A Sunday Drive

The Sunday Farm in Berks County

Yesterday was one hot Sunday with the sun beating down on anyone around here that wanted to do just about anything outdoors.  So, the husband suggested it was the perfect time to do a roadtrip (in the air conditioned car of course!) and check out hex signs on some of the barns in the Berks County, Pennsylvania countryside.  

  

Dating back to at least the nineteenth century, hex signs are the beautiful geometrical designs that decorate Pennsylvania barns.  A misnomer is they are created by the “Plain Dutch,” which are your more conservative Anabaptist groups such as the Amish and Conservative Mennonites.  Instead, many non-conservative Anabaptists and others are actually their creators.  Regardless of who paints them they take some serious skill and patience to create, and the Greater Reading Visitors Center offers a self-guided Berks County Hex Barn Art Tour that stretches over 40 miles through part of Pennsylvania Dutch Country off of I-78 and Route 222.  It should be noted; however, that their subtitle on the tour is “Get lost in history,” and our odometer reading was over half-a-mile in difference from theirs by the end of the tour (and also their direction at 38.7 miles that tells you how to get back to I-78, should be turn RIGHT onto Route 737S). 

A few of the hex signs along the tour.

I applaud the Greater Reading Visitors Center for making a tour of this quickly vanishing folk art form; however, we quickly noticed that the tour may need a little updating.  Not only were some of the road directions and mileage counts off (and a bridge out), but some of the hex signs on the tour were fading, non-existent as the barns had been resided, or manufactured metal signs screwed to the side of metal barns and wooden buildings.  The metal ones (which were on the very first barn on the tour), in our opinion, are “not real hex signs” as I can buy them in a gift shop along I-78 if I cared to own one.  

James H. Adam Farm in Berks County

Also on the tour are painted murals decorating four of the barns alongside the hex signs on Virginville Road.  

All-in-all it was an interesting tour through the Berks County farmland even with many of the hex signs being of similar design, but they were beautiful none-the-less.  I will give warning to anyone taking the tour that Route 143 was a busier, winding road than expected, especially for a Sunday, and that you might want to look over our changes in the directions (found below) to help you out with some of the things we noticed to be a little off.  

A few changes in the link's directions to help others along: 

5.4 - "Dreibelbis Farm (on left)" was supposed to have hex signs, but we couldn't see any.  If someone does see some, please let us know! 

6.6 - "On left, rear" was supposed to have hex signs, but we couldn't see any from the road we were travelling on, on the tour.  

19.0 - "Dreibelbis covered bridge (on left)" is actually on the right, not the left.  (It also has a metal hex sign on it too)

25.8 - "Sicher Farm (on left)" was almost completely obstructed by the trees.  Perhaps a winter view would allow you to see the hex signs better.

35.1 - "Cross Rt 143 to Stoney Mountain Road."  The road is actually Stoney Run Valley Road, and currently the bridge is out!  The Ontelaunee Farm (at 35.5 miles) is before the bridge and the Wiesner Farm (at 37.3 miles) is after the bridge.  Take the detour and you'll actually see something else that wasn't included on the tour that we found really cool!  

THIS!  How cool is this barn art?  There's also three more white circles with the birds in as well, which are presumably marriages, and the trees are presumably the kids.  It's along Route 737 S (on the right) on the detour around the bridge that's out on Stoney Run Valley Road.  Also, if you happen to make a wrong turn and follow their directions for 38.7 and take Route 737 N, it'll be on your left.  Just make sure to turn around after you see it and go back the other way, or otherwise you'll miss the end.

38.7 - "Turn left onto Rt 737 S" is really a right turn, unless you want to see the above barn art, then by-all-means, turn left!  (The above art will then be on your left-hand side).

I'd love to hear what others think that visit the area and decide to take the tour!  Since I grew up seeing hex signs in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, it's not as "new" to me as it might be to some.  

Fastnacht Day!

      Perhaps you don’t live in our neck of the woods and have never heard of this very awesome holiday (boy are you missing out)!  For the rest of the country, you may know this simply as Donut Day, Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras.  They all come from the same idea of using up the fats in your kitchen before beginning the Lenten season.  Here in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, it’s known simply as Fastnacht Day.  

      Last year we had some spare time and went through the trouble of making our own fastnachts (and boy were they good).   Unfortunately this year, we didn’t have this time, but stood in a very long line to get “fastnachts,” or at least that’s what they were called.  Simply put, they were a glazed donut (which did taste good as well), and although labeled fastnachts, they were a donut that was missing that heavy potato goodness that a real fastnacht has.  

My husband rolling out the fastnacht dough. 

      Fastnacht, which translates to the “eve of fasting,” is a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch potato donut made on the eve of Lent to cleanse the house of all lard, fat, sugar and butter that were to be given up during the Lenten season.   The fastnachts were traditionally either cut into a doughnut shape or squares, and surprisingly had little sugar in them, but sprinkled with powdered sugar, honey, molasses or maple syrup, they certainly sweetened up.  

Cutting the fastnachts into donut shapes instead of their traditional squares.

      Few places in the local area still make real fastnachts, so we dug out our Mennonite cookbooks last year and spent the day kneading, rolling, cutting and frying three dozen fastnachts for us and some of my family members to try for the first time.    

Fastnachts rising on the counter before heading to the fry oil. 

      Of course we did "cheat" a few times, cutting them into donuts instead of squares, frying them in oil instead of more of the traditional lard (I didn't buy that much lard), and not frying them in cast iron over the open fire.  Oh well, it was pretty cold last year at this time as well, so I'm sure standing outside was out of the question then too.  

My husband flipping the fastnachts in the fry oil over the stove.  

     For those of you desiring to make your own fastnachts instead of eating donuts for breakfast, enjoy this recipe from the Landis Valley Farm Museum in The Landis Valley Cookbook: Pennsylvania German Foods & Traditions, which is similar to the recipe we used last year.  Enjoy!