A Krautfest Rhyme

 


A Krautfest Rhyme.

Once upon a time
in a neighborhood by a lake,

a group of friends gathered.
There was saurkraut to make.

500 pounds of cabbage
was cleaned and quartered and chopped.

Then young and old, expert and new,
sliced it down – they couldn’t be stopped.

Once sliced it went
to the station to be weighed.

Salt was added.
It’s how you make homemade.

Into crocks and buckets
it went to be pound.

It starts the fermentation
and keeps it safe and sound.

No krautfest could ever
be quite complete

without hugs and laughs and games
and plenty of treats to eat.

There was a tub of apples
waiting for kids to bob.

While others were pressed into juice,
which many found to be a fun job.

After working and eating and drinking
away the day,

evening arrived,
and instruments were brought out to play.

Singing with friends,
(only some truly in tune)

is surely the best way
to end a krautfest afternoon.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Thanks so much and mostest
to our amazing hosts and hostesses.

Love you Joyce and Rob and Nikole and Michael
for continuing the annual krautfest cycle!

If you would like to see previous years’ Krautfests, feel free to click HERE and HERE and HERE.  

Krautfest 2016!

krautfest-2016

This past weekend was one of my favorites of the year!  Time for the annual Brugnoli Family and Friends Krautfest Party!

Those of you who have been hanging around here awhile, might remember Krautfest 2015 or even Krautfest 2014.

The festivities kicked off this past Saturday in the beautiful Autumn weather at  Conneaut Lake, PA with our dear “Oh Rob” welcoming guests and instructing newcomers on the sauerkraut-making process.

krautfest-2016-instructions

It starts with cutting….  800 lbs of cabbage cutting!

krautfest-2016-familes-that-chop-together-stay-together

The cut cabbage goes to the shredders, where experienced cutters teach newbies on equipment passed down through generations from grandparents…

krautfest-2016-experienced-shredders-teaching-the-new-guy

and taught to new generations – where Moms teach sons…

krautfest-2016-younger-generations-learn-shredding

and sisters show brothers….

krautfest-2016-big-sister-teaching-younger-brother

and families do together.

krautfest-families-that-shred-together-stay-together

It then gets measured,

krautfest-2016-measuring

and salted,

krautfes-2016-salting-and-meeting-new-friends

and pounded…

krautfest-2016-stompers

while friends and family chat,

krautfest-2016-telling-stories

and laugh,

krautfest-2016-old-friends-shredding-together-and-still-smiling

and hug.

krautfest-2016-hugs

Old friends meet up after decades.

krautfest-2016-old-friends-reuniting

and new relationships bloom.

krautfest-2016-new-couples-sharing

There is plenty of fun for kids of all ages!

krautfest-2016-high-jumping

From Jumbo Jenga…

krautfest-2016-jenga

to pick up sticks…

krautfest-2016-pick-up-sticks

krautfest-2016-noah

to lawn bowling,

krautfest-2016-lawn-bowling

and searching for bones and candy and money in hay.

krautfest-2016-bones-in-the-straw

There was pumpkin painting…

krautfest-2016-kids-pumpkin-painting

krautfest-2016-pumpkin-painting

krautfest-2016-pumpkin-painting-2

and t-shirt painting.

krautfest-2016-tshirts

krautfest-2016-tshirts-2

krautfest-2016-from-the-greenhouse-shirt-painting

There was apple picking…

krautfest-2016-picking-apples-to-press

and apple pressing.

krautfest-2016-apple-pressing-2

The kids loved learning how to turn apples into fresh apple juice!

krautfest-2016-teaching-the-kids-about-the-apple-press

and so did some of the parents and grandparents!

krautfest-2016-teaching-the-kids-about-the-apple-press-2

krautfest-2016-apple-pressing

There was lots of food.

krautfest-2016-food

I made Grandma’s halupki – another Krautfest tradition served up next to hot dogs and kraut and homemade pierogies and cheesy polenta and fresh smoked ham and lots of other yummies.

krautfest-2016-halupki

There was an entire dining room table filled with desserts.

krautfest-2016-dessert-table

and of course plenty of wine.

krautfest-2016-wine

There was tire swinging,

krautfest-2016-tire-swing

and bonfire-building.

krautfest-2016-lighting-the-bonfire

There was Marty (hubby – on the left) and Martin.

krautfest-2016-marty-and-martin

There were quiet moments from afar,

krautfest-2016-through-the-hydrangeas

and lots of singing and music after the sun went down and drew us indoors.

krautfest-2016-music

krautfest-2016-singing

krautfest-2016-music-2

Even dogs of all sizes made friends!

krautfest-2016-bear-and-olive

Can you imagine a better time?

conneaut-krautfest-2016-group-photo

Thank you Joyce and Oh Rob!  We love you!   We ALL do!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Annual Krautfest Time

pumpkins

For our gang, one of the best things about Autumn is the Annual Brugnoli Friends and Family Krautfest (maybe you remember last year’s), and this past weekend delivered beautiful weather for our festivities!

We started with a crisp, foggy morning that included a beautiful breakfast buffet at Sandy and Bill’s, where most of the gang hung out to watch the annual Conneaut Lake Fall Festival Parade (and the rest of us served as candy passer-outers and parade marchers for our Boro Council candidate, dear “Oh Rob” Brugnoli.

parade 1

parade 2

kf rob boro council

parade 3

After the parade, we hurried home to prepare for the Kraut-making festivities.  Halupkis and Pierogies and Brauts and Dogs in Kraut simmering, while we set up stations to make 800 pounds worth of cabbage into the world’s best homemade saurkraut in the warm Autumn sunshine.

Stations were set up… and then began…

the cutting…

kf cutters 4

and the slicing and shredding…

kf shredders

then measuring and weighing…

kf louis and louise

kf measuring

(…and always time for a mother-daughter pose)…

kf cindy louise
kf dumping 2kf scooping

then finally stomping and pounding.

kf pounding

and laughing…

kf all betsy carl stomping laughing

and composting.
kf compostkf cutters 2

 

 

 

 

Older generations taught younger generations…

kf roddy mason

kf cutting more

kf nikole shreddingkf cuttersand friends taught friends.

kf holly slices

kf holly

More laughs…
kf joyce holly

kf rob and al

kf joyce holly laughs

lots of hugs… and giving thanks.

kf rob hug

kf rob speech

 

 

 

Pumpkins were painted…

kf painting pumpkins

 

kf painting pumpkins 3

kf painting pumpkins 2

 

&
kf kids painting pumpkins

Swings were swung…

kf kids swing

and laughter filled the air.
kf kids swing 2

Treasures were searched for…
kf kids hay

and discovered.

kf ella treasure skeleton

kf kids hay skeleton find

Lots of delicious food was eaten…

kf pretzels

kf food 1

and YES – these cookies consist of three amazing layers: chocolate chip cookie topped with Oreo cookie topped with brownie!

kf brownies

Delicious, intoxicating beverages were enjoyed.

kf bourbon apple cide

kf joyce linda
Hot peppers were sauteed and served on fresh crusty bread by friendly “witches” and warlocks.

kf doreen peppers

Families were celebrated.

kf jenna rob noah

 

kf noah

kf ed grandaughter 2

 

kf michael beer 2

We even brewed beer!

kf michael beer

 

 

 

 

 

and BOWLED!

krautfest bowling

It was a day full of memories… and moments…

krautfest greenhouse

and people… and music…

kf bango

and love… to be cherished.

kf view of lake
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

It’s Krautfest Time!

kf cover

It was an absolutely gorgeous Fall weekend, and a great one for the Annual Brugnoli Krautfest Party!  What a joy to be a part of the amazing festivities.

You may be thinking to yourself – “What the heck is a Krautfest?”

Our family has a long-running tradition of making homemade saurkraut, and our amazing Joyce and Rob know how to turn a “chore” into a party!

So about 40-50 family members and friends ranging in ages from 2 to 82 got together on Saturday with 600 pounds of cabbage and made a party out of making kraut!

Join me through a pictorial journey of the wonderful day.

It started with cutting…

cutting

cabbage girls

then chopping and slicing and dicing…

marty choppingMarty used his grandfather’s 100-year old cabbage cutter and embraced the heritage of using something today his grandfather used in exactly the same way all those years ago.

mason cabbage  mason cabbage 2and new generations learned the tradition.

chopping

there were measurers and salters…

measuring  measuring and salting

Then lots and lots of pounding and stomping and smooshing and smashing.

pounding

pounding close up

pounding 5

pounding 4

pounding 3

pounding 2

There was food galore!

reuben pierogies
One of my favorite treats of the day were these Reuben Pierogies!  We sauteed potato and cheese pierogies in butter until browned, then layered with a slice of pastrami, swiss cheese, picked purple cabbage, and a small dollop of Thousand Island Dressing.

mason pretzels

Warm soft pretzels were served with homemade mustard and cheese sauces.

pierogies

We also had Parmesan Ranch Crusted Pierogies and Buffalo Hot Sauce Pierogies.

painting 3There was pumpkin painting,

painting 4

painting

painting 2

ella painting

ella painting 2There were games…

mother daughter

joyce

donut game

donut game 2

dg 6

dg 5

dg 4

dg 3

dg 2

dg 1

game

laughs 3Zip-lining and Swinging

zip line

zip line 1

zip line 2

zip line 3

swinging

swinging 4

swinging 3

swinging 2

Friendship, Hugs, and Laughs

watching

talking

talking 3

talking 2

rob

rob jodi

nikole

Michael and Ella

laughs

marty nik

games face

babies

bear

babies 2

Delicious cocktails – my favorite was the Bourbon Apple Cider with Rosemary Sprig!

bourbon apple cide

bourbon apple cider

We ate halushki, halupkis, pork and saurkraut, kielbassi, german potato salad, cheese polenta with homemade sauce. Oh the delicousness!!

We sang!

singing

The saurkraut is divided up evenly between all the crocks and buckets to send home with each family…

to wait – and taste test – and wait some more – remembering the special memories we created and looking forward to enjoying the fruits of our labor throughout the year.

kraut

It was a BOOtiful day!  Thanks Joyce and Rob for your amazing hospitality.  We love you dearly!

boo

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi