Watching the rain that helps the garden grow

We are having nice rains this last while.  This has helped the garden
grow.  Everything looks like it is doing very well.  I planted my third patch of corn and it was up in less than a week.  We have our gardens all filled with a variety of vegetables, cooking and sweet onions, lettuce, peas, radishes, tomatoes, green and hot peppers, sweet corn, potatoes, zucchini, squash, turnips, pumpkin, cucumbers, green beans, red beets, carrots, and cabbage.  There is a lot of work in big gardens such as we have, but it saves us a lot of money once it is all ready to eat. We all like sweet corn so once that is ready we will have many means will just corn, sliced cucumbers in a sour cream
or salt, tomatoes, green peppers, and lettuce.  Those meals are so
easy to make and helps a lot with the food bill.
    Since the children are home from school I can really see the grocery
list grow.  A family of 10 takes a lot and we enjoy the children and
wouldn't want it any other way.  A big garden helps a lot in feeding
the family.  We live so much more expensive than our ancestors did.
    My mother said they used to not ever buy items such as paper towels,
Kleenex and so forth.  Now we consider that a must.  I do save all my
old clothes for rags they come in handy when there is a mess which is
quite often at our house with the younger children.  Then I can just
throw them away although I cut off buttons and re-use them from the
clothes.  Try this great recipe to use the peas which are getting
ready to be harvested this time of year.

HAM & PEA SALAD
2 cups fresh peas
1 1 /2 cups cooked, chopped ham
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped red onion
1 /2 cup ranch salad dressing
In a serving bowl, combine the peas, ham, cheese, and onion. Pour the
dressing over the top and toss around to coat evenly.  Serves6 to 8
    Editor's Mini-Essay: - By Kevin Williams Regular readers of this
column are aware of the Amish Cook Friend Club.  I've come up with a lot of ideas on how to market the Amish Cook and keep the column
running, and some of my ideas have been real turkeys, but the response
to the friend club has been very heartening. If you're reading these words, that means your newspaper is very supportive of The Amish Cook and we're very grateful to the editors.  Some newspapers,
unfortunately, aren't as supportive, and I'd say maybe 40% of the
papers that carry the Amish Cook haven't, for whatever reason, allowed
any mention of the Friend Club in the column.  If they had, I wouldn't be writing this now. The club as I said has been a big success, but we need more readers to enroll to have a sustainable business model.  So if you're a fan of the Amish Cook and haven't joined the Friend Club, I hope you'll consider joining (anyone with a back-ordered cookbook, please wait to enroll until all back orders are filled).  Thanks to those who have bought multiple memberships.  I will continue to post
progress reports on the column's "health."

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