Hi Randy,

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your grandmother. I know you'll cherish her memory.

The chicken fryer is awesome! You can't find cast iron of that quality anymore, and I know you'll think of her each time y'all use it.

What a nice Christmas cactus too. Can you imagine how large it would have been if she had repotted it every now and then into good soil? I am sure you'll get lovely new plants from the cuttings.

Dawn

Yes, sorry to hear about your grandmother. Maybe you can pass on some cuttings of the cactus to other family members. I remember when we went to my wife's grandfather's memorial service (had to travel three days by car to get there) I took along some Tennessee Cutshort bean seed and gave it to her great aunt's family. I'm sure they had lost the seed.

That is a great piece of cast iron cookware! We have a Griswold cast iron Dutch oven, which looks similar. It's great for many cooking tasks.

George

Yes, me too, I love the old Griswold cast iron stuff. I have lots of pieces.

Randy, sorry about your grandmother. I lost my maternal grandmother when I was 15. My mother was in such terrible grief, I grieved on my own. I have very few things that were hers, but I cherish what I have. Other things I have bought at flea markets over the years that reminded me of her. She loved unconditionally and was very precious to me.

I know that you will think warm thoughts every time you use that skillet. Not to mention they are the best cookware you can get, in my opinion.

Thanks Dawn, George. She was a very good woman that lived a long and fulfilling life.

I love the cast iron skillet. Makes my 6th piece of cast iron cookware. Still have a few more to go. :-)

Did some research and have discovered that the plant is actually a Thanksgiving Cactus because it has the pointed segments.

randy

Thanks Ilene.

I helped cook for 150 men and boys at a primitive campsite this past summer. Cast iron was how we did everything we didn't grill. The bulk of it in legged campfire dutch ovens. Did biscuits, potatoes, brownies, and a number of other goodies.

I scrambled 6 dozen eggs at once in a 17" cast iron skillet twice for breakfast one morning.

randy

Randy, Sorry about your grandmother. I also have an oven a lot like that from my husband's family, and I probably use it 4-5 times a week. I have several cast iron skillets from my mother and grandmother and various other pieces that I have picked up over the years. Oh, and in addition to those in my kitchen, I have four camp dutch ovens sitting by my fireplace. They are stacked from large to small and my DH calls it my dutch oven tree. LOL Once when we were ordering concrete, we built a "table" about 2x3 1/2 feet on top (poured concrete)and three blocks high for me to cook on. I can tend the food without having to bend over. Some days I just cook out there because I enjoy it, and I want to be outdoors all day. Other times I just don't want to be heating the kitchen.

A few years ago, on a nice summer day with the sun shining brightly, the power went off. I had 10 people to feed and had just wrapped 10 huge baking potatoes with foil to go in the over. We moved everything outside and put the potatoes in the largest dutch oven. We started the grill for the steak and pork chops. We have a propane stove that has legs that fold down making it table height, so we pulled that out to cook corn on the cob. The salad was already made. The only thing we had to change was desert, and that got switched to a "boy scout" peach cobbler in the dutch oven. The power came back on about the time we finished eating. Great meal anyway, and fewer dishes.

Hi, Randy - my condolences to you on the loss of your grandmother.

I have one cast iron griddle that I use almost daily. Nothing like cast iron IMHO! I had another skillet but ex took from me, and I miss it dearly.

I have mainly memories of my great grandparents and grandmother. My great grandfather had a love for petunias, and I'll never forget his backyard absolutely stuffed with every color imaginable. My grandmother loved iris and had so many different cultivars/species. Guess gardening is in my blood.

Susan

Susan,

Of all the "things" that parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and other relatives can hand down to a child, I think gardening is the most wonderful one of all.

It is interesting to me that as my dad's Alzheimer's Disease progressed slowly, over a period of almost 15 years, his love of gardening was one of the last abilities to leave him. Long after he couldn't remember the names of any of his kids or grandkids, he still knew exactly what tomato variety he'd planted in each spot in his garden. When he gave up gardening 2 years before his death, then I knew we were about to lose him.

Dawn

Soonergrandmom,

I cook a lot outdoors during the summer to keep temps down in the house. :-) Only have one 12" campfire dutch oven right now, but plan on buying at least two more. Want to get a 14" and a 16". The flavor of the charcoal or the wood and seasoning of the cast iron make for some great meals.

I do about 90% of the cooking here at the house and my wife is very impressed at the ease of cleanup with well seasoned cast iron.

Susan,

Long time no type to. :-) Howe are you doing? Still wanting to move south some?

randy

Sorry about your grandmother Randy.

I love cast iron. I have four very old skillets in different sizes. I learned to bake buttermilk cornbread in a cast iron skillet from my grandfather. He took over the cooking when my grandmother went blind from cataracts. He would buy refrigerated roll biscuits, but he only tried buying cornbread mix once. He said that whoever put that mix together got confused and thought they were making cake. Grandpa said sugar and flour had no place in cornbread. He made his with cornmeal and buttermilk and dropped the batter into a skillet that he melted butter in while heating the oven. The cornbread was wonderfully crispy on the outside and almost custard like with a slight buttermilk flavor on the inside. I now make it with organic whole grain cornmeal and it is wonderful.

mulberryknow - I have gotten lazy and do use a cornbread mix a lot of the time, but I add soda and always sub buttermilk for the milk. My husband likes it best if I grind the corn (not really fine) and make it with no flour. He probably wouldn't eat it if it had sugar in it. LOL

One of the memories that I have of my grandmother was a pan of cornbread was sitting on her stove everyday. She just left it in the iron skillet and put one of those "shower cap" covers on it. We would go in and break off a hunk of it. Her stove had four burners on the right and a large blank space on the left half. It always held the salt, pepper, grease container, and that iron skillet of cornbread. Good memory.

Randy, Sorry to hear about your grandmother. I'm glad you were able to get some of her belongings that are special to you. I know some of my most prized possessions are the quilts and cookware that belonged to my grandma.

Mulberryknob, it's funny you said that about your grandfather. The first thing I ever remember my grandpa cooking was cornbread. I was pretty young and was going to help him out by giving him a box of mix and he said basically the same thing about it as your grandfather did and proceeded to make it from scratch. He didn't cook very often at all and I remember being so impressed by that pot of soup and pan of cornbread.

Michelle