Posted on 03/01/2026 5:58:25 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
The MONTHLY Gardening Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
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If you do not feel like experimenting with making your own Sorghum Syrup at the end of the season perhaps you can use it to thatch your Palapa instead! (A good use!)
I remember that my father used to get Maasdam Sorghum in a tin. I have been getting Oberholtzer Sorghum from Amazon. On reflection, maybe easier can cheaper to build a Palapa, and buy the Sorghum Syrup!
The Runaway Spoon Sorghum Buttermilk Pie
Pastry for one 9-inch pie
1 cup sorghum
½ cup buttermilk
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
"Preheat the oven to 300°. Fit the pastry into a pie plate and set aside.
Stir the sorghum, buttermilk, sugar flour and soda together in a large, high sided saucepan. Crack the eggs into the measuring jug you used for the sorghum and milk and beat together. Pour into the pan and stir to thoroughly combine all the ingredients. You might want to use a whisk to break up any flour lumps, but use a heatproof spatula while cooking.
Place the pan over medium high heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Scrape the bottom and sides of the pan frequently to prevent scorching. The filling will bubble up so needs to be stirred and watched carefully. When it reaches a boil, remove from the heat and stir it down for a few minutes until some of the foaming subsides. Carefully pour it into the prepared crust. Fill it right to the top, if you have more in the pan than will fit in the crust, let it settle a few minutes, then gently stir the remaining filling into the crust.
Bake the pie for 40 – 45 minutes, until it is firm with just a little wobble to it. I’ve never had the filling spill over, but just to be safe I like to put a foil lined baking sheet on the rack below to catch any potential drips.
Place the pie plate on a rack to cool completely, then chill until firm."
I will add here...."Move cooled pie to your Pie Safe!"
Paul. When I lived in N. Illinois Plainfield and Belvediere always seemed to have tornadoes.
Sounds good and I LOVE old pie safes!
Yes, we have good friends in Plainfield. That F5 back in 1990 didn’t miss them by a whole lot...
Our line of t-storms is pretty well “through”. It is either along the front or dragged down quite a cold pool: Our temperatures dropped over 10 degrees in ~ 10 minutes AFTER the heavy rain let up. NWS has also revised our low tonight to 34 deg. F. It was predicted at over 40, last time I’d checked.
I look at it and think about substitutions or omissions... (What is in my refrigerator? Who will complain if I add onion? If I use pickle juice in the French Dressing does that make it GermanFrench Dressing?? Pondering....)
We went to a lot of church pot lucks and picnics growing up and they were a good thing for community and fellowship. (Especially if you had a lot of family in the Church!) I am glad you have that to enjoy!
Noted!
Diced OPO might work in that too...
:-( !!
For anyone near a Rural King store, and with time to get there yet today, I was there earlier today, and they have seed packets @ 2-for-one. But, I think this is the last day of the sale.
They also had 50 lb. bags of layer pellets for $11. :-)
... And oil and fertilizer is on sale too. Must have been set up B4 the Iran conflict boiled up...
Wish I had an antique pie safe like that one.
Sometimes the most basic of items won’t come up easily in searches on some store websites. You’d think most any “general” store would have simple cotton string - more or less like the stuff that secures feed bags and what not, but, try searching @ different stores and you’ll get hits for twine, yarn, rope, and only rarely, simple string. I guess the stores want to sell you anything but the cheapest, most basic item?
While we’re on the potato subject, the one grocery store that has seed potatoes as two types, Russet and Irish Cobbler. Is anyone familiar with Irish Cobbler?
DuckDuckGo AI started by saying good for mashed and then when I swapped to Irish Cobbler vs Russet, said Russet for mashed or baked and Irish Cobbler of boiling, steamed and new potatoes. Seems the cobblers are creamier and less dry/flaky. Cobbler is closer to Yukon Gold is sounds like and I prefer them over russets. Russets are definitely the better storage potato.
Roasted or pan fried is our preference and both tend to require parboiling which is fine/standard.
If I had a cellar, I would grow russets for storage. Meanwhile, Russets are dirt cheap and Yukons are hard to find and seem to have been replaced by small overpriced bags of other small creamy type potatoes with no named variety. Sounds like maybe Irish Cobbler would be good to grow in place of those small bagged potatoes. It may be what the white ones are.
Interesting about the sap.
In VT the sap has been running for a while. The guy across the street from us says his hasn’t started yet as it’s been too cold with the huge snowpack we have/had. It’s melting fast so maybe soon for him.
My garden is somewhat unburied. WHAT A MESS! I’ve got my work cut out for me this spring.
All y seedlings are doing well and the lettuce is actually starting to show some true leaves!!
YEA!!!
No more store lettuce.
I was looking at Irish Cobbler. Like German Butterballs and Russets they are indeterminate, so you can use that Amish growing technique mentioned up thread. I am sure it works in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and on Diana's Farm in Wisconsin. I may have to focus on hot weather crops like Sweet potatoes instead!
Whatever you try, Good Luck!
You’re not foolin’ me, Pete! Even this Yankee knows that’s Shoo-Fly Pie! ;)
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/15853/my-grandmas-shoo-fly-pie/
I’ll also add that I was in Walmart on Tuesday getting supplies (I can’t do it ALL by myself!) and I checked their seed racks.
I didn’t need anything, but every rack was at least half empty! So, people are jumping on the Gardening Bandwagon again, it seems. It’s kind of early for those racks to be half empty!
I DID buy two bags of Gladiolus bulbs; they are Beau’s favorite summertime cut flower, so I always plant some for him. ;)
If that were my pie safe, I would probably need to buy a new house to display it!
Then, we would need to fill it with pies, and I know that with just 2 of us around Mrs Pete will not be doing that!
I don’t have a lot of potato salad left so people ate it - yay! Most of the spicy Jiffy corn pudding is gone as well :-)
We had NO snow cover - none - pretty much from January on! And then we’d have a week of 60 degrees, then back to cold...which is where we are again right now.
You need cold nights and warm days for a good sap flow. We didn’t get that at all. This is the first season Beau was ‘skunked’ on sap - to go along with my totally awful, wet growing season last year.
Frankly, I’m surprised we’ve managed to survive this far into 2026, LOL! We should have lost 50# each, and have Rickets from lack of citrus and sunshine! ;)
God Bless The Piggly Wiggly grocery store! :)
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