A Taste of Haldimand – April 17, 2025

When I think of an “old soul”, Clover DeWitt comes to my mind. She’s a quiet and unassuming young woman who works diligently doing what she loves. At home that means cooking and baking for her parents and three much younger siblings: Willow, Wren, and Emmett. When she’s baking cookies, there is always lots of help, as her siblings anxiously wait for extra chocolate chips or pieces of cookie dough. The dogs get in on the act too, begging for peanut butter! Clover is fortunate to have a part-time job that indulges her love of baking. You will find her in the kitchen at Richardson’s Farm & Market, preparing some of the delicious goodies for their store and the markets. When she’s not in the kitchen, Clover enjoys sewing her own clothes, walking her dogs in the rural countryside, reading, or spending time with her younger siblings.

Clover shared two of her favourite cookie recipes. It was her dad that suggested she seek out her grandmother’s peanut butter cookie recipe as he knew it was a good one. There is something very special about connecting with past generations. The next time she was visiting her Grandma Parker, she began looking through her recipes and she did find the peanut butter cookie one. In another cookbook she found the oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe. At first, she wasn’t aware the book belonged to her great-grandmother; then she noticed the hand-written notes her great-grandmother made beside the recipes, along with the pages marked with a turned down corner. The bond seems to be stronger and more meaningful when we find those personal notes. Baking with the original recipes helps to cement our connection to the past while adding another layer to the family history in the making. Enjoy!