Just Wondering...

  "Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie" is line in what used to be a popular nursery rhyme back when nursery rhymes were popular.  The jingly little verses are now replaced by some most...umm...unusual tales and pictures but that is quite a different story.  I refer to this line merely because Grandmother used to sing it to me when we would sit in the big white rocking chairs on the screened porch.  Just before bedtime, she would let me sit and wait for the "people-watchers", better known as owls, to come.  Several small screech owls would often come to sit in her hanging ferns just to watch what was happening on the porch.  But...back to the blackbirds...I was pondering something all day. 

  My fall decorating is in full swing which does indeed include blackbirds.  While most folks wait until Halloween to place crows and ravens about the place, I include some in the fall decorations as early as August.  Crows raid the corn fields as the corn ripens in the fall so why not?  Anyway, I have strayed once again.  I placed a tiny crow/raven/blackbird...whatever...in the china cabinet with ceramic pumpkins and such.  This is a pie bird but for some reason always makes into the decorations.  This pie bird came from Great Aunt Thelma and it is one of the few items I have of hers.  I love it!

  My pondering involves this bird and nursery rhyme.  In culinary history, a funnel has been used as a vent when baking pies seemingly forever. The idea is to vent steam from building under the crust and causing spillage.  The original funnel was actually, well, funnel-shaped! (Imagine that!) Then some smart entrepreneur came up with the pie bird.  Cute!  The pie birds are usually in the style of a blackbird.  They are hollow with a hole in the bottom and a small vent hole in the open beak. The pie birds became all the rage.  For a while, no self-respecting baker was ever without a crow! Now they are more of a novelty culinary gift choice but are still quite useful. Question?  Did the pie bird come about because said smart person was singing the nursery rhyme while baking?  Or did the rhyme come about because of the pie bird?  And why don't folks use pie vents any more?  

  Great Aunt Thelma's pie bird sits proudly in the china cabinet.  It will occasionally be put to good use when baking but more oft than not, it just stays as a cherished knickknack.  My blackbird will sit amongst the fall decorations until October.  Then it suddenly changes from a crow to a raven! (Magical..yes?)  Anyway, hopefully this will be one of those tiny traditions that will pass down to one of my kids.  Hopefully, whoever inherits the pie bird will not be afraid to use it as intended and also as a decoration.  Hopefully, my kids will forever bake pies and other goodies!