A Traditional Farm Life- Crazy Cake
By Shasta Hamilton
We’re crazy.
Family and friends, or course, have known this for
years—they were the first to see the beginning signs of transformation. After all, why would two kids who grew up in
small rural Kansas towns wearing t-shirts and jeans, playing high school
sports, going to prom, and advancing to Bethel College exchange the comforts of
being mainstream for the double-takes of wearing somber-colored dresses, aprons
and head coverings, or broadfall pants, suspenders, and a wide-brimmed hat?
We must be crazy!
Crazy or not, in this geographical area of Kansas where
Plain People are few and far between, we stick out like sore thumbs.
In case you’re wondering, we didn’t just wake up one
morning, look at each other and say, “Let’s become Amish!” That would be crazy. You simply don’t make that kind of lifestyle
change overnight.
Not having grown up in a truly horse-powered environment, we
are slowly putting together, as we can afford them, the right mix of buggy and
draft horses for transportation and farm work, respectively. In addition to the horses, copious quantities
of tack and horse drawn farming implements are required for traditional farming
with horses.
So you see, preparing for the kind of traditional farm life
we are seeking involves much more than switching out the horses under the hood
for horses in front of the buggy.
And then there’s the question of electricity. Even though our use of modern machines for
many years now has been minimal (no microwave or automatic dishwasher around
here), after living my nearly forty years with light at the flip of a switch
and clean laundry at the touch of a button, my husband is graciously leading me
gradually into this major change in lifestyle.
This change, of course, does not happen with the simple flip
of a switch. It requires acquiring
old-fashioned wood stoves for heating and cooking, oil lamps, sad irons (not
that I ever iron), and a wringer washing machine—all things we’ve been on the
lookout for since we became seriously interested in homesteading 16 years ago.
We must be crazy!
My husband and I determined many years ago that we wanted to
raise our children the same way generations of rural folks have both survived
and thrived—on a traditional, diversified farm.
More than just a romantic memory of days gone by,
traditional farming seamlessly merges with modern buzzwords like
“sustainability,” “organic,” and “earth friendly.” Our draft horses will be plowing fields that
will eventually provide their own “daily bread,” contributing to the fertility
of the land in the process. Components
otherwise considered “waste” from garden, kitchen, livestock, etc. become
compost and give their fertility back to the land which in turn feeds the
family.
Our children have and will continue to learn responsibility
and develop a hearty work ethic from the daily chores involved with farm
life.
These “chores” of daily life on the traditional farm are
what we call “life skills,” including all facets of animal husbandry, farming,
gardening, wood cutting, canning, cheesemaking, sewing, cooking, baking,
etc.
When children not only understand that eggs come from
chickens and milk comes from a cow, but know how to care for those animals to
increase their comfort, welfare, and production, they will have developed
skills that will truly serve them for life.
Maybe we’re crazy to think it more important our children
know how to bake a loaf of bread, sew a garment, stack firewood, or shoe a
horse rather than know what’s trending on Facebook while mesmerized by the glow
of the latest and greatest electronic device.
Then again, maybe we’re not so crazy after all.
Crazy Cake
3 cups unsifted
flour
2 cups white sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking
soda
3/4 cup vegetable
oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups cold water
Frosting
1 lb. box powdered
sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup (1 stick)
butter, softened
6-7 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1. Preheat oven to
350 degrees.
2. Sift all dry
ingredients into a 9x13” pan. Make three
indentations: One large one for 3/4 cup
oil, one medium sized for 2 tablespoons vinegar, and a smaller one for 2
teaspoons vanilla.
3. Pour two cups cold
water over the top of all and stir carefully to mix with a fork. Make sure you have the sides and corners
mixed well. Bake 40 to 50 minutes until
toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
Cool completely before frosting.
4. For frosting,
first combine all ingredients in large mixer bowl, then beat with mixer until
smooth and glossy. Frost cake
Yield: 1 (9x13”) deep, dark chocolate cake.
Recipe adapted from The Holland Community Cookbook. Lenexa: Cookbook Publishers, 2013. p. 181.
Copyright © 2015 by Shasta Hamilton
Shasta is a fifth generation rural Kansan now residing in
Enterprise, Kansas. She and her husband
own and operate The Buggy Stop Home-Style Kitchen with their six home-schooled
children. You can reach The Buggy Stop
by calling (785) 200-6385 or visit them on the web at www.thebuggystoprestaurant.com
.
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