Cooking in the West

Parts of south-central Montana were pounded this past weekend by heavy rains, which have caused flooding that is painfully reminiscent of last year’s severe flooding. I just watched one tough cowgirl, Jonnie Jonckowski, weeping on the nightly news over the damage to her Angel Horse Rescue facility near Billings. My heart, prayers, and what I can donate go out to all affected by the flooding, and I know that helps a little because I have been there on a smaller scale in May 2011. I wrote this “Diary of a Flood” during that experience, and I share it now to give perspective on living through the nightmare of natural disasters because the human spirit is indomitable!

Jonnie’s Facebook post summarized that spirit when she posted, “You never know what life is going to throw at you. The rains kept coming and flooded me out. I lost everything in the office, all of my furniture, appliances, carpet, rugs, electricity, hay, feed, and so much more. Angel Horses have been destroyed by raging water. God has given us a challenge, but we will rise up.” There is a GoFundMe account set up to help the Angel Horses rescue.

“Diary of a Flood”

May 20, 2011: It has been raining for two days, and the creek is rising. There was a bear on the porch twice during the night. I wonder if it was some sort of sign that we are supposed to build an ark? At least God didn’t have a warped sense of humor and sent us a wolf! In any event, we might have misread the sign, so Bret’s friend, Lenny Schlabach, shot the bear, because he had a tag, and it had been bothering our cows and the Halverson’s lambs. In all the excitement of the bear hunt, we didn’t realize we should have moved vehicles across the rapidly rising creek before dark.

May 21, 2011: The world is supposed to end today according to the Mayan calendar, so I guess if I drown in the creek driving across it, it won’t matter much. During the night, the solid half of our bridge settled a few inches below the cattle guard part of the bridge. Obviously, the concrete that the bridge is sitting on is shifting in the flood water. I need to take Lisa, a ranch vacation guest from Germany, to see Yellowstone today, so I decided to keep the door of the car open and drive across really fast. Since I lived through the experience, everyone else decided to drive their vehicles across also. Old Faithful went off right on time, so I figure the world isn’t going to end in an earthquake today.

May 22, 2011: The world didn’t end yesterday, which means I am going to have to make the truck payment, clean the house, and do all those things I was putting off just in case the world actually did end. I was going to Google the size of a cubit, but the creek has gone back down and no more animals have shown up on the porch for a ride, so I guess we won’t spend Sunday building an ark. The sun is shining, and it seems like the worst might be over.

May 24, 2011: It has been pouring rain all day. We took Lisa to the airport and moved all the vehicles and animals to higher ground. Every coulee is running several feet deep. We suspect as we cross the sagging bridge on the four wheeler that it will be for the last time. The power flickers off, so we go to bed wondering what lies ahead.

May 25, 2011: The bridge is gone. The cattle guard portion of it is leaning up against some willows, but the steel beams, wooden beams, concrete slabs, rip rap, and bridge deck have vanished. With the rip rap washed out, the raging creek is eating away the banks on both sides of the creek. I decided to take pictures. Bret and Bryan (a ranch vacation guest from St. Louis) are standing by three big round bales at the edge of the creek. Seconds after they move away from the bales, the whole bank buckles and the bales pitch into the water. My heart pounds and my hands shake on the camera so badly that I fail to capture the moment on film, because I realize that the boys would have been killed if they had not moved seconds earlier. As County Superintendent of Schools, I am supposed to swear in the Sweet Grass County High School Board members tonight, but I cannot safely get there, so we have to do it by telephone. Tomorrow, we will find a way to get to the road up over the big hill behind us, which will take us down to Prairie Dog Town. We watched the phone pole and line wash into the creek, so we know we won’t have a phone or internet for a long while. Our cell phones work if we stand on a picnic table in the driveway and don’t move a muscle during the conversation.

May 26, 2011: The mourning phase that follows natural disaster has hit me today. I have experienced several wildfires and several floods, and I know that I will go through the stages of grief just as though a loved one had died. I know our neighbors are going through the same thing, and many of them are much worse off than we are. We do not have water in our house, so we are very lucky. We try not to think about the loss of hay, hayfields, ditches, fences, and the exorbitant cost of replacing the roads and bridges. We are all safe, which is all that counts, but the forecast is for more rain for several days. We cannot even get down to the Musselshell ranch to see what we are facing there, because the only way through Roundup, Montana is with a rowboat. But... life goes on just somewhat inconvenienced. I have to cook a retirement dinner for three of my colleagues and a hundred guests tomorrow night. I am going to have to forfeit my airline ticket to my niece’s graduation in Colorado this weekend. Somehow, we will get our calves branded and our cattle hauled to the Musselshell Ranch. There is no time for self pity. The late Duane Mothershead, who lived over the hill on Upper Deer Creek used to say, “If this were easy, everybody would be doing it!” That’s about the only way to look at it. Besides that, we can diversify our operation even further. Now, we have whitewater rafting right out the front door!

When the water is high, so is the rhubarb. The old-timers, like my parents, believed that rhubarb cleansed the blood. I’m not sure about the science behind that, but if your rhubarb hasn’t washed away, try these tasty recipes! Thanks to Sandy Smith of Big Timber, Montana, and my late mother for these rhubarb recipes!

Rhubarb Cake:

1 yellow cake mix

4 C. rhubarb

1 C. sugar

1 pt. heavy cream

Make cake as directed on the package. Put in a 9 X 13 pan. Put rhubarb over cake, sprinkle with sugar, and pour cream over top. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream!

Sandy Smith’s Rhubarb Upside Down Cake:

3 1/2 C. chopped rhubarb

3 oz. pkg. strawberry gelatin

1/2 C. sugar

3 C. miniature marshmallows

1 pkg. yellow or white cake mix

Lightly grease 9 X 13 baking dishes. Glass works best because of the acid in rhubarb. Spread rhubarb pieces evenly in the bottom of the pan. Mix the gelatin and sugar and sprinkle over rhubarb. Spread the marshmallows on top. Mix the cake according to package directions and pour over the rhubarb and marshmallows. Bake according to the cake mix directions. This is excellent served warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Mother’s Rhubarb Custard Pie:

Beat 2 eggs slightly.

Add 2 T. milk.

Mix together and stir in: 1 1/2 C. sugar

3 T. flour

1 t. almond extract

3 C. rhubarb (cut in 1/2 inch cubes)

Pour into a pastry lined pan and dot with 2 T. butter. Cover with top crust and bake at 400 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes until nicely browned.