812-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 17,2001 Guests 6 MICHELLE RANCK Lancaster Farming Staff LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.) Patrons dropped in on “Aunt Fanny” and “Jalde” during Mar tin Court Room Restaurant’s Guest Chef Night benefiting Landis Valley Museum. Menu options for the evening were taken from the museum’s “Pennsylvania German Food and Traditions” cookbook. Guests polished their Pennsylva nia Dutch dialect as they ordered Hinkel welschkann Supp (chick en corn soup), Gerooscht Welschhaahne (roasted turkey with sides), Fisch Kuche (salmon cakes with sides), complemented with Kannbrot and Weezebrot (rye and wheat breads), Mosert Grumbiere (mustard potatoes), and Salat mit Heimbier Rahm Salatbreith (salad with raspberry cream dressing). The meal ended on a sweet note with Lebkuche mit Rahm (gingerbread with whipped cream). Characters “Aunt Fanny” and “Jakie” livened the evening with their traditional 1800 s costumes and energetic banter delivered with Pennsylvania Dutch accent. Approximately 90 guests had reservations for the evening. “I’m going to sing, but the good news is that I’m not going to sing long,” said “Fanny” be fore she plunged into a song about a stolen cow. “Fanny’s” costume included an asafoetidae bag, literally, “devil’s dirt,” which was believed to keep evil spirits away. The pasty tree sap, which comes from the Far East, looks something like chewing gum, said Homer, and smells like a combination of garlic and old socks. “This was a time when fragrance was not so important,” she said of the 1700 to early 1900 era. “They didn’t know about germs, so they thought the evil spirits brought illness. They felt that something this strong had to keep evil spir its away.” “Aunt Fanny,” portrayed by Jerri Horner, Manheim, and “Jakie,” Tom Martin, Strasburg, are “an extension of a number of projects Tom and I have done to gether,” said Horner. Dinner Fit For A Governor Lancaster County Poultry Association members serve a dinner fit for the gover nor at the Water Street Rescue Mission. The Feb. 10th dinner was in honor of Gov. Thomas Ridge. Pennfield Corporation provided chicken to feed 100 people. From left are Becky Petit, Andy Bradford, Amy Bradford, Nelson Groff, Mary Jo Kraft, and Poultry Ambassador Rijelle Kraft. urn Once’f To Landis Valley Museum honored Mike Yeomans as volunteer of the year. Yeomans, who volunteers approximately 20 hours a week for the museum’s farm program, has volunteered for a total of five years at the museum. Both Martin and Homer are staff members at the museum and are drawing on their own Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, al though “I’m from Johnstown, so “Jakie” had to teach me the local dialect,” said Homer. Homer also uses the “Fanny” character to teach folklore and pow-wowing (faith-healing), plus other historical subjects at the museum. “It’s just a way to teach historical characters that makes it more entertaining,” she said. “It all started six or eight years ago when we were asked to put together a program about a fu neral,” she said. “We re-created an 1848 Mennonite funeral for a gentleman that once lived on Lebanon Valley Museum grounds for Harvest Days, a spe cial event at the museum. Tom did the research and I took the material and turned it into a first-person program.” “It just works,” said Homer. “Tom’s an excellent researcher and I enjoy taking dry, small facts and making them enter taining.” The funeral turned out to be the most popular program Hom er, a 15-year employee of the mu seum, had ever done. “It’s a unique topic that’s not talked about much,” said Martin, who added that the topic was a novel educational opportunity for museum visitors. “I was amazed at how much the chil dren retained.” Visitors were cautioned and told what to ex pect before they entered the “fu neral.” “Aunt Fanny” taught about “funeral biscuits” or raisin pies, Dutc Steve Miller, Conestoga, director of Landis Valley Mu seum, enjoys a joke during dinner. “Jakie” and “Aunt Fanny” dole out historical humor, Pennsylvania Dutch style, for Joseph B. Hess, Lancaster, a volunteer at Landis Valley Museum. Dining commonly found at funerals. Her presentation was followed by Martin’s cooking demonstration. “We found it very exciting when young people would go from my program to his and say, “I know what those pies are,” said Hom er. “People still come up to us and talk to us about that funer al.” The funeral is not Martin and Homer’s only collaborative ef fort. Martin researched and Homer was the primary writer of the Landis Valley Museum’s cookbook. Also during the evening Land is Valley Museum awarded Mike Yeomans with the volunteer of the year distinction. Yeomans, who volunteers approximately 20 hours a week for the museum’s farm program, has volunteered for a total of five years at the museum. After a visit to the museum, Yeomans decided to come back and become a volunteer, where he began as a guide. Next he did open hearth'cooking and rye coil basketry, which he learned at the museum. Two years ago Yeomans got involved with the farm program. “The farm program’s been going for three years, and it just gets more exciting to work there as each year goes on,” he said.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers