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Early settlers came to a nearly treeless landscape and learned to build houses and fences from the rock buried in their pastures. Buffalo chips and then cow pies substituted for wood in their hearths. The hard working families formed strong communities and passed their land down from generation to generation. The family farm is becoming something of a legend. Few can afford to live, work and raise a family on a small farm these days. Those fortunate enough to have lived it carry the memories and experiences close to their hearts. Prairie Meals and Memories offers a taste of the past, both figuratively in storey and literally with scores of recipes from the days of home style cooking.

Hall's book is full of rural wisdom, and offers recipes for fried sauerkraut, green tomato pie, chokecherry pie and Christmas stolen, as well as directions to make lye soap and play clay.

About the author:

Carolyn Hall grew up on a farm near Olmitz, Kansas. She received her dietetics degree from Kansas State University. She's taught cooking and meal planning to food service employees, girl scouts and 4-H. She served on the development committee and worked as a prose editor for Kansas City Voices magazine, and has authored many essays and articles for various publications including Chicken Soup for the Mother and Son Soul and The Kansas City Star. She and her husband John, live on a bluff overlooking the Kansas River in Shawnee, Kansas.