Shawnee Group of the Sierra Club

Koom Rye! Sit yoahself down an have a cup’a coffee once’t, an a piece a shoofly pie.  Meet Arsenic and Peach Schlank and their kids Randy, Ruby, and Rosa and a whole host of endearing “Dutchies.” Get the feel of a Pennsylvania Dutch family farm. Walk around the barn and outbuildings. Tour the big old farmhouse. And ask yourself if perhaps this might be a better way to live.
    “Life ain’t so simple foah us nomoah, ain’t?” Thus the Schlank patriarch, Thus the Schlank patriarch, ain’t Arsenic, and his wife, Peach, begin a discussion of new challenges introduced by events in their later years, “on the other side of the middle.” After a bit of thought, Peach responds, “Life ain’t nevah simple . . . vottevah happens is foah da best!!”   The story is set in 1983 on the Schlank farm near Reading, Pennsylvania, in Berks County. The context is a typical old-style Dutch family farm decorated with Dutch dialect and rural activities such as animal husbandry, cooking, hay-making, ice skating, fishing, and hunting. It includes interesting descriptions of traditional Dutch customs and farm lay-outs and machinery.
    A glorious celebration of Pennsylvania Dutch culture and family life in all of its stages, this is a story about a farm family that meets life’s challenges head on with a sense of responsibility and love. This is a Pennsylvania Dutch tale of family love, and a strong sense of community among friends and neighbors, as life takes its twists and turns within a culture that sticks together. It is presented with a deep reverence for simplicity and nature, and with lots of love.