Volga German Cuisine

I have been thinking about ordering one or more cookbooks that I have found on the internet featuring Volga German recipes.  This is my heritage on my paternal side as my great-grandparents and their children immigrated from the Volga River in Russia back in 1907.   I remember enjoying a couple of things growing up that managed to survive integration and the generations, but I want to learn more about what kinds of foods were traditional to my ancestors way back when.

Mom used to make bierocks and varenky (which is basically the same as pierogy with a different name) and these were taught to her by Dad's mother who learned from her mother-in-law, the German from Russia immigrant.   Some of the other foods that I knew were sauerkraut, of course, and German sausage or wurst, as I guess it was called, as the Germans probably didn't call it 'German' sausage!   Grandma used to buy the sausage at Renna's Meat Market in Fresno.  It is still there and still selling their famed and most secret recipe sausage.  Yes, I asked and they would not give it up to me!  As for other foods, there were noodles (spaetzle), pickles of all kinds, and as far as sweets there were the Pfefferneuse, stollen and kolacky.  One thing I was recently surprized to discover is how prominant a food watermelon was to the Volga Germans! 

Ha!  I am wondering how I will manage to blend my desire to explore my heritage with the desire to eat my way to good health?!  I may have to take up Polka to work off all the extra fat I could be consuming. At least I have ordered some cabbage seeds for the garden next spring.  I have never grown cabbage before, but if I manage to harvest any, then I will definitely make some sauerkraut which is supposed to be very healthy as a fermented food.  Well, I can in turn use the kraut to make varenky and also it can be used as an ingredient in borscht.  I also plan to grow the beets for the borscht.

Average First and Last Frost Dates

Links to the average first and last frost dates and growing seasons for the state of Illinois tell me that for my area, I should expect my last frost in the spring sometime between April 14th and 21st (according to the state climatologist office).  My average first fall frost is sometime between October 14th and 21st.  My growing season is somewhere between 185 and 190 days without season extension practices.

Dave's Garden has a page where I can enter in my zipcode and find out more specific information in regard to average frost dates.

The Weather Channel  page.  Again; enter in your zip code for current weather.  Then from that page, scroll down and click on the link to get your >HISTORICAL DATA.  I am seeing March 15th as our last average freeze!  It is interesting to note the difference in dates given by the various sources. I really need to buy a thermometer that saves the low and high temps and start keeping my own records.  Of course, the average is far earlier than the approximate last freeze.  One date or the other is taken into consideration depending upon what is being planted--the hardiness of the plant or lack thereof. 

On this Plant Maps page, I can really zoom in and see our area right down to the roads.

In addition to knowing the average frost dates as an aid to planning my garden, I have been interested in learning about gardening by the signs.    This is important to the philosophy of Biodynamic gardening or farming.   This goes beyond 'organic' and I like the idea of  growing our food and living in harmony with the earth.