Description:This is a two-page layout from my earliest scrapping days when I was using Creative Memories techniques almost exclusively. I'm sorry I didn't know enough to record the supplies I used. It's also one of the first layouts I prepared to upload, sorry for the bad photo. The individual side photos are a little better.
The photos are from one of our family traditions and the poem described it pretty accurately. If you've never tasted Chicken COrn Soup, come visit me in Lancaster County PA Dutch country!
Chicken Corn Soup for a Crowd
Here’s a plan to engineer a grand summer event
That takes you back to simpler times that have a social bent:
Call out all the neighbors to assemble in the yard:
The atmosphere is friendly and the work is never hard.
Ask them to come early, in the morning while it’s cool
And bring their own container too; they’ll earn a kettle full.
Send the sleepy farmer out, about the break of dawn,
To harvest the big crop of corn that you’ve been planning on.
The first folks to arrive can help to start the operation:
Light the fire and carry out the workplace preparation.
Set a big, long table out and rinse the butcher kettles
Then set them on the fireplace when the first big flare-up settles.
Fill the pots with water as the farmer’s tractor nears;
(We’d estimate the yield this year at about a thousand ears).
Then call all hands together to begin the first big job:
Husk and silk all that corn – but leave it on the cob!
Step away for just a bit to check the cooking pots
And drop in twenty chickens when the water’s boiling hot.
Add some salt and pepper and a lot of conversation:
Chatting friends can make the job seem like a celebration!
Before long all the corn is cleaned so get the farmer’s stool
And set him up to cut the corn while the cooked chickens cool.
Meanwhile all the other folks can sit and rest a while –
Serve them each an icy drink to bring a grateful smile.
When the corn is ready you can add it to the broth;
Time to pick the chicken off so shake the tablecloth
And gather ‘round the table for the messiest of tasks
Use the white and dark meat, in case anybody asks.
Stir the pots and check the corn to see if it is sweet
And when it’s nice and tender you can add the chicken meat.
Keep the fire gentle with the embers glowing hot
And let the soup broth simmer ‘til it thickens in the pot
Then two strong men must take the hooks and move the pots to cool
Tell them to be careful ‘cause they’re heavy, hot, and full.
Soon it’s nearly lunchtime and the help deserve their due:
Feed them each a bowl of soup (and maybe even two!)
Then it’s time for clean-up; there’s a task for the whole group.
But don’t forget to stop sometimes to stir the cooling soup!
Fill all your friends’ containers with the product of the day
With bellies and containers full, they homeward make their way.
There’s plenty there to share with all the friends who lent a hand
And buckets full of soup to freeze just like the farmer planned.
This winter, when the weather’s cold and garden crops are rare,
You’ll be very grateful that those soup buckets are there.
Full of chicken, full of corn, and full of wood smoke flavor,
It makes a tasty bowl of soup for hungry mouths to savor.
And when guests come to dinner, it will make the farmer proud
To serve his famed creation: Chicken Corn Soup for a Crowd!
