Customer Reviews

Up a Country Lane Cookbook

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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I loved this book! It was chock-full of recipes for the kinds of dishes my grandmothers and aunts prepared. It also gave great stories and details on rural Midwestern life during the 1940's and 50's - the kind of details you won't find in history books. Homey and comforting.

I read this book after reading Mrs. Birkby's book, "Neighboring on the Air", which was a great pleasure to read and cook from. Once again, Mrs. Birkby has hit a home run!

Mrs. Birkby was one of the 'radio homemakers' who broadcast recipes, tips and news to Iowa's rural housewives as well as writing a long-lived newspaper column. Needless to say, after decades she had a very rich collection of recipes and local history to share. This she has done in a book that is very well organized, easy to read, and involves the reader. Having never read her column, I can assume this style is what endeared the author to generations of Iowans.

This book focuses mainly on the years Mrs. Birkby spent with her husband starting and maintaining an Iowa farm for 10 years following WW II. It is broken up into chapters on topics such as 'Grocery', 'Milking', 'Stoves', etc. Recipes in each chapter follow the narration. I prefer this format for historical cookbooks, as it makes it much easier to leaf through and locate recipes.

I've tried several of the recipes, and all have worked well for me.

This book would have rated five stars for me, even if it hadn't had any recipes. Mrs. Birkby's struggles to make a success of a small farm with her family make a valuable documentation of postwar rural life. Reading her accounts, particularly of laundry, illustrates how far we have come as a nation with housekeeping.

Thank you again, Mrs. Birkby, for sharing your personal and professional history with us!

"Up A Country Lane" by wife, mother, homemaker, newspaper columnist, author, and one-time radio personality Evelyn Birkby is more than just another country cookbook. It is a compendium of anecdotal stories of friends and family, useful household tips, tales of rural farm life in Mill Creek Valley, Iowa during the 1940s and 50s, and Evelyn's own philosophy - all liberally sprinkled with recipes for the kinds of dishes so familiar to Midwestern American farm wives ranging from Stockyard Stew; Shepherd's Pie; and Pudding Mix Sweet Rolls; to Fried Apples; Tuna Crunch Salad; and Snickerdoodles. Highly recommended and rewarding reading, "Up A Country Lane" is as entertaining and thoughtful as it is homespun and 'kitchen cook friend'.