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)