For the Love of Harvest

Here, like so many other places in the country, there's a hint of fall in the air. Hickory nuts, acorns, pretty leaves, fat squirrels and festivals usher in the season each year. It's gathering time! It's undoubtedly my favorite time of the year, every year!

This past weekend, Jenelle and I helped out with our kids youth group's booth at the Springs Folk Festival. We are so grateful that our kids have this group to be a part of. Working alongside this energetic bunch, cleaning and slicing potatoes, frying the fries and all the other good things that go along with great and greasy festival food brought back a lot of great memories.

When I was a young lad, probably in the neighborhood of 13, I worked at the festival for several years. I worked as a potato slicer for a bunch of older ladies that were peeling the potatoes. I would slice them and carry them to the kitchen and dining area where the festival served these awesome dinners. If I remember right, the first several years I got paid $15.00 per day and then it got bumped up to $20.00. That was good money for me back then. Along with that we got a free pass into the festival as well as a ticket for one dinner. At that time, part of the dinner was a piece of Yoder's Smoked Country Sausage. It came from the local butcher shop that stood where High Country Creamery currently stands. I'm not sure where the festival gets their sausage now as Yoder's has been closed for years.

Anyways, back in the day, the sausage had this crispy reddish looking casing, a great smoky flavor, and man was it good. My memory says that it was the best sausage ever made. There were also people that must have been hired to make sure that everyone got their allotted amount of sausage and not one piece more. You got what they gave you and there were no seconds.

There was also a man that worked there every year whose name was Noah Schrock. People called him Noi-ee Schrock.  I'm sure that he went by a first name but I only heard him called Noi-ee Schrock.  Thinking about it now, I wonder if his name was Noah E. , and everyone's Pennsylvania Dutch accent made it sound like Noi-ee. Well, I believe that Noi-ee Schrock was one of those people that knew some of the secrets to living a fulfilling life. He pretty much whistled all the time, was always cheerful, and gave things that people enjoyed, to the people that enjoyed them. For us boys in the potato shack, that was smoked sausage! I'm not sure what Noi-ee Schrock's job actually was, but he would stop by several times a day to see how we were doing.  His offering of sausage would bring on the chuckling and clucking of the ladies. After he left, the discussion would be about whether he should be doing that or not. I never entered into the discussion, but to this day, I'm pretty sure that Noi-ee Shrock had the spirit of gathering, giving thanks, and sharing with others.

Now there's something that we should all have this time of year!