So, last week here at Wagner we had a middle school program going on all week long for the entire 7th grade. At one of the stations the group learned about how horses were used on the farm and then the transition into steel horses, a.k.a. tractors. That station also showed off the big, horse drawn, corn grinder that was installed on the property over the summer. It was the first time this grinder has been used here on the farm, and we found that it grinds the shelled corn into a rather fine corn meal. Having seen how fine the corn meal came out I was inspired to make some down home corn bread. I went on the internet and found a super simple recipe. The recipe, however, also called for eggs, milk, all purpose flour, salt, sugar, baking soda and oil. So what did I do? I went into the chicken coop, gathered my eggs. Then I took a measuring cup down to the barn, where one of our programmers was showing the middle school group how to hand milk, and that is where I acquired the necessary milk. Then I went into the farmhouse kitchen where another station for the middle school program was to bake biscuits in the wood burning oven. There I found, already out on the table, the remainder of my ingredients. I mixed it all up, poured it into a baking pan and stuck it in the wood burning oven. Once it was golden brown, I pulled it out, cut it up and distributed it to every staff member that I could find. Everyone enjoyed it, and I tell you what, it tasted pretty good to boot. I say, being able to gather the fresh ingredients by just walking around the farm really gives one a sense of how things were done in a simpler time. I also had fun doing it. So, until next time, and may inspiration find you…
