What Happened to the Recycling Bins?

Over the last few weeks this has been a frequent question at the Newton Falls Public Library. “What happened to the recycling bins which used to be by the Community Center?” Our staff confessed we didn’t know, but we would find out.

We contacted the Newton Falls City Manager’s office and asked their staff. We were informed that because the city now has curbside pickup, the bins were removed. Information about city recycling can be found at: http://ci.newtonfalls.oh.us/news_files/Newton%20Falls%20Recycle%208.5x11-08%20%28GREEN%20LOGO%29.pdf. Individuals living in apartments and others who wish to take their recyclables to larger centers may take their papers, plastic, metal, and glass to the bins near the Newton Township Administration Building.  For more information the Township’s website is www.newtontwp.com.

The library has an assortment of materials to assist you in going green at home. The DVD Go Green Around Your Home, Mother Earth News, The Complete Compost Gardening Guide: banner batches, grow heaps, comforter compost, and other amazing techniques for saving time and money, and producing the most flavorful, nutritious vegetables ever by Barbara Pleasant & Deborah L. Martin, Easy Composters You Can Build by Nick Noyes, and A Guide to Green Housekeeping: live a calmer, healthier life, recycle and reuse, clean naturally, garden organically by Christina Strutt are a few of the titles which may be borrowed with a Newton Falls Public Library card.

Learn how easy it is to recycle the rain, go green, and save green on Saturday, May 14 at 1:00 pm.  The Trumbull Soil and Water Conservation District will present the program Rain Barrels – “Something old is new again” in the library’s second floor Palmer Meeting Room.

How Do You Catch a Leprechaun?

This reference question came up several years ago when a local teacher used to send her students on a leprechaun hunt, but is still timely. “How do you catch a leprechaun?” The question had the Newton Falls Public Library staff thinking about how handy it would be to have a pot of gold.

Carol Rose’s book, page 196 of Spirits, fairies, gnomes, goblins: an encyclopedia of the little people, describes leprechauns as fairy shoemakers who like to play pranks on humans and have a reputation for guarding crocks of gold. In the book, Leprechauns and Irish Folklore by Mary Pope Osborne, they are described as the bankers and richest of the fairy folk, originally hiding their gold from the Vikings. It is an Irish legend that they hide pots of gold at the end of rainbows, keeping very busy always moving it around. If a leprechaun is captured, he will supposedly promise to give you his gold for setting him free. Once coins are given and he is free, the silver returns magically to his purse and the gold turns to ash. People will try to trap them in boxes in gardens. Beware that you don’t nab the wrong one; they have similar appearing cousins named clurichauns who move into homes, drink all the wine, and refuse to leave.

An online search revealed numerous suggestions for catching the tricky wee folk. Traps are baited with money, shoes to be repaired, or poteen, an Irish alcohol usually made from potatoes. Some suggest using nets to catch the leprechaun. Others fear that the expansion of cities is causing them to go underground, reducing the likelihood of seeing one. While many legends and tales speak of the unfortunate consequences that often resulted in capturing a leprechaun in the past, none of the sites tell of any recent, successful catches.

I Need Information About a Ford Car With a Model A Skin and a Pinto Engine

“I was telling friends of mine about a car that came out in the 1980’s. It had a Ford Model A skin and a Pinto engine. I believe it was built on a Ford production line. Can you help me find more information?” The Newton Falls Public Library staff had heard of classic auto reproductions, but not this particular one.

Our series of books about the history of the Ford Motor Company and its cars by Lorin Sorensen was published before 1980.  Not finding what we needed in the library’s print collection, we expanded the search to online. We searched www.ohioweblibrary.org and MasterFILE Premiere (EBSCOhost) for any full text articles on the subject. We extended to search engines, and found some promising leads.  www.RonSusser.com, an automobile sales site, and www.ConceptCarz.com include some history and wonderful photographs of the 1980 Shay Model A.

The best source of information was www.shayhistory.com. It includes history of the original Model A, the Shay, and the Shay Model A Roadster Publicity Brochures and Documents. The latter are very interesting to view. This site also has the Spring of 2002 term paper, History of Shay Motors by Nathan Shay, grandson of Harry Shay. Harry worked for General Motors before being employed by Ford.  The Model A & Model T Motor Car Reproduction Corporation was founded by Harry Shay in 1978.  Production began in 1979. He changed the company name to Shay Motors Corporation in 1980 and he worked out an arrangement with Ford who waived design patents and supplied the platforms. The cars were sold in Ford dealerships and warranted by them. They were built in a factory in Battle Creek Michigan and were made of fiberglass created from a mold of an original Model A. First built using the Pinto engine and drivetrain; when Pinto production ended, the switch was made to Fairmount parts. Unfortunately due to a multitude of reasons, the company went bankrupt in 1982.

I Need to Find the McCall's Cooking School Magazine's Beef Wellington Recipe

“I’m trying to help a lady who is looking for a recipe for Beef Wellington. It was originally printed in the 1970s or 1980s, in an issue the McCall's Cooking School Magazine. The ingredients include Madeira wine, pate, celery, carrots, garlic, and shallots, but not onions, and parchment paper not puff pastry. You cook the vegetables, chop them, wrap them in cheese cloth, and squeeze out the juice using the handle of a wooden spoon to twist the cloth. The juice is used in cooking; dispose of what remains in the cheese cloth. I’m not having any success. Can you help me?” The Newton Falls Public Library staff can sympathize with the frustration of trying to find that missing recipe.

There is not a single McCall’s cookbook on the seventeen shelves of cookbooks owned by the library, nor in our shared TiPL [Trumbull Independent Public Library Consortium] catalog. Our staff expanded the search online and found a couple of websites with similar recipes. At   www.foodtimeline.org/foodmeats.html#beefwellington we found Julia Child’s recipe. community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=104317 had Beef Wellington Without Fear. While both of these recipes had similarities to the one requested, neither was “the” recipe. Another website, www.chef.com has many of the McCall's Cooking School recipes, but not the one needed.

In our search, we discovered that it was published in 1984 and was subscription based. The purchaser received binders, and then periodically pages to insert.  We checked the Ohio Shares MORE statewide catalog for “McCall's Cooking School Magazine.”  We could not find the magazine, but we did find that the Ridgeway Branch of Ridgemont Public Library owns volumes 1 and 2 of the 3 volume McCall's Cooking School: step-by-step directions for mistake-proof recipes set. We contacted them and their librarian went to look for the item.  She returned our call with the sad news that there were 3 pages missing from the meat section of the loose leaf binders; one of which was the Beef Wellington Recipe.  

We contacted our patron. She explained that she is a “recipe hunter” who routinely searches for lost recipes.  She was contacted to search for this recipe. While she owns a huge collection of cookbooks and single recipes; she does not have this particular magazine. She is hoping that one of our patrons saved their issues of McCall’s Cooking School Magazine and would be willing to share the recipe with us. If you have or find this recipe, please contact Carol at the Newton Falls Public Library, 204 S. Canal St., Newton Falls, Ohio 44444, 330-872-1282, fax 330-872-9153, or email carolbaker@newtonfalls.org.