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Mystery Makers: The Pennsylvania Dutch. Season 2, Episode 12.
43 Plays3 years ago
The Amish and Mennonite Pennsylvania Dutch were some mysterious woodworkers. Find out what Rob uncovered during his research.
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Transcript
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00:01:06
Speaker
All right. Here we go. Episode. What is this? I think it's well because we were one ahead of the. The nomenclature on the. On the notes. I see. Different scenery today. Yeah. Back in the shop. Yeah. Well, we won't waste your time explaining the reason why. But here we are. A comfy confines. Yeah.
00:01:38
Speaker
So what are we covering today?
Amish Beliefs and Furniture Traditions
00:01:41
Speaker
We're talking about the Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish furniture makers of note. The third installment of our series on the styles usually delves into some of the famous makers. Yep. And
00:01:58
Speaker
With this one in particular, I ran into a little bit of a hiccup because of the Amish and the Mennonites and basically their beliefs. I can sort of paraphrase some of my notes here.
00:02:16
Speaker
Let you guys know what I'm talking about. The Amish, the Pennsylvania Dutch, if you will, they believe that community harmony is threatened by secular values such as individualism and pride, which is part of the modern world. I mean, that's kind of what they're trying to separate themselves from.
00:02:36
Speaker
When we go back into the 1700s, it's still modern to them. So they curb their interaction and insulate themselves. And they prohibit things like individualism, greed, and
00:02:57
Speaker
I mean, it all sounds pretty idealistic and in light of today's society doesn't sound too bad. Yeah, I say individualism maybe at a at a downturn at this point.
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, it may have been a downturn for a while, you know, all the uniform wearing and signaling and all that stuff. Sure. But so that's why they dress plainly and they don't like to have their photograph taken. They don't even like to study the Bible individually. And, you know, the Bible is a big part of their their belief system.
00:03:40
Speaker
They don't want individual interpretations. They keep their buggies basically black, gray. They don't want to stand out. And one of the hallmarks of their belief system is humility.
00:03:59
Speaker
I can get down there. So you could imagine that, you know, signing your pieces and, you know, trying to sort of grandize yourself individually, that's kind of frowned upon. Right. They see conformity and all that stuff. That's, that's really their their highest goals.
00:04:25
Speaker
So now you take consideration and the fact that most of this stuff was utilitarian in nature, not really discovered, so to speak, until folk art becomes a thing in the 1920s. It was it's kind of hard to come up with examples of of guys that were, you know, notable furniture makers.
00:04:53
Speaker
Yeah, because to be Amish and to be a furniture maker who, you know, identifies their furniture with themselves is in turn against the Amish belief system. Cutting against the grain, as we like to say.
00:05:12
Speaker
Um, yeah, they were encouraged to surrender their personal aspirations for the sake of community purity. That's right out of my notes. So
00:05:26
Speaker
Many of their pieces were not signed or easily attributed to a specific maker. And that's kind of what we did when we were, you know, digging back further in time before people start to become known makers like, you know, Hepplewhite and all those dudes.
00:05:48
Speaker
You kind of looked at a style and that's why we had like schools of furniture like the Rhode Island school, so to speak. You know, where you could see people were building in a specific style.
00:06:01
Speaker
Here's a here's a German him, you know, the Pennsylvania Dutch are basically of German origin. It kind of, you know, sums up their belief humility is the most beautiful virtue, the glory and honor of all Christians were to dorns our youth and old age even more so.
00:06:27
Speaker
You know, what can you say? I hope that sounds better in German. Doesn't sound like a very good song. That was funny. Songwriting, not the strong suit of Amish. I wonder how they felt about melody. Don't make it sound too good. It might sound even worse. No crops this year if that sounds so good. That's right.
00:06:58
Speaker
I mean, how do you think that compares to what what we do nowadays? I mean, we can't we sign our stuff. I mean, but for kind of a different reason, we're sort of you go ahead and you could talk about why we put our stuff names on our stuff. It's more about
00:07:23
Speaker
like creating a legacy, you know, and the sort of surprise it could be for a person in the future, you know, to, you know, whatever, take these cabinets down or buy a piece of furniture and see, oh, whoa, Green Street Joinery. I wonder who they were and when, you know, when they were around.
00:07:45
Speaker
Right. Because, because we're kind of like nerds in that way. We, if we peel off a piece of wallpaper and find out that the guy working on the, you know, the house was named John Brown, 1850. We think that's kind of cool. So, you know, we sort of do it that way in hopes that one day somebody will just be curious.
00:08:12
Speaker
And with the internet and everything, the way it is, I guess this stuff is going to basically hang around forever, at least as long as people are, you know, running the internet. It'd be easy to just type in green street joinery and you'll find something about us. Yeah. Let's say wipe us off the internet.
00:08:37
Speaker
They're going on those conspiracy theories. I never say never. That's right. So so what do we do? I found a couple of people. And even once I came across people's names, it was really a deep dive to get get any info on these.
Henry Lapp's Innovative Designs
00:08:57
Speaker
One of the people I found was Henry Lap. I have a sketch here. I'm going to open it up so I could take a look at it.
00:09:07
Speaker
It's really rudimentary. Some drawings. It looks like it. I mean, it's bright colors. It's a couple of pieces of furniture. You could see the dovetails and the joinery illustrated. But if if your kid came home with this drawing from school, what grade would you say you'd be in? Fifth. Right. So this is Henry Laff. The real perspective drawings, though.
00:09:43
Speaker
This came out of his handbook and we'll get into that. So Henry Lapp, his craftsmanship is long celebrated in the community. Um, but it's not until the 1970s that he's quote unquote discovered by regular people. Yeah. The mainstream society. So, um, we're talking about what? 200 years, you know, almost 17 twenties. Uh, let's see. Yeah.
00:10:02
Speaker
Yes. Yes. So.
00:10:14
Speaker
I don't know, 250 years. Yeah. I'm sure we'll get into his early life, get some real dates on there when he was around. Henry Lapp as a person get into a little bit. He was deaf and partially mute. So he started making these sketches so he could communicate to his clients. Well, perfect Amish.
00:10:42
Speaker
Can't be an individual if you can't talk or hear. Oh, man. So in the 50s, 1950s, a descendant of Henry Lapp sold a bureau he'd made to a dealer and inside one of the drawers was this little four and a half inch by eight inch soft cover book with Henry's stamp on the cover.
00:11:06
Speaker
And in 1958, that handbook was donated to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. So it became quite an important piece in the Amish storyline. I've been there. Oh, yeah. Philadelphia Museum of Art as an adult or when you were a kid in a field trip. Yeah. That's we used to go to the to the Met and stuff like that.
00:11:34
Speaker
In 75 a facsimile edition of his handbook of designs for furniture and household items was published by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the work of a 19th century craftsman was found. So it was in the 1800s.
00:11:52
Speaker
Yeah, that's when LAP was. Oh, 19th century craftsman. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. So, yeah, you could see I had to stretch out the, you know, the timeline. Right. Not like a Chippendale where he was famous as a contemporary. Right. You know, somebody who didn't, wasn't known of until
00:12:14
Speaker
You know, whatever, 150 years later. Exactly. Exactly. So as as we were able to see, his handbook is filled with drawings of chests, wash stands, desks, boxes, even some games and toys, basically. Utilitarian items for the home and the farm. This is this is what the Amish built. Yeah, I guess that one in the bottom left is a wash stand. Let's take a look.
00:12:45
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think that's what it says. Wash. Wash bench. Wash bench. Yeah. I like the little wheels on that on that green car. It looks something out of my mind. It's this bureau wash bench. Something for. Something box, right? Yeah. Zoom in even more.
00:13:16
Speaker
almost looks like it says hose or rose. Yeah, it might be something for gardening or something for L E M O lemon box. Rose for lemon box. That makes sense. Huh.
00:13:39
Speaker
You guys have to check it out for yourselves. Yeah. Henry Lap. L A P P. And it definitely come up. If you type in Henry Laps, handbook, catalog, that sort of thing. Well, you get a link to it if you're a patron.
00:13:53
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So there you go. That's that's worth the money right there. So this guy comes up with a catalog. I mean, which is pretty cool. Well, because, you know, he had trouble communicating. And it's kind of unusual. You think about it almost ahead of his time. Yeah.
00:14:15
Speaker
I mean, we did get into, you know, the what are the gentlemen and I can't even remember the name of the book. It's right over there. The cabinet maker and gentleman's guide. Something like that. But that was more for that was a book aimed at professionals. Right. This is aimed at the user, the end user.
00:14:42
Speaker
So, this is, again, Henry thinking outside the box. As an Amish, we just went through what their belief system is, and Henry says, there's no reason boxes used for gathering fruits and vegetables can't be yellow and green, or for that matter, purple and green. You want a seed cabinet? How about an orange and yellow combination? A red wagon? A green wagon?
00:15:08
Speaker
Yeah, he's causing trouble. So I say given the aforementioned I'm a humility in preference for blending in my Henry last promotion of individual individuality make him somewhat of a rebel.
00:15:26
Speaker
I was saying, yeah, you know, if you weren't deaf and mute, we'd be throwing you a beat and take you out to the woodshed. Yeah. It's curious to think how Henry was, you know, thought of during his time. Like, yeah, Henry's a little slow.
00:15:46
Speaker
My answer is yes and no. The Amish did employ bright colors and were known for painted decorations, as well as their desire to not stand apart from the group. So they kind of, you know, they had, we went over those hex signs, those were colorful. And typically, they're known for their painted work, their painted pieces. So
00:16:10
Speaker
Although it was usually like a monochromatic base color. They had some decorations. But Henry was just taking a little bit further. I guess he was kind of an entrepreneur. Sounds like it.
00:16:26
Speaker
So let's, let's look at Henry's early history. He's born in 1862. Yeah, so he's almost not a contemporary, but you know, that's, that's getting pretty close to current times.
00:16:42
Speaker
Man, that's a hell of a time to be grown up, you know, right in the middle of the Civil War in an area of the country that was being torn apart by the Civil War. You're right. I mean, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. How close is Gettysburg? Exactly. And he's a fifth generation old order armor, so he's a pacifist.
00:17:07
Speaker
It's an interesting line of thought, you know, how that group tried to stay out of all the conflict. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't even make that connection. Yeah. So maybe they were insulated from what was going on. But you got to imagine troops are all over the place. Yeah. Taking up quarters in their homes, probably. Yeah. Yeah.
00:17:32
Speaker
Uh, so as we discussed, he was born deaf and at least partially mute. Um, and, uh,
00:17:41
Speaker
based on the number of paintings and stuff that surfaced over the last 30, 40 years, he seems to have been at it from an early age. He probably, you know, used it as a form of communication from early on. Yeah. Not being able to speak well, not hearing. You know,
00:18:05
Speaker
You got a figure in in those times in that community. He was, you know, might have been considered an aberration. You know, who knows what the belief system was that Henry couldn't hear like. So he may have been somewhat ostracized. Yeah. Do you think that the Amish maybe they seem like they'd be a little more tolerant and that kind of thing?
00:18:34
Speaker
Yeah, you know, we don't know. We don't know. You know, could go either way, right? We don't know for sure if Henry learned his trade from his father, or was apprentice to a carpenter or cabinet maker. But in 1890, in a local business directory is listed as a carpenter. Six years later, cabinet maker. So let's see. So that's 2828 years old.
00:19:02
Speaker
Which I guess is midlife at that point in time. Yeah, maybe a little even more. Yeah. Sometime before that, 1884, his father dies, his mom remarries, and Henry buys 10 acres of land from his stepbrother. Man, there's a lot going on. And this is where he builds his house, his barn, and his cabinet shop.
00:19:35
Speaker
Uh, in an interview for an article in folk art magazine, a family member, this is what's cool about the Amish. I mean, you go out there and you're going to find relatives. Yeah. A family member said that
00:19:52
Speaker
If Henry was at a social gathering and happened to notice a rise in the wind, he'd leave and go out to his shop to cut lumber because it was powered by a windmill. So, I mean, I can think of somebody a little bit like that. Any excuse to get away from a gathering. It's like, oh, the wind's going. I got to get back and cut some lumber, man. I got that power going from my windmill.
00:20:20
Speaker
It's his passion. But Henry's known to be friendly and outgoing, like to travel, visit relatives and Amish communities in Indiana, Ohio and Canada. Well, I didn't know that we're Amish in Canada. Yeah, I mean, well, where I go to fish in upstate New York, which is very, very close to Canada, there's a big Amish community.
00:20:47
Speaker
up in Pulaski. Yeah. We got to go out there. We got to take a trip one day. Yeah. Um, cause it sounds really cool. Begin to be stealing that season pretty soon. While waiting that ice cold water.
00:21:01
Speaker
That's the part I wouldn't really look forward to, but being out in that, I love being out in nature like that. It's nice when it's cold because there's nobody there. Yeah, that's true too. So Henry, despite everything that, you know,
00:21:20
Speaker
He's he's dealt. He's really an outgoing guy. And he takes trips out to Philly, which is, you know, the that's English as the Amish call it, the outsiders to, you know, bring his pieces to market, picks up stuff to restock his hardware store. And he's picking up ideas when he goes out into the world. That's the devil, the devil getting it. It's dangerous, isn't it?
00:21:51
Speaker
Henry's Handbook. There's a facsimile edition of Henry's Handbook. And it's noted that his washstand designs were more typical of large urban houses. So Henry's definitely taking ideas that he sees in the outside world and incorporating them into Amish furniture. And listen to this.
00:22:19
Speaker
She also noted the carrot-shaped foot and bulbous rounded foot on some of his pieces were variations of models made in mahogany and rosewood by Philadelphia cabinet makers.
00:22:32
Speaker
And Henry's flat areas of color are more typical of Welsh settlers. Rather than the painted figures of the old Germanic tradition. Well, so it doesn't sound like much to us, but yeah, I mean, most of the other Pennsylvania Dutch stuff didn't have these type of turned like little bun feet or whatever you want to call them. They were integrated into the, you know, the base of the cabinet.
00:22:57
Speaker
Yeah, or they were just flat with a little bit of a cut. So, you know, it's, it's hard to put things in context sometimes when you look at historical notes and figures. But if you put yourself back in Henry's time in a really insular community, which prizes all that stuff and guards against outside influences,
00:23:26
Speaker
He is a bit of a firebrand. And it's cool that his work survived. In 1904, about six weeks before his 42nd birthday, Henry died of lead poisoning all from exposure to the paints he mixed.
00:23:49
Speaker
Again, here you go. These are things that was he tasting it? I mean, it's the exposure you and and you've brought this up before, like mad as a hatter. The people worked on watches and things like that. You know, we're all exposed to these things back then.
00:24:13
Speaker
So Henry never marries and his estate is auctioned off. And it's, you know, maybe what in the 70s. So but that bureau was sold in the 50s. Right. So, you know, 50 years after his death, he's kind of creeping out into mainstream society's consciousness.
00:24:39
Speaker
The inventory of his shop includes chests, woodworking tools, circular saws, mortise cutter, mortising jack. I'm not sure what that is. Molding machines, grinding stones. And he had an apprentice, Noah Zook, which he bought most of his shop and equipment and furniture patterns and opened his own shop a few miles down on the Philadelphia Pike.
00:25:10
Speaker
Uh, so there you have, uh, Henry laugh. First, uh, significant, uh, guy. Yeah. Um, the next, uh, group I found with the beavers. No, no, uh, no relation to Justin Bieber. No, but be Justin Bieber's Canadian. I guess, uh, could be a Canadian Amish.
00:25:30
Speaker
He could be. Yeah, he could be Amish in now. There's a close up of a Bieber chest looks much more traditional Amish, right? Yeah. If you look at those designs. Yeah, the hearts and the flowers. But that second chest, the one in color that which is the really nice photograph
00:25:57
Speaker
Oh yeah. That's a pretty ornate piece of work. Pretty similar design in terms of the painting. Yeah, yeah. So what Jeff and I are looking at is basically a rectangular chest, three small drawers at the bottom ledge, some simple bracket feet, flat top, looks like some breadboard ends there.
00:26:26
Speaker
You see one on the right or is that just paint? No, it's a frame and panel top that looks like. You go real close with flush panels.
00:26:40
Speaker
And some really detailed paint. You could see some columns in the front. A little urn with some flowers coming out of it. Got the Queen Anne style back plate hardware. Yeah. Dovetails in the bracket feet. Some reds. Looks like either black or really, really dark green, right? Yeah.
00:27:12
Speaker
Does it say something there above the. Yeah. It almost looks like. I mean, the third letter looks like a phi, like a Greek letter. Oh, yeah. Yeah. 1789, it says there. Wow. Above that arch. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:27:40
Speaker
So almost like a hybrid of like a hope chest and like the the Hartford chest or the. What was the other one? The. What were the ones they're making in Cambridge called? I forget. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, I didn't even notice that 1789. I mean, either until I zoomed in. I mean, it's obvious once you do notice it, but it's it's just so well done.
00:28:11
Speaker
Well, it's 200 years before I was born. So the Beavers, father and son, were skilled craftsmen and sawyers. And unfortunately, that's all I was able to find. Those Beavers keep their secrets.
00:28:33
Speaker
I got a couple of notes. I didn't have any any pictures from these folks, but there were a couple of covers. One was Wilhelm Schimmel. And his story is very typical. That's definitely not a German name. Wilhelm Schimmel.
00:28:51
Speaker
born in Germany in 1817. Again, we're talking about, you know, early 19th century, immigrated to Pennsylvania, ended up in the Cumberland Valley near Carlisle. Oh, yeah, no Carlisle. Yes. Yeah.
Schimmel: The Folk Artist's Journey
00:29:09
Speaker
Soon after the Civil War. Just a town full of truck stops now.
00:29:13
Speaker
This is the best note of the whole episode. I'll quote directly. Schiml was quite literally an alcoholic and from all accounts a very vicious one. In today's world, he would probably be in jail. Nonetheless, he had a genius for carving.
00:29:40
Speaker
So I don't know how the Amisha handle the alcoholism. Is it a coincidence that the people that sort of made it into this segment have some sort of unusual characteristic. Yeah.
00:30:00
Speaker
could be. You know the the mainstream Amish they're they're working within the fold. Shimmel
00:30:14
Speaker
He was a genius carver and maybe history remembers him because he was an alcoholic, you know, and there were exploits, you know, he was written about or remembered something happened. Yeah. Yeah. He was a person of note because he was different than the rest of the. Yeah. Amish's.
00:30:32
Speaker
So, Schimel would go from barn to barn in the Cumberland Valley for a week or two at a time and in return for food and lodging, he'd carve little animals, birds, roosters, and on a very rare occasion, because it was frowned upon, he'd carve a human likeness. You know, most often it was birds.
00:30:57
Speaker
He'd take little chunks of pine from the wood pile, and with an ordinary knife, he'd carve them into shapes. He'd paint them with his own paints, and in exchange, he'd stay in the barn. So this guy was a hobo. He was an obvious hobo.
00:31:16
Speaker
an alcoholic one. Well it goes along being a hobo I guess. He did hundreds of pieces most of them ending up in the fireplace after a few years. He dies in 1890. He's buried in a pauper's grave.
00:31:34
Speaker
Oh, man. And again, 1950s, 60s, his work, the surviving work starts to get recognized as folk art. And even though it's late 19th century, curators and art historians determined that he was the true artist carver of Pennsylvania, whereas every carver who followed was doing it in a conscious attempt to be German. Yeah, I mean, the Germans are known for their
00:32:05
Speaker
I mean amongst others but think of like those black forest clocks and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So get this once Wilhelm Schimel's relevance is established now we're talking 1950s and 60s what was left of his work skyrockets in value
00:32:25
Speaker
And 10 years ago, Bill Gates paid $50,000 for a Shimmel Eagle. Well, today, it'd be around 100 to 150 grand. I wonder how big they are. Yeah, that's if they're made out of firewood, I guess. Yeah, I think that's pretty amazing, right? Yeah. Well, well, sleeping in the barn, you reap the seed yourself.
00:32:55
Speaker
So that kind of wraps up everybody. I was able to find some. You know, some. Notable information on. Yeah.
Pennsylvania Dutch Culinary Traditions
00:33:06
Speaker
But I'm going to wrap up this episode with a little bit of Amish cuisine. Mm hmm. We ate some Amish cuisine. Did you know we did. Oh yeah. When we have we went to Shady Maple smorgasbord. Yeah. That's why we picked up the paramedic. That's right.
00:33:23
Speaker
You ever hear of Shoe Fly Pie? Yeah, I ate it at Shady Maple. Yeah, Morgan's board. Now it's related to Jenny Lind Pie, which I never heard of, but probably originated among the Pennsylvania Dutch. It's a molasses crumb cake. And traditionally served not as dessert, but as a breakfast food with hot coffee. Yeah, that's a good combo. Yeah, yeah. The modern form of Shoe Fly Pie as crumb cake served in pie crust.
00:33:54
Speaker
was post civil war. When cast iron cookware and stoves made pie crust more accessible for home cooks. It's also known as molasses crumb pie. I never saw it as like crumb cake inside of a pie. Yeah. Seems more like almost like pecan pie with no pecans. Yeah. All the pictures I found it made it look like you know it had that sort of gelled filling and it did have a crumb topping.
00:34:22
Speaker
Yeah, so to the unfamiliar, such as myself, the filling looks like the gooey part of a pecan pie without the nuts. I'm getting ahead of the. This how you know that I haven't read this. That's right. This is off the cuff. The toppings of fine crumb like and shoe fly recipes that I checked out didn't use any eggs. Where do you think the name shoe fly comes from?
00:34:49
Speaker
Well, it's because it's so sweet. They had to shoe the flies away. Yes, it was a brand of molasses, but that's probably why the molasses was called shoe fly. This is a surprise. Chicken and waffles. When you hear chicken and waffles, what do you think? Yeah, I think Harlem. Yeah, exactly. Soul food, Southern.
00:35:16
Speaker
Chicken and waffles as a combined recipe first appeared in the United States colonial period in the 1600s in Pennsylvania, Dutch country. Wow. So it's, it's much, much older than I imagined. And not in the same region I imagined either, or in the same community. Oh, that's slightly different style.
00:35:39
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, exactly. The Pennsylvania Dutch, they put pulled chicken stewed chicken on top with gravy. They probably had sort of like a not sweet waffle. I'm imagining to huh? Yeah. Uh,
00:36:01
Speaker
So it originates in Pennsylvania Dutch. Now, the version we're all familiar with using fried chicken is, you know, definitely associated with soul food and the south. And the first version of that I could find appears at the Wells Supper Club in Harlem, right? What you're talking about in 1938.
00:36:26
Speaker
And a last little bit of Amish cuisine. You tell me if you've ever heard of this. Cup cheese. Pizza in a cup.
00:36:38
Speaker
Cup cheese is a soft, spreadable cheese rooted in Pennsylvania Dutch culinary history. Its heritage dates back to the immigration of the Mennonites and Amish to Pennsylvania in the late 17th century. So 1600s. It's can you say this the variation? It's a variation of a German cheese. Coke, I say.
00:37:05
Speaker
And it's simply called cup cheese because they sold it in a cup and it resembles brie.
00:37:13
Speaker
But what's this bry? What's this bry cheese? The flavor resembles Brie, which sounds really good, although for whatever reason, they say it smells stronger than Limburger with the gluey consistency of molasses. Yeah, I got the pronunciation right here. He's. He's.
00:37:41
Speaker
Caulkeza. Hopefully you guys can hear that. The mic is facing the, uh... Yeah. Not facing the computer. Hmm. So... I like the sound of that. Yeah, I mean, if it tastes like Brie... I'd be all for that spreading out on some bread, you know, like... Yeah. Or some crackers. Yep. Back in the days. Oh, man. Did you see the pictures of it? No. What do you got? Was this a YouTube video?
00:38:13
Speaker
YouTube video on cup cheese? No, YouTube. Unique Susquehanna Valley Foods cup cheese. They're still selling it, I imagine. Yeah, it is a video. When I discovered fiber, actually, it was just... I had to mute that. I don't want to get any copyright infringement, but... Oh, look at that. Yeah, they're still making it.
00:38:41
Speaker
It is really creamy. Yeah, I mean it almost looks like criminal glaze or something. Yeah, it's I mean you could describe it as thin, but if you use it as a spread Look at that weak little bite that guy to get in there you bitch Let me just take a nibble off the corner shanks cup cheese yeah, I mean they're dispensing it out of a
00:39:09
Speaker
Right, almost like a soft-serve kind of thing, huh? That looks good. Yeah, yeah. That seems to be the brand, Shinx. Yeah, it's all over. Let's see if we can order some. Wow. Yeah, you know what that would be good on, too, if it tastes like brie? Anything. Yeah, like you could pour it over some vegetables or something like that. Oh, it's a good way to ruin some cup cheese.
00:39:37
Speaker
Oh man, you get it. You get 12 of them for $60 mail order.
00:39:46
Speaker
Sorry, $62.99. Now we know what our secret sand is getting. Yeah, sharp. Perfect accompaniment to bologna or crackers. Resembles that of a medium French brie. Consistency is slightly runny and features a pale yellow color. Comes in a resealable container, eight ounce container, ships refrigerated. Wow. View all Shanks Foods cheese spreads. They got sharp, mild and medium. All the same price.
00:40:16
Speaker
It'd be nice to get like a combo pack. I'd just get a case of each. It'd be a nice dip, you know, like chips and stuff like that. Yeah, little cocktail wieners. Mmm. Put it on a sandwich. Yeah. Yeah, like a nice roast beef sandwich. Mmm. Smoked turkey. Oh, yeah.
00:40:44
Speaker
Now that sounds good. I'm gonna have to get some of this for Christmas. Put out 12 of these cups on for the Christmas spread. Mmm. So if you had a pick between shoofly pie, chicken and waffles, or cup cheese... Um... You know, when I had the shoofly pie, it...
00:41:08
Speaker
Like you I spent my whole life hearing about you fly pie. And then when I finally had it, it was kind of like not as good as the hype. It didn't meet the hype. Yeah. Look, Shanks Foods opens up pretty soon. I am. 1980 New Danville Pike Lancaster, Pennsylvania, right next to Millersville Bible Church. We're we're not that far away. No, it's like two hours. Yeah, we could drive to these places. Yeah.
00:41:34
Speaker
But yeah, the Shoe Fly Pie, it didn't really live up to the hype. And their thing of chicken and waffles, I don't know how I feel about that with stewed chicken. I'm sure it's good, but I don't need a waffle if you're going to put gravy on top. It's just going to ruin the whole what's good about the waffle, which is the crispiness. So I'm going to go with cup cheese, even though I've never had it. I'm going to agree. I would definitely go for chicken and waffles in the soul food version.
00:42:05
Speaker
Cause I'm a sucker for fried chicken. Oh yeah. And crispy waffles as well. Um, I, you know, when I was a kid, you ever have waffles and ice cream? Um, I think I may have. That's kind of an Italian thing. Yeah. Um, you got like a nice crispy waffle and a scoop of ice cream. Is it a thin waffle?
00:42:29
Speaker
Well, not a Belgian waffle. No, no. Just like a regular waffle. Yeah. I prefer I prefer those over Belgian waffles. Yeah. The ratio of soft to crunchy in the Belgian is all messed up.
00:42:47
Speaker
Like I want like a waffle house kind of style waffle or like an ego, you know, like a thin, thin waffle. Yeah. You got me wanting some waffles now. Yeah. I have a waffle iron, but it is a Belgian waffle. It's a single, but it's got deep crevices. Yeah. So that helps. It does. It does come out pretty crispy. The worst are like some places that like in Disney World, I think they have the one that's got like the Mickey Mouse and that's completely flat. Yeah. No, no.
00:43:16
Speaker
Yeah, my my waffle iron has really deep things like so. If you pour syrup in there, it's like, you know, 20 little swimming pools of syrup. Yeah, it's got to be real maple syrup, too. Oh, yeah. Corn syrup shit. Yeah, I feel like having some waffles now. Yeah, we have to go back out the shady maple. Mm. You guys aren't familiar.
00:43:44
Speaker
Most of you probably aren't because you're not from around there or around... I guess if you're from around here, you don't know about it either. But Shady Maple Schmorg is bored. Let's see if they have any little fact sheet on it. Shady Maple Schmorg is bored. It's in East Earl, Pennsylvania. So when we went out to pick up the...
00:44:04
Speaker
Powermatic planer. We were about 20 minutes away, so we went out there for lunch. About us. Learn about Shady Maple. Shady Maple Farm Market. We want to know about the... Shady Maple's smorgasbord is a unique dining experience that is built around creating great traditions with friends and family. For one price, we offer the largest selection of popular Pennsylvania Dutch cooking, as well as a vast amount
00:44:32
Speaker
more of other fabulous cuisines. We pride ourselves in being the largest buffet on this side of the United States and we are eager to continue to grow. We serve nearly 1.5 million people every year and around 100,000 free birthday meals as well. We hope to see you here.
00:44:48
Speaker
That description doesn't do the place justice. Yeah, it's I want some stats. I mean, how many linear feet of. There's so much food there and so much food that you want. It's not like one of those things where it's a thousand items and only like seven that you eat. You can't eat everything you want. Yeah. Oh, look, they got a fun facts page.
00:45:17
Speaker
Years in business, 34 years. This is circa 2019. It's a mortgage board, 110,000 square feet. That doesn't include the 44,000 square foot gift shop. Oh, yeah. We spent about 45 minutes down here. That plant we bought is thriving, actually. Yeah. Wait, the what? Didn't we buy my wife a plant?
00:45:41
Speaker
No, you got that statue of the flower, the bird lady. Shady Maple employees employ employees. It says employees. Shady Maple employs more than 800 full time and part time people annually. The in-house bakery employs more than 100 people.
00:45:57
Speaker
Yeah, there's tons of baked goods. I mean, I had some peach pie. Main dining area can see 1200 people while the banquet room can seat about 850. 3000 eggs for omelets were served to customers on Saturday mornings. Each Saturday, 800 pounds of bacon are served. More than 300 pounds of Delmonico and New York strip on steak night. On prime rib night, we use 65 pieces of rib buffet lines, about 200 feet of food for separate six foot wide grills.
00:46:29
Speaker
They're solar powered. Wow. 2016, they started switching to LED lighting. JD Maple Foundation supports more than 60 organizations annually. Food and financial donations are used to help these organizations and their causes. Look at this, Zook. Aaron and Abner Zook, local Amish twins, learn the art of woodworking as young children.
00:46:57
Speaker
How does this come around like this? As adults, they mastered the art and began creating incredible 3D sculptures and artwork. Marvin Weaver purchased and collected more than 25 pieces of these fascinating works of art. The smorgasbord building is decorated with these pieces that range from an Amish barn raising to to a one room schoolhouse. No, it's got to be related. The apprentice of Henry Lapp. You see people. Wow. Aaron and Abner Zuk.
00:47:27
Speaker
Yeah. Type it in, see if we can get going. Aaron and Abner Zuk, Wikipedia. 1921 to 2003 and 10 were Amish identical twins and visual artists known for their 3D blah blah blah. Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Amos and Annie Zuk. Brothers became well known for their artists, known as artists for their 3D paintings.
00:47:57
Speaker
Hmm. Doesn't say. Doesn't say if they're related to Noah. No.
00:48:09
Speaker
But they I mean you had ancestry. You could probably look it up. Yeah. With the last name like Z. Oh, OK. Zook. And you know, they're in the trade. They ain't spreading the spread of genealogy around to liberally. No, they're definitely related. Well, let's see. Maybe I'll type that in and then what was it? No, Zook. Yeah. What are the odds?
00:48:39
Speaker
That's crazy. Not seeing anything, but. Wikitree descendants of Eli Zuk. OK, 1872.
00:49:07
Speaker
Yeah, I see an Eli Zook there. When was Noah? Noah Zook? Right here? January 1879? Yeah.
00:49:19
Speaker
Blah, blah, blah. Noah was Henry's apprentice and Henry dies. Nineteen oh four. He buys the shop. So you got to figure that makes sense. Eighteen seventy nine. He'd be twenty twenty five. So this is saying that Noah Zook is.
00:49:41
Speaker
the brother of Gideon Zook, who is the father of Amos Zook, who is the father of. Wait, no, this is Abner. I don't see an air in there. I don't know, I can't find definitive proof, but we're going to go ahead and say the related that definitely related. I'd bet on that.
00:50:12
Speaker
Being that they're Amish. And they got the same last name. Yeah. They're definitely related. I mean, there's not going to be two lines of Zooks that aren't related. Probably not. Well, I don't think we could end on any higher of a note than that. No, that was all right.
00:50:34
Speaker
We're going to head into the after show. Yeah. Um, if you're hearing this Friday morning, you may still have time to sign up for the secret Santa, uh, the signups. And today, I don't know. It's, it's all done automatically through this thing. So I don't know what time it's happening, but, um, if you want to try and get in, try and get in, if not, well, you don't have to wait till next year. Um,
00:51:00
Speaker
But yeah, oh, vesting finishes. Check them out. RPMCoatingSolutions.com, coupon code American Craftsman. Get yourself some nice finish, help support the podcast. If you buy something, we'll get a little bit of a slice back.
00:51:16
Speaker
which is nice, but more importantly, it's a good finish. We like it. We just use the over here. We have some stuff for the church. We use their single coat finish, which you've seen the LED. This is just a regular hard wax oil, same kind of shit as a Rubio or or Odie's oil or Osmo, a single coat hard wax oil. And yeah, that's all I got. I like it. Yeah.
00:51:43
Speaker
Yeah, I like the LED and I like the single coat. Yeah, the the the Rubio-esque, you know, single coat. I'll call it. It tends to go on a little bit easier. Yeah.
00:51:59
Speaker
money, we'll call it. I like it a little bit more. I don't have to work it in as hard, press as hard on it, which, you know, saves the fingers. Oh yeah. Tell me about it. What were you doing? What were you finishing? The ladder. The Wine Library ladder. And the shelves. Three coats.
00:52:27
Speaker
Hand cramps. Yeah.
00:52:31
Speaker
Yeah. Thankfully, this stuff goes on pretty easy. Yeah. We should be getting some colors soon to the LED to try out. I'm looking forward to that. I like to create a sample board of what we could do with those LED finishes. I was really missing the LED finish this time around, I have to say. Yeah. You know, kind of having to set things to the side. Yeah. We're using this because we're matching up with old work.
00:53:00
Speaker
Yeah. Well, we'll leave you guys with that and we will see you next week. Take care, guys.