My Life as An Amish Wife

by Lena Yoder

  For supper these cold, winter evenings, we’re eating soup… and more soup. Tonight we’re having homemade mushroom soup. Colleen is our evening cook.

  Homemade Mushroom Soup

  Sauté fresh, chopped button mushrooms and onions in butter. Colleen uses 1 small box of the mushrooms, about ½-cup of onions, and 2 tablespoons of butter.

  Mix 12 tablespoons of flour and some chicken broth, stirring it until smooth.

  Add 48 ounces of chicken broth and cook until slightly thickened.

  Add 2 cups of cream and simmer for 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to suit your tastes.

  The chicken broth we have canned in the basement has chicken bits in it, so I buy plain broth at our local, bulk-food store. I’ve made the soup with the chicken bits in it, and it’s good too, but we prefer using the plain broth. It’s good and creamy using whole milk instead of the cream, which is easier on calorie intake.

  I’ve said before how I’m not that good of a cinnamon roll baker. Well, I’ve found a way I can doctor them up so they are delicious! I bake the cinnamon rolls as usual. Once they’re cooled just slightly, I squeeze a mixture of 4-ounces cream cheese, one 3.5-ounce box instant vanilla pudding, and enough milk to get the right spreading consistency into the circles. You have to gently push the circles apart just a tad. Then frost them with a caramel frosting. These are not too friendly on the calories.

  I tried a new honey oatmeal bread recipe lately. Once I had it kneaded and ready to rise for the first time, I discovered I’d forgotten to add the yeast! I’d had too many things going at one time and lost my brain somewhere along the line. I quickly mixed the yeast and water, dumped it into the bowl, and kneaded the bread dough some more. It turned out fine. In fact, it turned out pretty good!

  One day at a quilting bee with my aunts and cousins, the art of baking bread was dissected from one end to the next. Interesting. Some roll it out and don’t prick the tops. Some shape it with their hands and prick the tops with a fork to eliminate any air bubbles. Some brush the freshly baked loaves with butter; some absolutely don’t. Oven temps and length of baking varied. We all thought our own was perfectly good! We enjoy baking our own bread. It makes me feel like a woman and a “keeper at home.” Fresh loaves of bread are love notes to my husband and children.

  At one of our Raber Christmas gatherings, the adults all had envelopes under their plates that were very mysterious. We were forbidden to open them until we’d finished eating our meal. Dad was then instructed to open his and do whatever he was bidden to do. His envelope contained a poem that he was to stand up and read to the rest of us. So on down the line it went. My uncles and aunts went after Dad. Some read stories. Some led songs that we all pitched in and helped sing. Some read humorous articles. Some shared memories of loved ones gone on before us. We laughed, we sang, we cried. Those memories make me cry. It was a very special time spent with loved ones and worth a whole lot more than playing games and not really sharing our feelings—especially if we have an intense desire to spend time once more with loved ones gone before us.

  I’m once again thinking of starting my flower and vegetable seeds in the house. There is hope that spring will be on the way. My flower beds look quite haggard this winter, but I decided not to be intimidated by the perfectly manicured flower beds of neighboring farms and leave some of my annuals out to reseed themselves for the next growing season.

  I saw by the looks of the onions in the crates in the basement that we’d better start eating onion rings, fried onions, and, once we butcher, liver and onions to get those crates empty. We do all love onions. Jesse eats them raw with any meal. We had a good crop last year, and I hate to see them spoil. Maybe I’ll give some away… with a love note and mouth rinse or breath mints.

  Year 3

  Spring

  This is a diary of a week while we were preparing to host church services in our home.

  Monday. This morning while Wayne, Brian, and I did the chores, Colleen cleaned up the house and made tomato gravy and fresh bran muffins for breakfast. Once I got into the house and cleaned myself up, I helped Karah and Emily pack their lunches for school. I made fried-egg sandwiches, and they added tortilla chips and salsa. Brian also wanted a muffin in his lunch. For breakfast, Emily ate cereal, I had my normal yogurt and granola, and the rest ate tomato gravy over soda crackers and bran muffins.

  Colleen did the mundane chore of the Monday-morning laundry while I baked a batch of granola, washed a huge amount of dirty dishes, and accomplished other odds and ends that needed to be done on a Monday morning.

  Dad is leaving for vacation in Florida soon, so we spent some time with him. Jesse will surely miss his grandpa. It’s almost uncanny how Jesse and his grandpa are look-alikes.

  I cleaned two refrigerators and Dad’s oven. These are not some of my favorite jobs, so I’m always glad when they can be crossed off my list. Colleen washed off the upstairs hallway walls and ceilings, cleaned out the chore-clothes closet, and straightened the cereal shelves in the kitchen cabinets. We warmed up leftovers for lunch. Wayne was readying the shop for butchering tomorrow. Yes, we’ll have church here in 13 days, but we have a downed fresh heifer we need to butcher. We’ve been out of hamburger for a while already, so in no way do I want to pass up this meat. To me, it’s not any different than when we have church in the busy summertime hay-making season.

  We baked a batch of apple crisp to take along to the monthly neighborhood gathering tonight. I also stirred a batch of black raspberry rolls together for tomorrow.

  Tuesday. At 8:05 PM I’m relaxing in front of the cozy coal stove. Jesse’s nose is about two inches from my pen. Now Karah’s face is about six inches from my paper. Jesse’s amazed at my lines and dots. The children are so much fun. It feels absolutely wonderful to relax my tired legs. We’re all at home… a restful evening. Here’s how the day went.

  After our regular morning routine of doing the chores, breakfast, getting the scholars off to school, the rest of us rushed about to get to the shop as soon as we could to start butchering. I was a little out of routine because I had to get the raspberry rolls into the pans to rise before I could leave the house. They were ready for the oven when I got back to the house about an hour and a half later.

  A church friend named Ervin, neighbor Loretta, Sister-in-law Nettie, Wayne, Colleen, and I had the beef ready to grind by noon. What a fun time we had together.

  Colleen warmed up leftover lasagna and corn for lunch. Applesauce was our salad. We had raspberry rolls and leftover pie for dessert. Coffee helped us stay warm throughout the day. We’re so thankful for the fresh meat in the freezer. No fancy gift could make me happier. We also canned 14 quarts of beef chunks tonight.

  By evening I could easily have forgone the chores and relaxed a while, but alas, the chores can’t be ignored.

  Colleen made fresh liver and onions for supper. With all that extra iron we should have a lot of energy tomorrow. I hope so, because it’s high time to clean again.

  The girls helped put the butchering supplies away and cleaned up the house. It almost seems like a dream that we butchered today.

  Tonight Dad left a message on the phone saying he arrived in Florida this morning, and it was 32 degrees. He was cold. I feel sorry for the Florida farmers. I know what a challenge farming is and how much of our lives depend on the weather. Global warming?

  Wednesday. It’s morning and chores again. Laundry again. This forenoon I made 15 pounds of summer sausage. It took me a lot longer than I had anticipated, and pretty soon I was becoming impatient. I felt it was time to get moving on cleaning house.

  After Colleen was done with our regular laundry, I washed bedding, curtains, throws, doilies, carpets, and so forth. It was a cold and windy day, but beautiful. The first time I went to the lines to hang up the sheets, I noticed some of the towels were hanging by one pin, so I fixed those. Next I hung out a quilt. Soon after that, I hung out the comforter. By that time, the quilt was barely hanging on the lines. I fixe
d that and then went for more washing. My fingers were fairly frozen by then.

  The next time I came out to the lines, one was broken and the laundry was flopping and lying on the snow. Finally, at 11:15, I was done. I went inside and quickly made sloppy Joe sandwiches and noodles for lunch. Colleen had washed a huge amount of dirty dishes and watched the two pressure cookers of beef chunks as they processed.

  After lunch, Jesse, Jolisa, and I laid down to take a nap. As soon as they were asleep, I got up again. I needed to discipline Jesse once as he and Jolisa would whisper and giggle until the cows came home.

  This afternoon we brought up a couple cans of spoiled food from the basement. We emptied them out and washed the cans. We took those and the beef chunk cans to the basement. Now we can have beef stew for supper again. There were more dishes to wash again this afternoon. Emily washed dishes before supper, and after supper we washed dishes again. Bored? Never!

  Before chores, Wayne and I took the hamburger and steaks to the freezer at the neighbor’s. I made a dozen slips with jobs written on them for Karah and Emily for their chores after school. That took some of the monotony out of those mundane jobs of putting dishes and laundry away. We had fried hamburgers and smoothies for supper. Wayne popped popcorn after supper. He read a story to the little ones, and then it was time for bed.

  Thursday. Chores again this morning. After getting to the house we had the usual filling of lunch pails, sweeping the kitchen, plus I made a double-batch of Rice Crispy squares so we’d have something to put in the lunches. I made several butlers [carafes] of coffee and tea so my two lovely sisters and two lovely sisters-in-law could warm up once they got here after lengthy buggy rides.

  We had a good warming up once they arrived. We all live good distances apart and don’t get together all that often, so it’s good to sit a while and just catch up on each other’s lives. Jesse and Jolisa enjoyed playing with their little cousins Kristina, Lora, and Jeryl. We thoroughly cleaned Dad’s house, talked, and, of course, ate again at noon.

  Colleen washed more curtains and bedding this morning. It was a breezy, beautiful, close to 40-degree day. Perfect for laundry. Supper was beef stew and summer sausage with crackers. We washed the dishes, read to the girls, and now, after showers, the children are in bed. It’s my turn! I can hardly wait to feel those clean, crisp sheets on my aching legs. Thank you, Lord, for a special, beautiful day.

  Friday. Chores again. Colleen baked a double-batch of monster cookie bars for lunches and snacks. The girls fixed the lunches, and I started two batches of yogurt. Colleen did laundry again. I scrubbed the kitchen floor and gave it a good shining. There are always things to organize and put away, so that’s what I did the rest of the forenoon. I’d wanted to get stew out of the refrigerator to warm up for lunch, but when I opened the fridge door to get it, the can of stew dumped on my clean kitchen floor. So what could I do except get paper towels and proceed to clean it up.

  Colleen ironed the whites and helped the little ones clean up their toys. I laid down with Jesse until he fell asleep. There are more dishes to wash, and the kitchen needs to be swept again because the children enjoyed their snack bars after school and crumbs found their way to the floor. We are all enjoying my cute, curly haired little great-niece Leah Joy this afternoon. It’s the first time we’ve gotten to babysit her, and we love it.

  We decided to make pizza for supper. Maybe one of us can go to our deep freeze at the neighbor’s and get ice cream to go with it.

  We’ve had a good week—no accidents or sicknesses. We never know what the Lord has in store for us.

  Saturday and Sunday. On Saturdays we normally do our weekly cleaning and often prepare food for the entire weekend. On Sundays we attend church. If it’s a “Sunday in-between services” in our district, we might go to another district for church, invite company over for brunch or dinner, or spend a lazy day at home with the family.

  People have commented to me about the amount of work we do in a day. I don’t work more than any other farm wife and mother. It just happens that you see my schedule in black and white. I can’t think of any other occupation I would rather be in. The Lord has been so good to me. Let us bloom where we are planted!

  At the moment the house is quiet except for an occasional whispered “Mom” and a question from Jolisa, who is working in a preschool workbook. She’s in front of the coal stove, which is everybody’s favorite spot in the house. Jesse and Colleen are taking naps, and Wayne is outside feeding the cows. He will be in shortly to eat a warmed-up lunch. This forenoon he had gone to his brother Marion’s to get a load of hay plus make a stop at a local feed store to get some calf feed, softener salt, and some potting soil for me.

  Wayne’s days as a full-time farmer are coming to an end. Our dashed hopes and dreams are about as cloudy as a dreary winter day. Yet on the other hand, we are very, very thankful after a prolonged time of job searching, praying, praying, and praying some more for God’s leading and trusting to be led, Wayne has found a factory job. We will continue to milk cows and farm our land. We will all have to step up a notch and shoulder more responsibilities. As I said, this is not what we dreamed, but we are all ready for a change. It is necessary, and we are thankful for the job opportunity.

  This new schedule will mean getting out of bed at 3:30 in the morning, bringing many changes in our routine. We are ready to give it our best shot. Wayne will get the brunt of this, and the children and I want to do our best to support him.

  Colleen, Jolisa, and Jesse are enjoying our winter at home together. Joey (as some call Jolisa) and Jesse are pure sunshine—full of fun, playing so nicely together, being total little buddies. They get lots of attention from all the rest of us. You’d think they were babies. At the ages of six and four, they are a lot of fun.

  This winter, a church friend asked if I’d host a tea party for her. I was flattered that she would ask me, and I nervously told her I would try. So we did. Colleen and I had a blast browsing through cookbooks and dreaming of how we would set it all up. We went to town, and then we went to work. We worked hard on preparations the day before. I skipped chores on the morning of the tea and still got very weak-kneed when the ladies arrived. Our wheels were spinning, but Colleen and I pulled it off! And we immensely enjoyed it. I love making things look attractive, so this truly was my cup of tea. Colleen also shares my passion for cooking, so this was a wonderful mother/daughter experience.

  The first was a brunch tea with 13 ladies, and then the second one was a lunch tea. Both were good. The brunch main courses were breakfast dishes, such as egg quiches, snowflake waffles, and calzones. The lunch tea main dishes were soups and sandwiches, plus all kinds of other goodies.

  The second tea was extra special to me as it was the 10 ladies from our church who are in the same age group my mom was. These ladies go visit shut-ins and the elderly once a month, and the one whose turn it was to plan it surprised all the rest by treating them to a tea. It turned out to be a very snowy day, and their hired taxi driver did not want to go on the road. Two ladies who knew what was planned took their horses and buggies and picked up all the ladies and brought them here. What fun they had because they didn’t know what all they were going to do.

  First they visited a shut-in stroke patient. Usually they enjoy a coffee break there with her before they continue on their route, but that day no food was offered, adding to the mystery. Then they were brought here, and what a precious time we shared. It caused quite a few tears for us all, as these ladies were such a big part of Mom’s life. She too always enjoyed their “visiting” days. We spent a lot of time reminiscing. My cup runneth over with their precious fellowship.

  Next week Jolisa will attend school a couple days. Preschool! How I remember the tough time I had of letting go when Colleen started school. And now our fifth child is ready to start, and Colleen has already completed her eight school years. The next thing I know I’ll wake up old with my children all grown. I’m convinced time flies! I remember as a y
oung married mother that I’d look up to those experienced mothers at the age of 35 or older and totally respect and admire them. Thinking at that age they’d really know what life was all about and be very knowledgeable in all aspects of life. Now I am 36 years old, and mostly I feel young and not nearly as mature and knowledgeable as those 35 year olds were 15 years ago.

  Colleen has invited some girlfriends over for supper and a sleepover tonight. It’s our first experience of the sort at this age. The rest of the children are giving her a hard time—that she is so special she gets to have chips and pop. It’s caused a lot of ruckus, but it’s been a lot of fun. She wants to serve chili soup, ham-and-cheese calzones, and ice cream for supper. She wants cheese-and-egg quiche and waffles for brunch tomorrow.

  This winter we have gotten together with the neighbors several times to sing praises to our Lord. Sitting around the table and singing our hearts out with people our lives are entwined with is totally awesome. We love it. Big deal if you mess up, sing off-key, or sing when you aren’t supposed to. Everybody does it once in a while. We all laugh and go on.

  Talking about uplifting—I had the opposite happen to me lately… a real downer. Going on my walk one very snowy day, I was suddenly looking at the sky because my feet went south very quickly and my head went north. I was flat on my back before I even realized I was falling. Quickly I was on my feet again, checking to see if anybody had seen me. It didn’t appear so. I thought I was fine until the next day. I was very sore and had a bit of a headache.

  I cooked a big batch of cornmeal mush to fry for brunch tomorrow. I will also throw together a brunch casserole or something of the sort, make sausage gravy, tomato gravy, cook some syrup, and bake a batch of cheese blitzes to round out the meal. Our friends Ervin and Esther will bring a pan of fried cornmeal mush and head cheese. We will enjoy a feast and warm friendship together.