Megan Birk on the History of Farms for the Poor

This episode we spoke with Megan Birk about the history of "Poor Farms" in the US.

Show Notes:

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• Megan Birk is an Associate Professor of History at UTRGV.
• Megan has written the book Fostering on the Farm: Child Placement in the Rural Midwest, and her new book is The Fundamental Institution: Poverty, Social Welfare, and Agriculture in Poor Farms which is under contract at University of Illinois Press.
• The main article about Poor Farms which we discussed in the interview was The better the farm, the better the food: institutional diet, agricultural practices, and nutrition in U.S. almshouses
• Megan shared a recipe for Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake (!) Here's what she has to say about it:
  

  "This is a cake that my mom used to make regularly when I was a kid, and I make it for friends, family, and holidays because it's delicious and people love it.  It's also very Midwestern to use mayonnaise as a shortcut in baking 

  Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake 

  1 and a half cups white sugar

  1 and a half cups mayo (do not use miracle whip) 

  4 TBS baking coco 

  ---- mix together 

  3 cups cake flour

  3 tsp baking soda

  1/4 tsp salt 

  ----- add these to mix above

  1 and a half cups warm water

  2 tsp vanilla

  ----- add to above and mix ---- the mixture will be pretty loose (or runny) that's ok

  I grease and flour a cake pan before pouring in the mix and baking at 350 degrees for 25-30 on the top rack

  Frost with whatever you're into, I don't make my own frosting because I hate the texture of powdered sugar on my hands (I know I'm a weirdo) "

• The intro and outro music is "Whiskey Before Breakfast" which is both a great traditional song and a good thing to try before baking Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake. It was performed and shared by The Dan River Ramblers under a Creative Commons license.