When Margie Andrews wanted her father, Fred Milliman, to remove a bug shield from the Ford Bronco she was driving when she married Tom Andrews, her father suggested leaving it and painting “Never Say Never” on the shield. This was Milliman’s comment to his daughter when she was a teenager living in Eden, New York, and said she would “never marry a farmer.”

When the people in and around Randolph thought of the Andrews Family, they thought farming. Tom is the fourth generation of Andrews that has farmed on Randolph’s Pine Hill Road and his new wife jumped in with both feet.

The Andrews family lives on the former George Brown farm about two miles up the road from where the husband grew up. The wagon wheels that hang in the family room are believed to have been brought from Oil City, Pennsylvania, in 1893 by the first Andrews to settle in Randolph.

“We are a grazing dairy. Our cows move from place to place. This is very different from the dairying we did before,” Margie says. “It is supposed to be less labor and is better for the cows’ feet and they have fewer health problems.”

Andrews started farming in a free-stall barn and his wife admits she misses the clanging of the headlocks since they’ve relocated to the current farm.

“We are hopefully coming out of a two year slump. The price of milk is half of what it was two years ago, which has been very difficult. We’ve watched several families sell their farms. It’s not a livelihood. It’s a life.”

“Farming is an incurable problem. I say it’s like cocaine, but there is a Twelve Step Program for cocaine. Farmers will do anything to keep farming.”

The couple are parents to three sons, Jackson, Jeff and Joe. Jackson is a Junior at SUNY Geneseo where he is studying political science. Jeff, a sophomore at SUNY Alfred, is studying Agricultural Business and will transfer to Cornell next year. Joe, who recently began school at SUNY Cobleskill, is studying Dairy Production and Management.

“One of the things I hear from farmers is ‘I am a dairy farmer and I have no one to take over the farm.’ We have two that will take over. That’s a legacy that does not come to all dairy farmers.”

“We’ve never sugar-coated anything. There are no surprises for them. We’ve come home from the movies and found the hired help didn’t show up. They’ve put on their boots and gone to the barn.”

“My kids know there are a lot of things that can’t happen. They know they’re probably not going to have their birthday dinner on their birthday. They know they’re not going to Disney and yet my kids would take this life over the life that takes them to Disney.”

“I think there’s really meaning in being in a farm family. You’re part of a team and what you do means something. When my kids were little they would feed the calves and when they couldn’t go to the barn they would ask ‘who’s going to sweep the water and scoop the grain? I think that is lacking today. Kids don’t have a sense of meaning and a sense of real purpose, that it really matters.”

“She tells about how her sons learned problem solving at an early age. She also tells about how her boys spent many hours with their uncles in the barn. They would sit on a wagon from which one uncle fed buckets of grain to the cows while reciting the alphabet with the young boys. She remembers how they ate in the field out of the back of a truck.

“It’s a different life. We refer to others as civilians.”

Besides cows, 50 Golden Comet Chickens make their home at the Pine Hill location.

“We have 25 working girls and 12 that will come on line in October or so,” says the busy wife.

Mrs. Andrews is adjunct faculty for BOCES teaching High School Equivalency and Computer Literacy courses at the Cattaraugus County Jail in Little Valley and High School Equivalency classes at Salamanca Library. She tutors and substitute teaches, as well.

“It’s like any truly rewarding work, the highs are really high. It’s so wonderful to see someone do very well. It’s so sad to see someone return or fail or have to endure some difficult consequences.”

“I often have students succeed and say how the time in the classroom changed their life. A 25-year-old kid, a gang member, got his high school diploma. I shook his hand and he said, ‘Miss Margie, I ain’t ever finished anything in my life. I never thought there was anything past Grant Street in Buffalo.'”

She has several interests.

“Before I had children I collected tea cups and wooden elephants, after having boys they’re all gone.”

She is a member of Farm Bureau, a lobbying organization for farmers.

“We lobby for issues for farmers and educate about agriculture,” she says. “We lobby at county, state and national level. I went to Washington, D.C., twice each year for about 10 years and testified in Congress about crop insurance. I told them what farmers wanted. I was in Barack Obama’s office when he was a Senator.”

She is a member of East Randolph United Methodist Church where she teaches adult Sunday School, is on the activities committee and serves as the Administrative Council Chairperson.

She enjoys cooking and gardening and if she finds spare time, she likes to read.

“I learned to cook from my grandmother, Avis Milliman, because she was always cooking and we went there a lot. My grandfather would yell up the stairs and say ‘Herbie (or Butch and the boys) are coming for lunch.'”

“I can remember her scrambling and always coming up with something for lunch. She would go to this closet and always come out with food. I got her love of loving seeing people enjoy food and enjoy others (while eating). Now our family always suffers from having too much food.”

“Now I have the problem of cooking with no one here.”

The Andrews Family has many favorite recipes, which Mrs. Andrews has contributed today. Among them is Sweet Chunk Pickles (AKA Margie’s Pickles), because she has a local man who calls her every year to ask for the recipe she submitted to this same column years ago.

“He has the rest of the article, but can’t read the pickle recipe anymore,” she smiles.

She uses her Grandma Avis’ pie crust recipe when making her mother, Frieda Milliman’s Apple Pizza recipe. “She makes this when she needs to use apples that are a little over the hill. It goes farther than apple pie.”

The teacher found the recipe for Swiss Chicken in a cookbook purchased from a fourth grader at Falconer Central School. She says her family is “crazy” about peanut butter and chocolate, so she offers recipes for Devil’s Food Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting. Another favorite is the Corn Salsa.

“When you have a bushel of corn and everybody has eaten all the corn they can stand, you make Corn Salsa.”

The peppers, onions, tomatoes and garlic grown in her garden are the main ingredients in her spaghetti sauce.

“There’s nothing better than a pot of spaghetti cooking on the stove and to use the sauce in the basement.”

She hopes you enjoy the recipes she uses for feeding a crowd as much as her family does.

Texas Sheet Cake

1 c oil or 1 stick margarine)

1 c water

4 T cocoa

2 c flour

2 c sugar

c sour cream

2 eggs

1 T vanilla

Bring to a boil in a saucepan, oil, water and cocoa. Mix in flour, sugar, sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured jelly roll pan. Bake in at 350 degrees for 22 minutes. Let cool before frosting.

Frosting:

cup margarine

4 tsp cocoa

6-8 tsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

lb. confectioner’s sugar

In a saucepan bring to a boil margarine, cocoa and milk. Add vanilla and 10 confectioner’s sugar. Mix until smooth.

Cherry Jell-O

2 pkg cherry gelatin

1 c boiling water

1 can cherry pie filling

1 c lemon-lime soda, chilled

Whipped topping.

In a bowl, dissolve gelatin in hot water. Add cherry pie filling and slowly add soda. (This will foam.) Pour into 9×13 pan and refrigerate overnight. Cut into squares and serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Swiss Chicken

4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts

6 slices of Swiss cheese

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

c white wine

Crushed croutons

c melted butter

1 T parsley flakes

Melt butter in bottom of the 9×13 pan. Place chicken in pan. Lay one slice of cheese over each breast. Pour cream of mushroom soup mixed with wine over cheese and chicken. Pour crushed croutons over the chicken. Slice remaining butter over top- cover. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Remove foil after first hour.

Apple Pizza

Pie Crust:

Jelly Roll Pan (Apple Pizza) 3 c flour

big pinch salt

1 c oil

2/3 c water

For a 9″single crust pie

1c flour

tiny pinch salt

1/3 C. Oil

6T water

For a 9″ double crust pie

2c. Flour

Pinch salt

2/3 C. Oil

1/3 C. Water

Measure flour and salt into a bowl. Add oil and ice water. Mix together. Roll out between two pieces of wax paper to size needed. (In this case, to fit in a jelly roll pan.)

Apple Pizza Filling and Topping

Press pie crust into the bottom of a jelly roll pan. Peel and slice approximately six large or nine small apples, all the apples you have that have gone over the hill. Variety of apple doesn’t matter. You can mix and match. Layer the apples on the bottom of the pie crust.

Filling:

c sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

tsp nutmeg

Sprinkle over sliced apples.

Topping:

1 c flour

c sugar

c butter

Combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter until it looks like biscuit mix. Sprinkle over flour mixture. Bake 450 degrees for 20-30 minutes, until it bubbles and is golden brown on top. Cut to the number of servings you need.

Macaroni Salad

1 lb (4 cups) elbow macaroni, cooked, drained and cool

1 c salad dressing

2 tsp mustard

c milk

tsp celery seed

c sugar

cup onion, chopped

c. celery, chopped

1 dozen hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

1 small jar of pimentos, drained

Combine salad dressing, mustard, milk, celery seed and sugar until smooth and sugar has dissolved. Add to macaroni. Stir in onion, celery, eggs and pimentos. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Meatballs

As a busy mom, I learned shortcuts quick. I take out 10 or 15 lbs of hamburger (if you don’t live of a farm this might be hard, but when there is a good sale, buy a big pack of hamburger) Form into meatballs. Bake and freeze in quantities that can easily double or triple depending on the number of haying help present.

For every pound of ground beef add:

1 c bread crumbs

1 c chopped onion

1 c parmesan cheese (I leave this out if I know they are not going to be used for spaghetti sauce)

c of milk

salt & pepper

1 T minced garlic

1 egg (Yes, that means for 15 pounds of ground beef, you need 15 eggs. If you had your own chickens this wouldn’t be a big problem- but trust me, it means juicy meatballs. Don’t skimp.)

Combine all together. Shape into meatballs. Place on a sprayed rack on the jelly roll pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40minutes. When done, take off pan and put racks onto other pans to cool. Place 25-50 meatballs in gallon freezer bags and freeze. Pull out what you need for the mouths your feeding!

Serving Suggestions for Meatballs:

BBQ Sliders – Cut bacon strips in half. Wrap the meatball in bacon, then brush with a good honey BBQ sauce and bake until the bacon is done. Place on split dinner rolls and serve.

Cook in spaghetti sauce. Place on dinner rolls and top with a of a round of provolone cheese and some parmesan cheese.

Cook with onions, peppers and Worcestershire Sauce. Top with slice Swiss cheese.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs – Combine 2 c water, 2 c vinegar, 2 c sugar, 1/3 c ketchup and c soy sauce in sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Add c water, c cornstarch and the juice from a can of pineapple. Bring to a boil. Add meatballs, the pineapple and 1-2 chopped green peppers. Serve over rice.

The possibilities are endless!

Sweet Chunk Pickles (A LOT of work, but soooo worth it!)

Start with freshly picked 4-5 inch cucumbers, approximately a five gallon pail. Wash and dry them, and lay them in the bottom of a crock or food grade plastic bucket. Make enough brine to cover 2″ above pickles.

Brine: 1 c salt (Kosher or pickling salt, not iodized) per 1 gallon of water. Put a plate on top of your pile of cukes and weight them down with a jar of some sort. I use jars of spaghetti sauce. Let work for 2 weeks. Remove the scum whenever you can’t stand it anymore.

By the end of two weeks, cucumbers should be sort of clear and dark green. Throw out any that got mushy or shrunk up. Rinse well in cold water and cut into 1-inch chunks. Cover those with a solution of 1T powdered alum per quart of water. Let them soak in the alum solution for 12 to 18 hours.

Take them out, rinse and drain twice, finally putting them in a big pot and covering them with hot syrup (2c of sugar for every 1c of cider vinegar) Add some whole clove, a stick of cinnamon and let sit for 24 hours. After 24 hours, pour off syrup, boil it, and pour it back over your pickles. Never boil pickles, just syrup. Drain and boil two more times every 24 hours. At this point, you can stretch out the canning process to a convenient time. When you are ready, pour off the syrup, pack pickles into jars, pour HOT BOILING syrup in the jars to cover. Seal tight with new lid and leave for 24 hours to seal.

Bread & Butter Pickles

30 small to medium size cucumbers, washed and dried

8 onions

2 sweet red or green peppers

c salt (not iodized)

3 c sugar

2 c water

3 c cider vinegar

1 tsp turmeric

2 T mustard seed

Slice cucumbers and onions. Chop peppers. Toss vegetables with salt I tray of ice cubes. Chill for three hours. Combine remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Drain vegetables well and add to syrup. Bring back to boiling. Pack into clean jars. Pour hot syrup over contents of jars and seal.

Canned Apple Pie Filling Recipe

4 c sugar

2 T salt

1 T cinnamon

1 pinch cloves (optional)

T nutmeg

1 c cornstarch

10 c water

3 T lemon juice

6 lbs apples, peeled and cored

In a large pan over medium heat, mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Add 5 cups water and mix well. Cook and stir constantly until sugar is dissolved.

While the first mixture is heating, whisk the other 5 cups of water with the cornstarch in a separate bowl until thoroughly mixed. Add the cornstarch mix to the sugar and spice mixture and continue heating and stirring until the mixture is boiling, thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice.

Fill jars halfway with sliced apples. Ladle the syrup over the apples, and then add more apples to about one inch from the top of the jar. Add more syrup until the apples are covered, but be sure to leave at least inch space between the filling and the jar top to allow for a little expansion.

Slide a thin plastic, silicone or wooden knife around the sides of the jar to remove air bubbles, and then put the lids and rings on the jars.

Add a few cups of cold water to your boiling water bath to equalize the water temperature to the temps of the filled jars and place jars in the boiling water, making sure there is enough water to cover the jars with at least a inch water. Bring canning water to a rolling boil. Once the water is at boiling, let the jars sit for 25 minutes. Remove the jars and place on a thick towel to dry. As they cool, the lids will begin to make audible “popping” sounds as they seal.

Corn Salsa

1 can whole kernel corn or equivalent cooked fresh corn

1 can black beans

1 c black eyed peas

4 stalks celery, chopped

1 onion, chopped

3 jalapeno peppers (or a small jar)

1 c sugar

1 c cider vinegar

1 c olive oil

Sturdy nacho chips for dipping

Boil the sugar, vinegar and oil. Mix with remaining ingredients, except chips and chill. I triple the recipe (because right now I have a ton of corn) and can what we don’t eat.