The way things had developed at the ranch, Thomas and I, had taken on more responsibilities. It made a difference for me, once Naomi was a year old, that I was a little more flexible. I became the kitchen steward,
that meant planning the weekly menus, making a schedule for the sisters, when it was their turn to cook or do the clean up and dishes. Since I had been helping out in the kitchen for many months, I knew what the routine was. The biggest challenge was, making the little money we had, go a long way. We had a large vegetable garden, chickens, a cow for milk and butter, and for special meals, fresh rabbit meat.
Once a week, one of the brothers would drive a couple of us, up to Eureka to do the grocery shopping. Thomas stayed at the ranch with Naomi, and one of the other moms babysat her, while he was working in the
garden. I vaguely remember us going to a warehouse in Eureka, that sold restaurant supplies in big quantities. We bought large cans of fruit like peaches, pears and then bags of farina, flour and sugar. Our standard breakfasts were warm cereals with fruit, fresh cow milk, butter and homemade bread or
muffins.
Part of the responsibility of being in charge of the kitchen, was to teach some of the girls how to cook, make bread and keep up with the schedule of preparing the food and setting it out as a buffet. Of course the clean up, washing dishes and the huge pots was part of the job.
We usually had around 50 people, counting on us, to have the meals ready in time and we wanted to be happy servers. I liked to add the touch, of fresh picked flowers to set out on our redwood tables.
At the ranch such a stewardship, as we called it, meant also encouraging the team to look to the Lord and serve with a joyful heart. We always started with praying together, holding hands in a circle,
asking Jesus to help us and singing a song of praise.
Being in the kitchen a lot during those days, reminded me of the first day when we arrived. The women
immediately took time to greet me, and even prayed with me and sang together. They were my example of the importance of our job in the dome kitchen, which often included greeting hitchhikers, who had straggled in from the road and saw the welcoming cross.
When the food was ready, one of us rang the farm bell that hung outside of the kitchen window. The first thing we did was gather around the tables and benches, asking the Lord “to bless the hand of those who
had prepared the meal”. And most of the time we sang a couple of rounds of one of our favorite praise choruses.
