Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake

•How to Make Candles Using Old Crayons
 by: LeAnn R. Ralph As featured in the story A Candle For Christmas from the book: Christmas In Dairyland (True Stories From a Wisconsin Farm) Materials: 1 wax carton (quart) (milk, fabric softener, or orange juice) 1 pound of paraffin wax 4 or 5 old crayons two trays of ice cubes a double boiler (or an empty coffee can and a saucepan) 1 piece of ordinary white package string about six inches long. Caution: Do not heat paraffin directly over the burner. Paraffin is easily...

•Holiday Recipe Filled Cookies
 by: LeAnn R. Ralph From the book: Christmas In Dairyland (True Stories From a Wisconsin Farm) When I was a kid growing up on our dairy farm in Wisconsin 40 years ago, cookies with a date filling were my dad's favorite kind. Here is the recipe. 3/4 cup butter or margarine (softened) 3/4 cup shortening 2 cups sugar 3 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla 5 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt several tablespoons of milk if the dough seems too dry Jam: blackberry,...

•New Ways to Use Old Christmas Cards
 by: LeAnn R. Ralph Forty years ago when I was growing up on our dairy farm in Wisconsin, my mother always saved the Christmas cards she had received in the mail. In those days, people sent many more Christmas cards than they do now. Today, I still find myself saving the cards that I get each Christmas. When the holiday season is over, I take them down off the dining-room side of our kitchen cabinets. I look at each one and think about the person who sent it. Then I tuck the cards into...

•5 Ways to Deal With Lady Bug Infestations
 by: LeAnn R. Ralph Every fall, millions of lady bugs (or what seems like millions) swarm around my house here in west central Wisconsin, looking for a place to spend the winter. Actually, they are not true lady bugs. They are Multi-Colored Asian Lady Beetles. The beetles are beneficial to the environment because they control aphids. And from what I've read, the multicolored lady beetles are much better at controlling aphids than the 'real' lady bugs. How can you tell the difference...

•The Taffy Pull A Story and a Recipe
The Taffy Pull (A Story and a Recipe)  by: LeAnn R. Ralph One year when I was growing up on our Wisconsin dairy farm, the Brownie leaders had announced we were going to make some extra-special candy at our next meeting. So — when school let out one winter afternoon — I lost no time getting to the gym where we always had our meetings. For once nobody was late, and when we entered the gym, the Brownie leaders already had everything set up. What's in the pans? asked one girl. On the table...

•Preserve Your Family History by Writing Your Family Stories
 by: LeAnn R. Ralph Preserve Your Family History by Writing Family Stories Everyone has a story to tell. It seems like a cliche—but it's true. After working as a newspaper reporter for more than eight years, I know that everyone does, indeed, have a story to tell. But even before I started working as a journalist, I knew that life experiences make interesting stories. Consider my parents. My mother was the daughter of Norwegian immigrants, and her grandfather homesteaded our dairy farm...

•Book Excerpt Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam Spring Cleaning
Book Excerpt: Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam (Spring Cleaning)   by LeAnn R. RalphFrom the book: Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam (trade paperback; Sept. 2004) LeAnn R. Ralphhttp://ruralroute2.comChapter 3: Spring CleaningWhen I reached the top of the driveway after getting off the school bus one April afternoon, I couldn't help but wonder why Dad was standing on the stepladder next to the tractor. I had never seen my father use a stepladder to fix a tractor. He didn't have...

•Book Excerpt Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam
 by: LeAnn R. Ralph ~ 5 ~ May-Day! The school bus had long since disappeared over the last hill toward the main road one afternoon when I set my books on the kitchen table and hurried into the living room to talk to my mother. Mom was sitting in her favorite easy chair by the picture window, and her crutches were laid neatly on the floor next to the chair where she could reach them. Outside the window, the air was so clear everything shimmered and sparkled. The fence posts. The plum...