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.