Grandma's Rolling Pin

Greetings!!

Both in my personal life and here at the General Store I like to live simply.  I believe in old time recipes that are usually very simple and basic.  The foods and baked goods I sell are also very simple.  I enjoy the old way of doing things from scratch.  But when I opened the store I did something that I now find very silly.  I went out and bought one of those fancy rolling pins.  You know the ones made of marble or simulated marble?  They have a sort of rubber handle on them.  Not suppose to stick to anything.  Paid over $40.00 for the new fangled thing.  What a big mistake!!

After using it just one time the handles started to disintegrate after I washed it and little black flakes were falling from the handles!!  Needless to say it went in the trash pretty quickly.

Then I remembered I had my Grandma's rolling pin packed up in a box in the basement.  I had packed it up for safe keeping because it was old and I was afraid I would break one of the old red handles off. 

Grandma passed away in 1955 and I had never met her but many say I am very much like her.  I like to bake, cook, put up food and live a simpler life just as she did.  Grandma cooked on a wood burning cook stove which I was fortunate enough to be able to use when I was a kid.  My step-grandpa still lived in the old family homestead and he was kind enough to teach me how to cook on the old wood stove.  I suppose in a way grandpa was passing grandma's ways on to me as he thought she would have done were she still alive.

I remember marveling at all the canned foods that lined the shelves in the basement even years after she had passed.  They may not have had much money but they sure were not about to go hungry with all of grandma's hard work in the kitchen.  You have simply not lived until you have smelled a pie or bread baking in a wood stove!!  Just thinking about it brings back a lot of fond memories.

I don't have a wood burning cook stove today, (although I would love to have one) but I have wonderful memories and Grandma's rolling pin.  I'm not sure how old Grandma's rolling pin is but it's been almost 50 years since she used it last and it is still the best rolling pin in the world!

It's not the prettiest or the fanciest and it has seen its share of dings and nicks.  It even has a couple of scorch marks on it that I assume came from grandma setting it to near the fire or on the hot wood stove.  If it could talk I am sure it would have a lot of stories to tell about grandma's kitchen.  And someday it will have stories to tell about making pies at Candle Hill Farms General Store too.

I was fortunate to inherit grandma's rolling pin and recipes  and especially her love of a simpler life.  I try to bring that simpler way of life into Candle Hill Farms General Store.  Stop in, relax a while, share some stories and I just might show you Grandma's Rolling Pin!!

Until next time,,,,,,,,,,,Blessings!