Kitchen Tour Offers Food, Decorati
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
EPHRATA (Lancaster Co.)
Living space is the cherished pos
session of Ken and Deb Weaver in
their 1833 farmhouse in Roths
ville. It allows the family plenty of
room for antique heirlooms, for a
baseball Held and four-wheeling
for the kids, for bountiful floral
and vegetable gardens, and a place
for friends and family to gather.
Now the Weavers are opening
their farmhouse for the seventh
annual Kitchen Kapers Tulip Tour
on April 25. Each of the seven
homes open for the tour will be
decorated by a florist and a chef
horn an area restaurant will pre
pare food specialties for guests to
sample.
The homes on the tour are in a
variety of styles, but the Weavers’
is the only farm house included.
The original deed of the log
house is framed in the Weavers’
The sun room Is the perfect spot for Deb to start plants
and seedlings to transplant outdoors.
,y. treadlesewing
machine, the wooden Ironing board uaad aa a ooffea tabla, tha crib quill mada by a
great aunt, and baakata and other collectibles.
family room, but the house has
undergone many changes and
additions since its 1833 begin
nings. The most recent is the sun
room and master bath that the
Weavers added in 1990.
After Deb’s grandfather pur
chased the property. Deb’s parents
raised the family in it, then built an
adjacent home, and turned the
farmhouse into an upstairs and
downstairs for Deb’s grandmother
and a great aunt.
Ten years ago, Deb and her hus
band moved into the farmhouse
and changed it back to a one-unit
house in which to raise their two
children who are now 10 and 14
years old.
The Weavers removed the wall
that had been installed to close in
the stairway when the house was
turned into apartments. They
installed a new oak stairway that
opens to the foyer, where a hand
crafted grandfather clock sets.
‘The clock really belongs to my
parents, but it was too tall to fit in
their house,” Deb said.
The home’s furnishings are a
reflection of the valpes upon which
the Weavers pattern their lifestyle
family and church. It is from
those two sources that most of the
heirlooms and collectibles arc
derived. A treadle sewing machine
and a collection of kitchen utensils
from a grandmother, a quilt and a
dining room table from a great
aunt There are many pieces, such
as a hand-crafted cradle, a Zook
doll, and original paintings pur
chased from the Church of the Bre
thren Relief Auction, an annual
fundraiser to help those suffering
from natural disaster.
Stories are handed down with
many of these pieces. For example.
Deb said of her great aunt’s table,
“The table is large enough to serve
13 guests, but my great aunt
insisted that 13 must never sit at
the table, for it would be unlucky.”
Although there has been no
effort to restore the home to its
original decor, the Weavers inad
vertedly purchased a sideboard
with a carved design from a neigh
borhood sale. When they brought
it home. Deb’s mother told her,
“Grandma had one just like that”
Old glass was used in the win
dows of the family room that Deb
and her husband redecorated. Her
basket collection now hangs from
the beams. Ken collects Coca-Cola
memorabilia and Winross trucks
that are displayed. Deb has a pre
ference for cookie cutters.
A ladder hangs horizonally
above the kitchen table. From it
hangs dried perennials and herbs
that Deb grows herself and dries
from her many flower gardens. An
antique church pew from the Ger
mantown Church is placed in front
of a large bay window, where
cooking utensils and collectibles
are artfully arranged. A quilted
feedbag from Millport Roller Mills
hangs on a door.
The sunroom is the perfect spot
for Deb to begin seeds for her
flower gardens. “I have so much
invested in trays and seeds that I
don’t think I save any money but I
love doing it,” Deb said.
Since Deb’s grandfather pur
chased the 19-acre farm in 1952, it
has been subdivided. Two acres
plus the ground surrounding the
house remain with the Weavers’
property.
On die day of the tour, the
Weaver home will be decorated by
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Dried perennials and herbs hang from the old church lad
der the Weavers purchased.
- arrangement by Carolyn Weaver
who uses freeze-dried fruits, parchment, and dried mater
ials in H.
floral arrangements by Ken’s cou
sin’s wife, Carolyn Weaver. She
combines freeze-dried vegetables
with dried, silk, parchment, and
latex flowers and greens.
A chef from Bloomfield Square
Restaurant in Lititz will serve
refreshments in the kitchen.
The Ephrata Woman’s Club
holds the tour as a fund raiser for
local charities. Tickets can be
purchase in advance for $6 by
sending a stamped business-size
self-addressed envelope to Esther
Minnich, 1141 Joann Ave., Ephra
ta, PA 17522. On the day of the
tour tickets will be sold for $7 at
the Ephrata Church of the Brethren
from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Arts, crafts,
and recipes will also be available
for purchase at the church but not
at individual homes. For more
information, call Ms. Minnich at
(717) 733-1075.
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, Floral Ideas
The following homes will also
be open for the tour.
• Frederick and Peggy Schmidt
524 Ridge Ave. Ephrata. A Tudor
Chalet built in 1978 has a parquet
floor in foyer. The living room has
a fireplace with an unusual carved
mantel and an antique hand-carved
organ. The room to the left is an
office-sunroom with custom built
cabinetry and a copper planter.
The formal dining room extension
lends an artist’s view of the outside
world. The double-paneled blue
gray patina kitchen has a full
length double door pantry. Down
stairs is a cathedral ceiling in a
completely enclosed glass room
with a swimming pool. In the sum
mer, the ceiling opens to let the
outdoors in. Jim Hummel’s plants,
(Turn to Pago B 5)