Making logs for a fireplace
Dear TEAM: Do you have instructions for making fireplace logs from newspapers – rolled, bluestone and what? Since I have forgotten the ingredients, do you have the instructions on hand? Also, is the bluestone detrimental to one’s health? – K.N., North Battleford, Sask.
Dear K.N.: To make yule logs, tie newspapers, magazines, old catalogues or directories into rolls of desired length, about five inches (12 centimetres) in diameter. Papers should be loosely, but smoothly rolled and tied, not too tightly, with string. Soak in the solution (formula given below) for a week.
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This solution should be mixed in a wooden or china bowl as the chemicals corrode metal. It is poisonous, so be sure to keep it away from children or pets. Wear gloves when handling it. During the soaking period, change the logs end to end a number of times so every part comes in direct contact with the solution.
Solution
2 pounds (1 kg) coarse salt
2 pounds (1 kg) bluestone
2 gallons (10 L) boiling water (one or more)
1 ounce (30 g/30 mL) of the following salts to produce the desired color of flame:
potassium chlorate violet
strontium nitrate red
potassium nitrate yellow
copper nitrate emerald
lithium chloride purple
barium nitrate apple green
borax vivid green
calcium chloride orange
copper sulphate blue
After soaking, place logs on racks in the sun if possible, or hang to dry. When thoroughly dry, for a nice effect, wrap the logs in colored cellophane or tissue paper.
Another way to make fireplace logs is to take several newspapers, roll tightly, wrap with wire and use as fireplace logs. This would be more environmentally friendly than using the chemicals.
Recipes requested
Dear TEAM: I would appreciate greatly a recipe for wine sauerkraut, a recipe for elderberry wine and root beer. Many thanks. – E.K., Burton, B.C.
The following was in From Prairie Kitchens, the Saskatchewan Women’s Institutes cookbook compiled by Emmie Oddie, Western Producer Prairie Books, Saskatoon, Sask.,1980.
Sauerkraut in white wine
This sauerkraut is good when served with pork, roast duck, roast goose or grilled pork chops.
1Ú4 cup onion, minced 50 mL
2 tablespoons butter 25 mL
1 quart sauerkraut, 1 L
drained
1 cup tart apple, 250 mL
diced
1 teaspoon caraway 5 mL
seed
1 cup chicken 250 mL
bouillon
1 cup dry white 250 mL
wine
Saute onion in butter. Add sauerkraut with apple and caraway seed. Turn into greased 1 1Ú2 quart (1.5 L) casserole. Add chicken stock and white wine. Bake, covered at 350 F (180 C) for 45 minutes to 1 1Ú2 hours. Use shorter time for canned sauerkraut and longer time for bulk sauerkraut. Yield: six servings.
Elderberries are excellent for making “the Englishman’s port,” as the wine from them is sometimes called. If the wine occasionally turns out to be dry or harsh, maturing the wine sufficiently, sometimes two years, will erase the acridness (caused by the excess tannin in the fruit). This recipe for elderberry wine is taken from 130 New Winemaking Recipes by C.J.J. Berry, published by “The Amateur Winemaker,” North Croye, The Avenue, Andover, Hantz, October 1970.
Ecstatic elderberry wine
4 pounds 2 kg
elderberries
3 1Ú2 pounds white 2 kg
sugar
1 gallon water 4.5 L
burgundy yeast and
nutrient
1Ú2 ounce citric acid 15 mL
To strip the berries from the stalks, wear rubber gloves or use the prongs of a fork, otherwise it is a messy and tedious business. Be careful that drops of the juice do not stain your clothes, because it seems impossible to remove. Weigh the berries and crush them in a bowl. For a slightly stronger wine with more “body,” add one pound malt extract at this stage. Pour on the boiling water, stir well, and allow to cool to 70 F (21 C) before adding the yeast, acid and nutrient. Cover closely and leave for three days in a warm place, stirring daily, then strain through a nylon sieve onto the sugar.
Pour the liquor into a “grey hen” or dark glass bottle (in clear bottles the wine will lose its glorious ruby color) but do not fill completely until the first vigorous ferment has subsided. When it has, top up with spare liquor or cold boiled water and fit fermentation lock. Leave till fermentation is complete, then siphon off into clean dark bottles (if you have no dark bottles, cover your white ones with a sugar bag or brown paper, or keep them in a dark cupboard) and keep for a further six months at least.
Since this is also rhubarb season, you may want to look at a rhubarb wine recipe from May Sather’s Rhubarb Recipes and More, Swift Litho Printing. Recipe books are available at 306-375-2853.
Root beer
I found the following root beer recipe at Harvest Brewing Company, Saskatoon. In order to make this root beer, you will need to purchase the Royal Piper Draft-Style Root Beer Extract. The recipe is on the back of the bottle.
Dissolve one bottle of the root beer concentrate and 4.4 pounds (two kg) of sugar in 4.4 gallons (20 L) of warm water. Add three teaspoons (15 mL) yeast to the root beer mixture. Bottle in pop bottles, using crown caps or screw caps. Store for seven days in a warm place to carbonate, 72-78 F (22-26 C). Move to a cold place, such as a fridge, to avoid excess carbonation and danger of explosion. Makes five dozen bottles.
If you can’t find this extract where you live, you could call 306-244-1979.
Lady’s coveralls sought
Dear TEAM: I’m in search of a lady that makes “Lady’s Coveralls” that fit. I’m not sure if her article was in The Western Producer, but thought you may be able to help. – L.B., Fort St. John, B.C.
You can get a price list and order form for women’s coveralls from Gerbers Workwear Ltd. Erma can be reached by phone at 519-595-8776 or fax 519-595-8131. The address is 15 Main St. North, Milverton, Ont., N0K 1M0. They advertise #2050 as a lady’s long sleeve coverall available in sizes 8 to 20 for $29.99.
Seeding chart
Dear TEAM: I would like to obtain a chart of dates in which you plant various seeds of flowers and vegetables to have them ready for garden planting. – C.L.C., Minton, Sask.
Dear C.L.C.: There is a chart for seeding dates in Gardening on the Prairies, a Guide to Canadian Home Gardening, by Roger Vick, originally published by Western Producer Prairie Books, 1987, then by Douglas and McIntyre, 1992, Vancouver/Toronto.
Thanks for the memory
Dear TEAM: I was so surprised and pleased to see the words of the song “Come Little Leaves” in your March 21 paper. My mother sang that song to me when I was a little girl and she learned it from her father. My mother and her father were both schoolteachers, but my grandfather died around 1921, an old man, so its origins must be very old. I was born in 1916. I had never seen it in print and have only heard it sung.
However, I note some changes – verses three and four were not sung to me, and their content seems quite different from the other three. Also, when I learned it, there was a chorus that goes like this:
Winter is coming. Oh Ho! Oh Ho!
Winter is coming, with ice and
snow
Winter is coming, Oh Ho! Oh Ho!
Winter is coming, and days grow
cold!
I wonder if anyone else has memories of this? – A.W., Nipawin, Sask.
Thank you for your memories of the chorus. Looking through a fall Garden Chat column by Rose Jardine that I clipped about 20 years ago, I spotted the first verse of “Come Little Leaves” as she described the dropping leaves from the poplar trees.
