So many Mon Fundays have rolled by lately that I've missed, it's time to participate again. Mon Fundays are some of my favorite posts because fellow glob-buds choose the subject...and sometimes, we here at The Asylum choose to follow the rules.
Today is one of those days.
My friend, Faye at Summit Musings, has dished out this challenge:
Your assignment for
March 15 is to share your memories of school lunches. What kind of
school did you attend--public, private, parochial? Did you bring lunch
from home or buy in the school cafeteria? What did your lunch look
like? Who prepared it? Who did you have lunch with? Was this a happy
part of the school day? What did you do during lunch time other than
eat your PB & J sandwich?
You can "clink the link" above to learn the motivation for her idea and also to find out "What's for Lunch" at other blog locations throughout the Universe. In other words, "Through the teeth and over the tongue, look out stomach, here it comes !"
My school days began in the boondocks (boonies) of southeastern Oklahoma in a two-room school called Kellond . (I would post a photo, but as usual, I'm not home.)
The building actually had more than two rooms, but there were only two classrooms...first grade through fourth and fifth grade through eighth. There were many of these small independent schools throughout the counties, much like neighborhood schools these days. Most of the students walked several miles through the "woods" to get to school everyday. There were no buses.
My parents and I lived the teacherage. If you don't know what a teacherage is, just think about what a parsonage is. Our house, the teacherage, was just a hop-skip-and jump from the school building and within rock throwing distance of the playground, complete with a slide, swings, monkey bars, and merry-go-round. Oh yes, and two out houses. There were no indoor bathroom facilities in either the school or our house...until I was nine years old. That's right. We did not have an indoor bathroom. For many years, the only running water in our house was at our kitchen sink.
The reason we lived in the teacherage is because my mom was one of the two teachers. She was known as Miss Bertha to all her students. She was Mommy to me.
Kellond's basement was a multi-purpose room. It served as the kitchen and lunch room and activity room and most importantly, in the spring time when those twisty-turny clouds blew through on a regular basis, a hidey hole.
Mrs. Maynard was the chief cook and bottle washer. Every morning about 11:00, wonderful smells came wafting up into the classroom from down below. Mrs. Maynard would have about six big pots on the stove with bubbling concoctions just waiting to be dished out onto those plastic trays with the "compartments" to be filled.
There were always lunchroom helpers from the "Big Room" who helped dish out the food. Those lucky kids would stand at the bottom of the stairs and yell, "Through the teeth and over the tongue...look out stomach, here it comes."
That "signal" meant it was time to line up, descend the stairway, and scrub our hands at the little white sink. Miss Bertha stood guard to make sure lots of warm water and soap were used. She also would inspect elbows and necks and ears...and if there was any sign of "rust," elbows and necks and ears were scrubbed...by her. Many other students didn't have indoor plumbing either. We did have the luxury of having a number two "warsh" tub that I bathed in e.v.e.r.y. night. It was evident that there were some who didn't have "warsh" tubs.
Once our final inspection of cleanliness was approved, our trays were filled with delectable food from Mrs. Maynard's kitchen. We sat at very long tables with very long benches, and could go back for seconds, and thirds, and fifths. For some students, this was the only meal of their day. Miss Bertha made sure no one left the lunch room hungry. She also knew which kids probably wouldn't have supper, so their pockets were filled with whatever left-overs would fit.
Monday's menu usually consisted of red beans, cornbread, and spinach. (And yes, I LOVED spinach then and I LOVE spinach now !) Those shaker bottles filled with peppers and vinegar were set out on the tables. For dessert we usually had Wacky Cake. It was washed down with ice cold milk.
There was always "commodity" cheese on the table. Commodity (welfare) cheese was about twice the size of a large block of Velvetta. It was the best. We also had pitchers of honey and bowls of peanut butter. There was butter. Real creamy butter that melted on those homemade yeast rolls. They were about the size of a softball. These were served every day except when we had cornbread. A meal could be made out of those rolls and butter and honey and peanut butter.
Other menu items were oven-fried chicken, stew, macaroni and cheese, chicken and 'dumplins', turkey and dressing, green beans, corn, brownies, and fruit cobblers. There are many more not mentioned, but this gives you a fair-to-middlin' idea of what my school lunches consisted of.
So, back to the question, "What's for Lunch?"
For me today, it was a healthy serving of wonderful memories of my childhood.
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We made a visit back to Kellond several years ago and were lucky enough to find the lady who now owns the Kellond School building. Our house, the teacherage is long since gone, and a trailer house sits where it once did.
Jan was kind enough to let us walk through the building. The "Little Room," (grades one through four) had been turned into a bar. Yes, where the row of desks for third grade used to be, was now a row of bar stools. (Miss Bertha, cover your ears.)
She even let me rummage through an old storage room where I found the remains of two old wooden desks. The wood had rotted away, but the old iron legs were as good as new. Jan let us buy two sets.
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For those who asked for the reminder about planting rye grass for Easter baskets this year, consider the following two posts your reminder...
