Okay, it is Saturday, time to buckle up and explore everything and anything Plain mentioned in the blogosphere this past week. Have some interesting stuff to share, so let's climb right into the blogmobile and get going! We'll start out in Ohio:
SNOWY OWLS: I posted last week how gorgeous snowy owls, normally natives of the arctic, have found the United States to be quite hospitable this winter (gee, I wonder why...maybe the 2 straight months of snow and cold?). These are beautiful, beautiful birds and Rachel (an avid birder) and I really want to see one of these captivating creatures before they pack up and head north again. If you get the chance to see one, take it. Bird Watchers Digest contributing editor Julie Zickefoose tooled around Holmes County, Ohio this week in search of the snowy owl and came away with some gorgeous photos. I'll share Julie's last post first (it sets the mood), pastoral photos of an Amish farm at sunset near Kidron. Click on the photos to enlarge and enjoy. While I remain partial to Adams County, Ohio in terms of sheer, rugged beauty, Holmes County comes awfully close. In Julie's first post she starts her journey in Holmes to find the elusive owl. There are some interesting, fun photos and she also stops by one of my favorite places in the world: Lehman's. So you can read about her visit there and her owl search here. (photo caption: snowy owl, Wikipedia)
AMISH SOUR CREAM CAKE: I can't say that I've tasted pure sour cream cake before, but Amish cooks love to flavor cakes and breads with sour cream. I've had sour cream glazed doughnuts, sour cream chocolate birthday cake, sour cream cookies, but sour cream cake? It sounds - and looks - like heaven. Click here to read one blogger's recipe and see some photos. YUM!
COLORADO AMISH: The San Luis Valley of Colorado is home to an increasingly large Amish settlement. The community was chronicled in a Denver Post article several years ago. The San Luis Valley (near Canon City) settlement makes my list of Amish places I'd most like to visit but haven't been yet. But a farm-steading blogger recently visiting an Amish family in the Valley and came away with some pretty pictures and neat accounts of one Amish family's life there.
OLD ORDER MENNONITE SLEIGH: This is a neat photo depicting a sleigh owned by an Old Order Mennonite person who was going about their business in Lancaster County. This is a much more sturdy-looking sleigh than some of the others I have seen used elsewhere. Click here to see.
kathie
Kevin,
I was super excited to see the article on the Amish migration! I'm from Colorado and lived in Colorado Springs for years before moving to Virginia. Twice, I saw Amish walking along the busy highway in Manitou Springs; they must have been visiting. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Kentucky Lady 717
In the Sour Cream cake, what is DEMERARA Sugar ?
Julie Zickefoose
Thanks for the shout-out! I'm trying to figure out why my site blew up (in a nice way) and think you may have part of the answer. Appreciate it! Another post today features some gorgeous Amish horses; http://juliezickefoose.blogspot.com/2014/01/horses-corn-shocks-and-marmalade-skies.html
The Demerara is a river in Guyana, on the northeast coast of South America, where cane is grown, and a famous rum is produced from that cane sugar. I'm assuming the name refers to the origin of the sugar. It would be brown sugar, or perhaps raw sugar, from that region. Why you'd need to use it over regular brown sugar I'm not sure. I can attest that the rum is mighty fine, smooth.
Again, thanks for linking to my snowy owl posts. They devolved into Holmes Co. Appreciation posts. I agree: Adams Co. is incredible. Especially in autumn. Wow. I'm so glad to live in Ohio.
Kevin
Thanks, Julie, another beautiful selection of photos from Amish country! My wife has all your books and we've heard you give a couple of talks over the years, so was happy to see your Amish post. Stay warm!