Ground Cherries

 Ground Cherries

I'll bet you've had this experience... you mention something familiar from your childhood and you're met with a stare.  You realize that what was so familiar to you is completely foreign to someone else.  Ground cherries?  I have a hard time explaining them.  "Like a tiny Japanese lantern with a little golden-green berry inside," I say.  Or, "it looks like a tomatillo... and you make pie with it."  Still I'm met with an uncomprehending gaze.

This past week I made a trip back to Indiana to visit my 95-year-old mother.  She used to make the best ground cherry pies, and it had been ages since we'd made one.  But the garden where they used to bear their luscious fruit year after year had been abandoned.  It occurred to me that Simon's garden may still have some ground cherries.  Simon and Edna were our Amish neighbors to the south on 700 East.  So I called Dan (Simon and Edna's son) who gave me Martha's (Dan's wife) number... Martha couldn't have produced a more generous response: "Sure you can have some!  Just go on down to the basement where I have a whole bunch drying on newspaper.  Take what you need.  And tell your mother hello and enjoy the pie!"  I explained that I would love to pick my own if there were still any in the garden, and that I would really love to visit with Simon if he was at home.

Nancy, my mother and I went out to Simon's on Monday afternoon.  Simon was surprised and glad to see us and walked out to the garden with us.  We carried a chair out for mother to sit in and she delighted in being near a garden again, harvesting ground cherries, and chatting with a dear neighbor.  Simon thought we should take some flowers with us too.

It was a perfect snapshot of why I love to return home... to the farm.  Good neighbors.  Gardens.  Connecting.  Thank you, Simon, Dan and Martha!

The revered Ground Cherry Pie recipe

written in my Mother's beautiful handwriting