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~ by Naomi Gaede Penner

Prescription for Adventure

Monthly Archives: October 2012

Giving is Receiving: PrescriptionS for Adventure

22 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by Naomi Gaede Penner in Uncategorized

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Service as Adventure

Rocky Mountain Mennonite Relief Sale – 2012

We think of adventures as hanging off cliffs, living in the middle of a jungle, fighting off zombies, outrunning a tsunami, or finding a hidden treasure. That’s not untrue, but that’s not the entire scope of “adventure.”

“Adventure” does not have a singular definition. It has multiple definitions: prescriptionS.

Adventure isn’t all about just-me either.

An adventure can come in the form of service. I support the service-work done by the Mennonite Central Committee. (www.mcc.org) I’ve put together health kits and school kits. I’ve sent money so families in poverty and famine stricken countries can purchase a cow or a chicken, pay for their children to attend school, or buy seeds to plant.

This last weekend, I went to a Mennonite Relief Sale where I gave and received at the same time. These sales are held across the United States and Canada. (http://reliefsales.mcc.org/)

The Relief sale I went to always sells German sausage, cheese, bierrocks, baked goods, pecans, and Neu Jahre Kuchen (New Year’s Cookies )– that are actually fritters. They have a big machine that turns boxes of apples into apple butter and apple cider. This aroma is mixed with that of corn popping. These sounds are blended with a barrel train filled with children and pulled by a small tractor.

These sounds are interrupted by that of a vintage John Deere tractor — putt..putt……putt, putt…..putt…a sound that is music to the ears of the farm folk who attend, and to some of us who are not farm folk, but remember that nostalgic sound on our grandparent’s farm.

And thus people stand around in the autumn sun and examine the tractor which is for sale in the live auction, right before lunch. Some have their pictures taken against the gleaming green restored tractor. Others mill around and then go inside the large metal and concrete exhibit hall to line up for a slice of pie, which is suitably located next to the ice cream booth.

Inside this county fairground exhibit hall are other booths, too: the Christmas booth; Craft booth; the Silent Auction tables with old books, vintage glassware, intricate lacework, yellowed pictures, and other memorabilia that people of a certain age reminisce about and people of a younger age ask questions about. The MCC booth describes the work the Mennonites do around the world, along with adventures that people can volunteer for, for hands-on service.

The live auction begins at 9:30 am and starts with the auction of a loaf of bread.  The bread represents the need of all people for the basic staff of life. It represents God as our spiritual Bread of Life. This year it sold for $1,100. Next up are old tools, wooden crafts of rockers and benches, large cross-stitched pictures, a hand-made dollhouse, collector china, quilt racks and quilt wall hangars. The list goes on.

At 1:30, the quilt auction takes place. It begins with hymn # 606 “Praise God from Whom.” There is no need for overhead projected words. There is no need for keyboards and drums. A simple pitch-pipe gives one note. Everyone stands. Everyone knows his or her part and sings in harmony and in accapella. It is a rich and poignant sound that whispers of traditions of Mennonite service and giving, and pulls generations together. I listen. I remember years of standing beside family members who are no longer with me. I’ve accumulated years of this tradition – and coming here brings me closer to those loved ones.

In late afternoon, the sun moves to the west, the pie and ice cream have sold out, the tractor is sold for nearly $5,000, the popcorn machine shuts down, children still beg for just one more train ride, and  I write one more check to Rocky Mountain MCC, and walk out with another quilt.

I have received much. I trust and pray that my dollars will give much to the world that hungers for the bread of life.

~ What do you give, that gives back to you, that makes you both a giver and a receiver? ~

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Harvest Gatherings

17 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by Naomi Gaede Penner in Holidays and Special Occasions, Kansas

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Autumn paints our world in golds, oranges, deep reds, and browns. These shades are seen in corn tassels, ripe tomatoes, pumpkins, peaches, and apples. The sounds of crickets and crispy leaves crunching under foot add to the sensory palette.  “It feels like fall,” someone might say. Once again, a sweater is comfortable.

My parents, farm kids from Kansas, were transplanted to Alaska. Their colors were cranberries, blueberries, red and green striped rhubarb stalks, red salmon thrashing their way upstream to lay eggs, and yellow aspen leaves.

Regardless of the geography or region, or the fare that has ripened or the flora that has matured, autumn is a time of harvest and a time of gathering. If we are fortunate, we gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing around tables of abundance; a table shared with family and friends.  For people who have moved from such a hub of family, friends, and traditions, gatherings are different.

My parents felt this absence acutely. They spoke of Thanksgivings past spent with relatives. They reflected, but they didn’t complain. Instead, they cultivated friends and gathered in a church basement to share food traditions. Their new Swedish friends brought Scandinavian bread pudding and Swedish meatballs. Longer term Alaskans brought a moose roast, cranberry nutbread, or rhubarb pie. My mother brought pluma moss, an unwritten recipe carried by the Russian Mennonites from their migration through Poland, and which they made for nearly every celebration.

In Kansas, stirring together this recipe had been easy. Cows in the barn produced creamy milk, the base of the fruity soup.  In Alaska, powdered or canned milk didn’t yield the same consistency. All the same, pluma moss nourished the memories of back home, just as it probably had for immigrants from Poland, to the Ukraine, to the New World. Gathering together could still be richly satisfying away from their first homes.

Pluma Moss

By Ruby Leppke Gaede

 5 C. water                               1 C. pitted prunes

1 C. raisins                              1 C. dried peaches and/or apricots, quartered

1 ts. cinnamon                         1/3 to ½ C. sugar

¼ C. flour                                ¾ C. evaporated milk (early Alaska version)

or whipped cream or half-and-half

Simmer fruits and cinnamon in water until tender, about a half hour. Beat together sugar, flour, and milk.  Add slowly to fruit and water. Stir until thickened. Good served with sausage or cold meats, and fried potatoes. Serve hot or cold.

What are your holiday family food traditions? Where did they come from?

Have you considered keeping a Family Recipe History Book? Here are some ideas:

  • write down the recipe
  • note when you first started using it
  • include anecdotes or descriptions about the person you got it from
  • describe the occasion when it is most often used
  • tell about the people who sit around the table and enjoy it with you
  • mention any changes that have been made to the recipe due to personal preferences and/or lack of original ingredients
  • leave space to record new memories made with its use

(First published in the 2012 Oct/Nov issue of “The Country Register  – Kansas”)

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Kansas Cow Paths: Suggestions for Stops and Starts

15 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by Naomi Gaede Penner in Kansas, Uncategorized

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I never get too much of Kansas. There’s always something I want to see next time.

Here are a few places I recently stopped at (October 2012.)

Braums (across the state) – good hamburgers, so many kinds of ice cream that you won’t know what to do. I tried Pumpkin, Butter Pecan, and Peanut Butter. I bought Pumpkin. http://www.braums.com/

The Bread Basket  (Newton) – Mennonite fare. At least: six soups served daily and three choices of fresh bread. Pie by the slice, cream puffs, and other dessert goodies. Bags of zwiebach, bread, and cookies, along with jars of jam.  http://www.newtonbreadbasket.com/

Faith and Life Bookstore (Newton) – It’s my pleasure to sign books and/or talk here. I always buy more than I sell. The seasonal décor, variety, and Kansas bookcase all draw me in. The frequent eblasts of events are intriguing and enticing. I wish Newton was closer to Colorado! http://www.faithandlifebookstore.com/

Bethel College Life Enrichment (Newton) – terrific programs with a series of three presentations each time. I presented on “Adventure and Alaska.”  http://www.bethelks.edu/academics/convocation-lecture-series/life-enrichment/

Ten Thousand Villages (Newton) –I love that shopping at Ten Thousand Villages (across the United States and Canada) is both a buying and giving opportunity. Ten Thousand Villages is a nonprofit marketing program of the Mennonite Central Committee that creates opportunities for artisans around the globe to earn a fair wage. http://newton.tenthousandvillages.com/about-our-store/

Kansas Aviation Museum (Wichita) – many airplanes and flying artifacts. Accessible control tower. This is where Cessna Aircraft Management held a dinner meeting where I was invited to speak. My presentation was “What Aviation Means to Alaskans.” Wonderful evening. http://www.kansasaviationmuseum.org/

Kansas Originals Market (Wilson – just off 1-70 between Salina and Russell) – Everything-Kansas! Items made by Kansans that represent the state of Kansas: sunflower motifs, quilts, jams, books, stitchery, jewelry, tole painting, woodworking, and so on.  http://www.kansasoriginals.com/

If someone were to visit your state or province, what would you highlight as “must-see”?

 

 

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Kansas –Back to my Roots

02 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by Naomi Gaede Penner in Kansas

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Ruby Leppke: Kansas Farm Girl

Kansas, an earthy place of black loam, wheat, corn, soy beans, sorghum, and sunflowers.

Kansas, a prairie-land with cows and calves, flat horizons, rolling hills, enormous skies and expanding clouds.

Kansas, the place my ancestors settled after the voyage from the Ukraine and the train ride from New York. Peabody, Kansas, the place they stepped into their New World and created the Bread Basket of America – with the Turkey Red Wheat they’d carried with them.

The Leppke farm, where my mother grew up, brought in corn cobs for kindling, milked cows, drove tractor, mended fence, and butchered chickens and hogs.

Kansas, where I come and try to reach back to the stories of my parents and grandparents. Where I drive through Peabody, Hillsboro, and Newton and wish the brick streets, stone buildings, and wide-porched houses would talk to me.

Kansas, where I feel space to breathe and move, where my senses are stimulated by the humid smells of simple, living things.

Kansas, where I show slides and tell stories of my parents’ plain beginnings, before they embarked on the journey to their Frontier World in Alaska.

From Kansas wheat fields to Alaska tundra where a Mennonite family found home, yet never forgot their roots.

 

 

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