A member of an old-order Amish congregation reportedly replied, when asked what his family did for Thanksgiving: "We give thanks every day, so a special day is not needed." Food for thought, although truth be told most families both Amish and English will eat a big dinner today, as well as give thanks.
It never hurts to have a piece or two of humble pie before launching into the turkey and pumpkin pie: That first Thanksgiving, which we like envision as involving benign interaction between American Indians and our Pilgrim ancestors,was precursor to a sincere and concerted effort to destroy the folks who got here first, steal their land, destroy their way of life, kill and impoverish them and pen the remnant up on reservations. And what about our black brothers and sisters? Lots of room here for repentance and humility as well as thanksgiving, white folk.
Still, Thanksgiving is one of the few national holidays that's managed to hang onto most of its purpose. Most stores are closed (oh all right, so way too many of us look upon today as mostly a time to rest up for tomorrow's Christmas shopping frenzy and in case 4 a.m. Friday wasn't early enough for you, Jordan Creek opens at midnight I'm told) and in Iowa at least it's a little too cold to do much other than stay inside and focus on food and family. Unless you're cooking, it's a good day to just relax --- and give thanks.
So I'm thankful --- particularly for Bertha Miller and her Sunrise Bakery, located a couple of miles south of Drakesville on the blacktop. What you see here on the kitchen table is my Thanksgiving baking (courtesy of Bertha), three loaves of wheat bread, two fruit cakes, two dozen peanutbutter cookies and a gooseberry pie (my favorite), all made from scratch and baked in wood-fired ovens.
Bertha is single and Sunrise Bakery is how she supports herself in her Amish community. The shop is incorporated into her small house, the kitchen is a separate building joined to the house at a corner and out back is a shed for the horse and buggy. And just when you've covered the counter with baked goods and she's totaled the bill, Bertha asks, "so do you want a pie today?" If there's gooseberry, I do.
Sunrise Baker is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays and closed Wednesdays and Thursdays, as well as Sundays. But I'm not sure about Tuesdays. You're on your own there.
As for me, I'm going to have a piece of gooseberry pie for breakfast (no ice cream, though).
1 comment:
One of my favorite childhood memories is of my grandmother baking gooseberry pies for my grandfather. Whenever she baked pies, I would sit at the kitchen table and listen to her tell stories.
I rarely hear of anyone eating gooseberries!
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