Our weekend started on Thursday afternoon. I only worked a half day and then we were on he road by 130pm with Jonathan's parents. Since we needed to be in Chambersburg, PA early on Friday, we opted to only drive half way on Thursday and stayed the night in Washington , PA. We were up and out the door by 730am on friday and arrived in Chambersburg at 1130am. There we met Jonathan's Aunts, Uncles and Grandmother who had a nice chicken supper prepared for us all. Grandma had been wanting to cook us all supper for some time and this was the first opportunity she has had in a very long time. We also got to see her new apartment since she has relocated to Chambersburg. When supper and visiting was done, we hopped in the car and drove another 2 hours to Belleville, PA. For those who have followed my blog from the beginning, you know how much I just love going to Big Valley (where Belleville is located). Friday evening we went to the Mennonite High School for a bit of visiting and a "few snacks" with some of the Yoders already in town.
Saturday we arrived to the Home Farm at 9am. The home farm is the place where Jonathan's Great Grandfather, Abraham S Yoder Sr. and his wife lived and raised there 13 children. Jonathan's Grandfather , Abe Jr, was #5. I really cannot describe how AMAZING this day was without the pictures I have posted below:
This is a picture of only part of their garden facing the horse pasture. I have developed a great love of gardens lately and Belleville certainly has many beautiful gardens to drive by. As we were driving, it was all I could do to keep from jumping out of the car and run up to every ones door to ask about their garden. (I decided it was best to restrain myself)
This is a picture of the 2 houses on the property. Both houses are huge. The house closest in the picture is the main house. The house in the back is the grandparents house ( Dawdi Haus). A separate house where the Grandparents move into (sometimes straight from the main house) where they can be tended closely by there children and grandchildren.
A beautiful horse that Jonathan made friends with.
Cutting the fresh bread for the bean soup later for lunch.
Some of the women gathering to make the 250'ish Half Moon Pies. This is a pie crust rolled flat with apple butter spread over, folded in half and sealed. Kinda like a pie pocket. You can see some of them above that are already assembled. There were about 5-6 women working on these in the room.
Getting the Apple Pies ready to put in the Hearth by basting them with Buttermilk.
Lining up with the pies as they are putting them in the OLD outdoor oven one at a time. It seems i forgot to put in the pictures of the pies as they came out of the oven, but believe me when I tell you they were beautiful. It only took them about 5 minutes to cook in the oven since the oven was so hot. All of the pies were great accept for the one that got forgotten and stayed in a tad bit longer and ended up pretty dark and crisp.They also put the Half Moon Pies in the Hearth oven also. These were also cooked quickly and came out just perfect.
This is a picture of the Amish Peanut butter that was made and the Smear Kase- a homemade spreadable cheese that tastes similar to Mozzarella cheese and is commonly spread on the Half Moon Pies. Both were DE-LISH!! I also forgot the pics of the Amish Bean soup which was yummy also. It wasn't at all what I expected but still very yummy. Also served was Lebanan Bologna and cheese tray with homemade rolls, Church Pickles, Olives, Apple Pie, Moon Pies...... Oh my! I miss it already.
This is a picture of the barn that we did most of the visiting/eating/singing in.
Auction Time! This year and the previous reunion, they did an auction fund raiser to apply to the reunion fund. These are items that the family donates, most are hand crafted or heirloom items from generations of family. Many books, crafts, baked goods, woodwork, quilts, afghans. Someone even donated a week at there vacation home in the mountains of Franklin, Tennessee. Furnished with a pool! Unfortunately we did not bring that kind of cash with us :(
This is a picture of the Amish Peanut butter that was made and the Smear Kase- a homemade spreadable cheese that tastes similar to Mozzarella cheese and is commonly spread on the Half Moon Pies. Both were DE-LISH!! I also forgot the pics of the Amish Bean soup which was yummy also. It wasn't at all what I expected but still very yummy. Also served was Lebanan Bologna and cheese tray with homemade rolls, Church Pickles, Olives, Apple Pie, Moon Pies...... Oh my! I miss it already.
This is a picture of the barn that we did most of the visiting/eating/singing in.
Auction Time! This year and the previous reunion, they did an auction fund raiser to apply to the reunion fund. These are items that the family donates, most are hand crafted or heirloom items from generations of family. Many books, crafts, baked goods, woodwork, quilts, afghans. Someone even donated a week at there vacation home in the mountains of Franklin, Tennessee. Furnished with a pool! Unfortunately we did not bring that kind of cash with us :(Some of the money was also donated to the families of elder Yoder's that were in the hospital and could not make it to the reunion.
You can see above my crossed stitch Roly Poly Snowmen Coasters on the Auction block.
Below is the one auction item we bought. a 4 pack of Whoopie Pies!! we went crazy and bought them for $15.00. There were only 3 packs of Whoopie pies up for auction and we got the one that was ALL Chocolate! People got a good chuckle over the bidding war that ensued. I'm not sure who I was bidding against but I was determined to keep my hand up! Jonathan and I are savoring every morsel.
You can see above my crossed stitch Roly Poly Snowmen Coasters on the Auction block.
Below is the one auction item we bought. a 4 pack of Whoopie Pies!! we went crazy and bought them for $15.00. There were only 3 packs of Whoopie pies up for auction and we got the one that was ALL Chocolate! People got a good chuckle over the bidding war that ensued. I'm not sure who I was bidding against but I was determined to keep my hand up! Jonathan and I are savoring every morsel. Man, I gotta learn how to make them myself! This will be one of my goals this summer....
Milking Time! This is a working dairy farm.
A brand new Calf just born sometime during this day with Momma standing by. Sadly, momma is whisked away shortly after giving birth and the calf becomes bottle/bucket fed.
Milking Time! This is a working dairy farm.
A brand new Calf just born sometime during this day with Momma standing by. Sadly, momma is whisked away shortly after giving birth and the calf becomes bottle/bucket fed. Sigh........ such is farm life.
This is a picture of the fly over. I'm not sure if this was a family member or a neighbor doing this but it was sooo much fun. He did several fly overs dropping bags of candy for the kids. He ended up buzzing the barn with his last circle round.
This is a picture of the kids scrambling for the candy as it hit the ground. HEADS UP!
The last part of the evening was the talent show/ singing. Above is Jonathan's uncle Titus playing a hymn on his harmonica. He was Amazing!
I feel terrible on this one... I'm not sure who these people were but they were GREAT! They sang a great Folk style song that had everyone smiling.
Alumni from the BMS (Belleville Mennonite School) singing once again!
Jonathan's great Uncle Ben reciting a poem.
The Shetterly girls singing an Irish Blessing for us all just before we left for the evening.
The once quartet is now a trio. Jonathan's dad singing with his brothers, which is always a treat. We definitely missed Grandpa Abe.
This is a picture of the fly over. I'm not sure if this was a family member or a neighbor doing this but it was sooo much fun. He did several fly overs dropping bags of candy for the kids. He ended up buzzing the barn with his last circle round.
This is a picture of the kids scrambling for the candy as it hit the ground. HEADS UP!
The last part of the evening was the talent show/ singing. Above is Jonathan's uncle Titus playing a hymn on his harmonica. He was Amazing!
I feel terrible on this one... I'm not sure who these people were but they were GREAT! They sang a great Folk style song that had everyone smiling.
Alumni from the BMS (Belleville Mennonite School) singing once again!
Jonathan's great Uncle Ben reciting a poem.
The Shetterly girls singing an Irish Blessing for us all just before we left for the evening.
The once quartet is now a trio. Jonathan's dad singing with his brothers, which is always a treat. We definitely missed Grandpa Abe. I got to hear many new hymns that night, one of which was God is Love. Everyone was singing in english and just when we thought the song was over, half of the crowd continued singing the song in German, 'Gott ist die Liebe". I think it brought a tear to most everyone that was unable to continue singing.
They ended up getting each family together representing each child of Abe Yoder Sr.
They ended up getting each family together representing each child of Abe Yoder Sr.This is a picture of 4 generations of the Abe Yoder Jr Family that came to the reunion.
Hopefully I managed to get all my facts right with my story and I do apologize for any spelling errors. I do welcome any fact corrections as I am still learning about my new family.
WOW! what an amazing weekend. Due to a voted change, I now only have to wait another 2 more years for my next Yoder reunion!
