Western Hearths: Spring Homestead Dinners

Spring in the 1800s was a season of hope, work, and anticipation. After months of harsh winter weather, homesteaders welcomed the first signs of spring. High on their list of priorities came planting a garden for fresh eating and preserving. Greens, herbs, and early root vegetables were the first to make it to the table. From these limited resources, they created dinners that brought beauty to simplicity. The aroma of a simmering stew combined with the warmth of bread from the Dutch oven became much more than the sum of its parts. Such a meal provided nourishment for the body and soul.

The Homestead Table in Spring

Typical April crops on a western homestead might include:

• Tender greens like spinach, dandelion, and lettuce
• Root vegetables (carrots, turnips, and onions)
• Herbs like parsley, sage, and thyme

To these, a homestead cook added fruit from preserved stores, such as dried apples, berries, or rhubarb. Protein was often limited to eggs, milk, or cheese from the family’s animals. Salt pork or occasional fresh meat sometimes also made the menu. Bread often came in the form of biscuits, johnnycakes, or loaves baked in a cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven. 

Western pioneers cooked hearty meals to carry them through long hours of planting, plowing, and tending livestock. Grateful to make it through the long months of winter, they celebrated the new life of springtime with fresh, nourishing dinners.

Pioneer Spring Vegetable Stew

A spring vegetable stew seasoned with a clever mix of herbs, epitomizes the humble circumstanced and adaptability of western pioneers.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons lard, butter, or bacon drippings
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 potatoes, diced
2 cups chopped cabbage or kale
1 cup chopped early greens or herbs (parsley, dandelion, or spinach)
4 cups water or broth (if available)
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: 1 cup dried beans, soaked overnight

Instructions
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the fat over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft.
Stir in carrots and potatoes, cooking for a few minutes to coat in fat.
Add cabbage or kale, greens, beans (if using), and water or broth.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 25–30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
Season with salt, pepper, and herbs. Serve hot, with a slice of bread if available.

Tip: For a richer flavor, fry a small piece of salted pork at the beginning and cook the vegetables in the rendered fat.

More Than Just a Meal

In diaries and letters from the era, settlers often mentioned how meals brought the family together, despite the challenges of life. Keeping food on the table was a family task, with children helping in the garden and kitchen. Neighbors sometimes shared in a meal as the whole community celebrated the bounty of spring.

Bringing It to Your Own Table

Making a homestead vegetable stew today is a way to honor our western heritage. As you gather early spring vegetables from your garden or local market, imagine western settlers stirring a pot over a wood stove. Even if you didn’t till the prairie soil, you have the same goal of offering your family something nourishing with intention and care.

About Janalyn Voigt 

Janalyn Voigt fell in love with literature at an early age when her father read chapters from classics as bedtime stories. When Janalyn grew older, she put herself to sleep with tales "written" in her head. Today Janalyn is a storyteller who writes in several genres. Romance, mystery, adventure, history, and whimsy appear in all her novels in proportions dictated by their genre. Janalyn Voigt is represented by Wordserve Literary.

Learn more about Janalyn, read the first chapters of her books, subscribe to her e-letter, and join her reader clubs at http://janalynvoigt.com.

Discover Montana Gold 

Based on actual historical events during a time of unrest in America, the Montana Gold series explores faith, love, and courage in the wild west. 

Lighthouses of the Thousand Islands

The Thousand Islands region, where the St. Lawrence River winds between the United States and Canada, is a breathtaking blend of natural beauty and maritime history. Scattered among its many islands are historic lighthouses that once played a vital role in guiding ships through narrow passages, rocky shoals, and unpredictable currents. Today, they remain enduring symbols of the region’s rich nautical past and continue to captivate visitors from around the world.

At the western gateway to the river, Tibbetts Point Lighthouse has stood watch since 1827. Positioned where Lake Ontario meets the St. Lawrence, its classic white tower continues to shine as an active aid to navigation. Visitors are drawn to its scenic shoreline, listening to the waves and watching the light sweep across the water offers a peaceful glimpse into a simpler, slower pace of life.

Farther along the river, Rock Island Lighthouse offers both history and adventure. Accessible only by boat, this 1847 lighthouse now serves as a museum. Guests can explore exhibits detailing maritime life and climb the narrow staircase to the lantern room, where panoramic views of the islands stretch in every direction.

In contrast, Sister Island Lighthouse provides quiet beauty from afar. Built in 1870 and not open to the public, it sits serenely on its small island, surrounded by water and sky. Its solitude adds to its charm, making it a favorite sight for passing boaters and photographers.

Other notable lights enrich the region’s story. Sunken Rock Lighthouse rises dramatically from the river, marking a once-dangerous shoal. Crossover Island Lighthouse and Galloo Island Lighthouse also played critical roles in ensuring safe passage through busy shipping lanes.

Together, these lighthouses form a captivating network of history, resilience, and beauty—timeless beacons that continue to guide not only ships, but also the imaginations of all who experience the magic of the Thousand Islands.

ABOUT LOVE AT A LIGHTHOUSE SERIES:

Join the Row-family women, Libby, Julia, and Emma, as they navigate the isolation, danger, and hope for lasting love at three Thousand Islands lighthouses.

Libby’s Lighthouse: When the Tibbett’s Point Lighthouse keeper’s daughter finds a mysterious sailor with amnesia, the secrets she uncovers may change her life forever.

Julia’s Joy: She came to Sister Island to claim her inheritance, but the mysterious lighthouse keeper, William Dodge, makes her question all her plans.

Emma’s Engagement: Rock Island lighthouse. A new wife for lightkeeper Michael Diepolder. A jealous daughter. Can love shine through the darkness?

ABOUT SUSAN:

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than thirty times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books. She has fourteen in her fiction line. Susan is also a published author of two premarital books, stories in a dozen compilations, and hundreds of published articles. Susan lives in Colorado Springs and enjoys traveling the world. Visit www.SusanGMathis.com/fiction for more.

 

The Texas Town That Beat the Depression—For a While

 by Tom Goodman

Just south of Granbury, Texas, the Brazos River curls into a horseshoe and nearly closes on itself, leaving a wide piece of land tucked inside the bend. Today, the Pecan Plantation subdivision sits there—a community I knew well when my brother called it home.

But before the golf carts and manned gates, people called that same ground something else.

A Texas utopia.

Kristenstad.

In the early 1930s, Christian Christensen led thirty carefully chosen families to build something rare on that stretch of land. They milled their own lumber from cleared timber, turned the wood excess into chairs and charcoal, and worked the fields together. Nearly everything was produced on site. They even minted their own tokens for trade inside the settlement.

For a time, it worked. No crime. No lawsuits. A steady rhythm of labor and provision.

And then the newspapers found it.

As the Great Depression deepened, glowing accounts of Kristenstad spread far beyond Hood County. One newspaper headline declared, “Depression merely news item to one little Texas community.” Stories were picked up and carried across the country, holding up Kristenstad as an example of communal living that was immune to hard times.

Men and families began arriving with expectations the place was never built to meet. Some came looking for a fresh start. A few came looking to test ideas of their own. Christensen had designed Kristenstad as a disciplined system of shared effort and personal responsibility. The publicity recast it as something easier.

He complained that “criminals, communists, fanatics, and rattle-brained cranks of every description” began to drift in, some gaining a foothold before their intentions were clear.

The original vision—tight, practical, demanding—grew harder to maintain as new arrivals pressed in with different assumptions.

Then the Depression that everyone said Kristenstad was immune to caught up with them. Prices collapsed. Crops failed. Livestock died. Fire took the chair factory, one of their most profitable community enterprises. But in a nation afflicted by economic hardship, few were buying them anyway. 

The final blow to the community was the death of its founder in 1937. He was only sixty-one.

Without him, there was no one left to hold the line—no one to enforce the discipline the system required or push back against those reshaping it from within.

By 1938, the community defaulted on its loans and the land was returned to its original owners. The dream that had been Kristenstad was no more.

Your humble author about 34 years ago on the Brazos where it bends around the Hood County subdivision, Pecan Plantation, the site of what was once Kristenstad. 

Jeremiah Lanphier's noontime prayer meeting sent revival across the country

 

 

 

 

Jeremiah Lanphier, a name no one recalls outside of Bible scholars. Born in Coxsackie, New York in 1809 to a farming family. At 16, he apprenticed to a cloth merchant and also studied music. Jeremiah opened his own business at the same time he joined the Broadway Tabernacle choir at the church built for Revivalist Charles Finney. Under his preaching, Jeremiah became a Christian.

As wealthy families moved away from lower Manhattan, the churches moved with them. But Lanphier continued to live in lower Manhattan, serving the Lord where he could. He embraced the call to be a city missionary for the North Dutch Church in Manhattan.

Although Lanphier had no theological training, he was a remarkably good candidate for such a ministry. He never married. His peers described him as tall with a pleasant personality. He was full of energy and perseverance. Gifted in music, prayer, and preaching. Jeremiah was noted for his modest demeanor, his piety, and good judgment.

Ministry begins 

On July 1,1857, he closed his business and took on his lay-minister calling with determination. Going door to door, visiting homes, passing out religious tracts, and inviting people to church filled his days. Additionally, he invited children to Sunday School and encouraged the hotels to direct their guests to services. All of this with little to show for his efforts.

 Lanphier was given the task of reaching the growing population of New York. At the time, Manhattan's population was multiplying rapidly—immigrants, workers, and businessmen filled the streets. Few had any connection to church or faith. He struggled trying to fulfill his calling. People were busy, some distracted just trying to survive. Others were uninterested in the Gospel. Thus, he tried something different.

Lanphier found prayer brought him peace and contentment. He resolved to start a prayer meeting for businessmen. As a former business owner, he knew the value of time for them. During lunch, all the businesses were closed—a perfect time to pray. He sent out handbills inviting people to attend a prayer meeting every Wednesday during their lunch hour. The flyer encouraged people to come when they could between noon and one and stay as long as they liked; be it five minutes, twenty minutes, or the whole hour.

On September 23, 1857, he placed a sign outside the church directing people to the prayer room. The first meeting he prayed alone for thirty minutes, then one man came and before the hour was up, there were four more. Six men in attendance might have seemed like a failure, but Lanphier was persistent.

The next week there were twenty, the third week forty. and by October the prayer meeting became a daily gathering. There were few simple rules for the prayer meeting that Lanphier politely but firmly enforced: that those praying out loud were to be limited to five minutes and that no controversial topics were to be discussed. Women who attended the meetings could make requests, but weren't permitted to pray out loud. In the early days, hundreds of prayer requests came in to the Fulton Street meeting from all parts of the country. What was later known as the Fulton Street Revival was in full swing.

 Fulton Street Revival Grows

By January 1858, the church had opened a second room and by February a third, so prayers were going on simultaneously each noon. As many as twenty noon prayer meetings were being held throughout Manhattan. In mid-March Burton Theater, capable of holding 3,000, was crowded for the prayer meetings. By the end of March, every downtown New York church and public hall was filled to capacity. Ten thousand men were gathering daily for prayer.

It has been estimated that as many as a million people were converted in 1858 and 1859, more than 3% of United States population of less than thirty million.

For years after the revival, Lanphier continued to hold his daily prayer meeting in lower Manhattan. As The New York Times wrote after his retirement in 1893, "success did not elate him, nor was he discouraged by indifference."

The man was quietly faithful to his calling. He retired in 1893 due to age and failing eyesight. It is estimated that he oversaw more than 11,000 prayer meetings, where more than a half million people attended over 36 years, and that 56,000 prayers had been offered and 225,000 written requests for prayer had come in.

 Lanphier died on December 26, 1898. He left no famous sermon or other legacy that caused him to be remembered beyond the Christian circles he served in. Although he is given credit for starting the Fulton Street Revivals, scholars argue it had already begun before the prayer meetings started. Either way, Jeremiah Lanphier carried the torch of prayer consistently, daily leading others, lifting up the lost to the Lord.

Even after the revival ended, he never abandoned his calling to prayer. On the 150th Anniversary of the Prayer Meeting Revival, sculptor Lincoln Fox created a statue of Lanphier sitting on a park bench with Bible in hand, inviting passersby to pray, on the site where the Fulton Street Revival began. Later it was moved to the lobby of King's College.

Although he never sought fame, he impacted millions of lives through consistent prayer. What a wonderful reminder for believers.

Have you ever heard of the Fulton Street Revival or Jeremiah Lanphier?

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Cindy Ervin Huff, is a multi-published award-winning author in Historical and Contemporary Romance.  She’s a 2018 Selah Finalist. Cindy has a passion to encourage other writers on their journey. When she isn’t writing, she feeds her addiction to reading and enjoys her retirement with her husband of 50 plus years, Charles. Visit her at www.cindyervinhuff.com.

 

 

 

UTILIZING YOUR GOD-GIVEN TALENTS (Part II)

 

By Catherine Ulrich Brakefield

Christ said life would not be easy, especially not for Christians. “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 NKJV).

Ira F. Stanphill enjoyed utilizing his talent for songwriting to give others joy. However, his joy was never complete after his wife's departure from his life. Zelma took his four-year-old son with her.

A well-to-do and affluent Texas businessman’s life suddenly hit rock bottom. He felt he’d come to the end of his trail. He found himself in church that Sunday, hoping for answers to his questions.

Though he was young, he had run out of options for his floundering business. The sermon didn’t help him. Seeking an escape from his misery, he sought solace in a country road. Driving out of the metropolitan area, he found himself in the country. He parked his car down the worst of the country roads and went out for a walk. The road became narrower and the going rougher. Still, he pressed on.

Coming to a dilapidated cottage, he noticed some of the windows had been patched with cardboard. A little girl out front was rocking back and forth in her little rocking chair. She clutched a worn and frayed doll to her bosom, whose appearance wasn’t much better than the little girl’s. Stained with use, with the stuffing protruding from worn cloths the doll looked a sight. The little girl was oblivious to her tattered doll as well as her thread-bare clothing. Caressing the doll to her, the little girl, her face gleaming, a smile echoing her thankful heart, continued to rock back and forth, singing a lullaby. 

"Little girl, would you tell me how you can be happy living in such a house? It is broken down, and the windows are out in several places. The doll you have in your hand is broken with the stuffing coming out. How can you be happy?" The little girl looked up with a smiling face and a gesturing hand and said, "Mister, my daddy just came into a lot of money, and he is building us a brand new mansion just over that hilltop."

He felt as if someone had pierced his heart. The businessman was that moved by the honesty of the little girl’s words. Words he often read—but now understood:

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In my father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you…” (John 14:1-3).

It was then he realized, “That though his earthly business was faltering, the heavenly father had greater things in store for him. It was as though he heard God saying, ‘Son, don't you know that I have a mansion prepared for you just beyond those clouds?’”

The young businessman left that dilapidated cottage and wise little girl with a new determination to live for God. His heavenly Father would take care of him—and His business.

Only, that wasn’t the end of it. The young businessman found himself before the congregation telling his story, that’s when Ira Stanphill heard it, and all night long, tossed and turned only to get up the next morning to write:

I'm satisfied with just a cottage below
A little silver and little gold
But in that city where the ransomed will shine
I want a gold one that's silver lined

I've got a mansion just over the hilltop
In that bright land where we'll never grow old
And some day yonder we'll never more wander
But walk on streets that are purest gold

Though often tempted, tormented and tested
And like the prophet, my pillow is stone
And though I find here, no permanent dwelling
I know He'll give me a mansion of my own

I've got a mansion just over the hilltop
In that bright land where we'll never grow old
And some day yonder we will never more wander
But walk on streets that are purest gold

Don't think me poor or deserted or lonely
I'm not discouraged 'cuz I'm Heaven bound
I'm just a pilgrim in search of a city
I want a mansion, a robe, a crown

I've got a mansion just over the hilltop
In that bright land where we'll never grow old
And some day yonder we'll never more wander
But walk on streets that are purest gold

We'll walk on streets that are purest gold

Ira was granted custody of his son, but sadly was unable to reconcile with his wife, who died tragically in an automobile accident. He never allowed his personal life to have any effects on his faith in Jesus Christ, nor his God-given talent.

Leaning on God, and trusting in faith, believing, as Jesus Christ said, “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).

Our talents overlap with each other’s talents in a most inspirational way, as noted by this true story, which happened over seventy years before, in 1948, for others to draw hope and encouragement from. God Bless!

LOVE’S FINAL SUNRISE by Catherine Ulrich Brakefield

New Yorker Ruth Jessup and Amish-bred Joshua Stutzman lived in different worlds; their lives collided into catastrophic proportions battling wits against a psychopath and The New World Order...  Fleeing for her life and suffering from amnesia, Ruth finds herself in an hourglass of yesteryear. Can Joshua’s Amish ways help them survive these final three-and-one-half years?

    "To be honest, I’m not usually drawn to fiction. But for this no-nonsense nonfiction lover, Love’s Final Sunrise was a risk that paid off in full measure. I highly recommend this author’s way of weaving intrigue, romance, and Christian principles."  Lori Ann Wood

Catherine says, "My readers encourage my writing!" An award-winning author, her inspirational historical romances include Wilted Dandelions, her faith-based Destiny series Swept into Destiny, Destiny’s Whirlwind, Destiny of Heart, and Waltz with Destiny. Her newest book is Love's Final Sunrise. She's written two pictorial history books. Images of America: The Lapeer Area, and Images of America: Eastern Lapeer County. 

https://news.ag.org/en/articles/news/2025/05/this-week-in-ag-history-may-25-1952 

https://ifphc.wordpress.com/2025/05/29/ira-stanphill-the-story-behind-the-beloved-assemblies-of-god-gospel-singer-and-songwriter/