Plain Wisdom by Cindy Woodsmall Read Free Book Online

tires and removable racks). They’re great for walking a load of items to a neighbor’s house. When Miriam’s oldest son married, she gave the young couple several gifts, but the one I found the most fascinating was a feed scoop. She filled it with a homemade trail mix that looked like horse feed. After the big meal was over and the singing began, Miriam set the scoop on a table. The young people had a great time passing it around and taking a handful of “horse feed.”

    Following the wedding, the bride and groom spend a day or two helping to clean up. After accommodating from two hundred to five hundred people in an Amish home, the host has loads of kitchen towels, cloth napkins, and tablecloths for the women to wash in the wringer washer and hang on the line—not to mention all the clothes that became dirty or stained during the daylong celebration. Most of the wedding guests come from within the district or nearby districts. Those who arrive by train or hired driver will often stay overnight with friends or relatives who live in the area.
    The men have benches and tables to remove from the house and taketo wherever church will be held the next Sunday. Furniture also has to be moved back in place from its storage area, which is often a spare bedroom or a barn.
    The Amish handle this workload as they handle all of life. Everyone pitches in: the bride and her siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins as well as close friends of the family (who will themselves need help when they have a wedding in their home). The Amish may not know the saying “Pay it forward,” but they live the lifestyle.
From Miriam
    This recipe is used for weddings. It’s one of the candy dishes passed around during the daylong celebration.
    T RAIL M IX
    1 cup M&M’S
    1 cup raisins
    1 cup sunflower seeds
    1 cup peanuts or assorted nuts
    1 cup milk chocolate chips
    1 cup dried fruit of your choice (banana, apricots, etc.), cut into small pieces
    Mix all ingredients together, and store in an airtight container.
From Cindy
    My Old Order Amish friend Rachel made an entire wedding meal for me during one of my visits. She invited some mutual friends, and we had a marvelous time! The food and fellowship were outstanding, but I’ve yet toget comfortable with her sacrifice of time. Of all the foods she’d prepared as part of the typical Amish wedding feast, I saw one I hadn’t expected to like—cooked celery. I like celery, but I’d never eaten it cooked. It was so good I had a second helping. Rachel’s mother even prepared a bowl of it for me to take back to Miriam’s so I could have more at lunch the next day.
    C OOKED C ELERY FOR S IX
    2 quarts celery, cut into bite-size pieces (Note: 1½ to 2 stalks of celery equal two quarts, and a stalk consists of approximately a dozen individual ribs.)
    1 teaspoon salt
    1 cup water
    ½ cup sugar
    butter, the size of a walnut
    2 teaspoons vinegar
    2 cups whole milk, approximately
    ½ cup evaporated milk
    2½ tablespoons brown sugar
    2 tablespoons flour
    Slowly bring the celery, salt, water, white sugar, butter, and vinegar to a low boil. Cook ingredients for about 10 minutes or until celery is soft. Once the celery is soft, cover with whole milk, and slowly heat to almost boiling. (Don’t bring to a second boil.) Then in a separate bowl, mix the evaporated milk, brown sugar, and flour until the mixture is smooth, and slowly add it to the rest of the ingredients. Stir until thoroughly heated, and serve it warm.

K ITCHEN T ABLES
    Part 2
    Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
    —P SALM 128:3
From Cindy
    Adding a baby to a family is not new upon this earth. It’s been a regular occurrence since Adam and Eve had their first child. Yet each newborn is a fresh start, not just for the infant, but also for the family.
    Usually by six months the little one is sitting in a highchair at the family table. A lot of growing up takes place at