Hi Group! Since many of our ancestors were farmers, I thought you might enjoy this tidbit found in the Mennonite Community Cookbook by Mary Emma Showalter published in 1950. Food for a Barn Raising This bit of information was found in a quaint, old handwritten recipe book from Great-grandmother's day. It is included here mainly for the purpose of giving us a peep into the past. As many of us know, a "barn raising" was quite an event during those early years. When a new barn was built, all the friends and neighbors came on the specified day to help put up the framework of the barn. This policy is still carried out in some communities where neighbors are neighborly. Homemakers of our day will no doubt be astounded at all the food consumed in one day. What is more difficult to believe is that it was all made in Great-grandmother's kitchen. Here is the list as I found it: 115 lemon pies 500 fat cakes (doughnuts) 15 large cakes 3 gallons applesauce 3 gallons rice pudding 3 gallons cornstarch pudding 16 chickens 3 hams 50 pounds roast beef 300 light rolls 16 loaves bread Red beet pickle and pickled eggs Cucumber pickles 6 pounds dried prunes 1 large crock stewed raisins 5 gallon stone jar white potatoes and the same amount of sweet potatoes Enough food for 175 men. This book also had recipes for making laundry soap and homemade handlotion. It is one of the many cookbooks I have collected over the years. Hope you enjoyed "peeking" in to the past. Liz Tattersall My Surname Interests: BICKFORD, CALLANDAR, GREENOUGH, HADLEY, HALL, HEATON, JORDAN, LUCAS, MERRILL, NARIKE, POWERS, SWEET, SCHUMITZ, TATTERSALL, WALKER

I did enjoy your post. Nancy ----- Original Message ----- From: <LizTatt@aol.com> To: <CT-RIVER-VALLEY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, October 01, 2000 2:32 PM Subject: [CRV] Barn Raising Menu