Making Pie

This past week I took a vacation from the farm.  I drove 6 hours to another farm: that of my best friend- Malea in Tiffin Ohio.  I had just finished a marathon of 5 and a half weeks as a camp counselor at the farm where I work and she had just arrived in Ohio after 1 and a half years in the peace corps in Rwanda.  I was so excited to see her and her family.

Even though I was on a vacation from the farm I found that I really could not escape the farm. I continually found myself in conversations about farming with her dad, Sunrise co-op board members and with her grandmother.  I thouroughly enjoyed these conversations.  I learned something about their methods of farming and was able to share some of my newly found knowledge about my experiences farming.  I really enjoyed learning about Malea's family dairy, playing around her dad's HUGE tractors, and finally learning how to make pie crust with lard.  Now that I am back on the farm (where we raise Pigs) I am so excited about making lard and PIE!

Malea's grandmother started her narration of the pie baking lesson by reminding Malea that when she was a little girl she would sit at the table across from the kitchen and watch her make pie.  Grandma Hoepf also told me that one of Malea's first words was pie!

How to male a lard Pie crust and Elderberry and rhubarb pies. (for 1 and pies)

1) measure 1 &1/2 Cup flour

2) measure a little less that 1/2 cup of lard

Mix by hand and pour in ice water till desired consistency

Divide into three balls

Meanwhile prepare the elderberry filling:

1) mix 4 cups elderberries with 1/4 cup water and heat on stovetop

2) Add 3/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 tablespoon flour, and one teaspoon lemon-aid concentrate.

Next you roll out the pie crust.  Grandma Hoepf is using a rolling pin that was given to her as a wedding present 61 years ago. 

You want to continually flour the surface and the rolling pin to make sure the dough does not stick and want to get the dough as round as possible.

At this point Grandma Hoepf intergected that the last time she made a rhubarb pie and sent it with Malea's dad, it was placed in the back seat behind the driver.  Apparently someone slammed on the brakes and the pie ended up in the carpet underneath the driver's seat.

Also, Grandma Hoepf talked about how she made 7 pies for Malea's parent's wedding rehersal dinner.  She said "We was milking the cows then and couldn't leave the cows so I sent them to the reception."

After rolling out the dough, Grandma Hoepf fluted the edges of the pie crust rolling it over itself.  then for the elderberry one she added the filling, top crust with vent holes, sprinkled with sugar, and pinched the edges of the crust. and baked at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.

Next we made the rhubarb filling:

1) mix one egg 1 cup sugar 3 cups rhubarb and 3 tablespoons flour with 1 tablespoon vanilla

Grandma hoepf then expressed her recent frustration when she went to kroger and bought what was labled butter, but turned out to be butter light. "i got butter, it said butter on the package, but it was light butter.  So I took it back."

2) make the crumble topping by mixing 1/2 stick of butter 3/4 cup sugar(1/2 white 1/2 brown) and 4 tablespoons flour)

Mix it by hand and crumble on top

Cook at 425 for 15 minutes then lower to 350 and cook till brown (around 30 minutes