MacGregor Reunion 2012 Recap Part Three

What an amazing day we had on Wednesday. Barb, Mary Christine, Patty, Donna and I went to Amish country. I was raised here and never knew that Wisconsin had an Amish country and it's not too far from this house. This is what I found out from this website about theWisconsin Amish.
amishamerica.com/wisconsin-amish/
"Though the first Amish only began to settle in Wisconsin in the early 1900s, the Wisconsin Amish presence has grown to become the fourth-largest in North America.  In terms of Amish population, Wisconsin trails only Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana."

And before I go any further I need to let my good friend Sandy know that all the pictures that were taken during our Amish experience were taken with permission from Mary Yoder, a sweet Amish woman who we visited.
My cousin is a quilter and was interested in seeing Amish quilts and possibly purchasing one. My sister did a google search for Amish stores in Wisconsin and so our adventure began.
We drove until we were lost, so Barb stopped at a gas station to ask directions. The woman behind the counter at the gas station rolled her eyes when she was asked where we could find an Amish store, I imagine she is asked that all the time. Cracked us up but she got the last laugh, she sent us in the right direction but she wasn't  too accurate on the details. After a few u-turns we found the store. BUT, after parking and a walk we found the doors locked and the closed sign up. The hours were posted Open 10-4 and it was around 11 so Barb called the phone number on the sign. When she told the woman on the phone that no one was at the store the woman replied "I guess she didn't want to open today, but we have two other stores you could drive to" and then she preceded to give directions. Wow, that just continued our laughing fits.( Hey, it's better than getting upset right?)
As we traveled the country roads trying to find the second Amish store Barb notice a homemade wooden sign that said Amish Quilts for sale. The sign wasn't posted in a store it was posted in the yard of an Amish family, Freddie and Mary Yoder. 
The men evidently just finished their lunch and were leaving the house. They gave us permission to enter through the front door. Mary Yoder greeted us. The first thing I noticed was the wood flooring, not the kind of wood flooring that people buy at Home Depot, but the original old wood flooring. The living room was actually a working room. It had an old sewing machine with metal petals to pump to make it run, tables lined with cut pieces of black  material ready to sew together to make a new Amish dress and bonnet, small book shelves with religious books on them, a couch and rocking chair. From the ceiling where we have lighting and fans they had metal plates over those openings with wires hanging from them for gas lanterns.
The kitchen was off to our right and in it was a long, rectangular, wooden table surrounded by handcrafted wooden chairs. The dishes from the men's lunch were still on the table and Mary Yoder apologized for the mess. The counters and cabinets resembled ours but the stove was a large black wood burning stove.

The quilt room was off of the living room. It was loaded with quilts, pillow shams, throws, aprons for women and children and hand woven rugs. We were allowed to take the quilts off the hangers and into the living room where Mary and one of her younger sons helped unfold it so we could see it better. Mary Christine was in heaven, she is the one that truly understood the work and love that went into each item. Mary Christine recognized all the designs on these quilts. And she, Donna and Mary Yoder had a "quilting conversation". Mary Yoder told us she didn't make the quilts on her own she had help from the other women in the community. She explained to us that each household in the area sold specialty homemade items. they work together as a community in making everything and then each household has the responsibility of selling an item. Mary gave us a map to show us how to drive to each home. There was a bakery (closed that day), a candy store, a general store,a cabinet maker, a greenhouse, a sawmill, a hickory chair store and a harness maker just to name a few.

The top picture is one of the many quilts in the Amish home but not the one that Mary Christine actually purchased. The bottom picture is the quilt she brought home.

The younger Yoder children were in the house and the older boys were outside farming the land with their father. Their clothes were exactly like we see in pictures, the little girls had dresses and bonnets and the men had dark pants, light shirts, suspenders and straw hats. Mary Yoder wasn't wearing her bonnet in the house but she had her hair in a bun with a white netting over it.

We did go to one more Amish store, the one that sold candy! Imagine that. I bought cashew brittle and my cousin bought cashew chocolate clusters. The chocolate was all made with goat's milk and the goats were right outside the door of the store. Now I know that's a cow in the picture, I am from Wisconsin and I know the difference between a cow and goat but thought it was a good shot of a cow and wanted to share it. The bottom picture shows how the Amish pile their hay. I never, ever saw this before. 

We are putting together a book about everything that happened during our reunion week. If you would like to do the same for one of your family events I know the perfect website for you - Memories in Bits and Pieces at www.memoriesin.com