Jeana’s Journal

On my last night in Michigan my friend Linda arranged for a rare and delightful treat; we were to have dinner in the home of a young Amish woman

Sarah Borkholder is twenty-eight years old. She chooses to remain in her Old Order Amish community and has chosen not to marry or live in the family of a sibling, thus she has had to find a way to provide for herself. Her answer to her financial dilemma is two fold, she hand quilts for hire and she cooks twice a week for the “English”. Sarah cooks a fish fry on Friday nights and a farmhouse breakfast on Saturday mornings for anyone who shows up to eat. She also caters meals by special arrangement and serves them in her home. She lives in a “doddy house,” located next to a much larger farm house, that she rents from a young couple in the rural community of Lakeview. 

On a cold and icy Saturday night we set out for the long drive to dinner. Megan and Artie, both quilters, drove with us and showed the way to Sarah’s house. They are long-time friends with Sarah and they had made the arrangements for our dinner. As we drove further into the country it seemed to get darker and colder. We finally arrived and walked up a very slippery driveway. We were greeted at the door by a smiling Sarah. We stepped into her home. It was a large room well-lit by kerosene lamps and well warmed by a very large wood stove. The room smelled faintly of wood smoke and of Sunday dinner. Although the room was sparely furnished it felt cozy and inviting.

Sarah served us a perfectly prepared fried chicken dinner with all the trimmings and pecan pie with homemade maple ice cream for dessert. Under any circumstance the meal would have been excellent, but knowing that it had all been cooked on a wood stove and the ice cream hand churned by Sarah made the meal unbelieveably excellent!

After dinner Sarah showed us her box of cardboard quilting templates that she and her mother have used for many years for marking the quilting on quilts and then she showed us some quilt tops that she has in line waiting to be quilted. It was a delightful evening and we reluctantly left at about 9:00 p.m.

I will long remember Sarah and in my mind often revisit this extraordinary young woman who cheerfully shares her life from a century past with those who come to her door.