82-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 4. 1992 JOYCE BUPP York Co. Correspondent GLEN ROCK (York Co.) One of the hottcst-selling items around rural Pennsylvania is a cookbook. In fact, the “Society of Farm Women of Pennsylvania Cook book” has been in such demand that cookbook chairman Naomi Bupp is hard pressed to keep copies of the best-seller on hand. Since its “unveiling” at the Farm Women’s annual spring ral ly, 7,500 cookbooks have gone to buyers snatching up this uniquely designed collection of family tested recipes. “Several hundred have been mailed out, as close as parts of York County and as far away as California,” says Naomi, who continues to make frequent cook book mail-out trips to the local post office. “We have books in Washing ton, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Texas, and a lot to our neighboring states,” she notes as only a partial listing from the records she maintains of mail-out orders, Most of those orders, she adds, Naomi Bupp dishes out a serving of SnKz and Knepp. The classic Pennsylvania Dutch dish of dried apples, ham, and dumplings Is one of the many traditional recipes Included In the Society of Farm Women’s cookbook. Don Abbot and Pauline Thomas learned computer skills to compile the Farm Women’s recipes Into manuscript lOrm. Keeping them constant company during the three-year project was pet cat Kosh. Farm Women Cookbook Sales Soar came on the heels of a LANCAS TER FARMING article printed about the cookbook’s unveiling at the Farm Women’s spring rally last May. ‘There are also cookbooks in England, France and Australia,” Naomi smiles. “One traveler to Australia took them along as gifts to the hosts in the homes they were visiting. The popular publication was the brainchild of the York County farm woman, during her 1985-87 tenure as president of the state soc iety. Each state president tradition ally selects a special statewide ser vice project as a focus of her three year term. Sheer volume of recipes, and the intricacies of com piling a cookbook of this impress ive size and scope, pushed the publication date beyond the end of Naomi’s term and into late last spring. Naomi determined from the beginning that the proceeds of the cookbook sales would go to the state society’s Scholarship Fund. Four $5OO scholarships arc awarded annually to members’ children and grandchildren major ing in home economics-home management fields, including culinary arts and hotel management. During the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Society of Farm Women, Naomi will present a check to the scholarship fund rep resenting sales to date. That pre sentation will be made during the meeting business session, sche duled for the afternoon of Mon day, January 13, at the Forum Building in downtown Harrisburg. Not that the cookbook project was all a “piece of cake.” More than 2,000 recipes were gathered from the Society’s 4,000 members in 16 counties across the state. Sole requirement for a recipe’s inclusion was that it contain at least one Pennsylvania-produced ingredient Martee Mentzer, Cumberland County; Catherine Schott Leba non County; and Louise Stauffer, Franklin County were part of the state cookbook committee that helped with sorting and categoriz ing the collection. Committee members Laurcne Tate, Adams County; Dorothy Pule, Green County: and Arlene Weaver, Dau phin County: organized the youth The more than 2,000 recipes in the cookbook Include many time-tested favorites for cookies, homemade can dies and Jellies. recipes section. No one even tried to keep track of the hours involved. When the recipes were ready for compilation into manuscript form, more volunteers took over, this time in the form of Pauline and Don Abott Thomas of Dallas town. Pauline, a long-time member of York County Society, Group 2, typed and helped with editing nearly every recipe. Don, profes sional artist and retired chairman of the Art and Humanities Depart ment at Dallastown Area High School, designed the layout, and the intricate artwork and dozens of illustrations which give this cook book its unique and homey flavor. In addition, scattered through out the recipes and artwork in the book’s more than 440 pages are several hundred thought provoking and whimsical “folksy sayings” - proverbs, maxims, and mini-poems. The Thomas’ volunteered to assist with the cookbook at a time when Don was recovering from spinal surgery and confined with strict physical limitations. The prospect of learning computer skills to combine his artistic talents with the recipes caught his imagination. Though initially reluctant, Pauline was persuaded to learn computer skills and both are now quite proficient on their five computers. Also lending a hand with typing recipes was Tre va Stiles, a member of York County Society Group 18. A heart attack extended Tho mas’ recovery period and the cookbook compilation schedule. Confined still, Thomas* recovery room became an office dedicated to “finishing the cookbook.” ‘The body was limited, but the mind, active and alive again, greeted each new day and often worked far into the early hours of the tnoming when sleep would not come,” relates Don Abott Thomas in a note about the editors included in the back section of the cookbook. Thomas illustrated a mythical “Florence the Farm Woman” as a theme through the book, depicting the myriad of farm and home chores which filled the busy days 9i (omesiead tH/Stps of traditional farm women. A friend of the Thomas family, Rita Marshall Stamer, posed for many of his sketches. Background was a variety of actual York County farm settings, many of them close by the Thomas’s Dallastown R 3 home in the neighborhood of Red Front. Divided into numerous topical sections, the 8-1/2-inch by 11-inch, spiral-bound cookbook encompasses almost every categ ory imaginable of both traditional and more modem recipes from the kitchens of Farm Women members. Scattered among every beige tinted page of recipes are tidbits like “A new groom sweeps clean - and also washes the dishes,” “Few things are more satisfying than seeing your children have teena gers of their own,” and “You can’t expect to make a place in the sun for yourself if you keep taking refuge under the family tree.” Illustrations of playful children romp through the cookies section, while cats chase across one page of pic recipes. Each section has lined, blank pages for adding fam ily favorites. The cookbook is dedicated to Naomi’s mother, Gertrude Miller, who until her death was a member of York Society Group 11. Several of her favorite recipes are included in the cookbook. Also in the collection is a recipe from the founder of the Pennsyl vania Society of Farm Women, Flora S. Black, a farm woman who lived in Somerset County. Her “Canada’s War Cake” was taken from a copy of the Pennsylvania Society of Farm Women’s Bulle tin, September, 1918; Mrs. Black was then president. According to Naomi, some cookbook owners have told her it’s the “neatest cookbook” they’ve ever seen. Mothers send checks asking to have copies sent to daughters in distant locations. And some have reported they keep it close by just to browse through in spare moments. The Pennsylvania Society of Farm Women Cookbook is avail able from Naomi Bupp, Route 2, Box 157, Glen Rock, PA, 17327 at the cost of $15.00 plus $3.50 postage. (Turn to Pag* B 4)
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers