This blog features happenings on the Old Windmill Farm in Lancaster County, PA and a glimpse into the Amish way of life.
A new message is posted about every 2-3 weeks (depending on our busyness sometimes more frequently)
Sign up to receive these message each time they post
Mennonite Central Committee mobile canning unit
“Together We Can”
Today we want to go “off the farm” to share about a type of cooperative Amish “almsgiving”.
In the month of February the mobile cannery unit provided by Mennonite Central Committee is in Lancaster County for two weeks at 2 different locations. The different Amish church districts make a round of donations offered by all households. The leader in each church district will summon one of the men to go around the district to make a free will offering collection at each house (30 to 40 families in each district).
Each of the men will have a turn in making collections as there are many free will collections for different projects throughout the year. The money collected will pay for turkey thighs that are cut up at local butcher shop in preparation for the canning process described below. The cans are then shipped around the world for humanitarian help for the poor and displaced.
My wife and I were picked up at home by the driver at 1:45pm who picked up 6 other people on the way to the cannery. Our shift was 3:00 till 8:00. The ladies were making comforts with comfort tops supplied by families making the comfort tops with leftover fabric from sewing clothing. The ladies also helped with the canning as well
Twenty to thirty men are there to help cut meat into 1 to 2 inch cubes, 2 men gather the cubed meat, 3 men or boys weigh the meat on small scales: weight is 14.32 to 14.78 oz. each, one person seals the tin can with a commercial canner. The cans are put in large basket holding 140 cans of meat. The baskets are put in large pressure canners put under cooking pressure for a certain amount of time at a certain temperature.
Then the cans are put in cold water to cool down and then go to a table and are dried off with dish towels. The local Amish ladies take the towels home to wash and bring back next day. Labels are printed with the words “In the name of Christ”.
2 older men will be sitting on chairs and stamping the address of the local butcher shop, putting on a stack. 2 people apply glue to the labels with a paint brush. 5 or 6 volunteers glue the labels onto cans. Each can is printed with expiration date 3 years after canning date and also batch number for quality control enforced by USDA. Each batch has a sample to test for bacteria and such.
My job was to stack the cans in boxes, 24 boxes per box. Every box I put on a smiley face on top of some cans. Thinking someone will open the can that is maybe in need of encouragement in a setting of war-torn country or displaced situation. In our shift of 5 hours 2,240 cans of meat were prepared to be sent all around the world. There are a total of 3 shifts a day, 5:00 to 10:00am, 10:00to 3:00, 3:00 to 8:00. The canners will going till midnight. The cans are cooled off for the morning shift to begin applying labels and packing.
The whole project is all done by volunteer labor, even the canner boys volunteer with the mobile cannery commit to 2 years traveling across the country and Canada to various Amish, Mennonite and Hutterite communities. This is done from Nov. to March when the coldest time of year to keep the meat cold. Every day an inspector from USDA is present to keep tabs on things.
We are blessed beyond measure and we need to bless others in any way possible.
From our family to yours.
The Lapps
Check out this site for more details on the mobile canning unit.
The hats and coats indicate the volunteers in this project!
The canned meat is shipped all over the world.
Farm news: Due to weather we are open only for limited tours which must be reserved. We will be opening back up with a regular schedule this spring!
Jesse Lapp
262 Paradise Ln
Ronks, PA 17572
US
717-687-7929
Old Windmill Farm
https://www.oldwindmillfarm.com
Old Windmill Farm Blog 