Dealing with Death in the Ozarks

This week, we were given the news that the daughter of one of our friends in the Ozarks had died.  She passed away from a tragic outdoor accident involving a lightening strike, water, and a canoe.  The whole town is hurting with her. So, the question is: how do we deal with death in the Ozarks.

One of the answers that I have heard involved rational thinking about how to have avoided the issue. We should not be on water, in a canoe, during a storm.  But that answer left me a bit shallow, though I do remember learning this safety rule as a Boy Scout.  "Get off the water."  It still leaves me feeling a bit shallow, though, because we don't know what this group did to avoid the problem.  We don't even know how far away a storm might have been.  We just know the canoe was struck by lightening. Rationalizing on what could have been done does nothing to help us deal with the death.

Another answer involved trying to figure out what to do in the post tragedy.  The young woman's daughter must be cared for now. The family must make plans: funeral, dinners, etc.  It is part of what we do to deal with death in the Ozarks.

The thing that makes me most happy, though, is knowing the whole community will grieve with the family. In small ways, we will all try to do something to let the family know we hurt with them. There  will be shoulders to cry on. There will be hugs to be had.

It takes a community to do grief counseling...

Ray Province, The Celtic Ozarkian

Canning Your own Green Beans

I finally had some time tonight to get the information up on the Food Supply Gardening website on how to can green beans using a pressure cooker. This was a sacred ritual in my childhood home this time of year. My dad and mom would bring grandma up, and they would have us all snapping green beans for what seemed like an eternity.  Eventually, grandma and mom would get to squabbling, and Dad would have to break it up. Grandma would always listen to whatever Dad said, which made my mother very mad.

Canning green beans was a family ritual. It is a shame that more families don't do that now. It was a time to bond as a family, and also put away food that we would eat all winter.  I didn't know what a canned beans from the store tasted like till I was out on my own.

Mom made the green beans later with onion, salt, pepper, and some bacon fat.  A little bacon grease went into the beans also. What a deal.  She said the Methodist women made the best green beans in the world, and she was right.

Give them a try,

Ray Province
The Celtic Ozarkian