January Gardening Tip—from GARDENING IN IOWA AND SURROUNDING AREAS

When cleaning your fireplace, save the ashes to spread on your garden. Potatoes, especially, will benefit from nutrients in the ashes. You can also put the ashes in your compost heap.
—Ester Dockstader, Des Moines Garden Club

Gardening in Iowa and Other Surrounding Areas, by Veronica Lorson Fowler with the Federated Garden Clubs of Iowa

Andrea M. Jones: reading & interview

Andrea M. Jones, author of Between Urban and Wild: Reflections from Colorado, will be reading from her new book tomorrow night in Salida, Colorado! Stop by to meet her and get a signed copy. For more information, visit our Facebook event page.

Reading & Signing
Date: Tuesday, January 14
Time: 6:30 P.M.
Location: The Book Haven, 128 F Street, Salida, CO 81201-2102

Andrea Jones recently did an interview with Trafalgar Square Books Blog. Check out her thoughts on indexing, horses, and her new book by clicking here!

Praise for Between Urban and Wild
"Andrea Jones's Between Urban and Wild is a touching account of her intimate connection with the natural world of central Colorado, a land that is, like her book, simultaneously severe and beautiful. Through a combination of flashbacks and present-day musings, she invites the reader to appreciate the joys, challenges, and sublimity of this landscape. She offers up a deeply personal, deeply affecting narrative of a life inseparable from the land."—Matthew Wynn Sivils

Between Urban and Wild: Reflections from Colorado, by Andrea M. Jones

February 15, 1906, Tennant, Iowa—excerpt from AN IOWA SCHOOLMA'AM

An Iowa Schoolma'am: Letters of Elizabeth "Bess" Corey, 1904–1908, contains the letters Bess wrote home to her family during the years she was living with various rural Iowa families while teaching at nearby one-room schoolhouses.

February 15, 1906, Tennant, Iowa

     "Monday when I wrote to you. . .  I told you it was raining well Monday evening it turned colder and we had a blizard all day Tues. . . . They wouldn't let Gertie [the school-age child of the family she was living with] go to school but I went anyway—had to follow the fence and then it wasn't any too safe. I went early and had the stove red hot before half past eight. The three Miller boys came and that is all the [students] I had. They had taken some of their books home the evening before and had learned their reading and spelling so we hurried through and got out about eleven. I got to Wevers about half after eleven and I couldn't have gone a quarter of a mile farther to have saved my life and if I had attempted to cross the ploughing I wouldn't be writing to you now I don't think. When I got here my clothes from my legging tops to my waist were wet through and getting stiff so I had to change every dud I had on."

An Iowa Schoolma'am: Letters of Elizabeth "Bess" Corey, 1904–1908, edited by Philip L. Gerber and Charlotte Wright

January Gardening Tip—from GARDENING IN IOWA AND SURROUNDING AREAS

Make a winter suet feeder for birds by melting together one cup crunchy peanut butter and one cup lard. Stir in one cup flour, two cups cornmeal, one-fourth cup sugar, one cup sunflower seeds, and two cups oatmeal. Pack into a milk carton and freeze. When completely frozen, put in an empty mesh bag in which you bought onions or potatoes. Hang on a pole outdoors.
—Marian McNabb, Linn Grove

Gardening in Iowa and Surrounding Areas, by Veronica Lorson Fowler with the Federated Garden Clubs of Iowa

"Two Up, Two Down"—excerpt from OTHERS HAD IT WORSE

The first I can remember as a kid living in this log cabin 4 rooms 2 up and 2 down. The floors had holes in it. You could of throwed a cat through them. And upstairs where I slept with Barbara and Reva when it snowed on the bed we shook the snow off the covers when we got up. But luck was with us. We kids never seemed to be very sick.

Others Had It Worse: Sour Dock, Moonshine, and Hard Times in Davis County, Iowa, by Vetra Melrose Padget Covert and Chris D. Baker

New Year's Eve Pizza recipe

New Year's might be over, but for those of you who aren't quite ready to head back to work, here's one of our favorite New Year's recipes!

New Year's Eve Pizza

Crust
1 package yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 egg, beaten
3 1/2 cups flour

Stir yeast into 1/4 cup lukewarm water. Add sugar and let dissolve. In a bowl combine the rest of the water, salt, olive oil, and egg. Stir in the yeast mixture. Add enough flour to make a dough which can be kneaded. Knead well. Put in greased bowl and cover with a damp towel. Let rise until double. Punch down and refrigerate while you prepare the topping. Remove dough from refrigerator and cut into two parts. Pat each part into a pizza pan, stretching and spreading to cover. Fill and bake immediately. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Makes 2 large pizzas.

Pizza Filling
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 4-ounce can mushrooms, stems and pieces, drained
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
salt to taste
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese

Brown ground beef and onion in olive oil. Drain off excess fat. Stir in mushrooms, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and seasonings. Remove from fire. Put slices of mozzarella cheese over dough in pizza pans. Spoon half the meat mixture into each pan, covering the cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top. Other meats can be used besides the one given. Freezes well unbaked, tightly wrapped in freezer plastic wrap. Bake, unthawed, until done.

Bon appétit!

Up a Country Lane Cookbook, by Evelyn Birkby

Mangsho (Aromatic Lamb Curry with Potatoes) recipe

Happy New Year! To celebrate, why not try a new Indian dish from Biting through the Skin by Nina Furstenau?

Mangsho (Aromatic Lamb Curry with Potatoes)

Serves 6–8

8 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1/2 to 1 green chili, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds lamb (beef can be substituted), boned and cut into  1-inch cubes
2 tomatoes, chopped, or (1) 14-ounce can of tomatoes
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1 pound medium potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks
2 1/2 cups water
1 bunch cilantro, chopped, stems discarded

Heat the oil in a large, heavy stockpot over high heat. When hot, put in the onion and stir-fry until the onions begin to brown. Add the green chili and garlic. Put in the meat and stir-fry for 5 minutes. Put in the tomatoes, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne pepper, and salt. Continue to cook on high heat for 10–15 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the potatoes and the water. Add the cilantro. Cover, leaving the lid slightly ajar, and cook on low heat for about 1 hour and 10 minutes (1 1/2 hours for beef).

Biting through the Skin: An Indian Kitchen in America's Heartland, by Nina Mukerjee Furstenau