Now, while it’s nothing new to Beverly Lewis, Cindy Woodsmall, or other well-established authors of Amish novels to have their books stocked in Amish shops, this is a first for me. It’s important not just because Jamesport is the model for the Amish towns in my two series, or because it’s nice to have my books in the Burkholders’ store alongside those big-name authors I mentioned, but because I now have another layer of credibility. The Amish folks I’ve recently started writing about consider me authentic.

And considering how the Amish don’t much care to be exploited in print—considering how Jim, my private tour guide and resource guy, told me not to mention that I was a writer while he was taking me around Jamesport—this is a major accomplishment! It means that Joe Burkholder and his wife will now be chatting up all their Plain friends and the tourists in their store about these two novels that mention Jamesport. My books will become a unique memento for them to sell and a way for me to attract new readers.

A fun twist: during my initial tour of Jamesport, Jim told me about how the Burkholders’ home had burned to the ground when their chimney caught fire a few years ago. In the freezing cold December weather, the local men worked long shifts, eating meals their wives took turns bringing to the site, dealing with the ice around the foundation from the firemens’ hoses. They used big lights provided by their Mennonite friends so they could work after dark. They rebuilt that home by the New Year!

I got goose bumps hearing that story—my editor got goose bumps from that story—so ABBY FINDS HER CALLING features a subplot where the Ropp family’s home catches fire and is rebuilt that same way. Because Rudy Ropp had stopped trusting the bank, all their life savings had been stashed in that house . . . one of their sons had caused a major scandal in Cedar Creek, getting a girl pregnant, and he and his brother had jumped the fence (left the faith rather than joining the Amish church), but by the book’s end those family ties are restored. Healing and forgiveness come about because the fire brings the Ropp boys home again and forces their dad, Rudy, to reevaluate some of his beliefs and behavior.

It’s particularly rewarding that the real-life family who inspired a major part of my book is now going to sell that book in their store. Isn’t that the neatest piece of synchronicity?

It’s also a plus that I can pass this news on to my editor, who has been scribbling all over the margins of the manuscript for my upcoming book, “is this Amish?” or “do Amish really do this?” She’s been using her eagle-eye, asking me to validate my details and research (and she’s more accustomed to the ways of the Amish in the eastern U.S. Plain folks in Missouri do some things differently) so I hope she, too, will feel good about this on-site Amish response to ABBY FINDS HER CALLING.

After writing this book on a tabletop office, while we were selling, buying, and remodeling homes as we moved from Missouri to Minnesota, it’s gratifying indeed to hear that my work has “passed the Amish test.”

Happy Valentine’s Day! Love your neighbor as yourself . . . but love yourself every bit as much as you love others, too.

Did you know . . . that many Amish buggies and carriages are pulled by retired race horses? When I remarked about the beautiful horses I saw, I learned that the Amish in Missouri buy race horses which have been retired from the track–still young, but not good for racing anymore. Amishmen are excellent horse trainers and soon convert these thoroughbreds to pull their family vehicles. While Plain folks are to avoid pride, it’s no sin to save a fine, beautiful animal for a useful purpose!

Did you know . . . that Plain folks were into social networking long before computers and the Internet? Their weekly newspaper, The Budget, features articles from scribes who live in every Amish and Mennonite settlement in the U.S. and even in colonies in Ukraine, Belize, Israel, and other international locales! Scribes chronicle the daily goings-on of local families, including births, deaths, trips, and whose home will host church services next week! You’ll also see a recipe column, an information exchange column, and a “shower” column, where card showers for birthdays and money showers for folks with large medical expenses generate a LOT of cheer and donations. The Amish don’t believe in insurance, so it’s not uncommon for a money shower to bring in more than $75k.

Did you know . . . that the biggest “threat” to the Amish way of life is the lunch bucket!? Amish folks work close enough to home that—except for kids in school—they can gather around their own table for meals. This sort of togetherness, along with often having elderly parents, married couples, and children all under the same roof is the bedrock of the Amish culture. Faith and family are their highest priorities.

Did you know . . . that the largest Old Amish settlement west of the Mississippi River is in Jamesport, Missouri? Nearly 50 Amish and Mennonite settlements are scattered throughout rural Missouri, because farmland is less expensive and nearby towns provide a place to sell Amish products and services.

Did you know . . . that you can tell where an Amish woman lives by the cut of her prayer kapp? Plain women in Missouri wear the pleated style that comes partway over their ears, whereas the Amish in Lancaster County, PA are known for their heart-shaped head coverings. Other details in clothing differ from place to place, too. And while Old Order Amish women only make their dresses from solid colors, Mennonite ladies use the same dress patterns but often wear wild, colorful prints!

Did you know . . . that the average Amish family in Missouri supports itself on 30-85 acres of land? Bigger is not better, where Plain folks are concerned, because larger farms mean more debt—and they require more hired help and machinery to keep them productive. If an Amish family runs a business, like a dry goods store, harness-making shop, furniture factory, pie shop, etc. their business is on their own property rather than “in town”. You need a local map so you don’t miss any turns as you drive through the countryside to find these places! Unlike the main roads through Bird-in-Hand in Lancaster County, the rural routes through Missouri settlements are usually free of traffic jams—and not always paved!

So much for Amish trivia! Please heck out my new books here on my site, read excerpts, try out recipes, and sign up for my newsletter. You can LIKE me on my Naomi C. King Facebook page, too!

Now, just as a contrast, we also have a wild jake (young male) turkey in our town home complex! We had a pair of turkeys last spring while we were remodeling, before we moved in, but now we seem to have this one young fellow darting from patio to patio to eat the birdseed that drops from the feeders hanging from many decks above. My husband thinks he got banished from the flock for doing some adolescent male thing the other turkeys didn’t like. My sister has named him Sidney, and he occasionally waddles up, poking the air with his beak as he walks, and gazes in through the sliding glass doors at us. Sue leaves her cigarettes and ashtray out there on the patio table, and I keep waiting to see Sidney go off with a lit cig in his beak.

So it makes me ask myself, as I contemplate these two so-different bird personalities: am I acting like an eagle today, regal and soaring and fully aware of how magnificent I am? Or am I being a turkey, lurking under decks and then sprinting, ungainly and dorky, from one feeder to the next? While each bird was created to fulfill his place and purpose—just as we all are—maybe it would be a good thing to emulate the more glorious bird every chance we get!

This means I can keep playing my new Christmas playlist on my computer long past the holidays, as I get to write about Christmas in this new book! Works for me!

Wishing you all a wonderful, blessed Christmas! Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks for sharing my good news!

And of course, my Amish stories will be available in digital formats via Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as well.

The reason I bought this can of Spam? The can itself! I found an Amish cookie recipe in The Budget, the Plain community’s weekly national newspaper, that I had to try simply because after you made the dough and chilled it, the directions said to roll it out and cut it with a Spam can (recipe follows). I got an immediate image in my mind of how that cookie would look, and because it was totally different from anything I could make with my hundred or so cookie cutters, I bought a small can of Spam. And then, because Boomer girls were raised never to waste food, I sliced the Spam as part of a sandwich-makings tray I prepped for lunch when my best friend and her husband came for a visit to our new home. We didn’t eat any of it, but it generated some great conversation!

The fact that I found this reference to a Spam can in an Amish recipe was the sort of out-of-the-can research discovery that shakes up your expectations. It makes you see your world—or the world you write about—in a different light…or shape, in this case. Most of us wouldn’t think an Amish cook would buy Spam, or other “convenience” foods because we have this idea that Plain folks cook everything from scratch, and that all of their recipe ingredients are basic foods they probably raised in their garden or butchered themselves.

My editor and I had this discussion when I turned in the recipe section for SUMMER OF SECRETS  because when she saw ingredients like Cheez Whiz, Cool Whip, and a box of cake mix (gasp!) she questioned whether Plain cooks would use such foods. Well, the little locally-written cookbook I bought in the Jamesport Old Order community is written proof that these ladies like to save time in the kitchen just like the rest of us do. So are the recipes I find in The Budget’s cooking column.

And if you check those Plain dresses hanging on Amish or Mennonite clotheslines, you’ll discover a lot of polyester blend fabrics because they don’t require ironing after they come out of a wringer washer. When you’re raising eight kids, who has time to iron all those dresses and shirts? An ad in a recent edition of The Budget was a gold mine of research for me because it was nearly a half page of the various fabrics on sale at this Amish supplier, and because the heroine of my new NAL Amish series is a seamstress. I might have ditched my double knit clothing long ago, but the folks I write about have not!

So I’ve had my horizons widened and some assumptions proven wrong as I write these new books—and sometimes I’ve been taken back to my past and found that “all things old are made new again” when it comes to writing. And cooking.

Here’s the recipe for Sally Ann Cookies. You can be the judge, but I’m betting they just won’t taste the same if you cut them out with anything other than a Spam can!

Sally Ann Cookies

½ C. shortening,
½ C. hot coffee
1 C. molasses
2 tsp soda –Mix these in a large bowl and then add

3 C. flour
½ tsp. nutmeg, ¼ tsp. ground cloves

Mix well and chill several hours. Roll out and cut with a Spam can. Bake at 350º
for 6-8 minutes.

Sally Ann Frosting:
1 envelope plain gelatin
¾ C. sugar
Scant ½ C. water—Mix these, then stir in ¾ C. powdered sugar, adding more if needed. Beat until foamy and add 1 tsp. vanilla, beat again. Frost flat sides of cookies.

I’ve also had to research a lot of skills like buggy making, shoeing horses, and making rag rugs to write these stories. My latest adventure was finding a book—at Lowe’s–on how to raise GOATS. Overnight, four little kids made their way into AUTUMN WINDS (Seasons of the Heart, #2—9/12) and tripped up an arrogant bishop who needed to be put in his place! I love it when unexpected “finds” turn out to be just what my story needed—before I even knew it!

Make it a great day—and thanks for stopping by my new website!