Best Of Mary-Ann Kirby's 'Secrets of a Hutterite Kitchen'
Here is a selection of memorable quotes (and a recipe!) from Secrets of a Hutterite Kitchen: Unveiling the Rituals, Traditions, and Food of the Hutterite Culture By Mary-Ann Kirby
RECIPE OF THE YEAR
1 box Duncan Hines German Cake mix
14 ounce bag of caramels
½ cup evaporated milk
¾ cup melted butter
2 cups pecans
1 cup chocolate chips
Prepare cake mix as directed. Pour half the batter into greased 9- x 13-inch pan. Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes. Melt caramels with milk and butter over low heat, stirring constantly. Pour over cake and sprinkle with 1 cup pecans and 1 cup chocolate chips. Pour remaining batter over filling. Sprinkle with remaining nuts and bake for another 20 minutes.
"You've got to have work for your young people" Billy Vetter insists, reprising his role as colony foreman. "If you don't have meaningful work for them, they are far more likely to go astray. You have to make them feel needed. Keeping young people busy gives them schooling and builds self-esteem. It's just like a horse.You can't break in a horse if you've got no work for him, and you can't build a man if you don't have work for him either. You can't raise people and not have work for them. You've just got to have something meaningful for them to do."
p. 75
"But how do you inspire your young people to do the work you have for them?" I ask. "How do you build a strong work ethic?" "You have to work with them," he says plainly. "The foreman has to work with his crew. It's not like the outside world where you say to your employee, you do that and you do this, and if they don't do it you fire them. We can't fire our young people. We have to work with them to find them a job that suits them. We like to give them an all-round work experience, but in the end, if a boy has a knack for fixing things, we'll put him to the machine shop, but if he's good with animals, we'll get him in with the cow or the sheep man. You have to say come, not go."
p. 76
Mary-Ann Kirby: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the Hutterite community?
Goliath Vetter: In my opinion, it's lack of communication. If the colony leaders don't communicate effectively with each other, it causes huge problems. Everybody on the colony has a job: one is the sheepherder, one's the hog man, one man is the feed boss, one is the turkey guy, the horse guy, the cattle guy ... if one hand doesn't know what the other one is doing, you're in trouble. The people on the ground should be in regular contact with the two Prediger, the financial boss, and the farm steward. We all have to know what's going on, and if someone just goes ahead and does things on his own, it's inappropriate. Most of the time if the colony doesn't get along, it's because the men are doing their own thing and not consulting with each other. We have a meeting here every morning, and we discuss all the important issues.
p. 173
Goliath Vetter: It's not the law, but, as a good neighbour, you know you have a better chance of making a living as a colony than a farmer, so you have to consider individual farmers. He's trying to get his son going too, so we bend over backwards to try and please our neighbors, and it has been very profitable for us to create good relationships. The Bible says love thy neighbour as you love thyself. I was just tested the other day when one of our English neighbours phoned over and said they needed water. Well, we're very busy these days, but I said to her, I'll get you water. If you love your neighbour, you have to help them, that's all there's to it.
p. 174-175
Goliath Vetter: You can't just talk to young people. You've got to keep them busy because it keeps them out of trouble. You can't control young minds because they have their own ideas, but if you teach them that they have value and that you need them, it helps them through those uncertain years. I worked with a young fifteen-year-old all day Saturday raking hay for the baler. It was amazing how well we worked together.
p. 175
