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I have my grandmother's pie bird. It is ceramic and black; very lovely. Both of my grandmother's were born in the 1800's; 1886 and 1892. 1886 lived with us and 1892 lived right across the street. 

The grandmother across the street decorated her entire home Victorian. To this day a home does not feel like a home to me without wallpapered walls. Our past house, that we had built in 1980, was completely wallpapered; every room with exception of the utility/laundry room in the basement. I loved that house and it felt like home. We had all the walls flat finished specifically for the wallpaper. 

The house we ,Iive in now, purchased in another town when we moved to be closer to our grandchildren, has all the walls painted. It still feels dull to me after living here 11 years. There is no wallpaper, but I still have my grandmother's china and her pie bird. Items my grandmother touched and used are more important than walls.

I wonder why pie birds fell out of favor?

I don't recall my mother ever using one.

I have my mother’s biscuit cutter, but don’t ever remember a pie bird. I don’t remember my maternal grandmother baking, and my paternal grandmother made Chocolate cakes often. I don’t remember anyone making pie! I do love pie though, but my husband has to be gluten free, so I’d have to figure out a good, easy gluten free pie crust. For the holidays, I make a crustless pumpkin pie that works out very well for us.

I can not remember seeing a pie bird until I saw one in an article about ten years ago. My Mum made just two types of pie, one was meat and the other was apple pie which was a favourite of mine it had such good flavour. Mum cooked the apples with a bit of sugar and spices before she put them in the pie. from Judi.

We have a nursery rhyme here in the UK called Sing a Song of Sixpence and one of the lines goes “ four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie”. I inherited my Grandma’s pie bird and that is a blackbird with an orange beak which unfortunately has a small chip in it but I do love my little bird. My Grandma often baked a steak & kidney pie for the family, us kids would try to pick out the bits of kidney as we weren’t keen on the taste but were told it was full of iron so eat up, it’s good for you!

Incidentally one of my favourite Agatha Christie novels is A Pocket Full of Rye which is all about this nursery rhyme.

I live in the UK, and have a black ceramic pie bird which I have used all my married life, and I bought it probably in the 1980s.  I can't see why they fell out of favour, but perhaps because people were too busy to make pies and bought them instead?  I am fond of mine too.  I also have a splayed bottom white utalitarian one too, but prefer to use the bird.  My mother never had one but didn't make pies.  Small jam tarts, and bigger ones with criss-cross pastry were the nearest we got to a pie!

Well done with all your repurposing of furniture and drawer-clearing.  I should do that here . . .

Hi, sweet Grandma Donna!

Your home is getting more and more cozy! :)

I only saw pie birds in movies and TV shows! I never saw one in Portugal and although I believe my mother never made pies, I never saw them in other people's homes, either.

But I think they are so cute and practical, and like Margaret and Jennie, can't understand why they fell out of favor...

About your lavender plants, I also have some in the yard and they keep great all summer. Maybe it is because I water them every day in the early morning, but they are keeping green and alive! :)

You talked about pie birds in the Victorian era and I found out they were called pie funnels. Here is an article with a picture and some history. It seems that they began like little chimneys and then evolved to birds!

Here is the link, if you want to check it out: https://thehistoricfoodie.wordpress.com/2016/01/11...

Have a blessed weekend, dear Grandma Donna and Grandpa Charles!

Sandy,  I eat gluten free and the recipe I use for pie crust is one of Donna's.  It is from her Ganny Pie recipe.  This makes 4 small individual pies, but I just make more for a full pie and we all like it whether gluten free or not.  https://www.generationsbeforeus.com/cooking-from-scratch/ganny-pies-gluten-free/  I use King Arthur gluten free flour and I don't add the Xanthan Gum because I sometimes have problems with that too.

Hope you like it.

Lavendula Stoechas is less hardy than English Lavender. I have had less success with it here with all of the rain, and the heavy clay soil. I have tall bushes of Munstead lavender, which has branched stems giving three flushes of flowers from early summer until the first autumn frost.  Bumble bees and honey bees love it. It is planted along the house wall, getting sun in the afternoon and evening to scent the lounge and our bedroom. Granny kept large bowls of dried lavender in the bedrooms which was stirred up gently with the fingers to release calming scent at bedtime.

I have the pie funnel with our vintage Manor Green Denby crockery, but have never used it. I make apple pie occasionally, the local Howgate Wonder cooking apples hold their shape when cooked, supporting the pastry. I prefer to make wholemeal apple crumble as it uses less butter. I made rabbit pies quite often, and Mum’s bacon and egg pie, but pasties are easier for picnics. 

Sandi P, I made pie crusts from cassava flour.  I use Otto’s brand because some brands can be bitter or gritty. I buy it online and it isn’t cheap, sadly. Cassava flour makes a delicate dough so it takes some care getting it into the pan. I can now eat low gluten flour so I don’t use cassava as much as I used to.  Once baked, though, no one noticed the crust in my gluten free pie was cassava. 

My mother and grandmother never used pie birds in their many homemade pies. They slit the crusts and would get quite decorative with the designs of the cuts. I was an adult before I heard of pie birds and as I recall, when I asked my mother about them, she said something about it being another thing to wash so she never wanted one. I like to make pies and I slit the crusts in patterns like they did. I don’t think I have had a pie spillover, or if I did, it couldn’t have been many. The birds are adorable though and I have had to keep myself from getting one just because they are so cute.  How do you get it out after baking without messing up your top crust?  Or do you cut slices with it still in there?  I’m just curious. 

I recently got a rotary egg beater to add to my old fashioned non-electric items. Some things I have always used non- electric, like can openers.  I can’t imagine taking up counter space full- time with an electric can opener for the few times I open a metal can. When my late DH worked out of town for several years, I had to pay a little more to get him one that was easier for a left- hander to use- that is a downside to manual openers. I also never owned an electric knife. I am teaching myself how to sharpen my knives using whetstones instead of electric sharpeners or paying someone to do it. 

I am officially retired now so I am able to spend more time on tasks. My biggest problem is remembering that I don’t have to do it all at once; I have more than a weekend to get things done!  

I'd never heard of a cake bird before. That probably stems from the fact that in Germany, cakes with a pastry lid are hardly ever baked. Our cakes are quite different from American ones.

I have been moving furniture and trying new placement for more comfortable living.  I live with it a few days and if it is not an improvement I just try again.

I moved a few plants into bedroom windows for naturally "cleaning" the air. I have to keep light requirements in mind but so far so good.

I decanted a 25# bag of flour into mason jars with the addition of a bay leaf on top (to repel bugs) for storage. I do a lot of baking and noodle making so have done this many times and it works well. My grandma always used lard cans but those are hard to find besides I need something smaller because of the weight. 

I just mixed up a batch of yeast donuts for frying this afternoon and will share with family.

I am a pie baker; I don't like cake or frosting so seldom make a cake. I have never had a pie bird but have heard of them. We just always cut fancy vents in the top crust. My dad always said he only liked 2 kinds of pie...hot and cold LOL.

I have never been able to keep lavender alive and I have tried everything, It might very well be the growing conditions in my yard as I do live in a woods.  

I have started rooting spider plant babies and other trailing house plant cuttings in prep for using as pot fillers and spillers with an annual in the middle of my large flower pots. It accentuates the colorful annuals and I need to buy fewer so money saved.

Trying once again to stay away from too much news as it scares me and disrupts my calm and peace.

Grandma Donna Wrote, 

Thank you Paula Alexandra S, for the research on the Pie Bird.  That is very interesting information. This led me to research the Pie Bird under the name of Pie funnel and found the articles further back in time.  One article in 1905 said that if you do not have a pie funnel and your pie runs over the sides you can take a small paper funnel and place it near the center of your pie.  :)

Janet W, your vintage Manor Green Denby crockery is lovely, and thank you for sharing.  Congratulations on your retirement, we are still taking baby steps and still feel like we are supposed to go back to work or go back to somewhere. Lol