For the last four days, we have been living on a
Hutterite colony near Granta Alberta Canada. In case you haven’t had any close
encounters with Hutterites lately, allow me to splain myself. There are apparently three kinds of Anabaptists.
The first one who we all and love especially if you are from Pennsylvania, Ohio or
Indiana are the Amish. Almost everybody knows of the Amish.
Secondly are the Mennonites. Most everyone has at least heard of the Mennonites but few know much about
them. Lastly are the Hutterites. Until a few weeks ago, I hadn’t even heard of
them. Now I are practically one of them. Not quite.
I came here to replace the Programmable Controller on the above Rotary Vacuumformer that they had purchased in Rochester NY. I tore down the machine in June and shipped it to Alberta. After trying to get it back in running condition, I got the call from the Colony to come up and make it work. Which I did.
FYI the Hutterites are much like the Amish but live in
“Colonies”, mainly on the northern plains of the US and southern Canada. They own absolutely no real property and very little
personal property. The married men all have beards with no mustaches like the
Amish and wear black trousers and jackets with black hats but do wear colorful
shirts. The “boys” are not married and do not have facial hair. Most of the
older boys wear a Panama type straw Cowboy hat and the younger ones sort of a Trotsky style
tall black cap. The women all wear colorful long modest dresses and a mesh type
bonnet indoors and then don a head scarf or babushka over the bonnet when they
are going outside the house. If they are going in and out much, they leave the
scarf on while indoors.
The colony that we are at here in Alberta grows a lot of grain and raises livestock. All of the
colonies are as self-sufficient as possible. About the only things that they
buy outside for everyday living are cloth, coffee, margarine for some
strange reason and some cleaning
products. They are very clean and friendly and love to joke and kid around a
lot. It took me a bit of time to realize that this guy who looks like he just
stepped off of American Gothic is actually pulling my lanyard.
They dine in a communal dining hall that is segregated
by men and women first and then the kids
eat at a separate sitting. We didn’t actually eat in the dining hall but in
Mike’s home. I’m not real sure why but that’s the way it was. We’re still here
watching the snow fall so maybe I’ll ask Mike why. With dinner, we also had
homemade Rhubarb wine. The food is very bland and every now and then my system
screams out for a taco or something Italian.
On the last night, to reciprocate, I made spaghetti
with Italian sausage and fed Mike and his brother Joe who has been a big help
with me on this project. I popped open a few bottles of TBC, Two Buck Chuck AKA
Charles Shaw wine from Trader Joe’s. They usually drink their own home-made rhubarb
wine so this was an obvious treat for them.
I’ve been practicing speaking my rusty German which
they mostly speak here. It’s been a challenge because they speak an archaic
sort of Pennsylvania Dutch Amish dialect and I speak a very rusty Swabish which
is a dialect from the Schwartz Wald or Black Forest.
Apart from the snow and the cold which was a shock to
this Ohio to So. Cal. transplant the
whole stay in this Alberta colony has been a good experience and I do hope to
return again.
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