Make a Cherrystone Bed-warmer

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When life is a bowl of cherries, you can even use the pits!

When I was a young girl, I spent one beautiful summer and fall visiting relatives in Switzerland . . . it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, full of small happenings that left big impressions. I especially remember the huge stove that warmed my aunt's house. The monstrous appliance took up the whole wall between her kitchen and dining room. A long stone bench ran along the entire length of the dining room side of the stove ... and a small warming oven — which could be opened from either side — was placed near the doorway. It was a delicious feeling to come in out of the garden on a cool evening and curl up on the warm bench, snuggling in one of the afghans that were always nearby.

And it was while nestling on my favorite perch that I witnessed my aunt's nightly ritual of popping cherrystone pillows into the warming oven . . . and then watched as each family member retrieved a pillow on his or her way to bed. The warmers were real luxuries, since they served to take the edge off the chill of cool linen sheets in unheated bedrooms.

Last winter, realizing that more and more folks were dependent on wood to heat their homes, and noting that my bedroom became colder and colder as the cost of any kind of heating continued to rise, I recalled those cherrystone pillows and decided they might still be the perfect solution to cold feet.

The little bed-warmers are quite simple to make. The hardest task seems to be remembering to save the cherry pits throughout the year. During the balmy days typical of cherry season, it's easy to forget about those long, cold winter nights. Just collecting the kernels is no easy task, either. In fact, if you're the ambitious sort who plans to make several pillows, I suggest you contact a cannery. It takes a phenomenal quantity of fruit to yield a usable amount of pits . . . 30 to 40 pounds of good ripe cherries generally supply enough "stones" to make one pillow!

COLLECT, CLEAN, AND DRY

Cherrystones must be thoroughly cleaned and dried before they can be sewed into pillows for warming your toes on a cold winter's night. First, pile the pits in a large pan — or use your kitchen sink — and cover them completely with fresh, cold water. Then rub and squeeze the stones together to loosen any remaining pulp. When that's done, rinse them and repeat the process several more times.

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