My Mother's Kitchen

My mother’s kingdom was her kitchen when we lived on the farm. She could perform miracles in that room. It was twenty six feet long, and had no cupboards, only shelves. She also had what they called a kitchen cupboard which was a unit. Built into this unit was a flour mill which took up a fair amount of space. It had drawers, a counter, and a cupboard for dishes. Next to the cupboard I just described was our ice box. It attempted to keep our food cool. Mother would put ice in it on the top and it would melt into a pan underneath it. I don’t know where they got the ice, but someone must have delivered it. I can remember dad bringing ice into the house. It was covered with a piece of burlap. I suppose that helped to keep it from melting.
On the other side of the kitchen she had a cook stove that she threw cobs into. She could bake angel food cakes in a stove that she regulated by adding a few or a lot of corn cobs to. Beside that stove was a cob bin. Dad would fill that for her from ears of corn that he had shelled for the cattle. I can remember one time for a few days dad put a day old calf in that cob bin to keep him warm. His mom had died and he had to be hand fed. That was interesting to a little girl like me. Probably not mom. Next to that stove we had a smaller stove that was run by kerosene. Next to that was our kitchen sink with a pump attached to it for our dishes. We did not have running water for a long time.
At the end of the kitchen she had her washing machine and the milk separator. The milk separator separated the cream from the milk. She did that twice a day.
She made cottage cheese by letting it clabber on the cook stove, she churned her own butter, and we always had cream in our mashed potatoes. She frosted many cakes with whipped cream. I wonder why we were all chubby.
So that was our kitchen, the kitchen table and chairs was on the end by the windows. I asked my dad one time why he fell in love with my mom. He said that she always sat against the west window when they ate supper. The sun would shine on her hair and make a halo of gold and red. He said he knew that he had to have her for his own.
The kitchen was a happy place and I will remember always how good it smelled when Mother performed her miracles.