After they bring the apples, hand each of them a sharp paring knife and tell them to peal and cut up the apples. This will probably bring lots of grumbles, but keep reminding them how delicious the pie will be if they help out.

        After the apples are diced up, add a cup of sugar and one fourth cup of flour and maybe a sprinkle of salt. Set aside.

        Some mothers may want to add some cinnamon and a little nutmeg to the apples. Others may want to just add the cinnamon, but not too much.

        Then, if you have not butchered the hog to get some lard, you must instruct the father to get this job done. This is quite a long process, so it will be explained at a later date. After the hog is slaughtered, get some of the fat from the belly of the hog and chop it up in little pieces. Put these pieces of fat into a big frying pan and go out and get some dry oak sticks, that your men have dragged from the hill. Start a fire in the wood-burning stove, by first finding some of your 10 kids old homework papers and a wood match. Light the fire and get the stove hot. Take the lid off the stove and put the pan, with the lard, right next to the flame. The grease will melt and you can drain it off into a clean can, then let it cool, for pie making.

        This should have been done days before you decide to make your pies. After the grease is hardened it is called lard and it is ready to make the pie crust. This is fun to do, but don't get too exuberant and handle the dough too much. First take a cup or two of flour, put it in a bowl, add a teaspoon of salt, a cup of the lard and chop the lard up into the flour until it is in lumps about the size of the peas in your garden. If you don't know how big that is just go to the garden and fetch a pea for comparison. Add some of that nice clean water from the canal, a few drops at a time. Don't stir the dough, just sort of roll it around in the bowl until it is easy to handle. Take a wad of it up in your hand and lightly knead it. Put some flour out on the table (not too much), get the rolling pin out that your father has carved from that oak stick, and roll lightly until you have a nice round piece of dough a little bigger than the pan you are baking the pie in.

        By this time, if your 10 kids, haven't eaten all of the sugared, spiced apples that you set aside, pour the apples into the pie shell and repeat the rolling process with the other half of the dough. Lay it gently over the apples and crimp the edged with a fork. You will have a better pie if you get some of that heavy cream that is skimmed off the bucket of last nights milk. Dab it around on the crust and then poke holes in the crust so the apples can breath.

        Don't do the way your father tells it, of the Chinaman, in Park City. He will tell you that he watched a cook make lots of pies and position them all on the table before him. He then filled his mouth with good thick cream and sprayed all the pies at once. It worked for him, but please don't you try this.

        I sort of got off the subject, didn't I? Well we still have to bake the pie, so see that the oven is hot, by the method that was used in the above instructions. When you open the oven and a blast of heat comes out at you, that nearly singes your eye brows, pop the pie in the oven and sit patiently. Since you can't see into the oven, wait about 30 minutes before peeking into the hot oven. If the pie is bubbling over it is probably done and you can get a flour sack, all rolled up, and remove the pie.

        If you have 10 kids I hope you made more than one pie, because one certainly won't fill the bill.

Dried Apple Pie.

        If you wish to make a dried apple pie, follow the above directions, but first soak the dried apples in some water until they are back to their normal size, before proceeding with your pie making. A dried apple pie is delicious, as are pies made from the fresh apples.

        If you like Home made ice cream on your pie, then you should have thought about it long before you made your pie, because ice cream making is another long process!!

        You may prefer to eat your apple pie with a hunk of home-made cheese, but that to, should have been thought of before you started making your pies. Making home-made cheese is another long process that I will cover at a later date.

        Good eating!