Author Archives: Brent Borchardt

In the 1920’s and ’30’s, my grandparents farmed in Freedom Township, which is a rural area east of Emmetsburg, Iowa. According to family legend, when Charles Lindbergh flew The Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927 and landed in Paris, my grandfather set his wind generator-powered radio in front of the speakerContinue reading “Mass Communications”

The favorite pie of my brothers and I came from this cookbook which my mom inherited from her mom who belonged to the women’s group that created it. After my mom passed away about 15 years ago, the cookbook was lost in a family tragedy – it went to my oldest brother. I decided toContinue reading “Freedom Township Cookbook, 1934”

I don’t know why this was the thing I wanted to save from the farm but it was. As all the things were being packed up or sold off or thrown away, this was the thing I wanted to remind me of the farm I grew up on. It’s not a very practical thing toContinue reading “The Cider Press”

I like being a home cook. People mean it as a compliment when they say, “You could sell this,” or, “You should enter a contest,” but I think, maybe, what’s behind that – unconsciously – is the notion that what you’re doing is not valid unless you are doing it to make money or toContinue reading “Cooking is Drudgery.”