History Household Recipies

[Barrycdog]

Savannah Morning News, Feb. 25, 1879 -- page 1

 

[diane]

Does sweet bacon mean something different back then? Guinea hens are gamey and a little more greasy - silkies are black. It's a little disconcerting to eat them! My auntie kept both for eating garden bugs.

 

[Tumbleweed]

Those are some intriguing recipes, especially the one for sweet crackers. As for the cake, we have a hickory tree on our property but the squirrels get most of the nuts so walnuts or pecans would have to do. It's interesting how no pan sizes or oven temperatures are mentioned. I suppose in that day they assumed the average homemaker was experienced enough to take it from there.

I have been trying to convince my husband that we should get some guinea fowl but up to now he's resisted the idea. However, after spending a good deal of the summer fighting off the voracious Colorado potato beetle in our little patch maybe this article will help me win my argument. And who knew they could predict the weather! Too bad it doesn't say how they do it.

 

[diane]

Guineas are remarkable in many ways. They not only keep down the bugs in your garden but also the mice and other rodents. A flock will take these on easily. I don't know about them predicting weather - in fact, auntie used to put on a light in their house if it was too cold - but they are excellent watch dogs! They will raise a ruckus if anything seems out of order. When we would pull into auntie's farm, the guineas would be hollering before we were halfway down the drive! (Which was a ways, I'll say...)

 

[Tumbleweed]

They will raise a ruckus if anything seems out of order. When we would pull into auntie's farm, the guineas would be hollering before we were halfway down the drive! (Which was a ways, I'll say...)

That's one reason why my husband won't let us have them. He said his mother kept them but they would roost in the trees around the house and not in the coop with the other fowl. Anything that disturbed them during the night would set them off and he is absolutely certain I wouldn't tolerate the noise. His second argument is that some of them were killed on the road because his mother's flock was never really tame and the highway we live on is busier now than it was then. I guess that means he'll just have to keep fighting those garden beetles on his own.

 

[diane]

That's one reason why my husband won't let us have them. He said his mother kept them but they would roost in the trees around the house and not in the coop with the other fowl. Anything that disturbed them during the night would set them off and he is absolutely certain I wouldn't tolerate the noise. His second argument is that some of them were killed on the road because his mother's flock was never really tame and the highway we live on is busier now than it was then. I guess that means he'll just have to keep fighting those garden beetles on his own.

Lol! Auntie's lived mostly along the drive in the bushes but would use their coop in cold weather. Maybe that's their talent for predicting weather! We would drive right through them and never hit one - they are pretty fast, really. But...you couldn't go very fast in the first place on that road up. The feathers are very pretty. We used to make jewelry of them and weave them into our caps.

 

[ole]

Those are some intriguing recipes, especially the one for sweet crackers. As for the cake, we have a hickory tree on our property but the squirrels get most of the nuts so walnuts or pecans would have to do.

Know the feeling, Tumbleweed. Have a very prolific Carpathian Walnut tree and, in 25 years here, have never tasted one of them.

Squirrels nesting here get most of them and, when they are not watching, neighbors' squirrels get them.

 

[Barrycdog]

The neat thing about guinea hens is when they walk out and the street and are hit by cars their feathers fall off. Naked guinea hens

 

[Tumbleweed]

The neat thing about guinea hens is when they walk out and the street and are hit by cars their feathers fall off. Naked guinea hens

Oh my! It's interesting you say that because my husband told me this morning the very last guinea was killed by a neighbor. Being a farmer he was busy watching the fields rather than the road and when he looked ahead, the poor bird was disappearing beneath his truck. The hen ended up naked all right but she didn't survive the ordeal.

 

[Barrycdog]

Mostly they don't die just naked

 

[donna]

My Granny had Guineas. They can make a lot of noise. My Granddad always called them "The farmers watch dog."

 

[Northern Light]

Does sweet bacon mean something different back then? Guinea hens are gamey and a little more greasy - silkies are black. It's a little disconcerting to eat them! My auntie kept both for eating garden bugs.

Maybe it means fresh bacon as opposed to smoked bacon.

 

[diane]

Maybe it means fresh bacon as opposed to smoked bacon.

Was wondering that. Or, could be a brown sugar cure?

 

[Northern Light]

Was wondering that. Or, could be a brown sugar cure?

I would think that the fresh bacon would go really well with the apples.