Weekend Blog Roll: Friendship Bread Monster Cookies, A German Baptist Book, Amish Girls on a 7-person cycle???, Farm Adventures, and a Love Story

Buckle up folks, it is Saturday,which means we strap ourselves into the blogmobile, press a few buttons and explore the vast reaches of cyberspace looking for the odd, the delicious, the humorous, the interesting and more concerning Plain  culture. Amish, Mennonites, German Baptists,and the occasional Hutterites, if it is interesting, we're looking for it.  And there is plenty to keep you interested this week! There a little something for everyone here!  So, let's make our first stop the tastiest:

AMISH FRIENDSHIP BREAD MONSTER COOKIES:  Susieqt is at it again with her exploration of what one can do with Amish friendship bread starter.  Hint: there's a lot more you can do than just bake bread.  This week she marries two Amish classics in a sweet union: Monster cookies meet your Friendship Bread bride. Click here for the recipe!

SEVEN AMISH GIRLS ON A BIKE:  This really is amazing footage and, if authentic, just a classic reminder of some of the fun, spontaneous scenes you can see while exploring Amish communities.  I would love to know where this was filmed!

THE OLD GERMAN BAPTIST BRETHREN: FAITH, FARMING AND CHANGE IN THE VIRGINIA BLUE RIDGE:  I love local titles like this that explore little known local cultures and populations.  There is a German Baptist settlement in Franklin County, Virginia and now there is a book just about them. Sounds neat! I definitely will put this on my reading this soon and hope to report back. Click here to read more.

WISCONSIN AMISH SCENES: A magazine photographer captures scenes of Amish life on a Wisconsin farm. I love the way the photographer describes sitting on the front porch with the Amish patriarch going over photo contact sheets.  Now THAT is respectful.  I don't know a lot of photographers that would do that (yes, I know some, just not many). Click here to see the images.

REAL "LOVE" STORY:  Ahhh, childhood innocence. I'm assuming this is a true story, if so, it is a sweet story. Better than fiction, although it leaves one wondering about what might have been.  The blog name may be a bit double entendre for some (I try to be respectful of our generally conservative readership, so just putting that warning out there), but the story was too sweet not to share.