It is almost 8:30 on this cool Monday evening. The temperature is already down to 60 degrees. Our house actually feels chilly. A sign that autumn is just around the corner.

Today sister Verena helped me can 22 quarts of vegetable juice. We cooked a variety of peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions and garlic together until soft enough to put through my Victoria strainer. Usually I put in celery but I didn’t have any on hand. You can pretty much add whatever you want. I don’t like to add potatoes as I don’t think it’s as good for my husband Joe who is a diabetic. These ingredients already make a good flavor.

Saturday was a busy but enjoyable day for our family. Our day started early. We gathered at daughter Loretta and Dustin’s house by 2 a.m. to start grilling a thousand pounds of leg quarters. The chicken was seasoned with a combination of seasonings, then sprayed with a mixture of butter, vinegar and some other ingredients. They mixed it up the night before so I’m not sure what was all in it. No sauce was added but it had a really good flavor.

Thirteen grills were set up with Joe and me, sons-in-law Tim, Dustin and Daniel, daughter Verena and Daniel Ray, son Joseph and Grace, and Jake (a brother to Dustin, Daniel and Grace) all helping. We had good teamwork going and less than five hours later we were done. At 7 a.m. son-in-law Ervin, nephew Ben and Crystal, Tim’s sister Dena and Sam came to help deliver the chicken door to door. Daniel Ray and Verena with our friend Jodi also headed out with a cooler of steaming hot freshly grilled chicken to deliver. In three hours the chicken was sold out. This was all for a benefit and donations went to daughter Elizabeth and Tim.

Tim and Elizabeth have made living quarters in their garage since they were told by experts to move out of their house. They were all having respiratory issues with Timothy (TJ) needing an inhaler constantly. Since moving out he has rarely needed it. If he goes back into the old house for a few minutes to get something he starts coughing again. Everything they can salvage has to be treated and disinfected a certain way to not drag it into their garage. They weren’t able to keep a lot of their belongings. They had around five toxic molds in their house. It’s surprising how fast this mold spreads. We thoroughly cleaned their house for church services one time and a few months later their box spring under their bed was layered with mold. It is nothing fun to deal with. I had no idea what health problems it can cause until seeing this.

Tim has several air purifiers running in their living quarters now. We have several dehumidifiers in our house run by our solar power, especially in the basement where it tends to get damp quicker.

Tim and Elizabeth appreciated all the help they have received so far. Although we were all tired, we enjoyed the time working together to make this a success. A special thanks to Dustin and Loretta for coming up with the idea and being in charge of this. We enjoyed coffee and doughnuts as we grilled, and after we were done, Jake grilled bacon-wrapped mushrooms for us to eat.

Friday, Aug. 22 was sister Verena’s 59th birthday. She spent quite some time at sister Emma’s house. Sunday she came here and has been here since.

Congratulations to Lucas and Lena! We wish you a long, happy married life! We are sorry we were unable to attend.

Congratulations to niece Emma and Menno as they welcomed their fourth child, Michael Lee, on Aug. 14. Two days later, granddaughter Brooklyn Nyah was born to daughter Lovina and Daniel. When Lovina was a little girl, son Kevin couldn’t pronounce her name and would call her La nyah. Somehow all our children started calling her Nyah which is how that name began for her. Little Brooklyn went down to 4 pounds, 15 ounces, which is normal for a baby to lose a few ounces in the first week. She has a doctor’s appointment today and I’m sure she’s back to or past her birth weight. They feed her every two hours and have found out how precious sleep is when taking care of a newborn.

God’s blessings to all!

HOMEMADE VEGETABLE SOUP

Ingredients:

15 pounds tomatoes, cut into chunks

4 onions, diced

4 green bell peppers, seeded and diced

6 large jalapenos, diced

6 banana peppers, diced

3 carrots, peeled and diced

3 stalks celery, chopped

3 cucumbers, sliced

2-3 teaspoons garlic powder

salt or fresh garlic

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except the salt in a 3-gallon stainless steel pot over medium-high heat. Cook until soft enough to go through a Victoria strainer, about 30 minutes. Strain and put into sterilized quart jars and add 1 teaspoon salt to every jar. Process according to your canner’s directions. Makes 14 quarts.

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight.