Neighbors and Pie

We live in an old (circa 1897) farmhouse that was originally a hog farm. How do we know this? Well, we are lucky enough to have the granddaughter of the man who built our house (and lived in it, as did his children and some of their children) living right next door to us. And, to boot, this granddaughter's (now in her 60's) parents built and raised her and her sister in the farmhouse on the OTHER side of her house. Are you following me? Anyway, it is so neat to hear stories of what happened where, where gardens were located, who planted what tree and bush, etc. The icing on the cake is that both of these neighbors I've referred to are wonderful people and close friends.

(the back of our house, as seen from the garden)

Now, the neighbor of our neighbor (two doors down) has a WONDERFUL concord grape arbor that was inherited from our geographically-closest neighbor's family (still following?). This neighbor, D, so generously shares her grapes with us each August. It's work transforming them into jelly, juice (Jamey says the juice is his post-race drink of choice) and ready-for-pie portions, but it is so worth the time (and often itching hands and arms). This morning, after the chicks were settled, I used one of these 'pie portions of grapes' (thawed from the freezer) to make a pie to take to the reunion. Thank you, D.

Recipe for Grape Pie can be found in the Mennonite Community Cookbook, page 369.

Pin It