chicken & Rice " recipe, published in
September 2010. She was happy when I
gave her a copy of the recipe.
Thank you for the gift cards and for
publishing my recipes.
- Joann Hensley
McGaheysville
COLUMN RECALLED
FEBRUARY TRADITION
While reading Margo Oxendine's
column about the month of February, I
was reminded of a tradition my wife Judy
and I started in February years ago to
beat the doldrums of winter.
On Valentine's Day in February of
1970, after the 1969 birth of our
daughter, we decided on a picnic. We
built a fire in the fireplace and we roasted
hot dogs, had potato salad, baked beans,
deviled eggs, chips and dip and iced tea,
all in front of the fireplace.
It sure breaks up winter!
- James I. Miller
Winchester
THERE REALLY WAS A
GREAT WHITE WHALE
Contrary to Norman Melchert's
letter in the January issue, " There
never was ... a great white whale
named Moby Dick ... " , such a whale
did exist.
An albino sperm whale called
Mocha Dick attacked whaling ships
that tried to hunt it in the Pacific in
the 1830s, much as Melville described
in his book. The whale was finally
killed off the coast of Chile near
Mocha Island, hence the name
Mocha Dick. Apparently Melville
changed Mocha to Moby because
the whale was white and mocha is
associated with coffee (from the
port on the Red Sea where coffee
was shipped), which is dark.
Melville himself went to sea on
a whaler, The
Acushnet. One of
his shipmates died
and was buried
on Maui in
Lahaina, where I
saw the grave.
Melville jumped
ship in the
Marquesas and
hung out until
1844 when he
The February 2018
WHATZIT was
pink carpet, and
reader Cynthia
Woodson of
Spotsylvania was
our $25 winner.
 DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?
Congratulations,
Cynthia!
www.co-opliving.com
NOW
ONLINE
TOO!
http://www.co-opliving.com http://www.co-opliving.comunder http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living May 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living May 2018
