A Hundred Youngfolks Brought Supper

Warm greetings from our Amish community here in the Heartland, where the week opened with frost on the pumpkins and closed feeling more like September. The first mornings were white across the rooftops, and by Thursday afternoon the thermometer had climbed near 80. Windows were propped open again, and the wash was dry on the line well before noon.

A frost that early always sends a few gardeners out with baskets on their arms to gather what’s left before the next cold night. This time of year the last of it is still coming in, from the butternut squash and sweet potatoes to a few stubborn tomatoes, and with a warm week behind it, nobody minded one more trip down the rows.

This week our series on Amish food and kitchen traditions comes to the Sunday table. Church is held every other Sunday here, and the Sundays in between are quiet days at home with family. When one woman thinks back to growing up, those in-between Sundays meant pancakes. Her mother made a late brunch of pancakes with homemade syrup, and supper that evening was simply a big bowl of popcorn with cider to drink. Ask her today what dish feels most like Sunday, and she does not need a moment to think. “Pancakes,” she told us. Her own family still keeps that brunch on the in-between Sundays, just as she did as a girl.

Sunday is a day of rest, so a good share of the cooking is done the day before. Her favorite help is a potato casserole she puts together on Saturday and slides back into the oven on Sunday to warm. It surprised her to become a family favorite, mostly because, she says, it can be reheated without any fuss. When someone wants something sweet, the answer is nearly always pie.

The Sunday table follows the Seasons, too. In summer, whatever the garden gives that week finds its way onto the table beside everything else. The children have their part all year long, setting the table before the meal and helping wash the dishes after.

We also asked her which Sunday she remembers best. She went right back to the year her youngest was only about eight weeks old. When a family’s turn comes to host the young folks for Sunday supper, close to a hundred young people may gather around the tables. That time, her turn had come, and she had a new baby in her arms. The young folks had already thought of it. Each one brought a dish, so she didn’t have to cook supper at all. Of all the Sundays she has known, that was the one she named first.

That kind of thoughtfulness shows up all week long here, and often when it is least expected. One woman told us about a Fall day when an English neighbor and his sons pulled in that morning with a trailer of firewood logs. The truck spun and whined on the grade up the barnlot and sat in one spot for a while before it finally made it, and the boys rolled the logs off. Then, just as supper was on the table that evening, the family came up the lane with a second load, slabwood from the sawmill. Supper waited while everyone pitched in to unload, and they finished eating afterward. “When it rains it pours,” she laughed, and her woodpile was ready for Winter before the first snow.

Every meal here begins the same way, Sunday or not, with heads bowed for a silent blessing. One mother says she loves that moment at a full table, when all the happy noise drops away at once, and the room goes still.

So if your kitchen smells of pancakes this morning, you are in good company. Somewhere in our community, a griddle is warming too, and a little later, a bowl of popcorn will be passed around the table for supper.

Stories from Our Amish Basket Weavers

Here are a few notable moments from the families who weave the beautiful baskets featured on AmishBaskets.com, shared with us this week.

The Swarey Family

The Swarey family told us a message went out on the community hotline the other week, calling the young folks together for an evening work bee at a neighboring place. An old house there had been rented to several families over the years, but it needed more fixing than it was worth, so it was time to take it down. While the girls cleaned the furniture, the rest worked on the house, and by evening it lay flat on the ground, with piles of lumber left to clear another day.

The Yoder Family

Last week we told you about the twelve-pound puffball that Mrs. Yoder’s sister lugged home, only to find it had already turned brown inside. This week the Yoder family had happier news. She had left a few small puffballs in the timber to grow, and when she headed back a few days later, sure enough, one was considerably bigger and weighed right about two pounds once she got it home. She peeled and sliced the bottom quarter, fried it in hot oil, and sprinkled it liberally with salt; they enjoyed it at supper alongside a pot of vegetable soup. The rest went into the icebox for another meal.

"Be the friend today that you will need tomorrow."

- Amish Wisdom Overheard in the Community.