This past weekend A. drove to Ohio. I mean, why not? Who doesn't love Ohio?
Okay, so he actually did have a reason for leaving at four o'clock in the afternoon on Friday after working all day, driving five hours before crashing in a motel, driving another few hours on Saturday morning, and then driving for ten hours to get home on Sunday.
And that reason was to move heavy furniture. Sort of.
See, my sister's fiance's mom (got that?) sold her house in Ohio. And this house was apparently stuffed to the rafters with, well, stuff. Old stuff. Farm stuff. Stuff that A. would drive to Ohio to pick up, because my sister's fiance's mom just wanted it all gone and didn't want to bother with selling any of it.
Also, my future brother-in-law was storing a boat there because he and my sister are currently in a suburb of D.C. and have nowhere to put it. Future BiL told A. we could bring it here and use it for the couple of years they're in D.C. So A. really drove to Ohio to pick up a boat. A big boat. A boat that is, in fact, longer than the Awesome Subaru that towed it home. And since A. was towing the boat anyway, he just put a few little things in it.
Photo courtesy of the future BiL, who is obviously going to be a VERY POPULAR BiL.
Things like a walk-behind tractor, which I had never heard of but which were apparently really popular around 1950. They can have all kinds of attachments put on them, like snowplows and things. So now we have a really old walk-behind tractor that I'm not sure actually runs, but whatever! We have it! Also, an eight-foot-long, extremely rusty ice saw--suitable for cutting ice out of the lake in the winter when we decide to lose our damn minds completely--two equally long and rusty saws for cutting trees, plus multiple hatchets and ax heads, some random shovels, and the World's Oldest Air Compressor (confirmation from Guinness Book of World Records pending).
But lest you think that A. only brought home fun things for himself, be assured that he was thinking of me as well. My real present, which A. actually told me about when I talked to him on Saturday, was a lard press. I don't seem to have taken a picture of it, but believe me, I will if I ever use it. That is actually somewhat possible, as I do sort of press on the rendered suet to extract the cracklin's, which I think is the purpose of a lard press.
I'll let you know.
He also brought me a stoneware crock. I was WAY EXCITED when he told me he was bringing me a crock, because I kind of need a crock. When I make sauerkraut, I currently use gallon-sized glass jars that used to hold pickles or something. So I was very happy A. was bringing me a stoneware crock, the whole purpose of which is to brine and pickle things.
Then he got home and unloaded the crock. And it was . . .
The Crock That Ate Cubby
Okay, so Cubby is actually crouched down in it. But it is, as you can see, a GIGANTIC crock. A twenty-gallon crock, to be specific. I'm pretty sure I will not be making twenty gallons of sauerkraut, because this is not 1890 and I do not have 12 children to feed through the winter.
It has other uses, though.
Uses like entertaining my single, solitary child.
We haven't decided yet what we will do with the crock, but you have to admit, it's pretty awesome. So allow me to solicit your opinion, poppets. What would you do with a twenty-gallon crock?
15 comments:
Fill it with unpasteurized cider and make a vat of vinegar.
It's perfect for cooling off Cubby on these hot sweltering days without using a lot of water. . . it could be a planter, filled with brightly colored flowers in the summer. Whatever you do, just hang on to it. It is old and I believe in keeping old things for historical value, if nothing else. I have a few old pieces laying around that I hope my kids don't toss when I'm gone. . . a small crock to make butter with the "paddle" (is that what you call it?), a large bread board, a relish tray that belonged to my great grandmother. God only knows how much money this lady had in her attic in old things.
How about a big crock of chili during the winter? Or maybe a big vat-o-oatmeal...
Again, many thanks for the help from A and the mighty Subaru! I hope you all can enjoy the stuff as much as we did. Now I have to get my bear trap all cleaned up...which your sister has some reservations about!
You can use it to make pickles and to salt vegetables.
How about for keeping all the lard?
http://www.home-butcher.com/?p=15
"A 400 pound hog usually yield about 100 pounds of lard."
Next time you buy a whole hog have them send you the fat, too.
Word verification: berste -- a French explosion
I would love it everyday of my life and I would sometimes make dandelion wine in it when I was not drooling over it..
That is an impressive and most desired and no doubt expensive crock..And will be even more so when Cubby grows and inherits said crock.
Oh lord, I read that someone suggested drilling a hole...DO NOT!!!
:)
Envy! I paid a horrifying amount of money last year for a 5 gallon crock, as we just didn't have sufficient volume for either sauerkraut or vinegar-making. This Fall, when you press a bathtub full of apples into cider, dump it in there, cover it with a cloth and ignore it for a couple of months. You'll love vinegar like you've never loved it before!
Crocks are all well and good, but the walk-behind tractor could prove more useful if restored to running condition. I'm impressed with the size of the tractor tires and imagine that pulling Big Red out of the mud would be a snap. It just occurred to me that A. could acquire an old "stone boat" to pull behind the tractor, stand in the prow of the stone boat, and ride around the homestead as if on a chariot!
Stuff my old boss in it.
I'd put it in the museum/display section of the kitchen as a talking piece. Looks like it would indeed be daunting to put it to real use...
I'm so glad you asked because all I could think of when I looked at that was, "OH WHAT I WOULD DO WITH A CROCK THAT BIG".
But you know what? I don't actually know.
Make myself a plunge pool? A LOT of pickles? Off season bulb storage? Planter? Rustic drink cooler for bbqs? Turn it over and sit on it?
Yeah, I guess I don't know. But it's COOL.
The wife suggested, if you get a whole bunch of cabbage this year, you approach a local restaurant about supplying them with Kraut for the year.
I'll tell you what I did with mine... I had two of them, one Denver and one Red Wing and I made end tables out of them. My husband cut a big circle of wood for the top and then we put smaller pieces of wood on the bottom to hold it centered when it was placed on the crock. Then, inside the crock, I put out of season blankets. Worked great!
My mom has a crock very much like that one (and I foresee arguments ahead amongst my sisters and myself when inheritance time comes)...she keeps it next to the wood stove, filled with kindling. That way it can be admired and useful at the same time. Long ago she decided that even our Amish-descended family doesn't need that much sour krout.
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