Dandelions

Dandelions, though often an unwelcome part of spring, were often put to good use by Amish families. The tender little leaves made an interesting salad, and the blossoms when battered and deep fried made tasty little treats for a springtime dinner.

In some communities dandelions were welcomed and put to use by making dandelion wine.

Wine of any type was forbidden in the community we lived in, but when looking at some Amish community recipe books I found the more conservative communities always have a section of homemade wine recipes.

Including this one:

Dandelion Wine

8 cups dandelion blossoms
1 gallon boiling water
1 Tbsp yeast
5 lb sugar
3 oranges, sliced
3 lemons, sliced

In a large bowl, preferably glass, or a crock, pour boiling water over dandelion blossoms. Let set for three days, stirring every day. Strain at the end of the third day. To the stained liquid add oranges, lemons, yeast, and sugar. Let set three more days, stirring every day. Strain, place in crock and let set at room temperature for four weeks. Bottle and cap.

I have never tried it, don't really have an interest to, but if anyone else does will you let me know how it is?

Cleaning

Saturdays were always a day of doing more than just the usual daily housekeeping. Everything had to be cleaned before Sunday. Windows washed, floors mopped, furniture dusted, stove polished, bathrooms deep cleaned, and about once a month the floors were waxed. Everything always needed to be nice and clean in order to enjoy a relaxing restful Sunday.

When it was our turn to have church at our house it meant that absolutely every single thing in the house needed to be cleaned. Often women and girls came for a day or so to help out. Dishes were polished so that they shone like brand new, every drawer was emptied the contents cleaned and then organized, a room or two might be painted, wax was stripped from the floors and several new coats applied, all the tops of cans on the can shelves in the basement were wiped off, the woodshed needed to have any little wood scraps swept up and all the wood neatly stacked. If it was during the summer the garden needed extra attention, not even the tiniest weed dared to be growing.

A lot of hard work crammed into two weeks of time.

When we moved to Somerset County where they use meeting houses instead of having church in homes, we missed the getting ready for church, extreme clean feeling, and chose to do the same deep cleaning every spring and fall.

I still like doing the same type of housecleaning, but it takes me a little longer than two weeks to get it done!

Giveaway!

One of the first blogs I ever read was singing the praises of the Lilla Rose flexi-clips. I admired them a lot, but it wasn't until only a week ago that I finally got one for myself.

I think I'm in love! So much prettier than what I had been using and very comfortable too.

My friend is now generously offering to give a flexi-clip to one of my readers. All you have to do to for a chance to win one is leave a comment telling me, oh lets see, since this has to do with hair, leave me a comment telling me what color hair you have. Mine is a plain dark brown.

For a second entry visit this website and come back, leave another comment telling me which design flexi-clip you think is the prettiest.

Placing a link to this giveaway on your Facebook or blog, and then coming back and leaving another comment telling me you did will earn you a third entry.

Winner will be chosen on Saturday May 10th using Random.org

Baptism

Baptism is very important to the Amish.

To them it is a brand new beginning, what ever happened in the past has now been forgiven and you have been given a fresh clean start. For a little while you are totally clean and sinless. You now belong to the church, the family of God.

~~~~~

Anyone that leaves the Amish and allows themselves to become baptized again has no hope, and will also never be accepted back into the Amish church. We knew there would be no turning back even if we ever wanted to, (we never have) on the day we confirmed our faith in Jesus by being baptized again, nearly two years after we had left. It was one of the happiest days of our life!

Allowances

Receiving an allowance and having spending money is a foreign idea to most Amish children.

Neither LV or I received an allowance, and it's one of the things we carried over from being Amish, for the same reasons we didn't, our children also don't have money to spend.

Reasoning behind this is, a child should not have to worry about supplying their own needs. If they start saving and spending money for wants that will carry over into adulthood and cause them a lot of unnecessary financial burdens.

There is a big difference between wants and needs. Learning to be happy with what you have will be beneficial for the rest of their life. Buying things simply because you want them can be a hard habit to break.

It wasn't that we didn't have any money as a child, and our children also get to keep any money they earn, but they don't get to spend any of it until they have needs. The day they buy their own car or house, I know they will be glad for everything they saved, and hopefully they will still be happy to live their life knowing it isn't material things that bring happiness and satisfaction to their lives.