Pinecraft Pauper winner
We’ve got a winner today for the subscription to the Pinecraft Pauper. Sorry it’s a bit later in the day than normal-I’ve been laid up with a fever trying to get healthy before Xmas (unfortunately, the weather where I live is nothing like Florida’s!).
But first, if you didn’t catch them, we had some interesting comments from “Pinecraft insiders”:
My husband grew up in Sarasota. He lived there for 50 years. Last winter we visited and I was able to see the Pinecraft community. It is very unique. It is like stepping into a small city right in the middle of a very large city.
Michelle shared:
I have lived in Sarasota for 45 years. As a child I remember seeing the old horse and buggies going through Pinecraft. Pinecraft is a peaceful place with big hearted people that have their soul in the right place!
And Pauper editor Sherry Gore offered this tidbit:
One aspect I like best about putting this paper together is the diversity of its readers. Among our subscribers are several New York Times best selling authors, professors, truck drivers, a Kentucky Derby race horse owner, Old Order Amish farmers, homemakers, Amish Mennonite bishops, a nanny, a historical library in Ontario, a publisher in Brooklyn, NY, and at least one Amish parochial school teacher. You get the picture. It would be safe to say approximately ninety-eight percent of our local readers are Old Order Amish.
I have tallied up comment entries (1 per entrant) and extra votes via Facebook and blogs, and have run the random number generator at random.org. And the winner:
Comment #58, Monica
Congratulations to you Monica. Let me or Sherry know where you’d like your subscription sent. For anyone who didn’t win, here is how to get ahold of the Pauper:
The Pinecraft Pauper is published twice per month, and sells for $1. There are 10 issues, beginning December 15th and running through April 6th, 2011. For subcriptions send $12 to Pinecraft Village Publishers, P.O. Box 50231 Sarasota, FL 34232 (single issues are $1.50).
Finally, a short excerpt from the latest issue of the Pinecraft Pauper:
Soul Searching
Four preachers were discussing the merits of various translations of the Bible. One liked the King James Version best because of its simple, beautiful English.
Another liked the American Revised Version because it is more literal and comes nearer to the original Hebrew and Greek.
Still another liked Moffat’s translation best because of its up-to-date vocabulary.
The fourth minister was silent. Finally he said, “I like my mother’s translation best. She translated it into life, and it was the most convincing translation I have ever seen.”
Do people see a convincing translation when they see us? What do we do with the Bible? Do we apply it to ourselves or do we apply it to others only?
We should all be a living testimony that people can see through us. This is possible with the help of God. What an awesome God we serve. John Troyer
Read more on Amish in Florida. Find Florida Amish furniture.
Siesta Beach photo by Sherry Gore
Congratulations Monica!! Merry Christmas to you!
Thanks Erik for another great contest and wonderful blog!
Merry Christmas everyone!!
Blessings, Alice
Hi Erik –
Feel Better !
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all !!
Michelle V from FLA
rest and heal-up erik. and id like to wish everyone a merry christmas and a very healthy new year. looks like snow is coming my way this weekend according to the weather reports, and this will be my first taste of the white stuff since i had moved to florida in 1988,but im as ready as one can be for it, i think anyway. maybe i should just tell myself that all snow really is, is just frozen rain. that just sounds alittle better i think. since ive never seen the amish in action during winter, this should be interesting to see how they navigate through the snow with thier buggys.have a wonderful holiday everyone……… richard from lebanon,pa
Hi Richard!
Erik is spending Christmas eve with his grandma in Warsaw, not sure if he will be online or not.
The snow that is coming your way is suppose to start here today. I am in Illinois now, originally from NY state. I would rather have the snow than freezing rain, as in the ice, LOL.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and many blessings for the New Year!
And a very Merry Christmas to everyone on the blog!!
Blessings, Alice
hey alice…. merry christmas right back at ya. let us know how much snow you guys got from that storm, and our weather in penn is calling it a storm, so fun and games are over. theres nothing like a grandmother to help make a bad cold go away faster, so listen to what she says erik……….. richard from the heart of lebanon,pa amish country
Hey Richard,
I sure will let you know how much we get when all is said and done. Our “Winter Weather Advisory” is calling for a total accumulation of 4 inches here in the central part of Illinois but they are expecting more in the northern part of the state.
We only started snowing about a half hour ago and its coming down fast and furious. Ought to make for an interesting evening. 🙂
Blessings, Alice
ok alice………… keep us posted and keep warm………richard
Hi Richard,,,, I just came back from walking the dog and I would say there is about 3 1/2 inches so far. It is still coming down fast and furious. Almost looks like white rain. So I checked the radar when I got back and from the looks of it and the speed the storm is moving, which is slow, we have at least another 4 hours of snow coming, if not more.
Considering how long it has actually been snowing, we are getting about an inch and hour. So, if it stays at this rate I am thinking about a total of 7-8 inches tonight and they are calling for another 1-2 inches in the morning.
I am going to get my boots off and fix a cup of hot chocolate. Then I need to get bread baked. Its the last job I need to do tonight yet. Man am I tired, LOL. I’m not even going to attempt to shovel until morning, just too worn out from cooking all day, LOL.
Alice
Hey Richard, looks close to 7 inches out there and still coming down to beat the band. Looks like I will have to be up early in the morning and shoveling.
hey alice…. its christmas day so merry christmas to all. it sounds like you have your work cut out for yourself, its christmas morning over here and still nothing yet. from what im hearing now it should not snow that much here if at all, so we may not get very much of your snow coming our way to penn. and that was some weather report by the way, when i said keep us posted you sure did, even threw in a hot choc comment in there as well, your good,lol.and im sure that hot choc made it all better, didnt it. i have a question alice, are you near the amish community in illinois. try to be careful outside alice and enjoy your christmas………. richard from the amish community of lebanon,pa
Merry Christmas Richard, and everyone!!
Richard,, we got around 7 inches total and having some flurries to light snow now. I just came in to take a break from shoveling. Still need to shovel out my car and clean it off, but got the sidewalk and driveway done. I park on the berm so need to dig that out yet.
That hot chocolate sure did hit the spot. Love my hot chocolate this time of year, LOL.
Our snow here did not start until much later than predicted but once it started it was coming down like rain, LOL. Sure hope you don’t get that much!
I live about an hour and a half north of Arthur, IL which is our big Amish community. I try to go down at least once a month when the weather is good. I get a lot of my whole grains and bulk foods from Beachy’s down there. And I will be selling my ceramics and crafts in a store down there next year so will have another excuse to go down.
I have been through Lebanon, PA several times when I drove a truck, so am familiar with your neck of the woods.
Well, I better get out there and finish off that shoveling job so I can get in and get dinner going. Hope you have a good day too.
Alice
i think i should get a snow- blower, im not liking your story too much alice,lol. an hour and a halfs not too bad from arthur alice, and im sure its very nice there. in time, and im not sure i can do this, id like to travel to as many amish communitys as i can, maybe one day we will see. pinecraft from where i lived in fla was about an hour and a half, if you blink you will pass it but i did enjoy going to yoders restaurant. id say yoders is the best with troyers a very close 2nd. i tried to sell amish made crafts in the mid 1990s in fla with no luck, i think you really have to be in a craft envirnoment to really be sucessful.id have some people just look at something for like 3.99 for what seemed like hrs without buying, i told someone one time, do you want it on layaway?. the only interesting thing i got out of it was in dealing with the amish familys that i bought from. i never talked on the phone with any except only one, and he called me from a feed store at a certain time that we both planed. the rest of the ordering was done by letters only, which made it even more tough when your still learning how to order and deal with customers. so i tip my hat off to you alice, selling something to someone is not easy and ill leave it to pros like yourself to do that. ill sign-off now, the sky is pretty grey over my way, so maybe something will happen, we will see. dont work too hard on cristmas day alice, and you did a good job of keeping eriks site moving with comments, id say he owes you atleast a cup of hot choc, and maybe a drip for me…………. merry christmas folks……. richard from amish country penn
one big suggestion erik, can you maybe include a spell check feature when posting?. it would really help, and im talking mostly about me,lol………….. get well soon, and merry christmas erik………….. richard from penn amish country
Merry Christmas, Erik, and to all his readers, too!
Richard, you are a peach. 😀 Everyone should be as sweet as you!
I finally finished up on the shoveling and will soon be in the kitchen getting dinner going. Just had to take a break first. Wish I had a snow blower!! Maybe next year if I am still in the great white north, LOL.
I would love to go to Pinecraft sometime, but am afraid I would stay and not move back up to the north. Don’t get me wrong, I love the north but shoveling is getting harder and harder on me. Last year I always shoveled out my land lady’s house next door. It is empty and they have been trying to sell it. I have not seen a realtor over there since June though and have decided I just don’t have the strength this year to keep it up. Besides, not so much as a simple “thank you” from her for all the work I have done.
As far as markets go,,, people are stange and you never seem to have what they want, LOL. I do OK though. Hoping next year will be better but a lot of that depends on the market. I tend to make items that people will use every day, such as mixing bowls, dishes, canisters, and the like. People will always justify buying things that have some use like that. I keep my prices as low as I can and still make a little profit but if I had to pay myself an hourly wage I would be in trouble.
Sherry, a very Merry Christmas to you too!!
Well, I need to get busy in the kitchen. I’ll be around on and off as I need a break, LOL.
Blessings, Alice
im back, i went outside for awhile, its cold but no snow yet. and alice, as far as shoveling the house next door, its a nice thing of you to do but all good things end sometimes. i had to wait a year and a half until my home sold in florida, and the market is still pretty bad pretty much everywhere not just florida. if it were me, with no thank you on top of that, id stop doing it, but thats me. you would get a kick out of pinecraft in sarasota, its a very nice city with lots of culture. so it has more going on besides the amish, but the amish are a big plus in my book.i saw a comment about someone on here seeing buggys go through pinecraft growing up, i dont know about then but that little town has no buggys because its too hot for the horses. thats what ive been told anyway by some amish folks who live in it. thier is a book about pinecraft and i have it somewhere in one of my moving boxes, im still not 100% un-packed just yet. i think the amish/mennonite snow birds started going there in the early 1920s. erik would know much more about pinecraft than me, except hes in hiding right now,lol. so it looks like your running the store alice until erik gets back, maybe you can add a spell check for me, and dedicate it to me,lol, why not its christmas…………now for a nice hot cup of coffee……. richard
Hi Richard!!
The market is really bad every where. That house has been on the market for several years. I would probably continue to shovel if my fibromyalgia were not so bad but I have a hard enough time handling my own this year. But I do have to admit the non-appreciation sure didn’t help any.
When I was a kid I grew up on a street that had several older widows and couples. I shoveled them out every storm and would not take a penny for it. I loved visiting with them and listening to all their stories from their youth. I always figured that was the least I could do for them.
Each lady was very special to me. Mrs. Heise and I always drank tea or hot chocolate in the winter time,,, we ate corn muffins or Lorna Dunes (sp) cookies and once in a while we would get crazy and cook chocolate pudding from scratch and eat it hot out of the pan, LOL. We had a lot of fun together. When I was 13 I gave her, her first Christmas tree with real lights on it. There is a long story behind it,, but she was surprised and happy and cried too. It was awesome! That was the last Christmas we had together. She passed away the following summer at the tender age of 87. But I still have those cherished memories.
Mrs Williams and I always baked cherry pies together. She had two big cherry trees in her yard and I would climb them and pick bucket after bucket of cherries. We cleaned them, cooked them and made pies. I think half the town would get a cherry pie from Mrs. Williams, LOL.
Mrs. Polly and I always baked cookies, drank hot tea or lemonade.
Mrs. Mosher always had me come over to help her clean blueberries and bake blueberry muffins for the entire neighborhood.
I always enjoyed helping people, even as a child. It made me feel good and I knew it truly was a help to them. But they also appreciated it and that certainly makes a difference.
Yes, Erik did tell me the Amish have been there since the 1920s I believe you are right, they use trycycles rather than horse and buggy.
As for the spell check,,, I would be happy to add one if I knew had, LOL. I don’t have the passwords to get in and try it anyway. And ummm,, I don’t think I am running anything,,, we are just having good conversation. 😉
Coffee is good but after being outside for a while in the cold,,, hot chocolate just seems better to me. 🙂 Maybe you will luck out and not get the snow or at least,,, not as much, LOL.
I need to stretch out on the couch for about a half hour then get the animals fed, the dog walked and the rest of the stuff put away in the kitchen. Dinner was awesome with lots of left overs for both us and our guest. 🙂 It has been a very pleasant Christmas!!
I use a word processor on my own computer to write out what I want to say. I then cut and paste the message into the box, and there we are, a lovely little message, sometimes relevant, sometimes not, sometimes I reference the old order cash cart once too often. Could have gone with the game show “Wheel of Strictness”, but the image of an Amish guy giving other Amish people cash on a frosty PA day just seems rather, er, Ordnugy.
It’s the Matteus wine talking. Have a merry Christmas, regardless of belief, may this day, and it’s meaning sustain you throughout the year.
thanks for those storys alice, i really enjoyed them, for a min i almost felt nice as well,for only just a min, but then who am i kidding. since you dont want to run the show on here, maybe i should take over, and why not its still christmas when anythings possible. and i hope your new store when you open it is a big success, so cheers to that for the new year alice. maybe some of your kindness will rub off on some people, im not talking about me, i lie yes i am,lol. since im the big cheese on here since eriks is trying to nurse a bad cold, i hope everyones christmas was filled with love, family, and long lasting memorys………. good night folks…. richard from somewhere cold in penn
Aww Richard,, I think you are a nice guy. 🙂
There are a lot more to those stories,, I gave you the short version on here, LOL.
Actually, I am not opening my own store but rather selling in someone else’s store. They rent out booth space and are very reasonable. But thanks so much for the best wishes with it.
They have a lot of bad weather over in Europe, I sure hope Erik did not get caught in it going to his grandma’s house.
I am up way past my bedtime and very exhausted so I am going to say good night and talk to you all tomorrow.
Many blessings and well wishes to all!!
Alice
a good sunday morning to everyone….. looks like we are getting snow my way after all alice, right now its 9am and the sky is a grey/white in color. im told florida is pretty much at normal temps right now, but they are supposed to get another cold front on its way down there.i had a amish gentlemen wish me a merry christmas this past thurs as he was getting into his buggy in lebanon county.down in lancaster county the next county down from me the amish do seem just alittle different in the tourist zone anyway, i wouldnt say they were not friendly, maybe guarded is more like it. maybe its the thousands of tourist that they come accross on a everyday basis that effects thier behavior? , whats your thoughts on this, and im talking to the readers on here. do you guys think im right or do you find no difference in behavior regardless if its in a tourist area?. ………… richard from lebanon,pa
A good Sunday morning to you too Richard!! I sure hope you don’t wind up with as much snow as they are calling for in my hometown, Port Jervis, NY but you are right in the path so who knows. They are suppose to get 8 to 14 inches and leaning towards the heavier side of it.
I think guarded is a good word. Can’t speak for out in PA so much but I noticed in Arthur the first couple of times they see you in their shops they are a bit guarded, but become more of a regular and your face familiar to them then they start to warm up a bit. I can certainly understand it. Us “outsiders” in general do not have a very good reputation. I would be guarded too.
Along with “tourists” seems to come a lot of pick-pockets, shop lifters and thieves. I see it all the time out this way. Its a sad world we live in.
Hopefully others will jump in on this one and give their opinions. Would like to hear what everyone thinks.
Blessings, Alice
pick- pockets, shop lifters, and thieves, i never said i was perfect,lol. hey alice your right about the snow, i really dont know how much we will be getting, but i know its coming my way. it will be my first snow since i moved to florida in 1988, how much did you get over your way, and is your driveway clear yet?. let me get back to florida for a min, which relates back to my topic about the amish and behavior. ive found most amish in pinecraft to be fairly friendly overall, maybe its because they are out on vacation or because they are outside of thier church district and become more relaxed?. i had a conversation with a very nice older mennonite man about it years ago down in pinecraft, he told me that every amish household had electircity in pinecraft except for one hold-out. so the attitudes and the rules seem much more relaxed down there compared to amish communitys upnorth. im not saying anything really new here about pinecraft, only that ive seen this for myself, and that thier is a difference down there. ………… whats your thoughts folks………… richard
Yes Richard, I got out yesterday morning before I started cooking and did all the shoveling. I did half and rested about an hour and did the other half. It is clear and as we are to warm up over the next couple of days I imagine it will melt to bare ground in the areas that are shoveled.
I would imagine in Pinecraft it would be important to have electricity because of needing air conditioning. But I could be wrong. Maybe its just a way to have a break from their Ordnung? Sherry would be able to explain this better so I hope she jumps in. I do believe not everyone at Pinecraft is a snowbird, am I wrong on that?
alice…… there are some amish/mennonites that are older and who chose not to travel anymore back north, so yes they do live there all year round. ive noticed everytime id drive over there that new and bigger homes were replacing older homes. dont get me wrong pinecraft still has what some call in florida cracker homes which look like they date back to the 1920s and 1930s, and some homes even have a fire place. the fire places if they have one might be more of just a friendly reminder of something they have/had up north. it can get cool down in sarasota, but for the most part the winters are warm. everytime i went down to pinecraft id hear of a story of someone( amish/mennonite) getting hit by a car while on a bike crossing the busy street in town. anyone living in pinecraft please jump-in with any storys or history about pinecraft……….. time for some hot choc alice, ill pop back in later to read some of the comments on this, i hope anyway……….. richard from penn
Richard, what made you move back north?
I am still having my morning coffee, I will get some hot chocolate later today. 🙂
Well, I would certainly think if they live there full time, they would want some air conditioning. I know winters are warm especially comparied to us northern folk,, but summers can be brutal without a/c.
looks like we both have this site all to ourselfs alice. since im orig from new york i really missed the northeast after being in fla for so long. i didnt do it because of my family, they are spread all over the place now anyway.i was never in-love with fla from the start really, my folks were there at that time, plus yes i was sick of the snow and wanted to try something different. so i had a long run but it was time to move back north. ive always loved the state of penn since i was a very small kid who used to go to lancaster from new york city. i first went to lancaster when i could hardly walk since 1966, so i would mark my calendar off each day until my next trip would be to lancaster,pa. since we had very little money, that was only one time a year. so i have really good memorys of this area. i was just outside and its a coldness that i never felt since ive been back here this sept, it feels like its going to do something, and i remember that old feeling, and its here again. we have a storm warning in effect in the lancaster area, its 2pm and im looking out the window as i type this, nothing just yet. but that moment is not far away alice………… richard
Yes, it does look that way Richard.
NY city or state originally? My hometown is just about 90 miles north of the big apple. I was down in the city usually a couple of times a year, but loved the country.
I miss the northeast too but could never afford to move back there again. Would be nice to visit though. 🙂 I have not been back since ’99.
I hope you don’t get too snowed in!
Alice
i lived in nyc, then upstate ny. i did live near middletown right near your neck of the woods. im sure you went to the poconos when you lived there. and where is everybody?, is it because its sunday or the holiday…….. rich
Yeah, Middletown was just 20 miles from Port. Went to the poconos many times as a kid.
I have no idea where everyone is. Maybe it is because it is the Sunday after the holiday??
Well, I feel a nap coming on. I am still worn out from shoveling yesterday.
your worn-out, im worn-out just hearing about all the shoveling you have been doing alice,lol. the so called storm has hit here, its snowing pretty steady here. not sure how much will be landing, so we will see in the morning how much damage there was. this is my last post until mon, lucky for you folks, so stay warm out there………. good night folks….. richard from the belly of the storm in penn.
Hey Richard,,, I have a right to be worn out,,,,I’m an old lady, LOL.
Have a pleasant evening and sure hope you don’t get snowed in too bad.
Talk to you tomorrow.
Stay warm and take care!
Glad to see you guys kept this place busy while I was gone 🙂 Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. Mine was great. And I don’t even feel like I put on any pounds. I guess I didn’t eat as much as I usually do.
Hey Erik,,, good to see you back. 🙂
It was a dirty job but somebody had to do it, LOL Just kidding! I really enjoyed talking with Richard the last couple of days. 🙂
Had an awesome white Christmas here. The only down side is my old body can’t handle that kind of shoveling any more. But dinner was wonderful, company was great, over all it was a nice relaxing day. 🙂
How is your grandma doing? Are you feeling any better? We sure did miss you around here. 🙂
Blessings, Alice
I appreciate that Alice! Thanks for handling the dirty work 🙂 I do feel better. And it was great spending time with my grandmother. I think she enjoyed it, which for me is the most important thing. It was good to be with family. Most of us don’t get the same closeness that Amish do. I feel I ought to treasure the opportunities I do have to spend time with extended family.
So glad you are feeling better Erik! I agree with you, spending time with family is very important. My parents are both gone now and I have 4 brothers in NY state. Unfortunately, we are not very close either physically or emotionally. It hurts sometimes and I would love to be closer,, but I doubt it will ever happen. 🙁
i just thought id pop back to this older post, and yes welcome back erik. it sounds like your time with your grandmother was a very good one, glad to hear that. i had wanted to get more into pinecraft on this post, but everyone was busy doing other things. maybe it can be re-visited again another time. welcome back and hope your feeling better……. richard
Hey thanks to both of you Richard and Alice and glad you had something good to discuss here, Pinecraft or no! Hope you had a good Xmas too Richard, and Alice sorry to hear about that with your bros–must be tough.
Greetings Erik!!
It can be tough but I manage. Life goes on and I trust there is a purpose for God in the family difficulties that I seem to have.
So how is your book coming along? When will you be back to the states again?
Blessings, Alice
no problem erik, alice helped make it very easy……… richard
Richard you got a picture up!! But I was hoping we would see you!!
Alice
Interesting
I just found this site while looking up Pinecraft. Having lived previously in SRQ, I do remember the Amish and how polite, albeit shy, the good people seemed. I was not one who gawked and took photos, but I admit to curiosity about the Amish ways. I have fulfilled that curiosity by reading extensively about Amish and I’ll admit that I find their ways do much more spiritual and living a God Centered life than we Englishers. Could I live the Plain life? No. Bit I do admire it.
Jeanne
I to love to read about the Amish people Jeanne.Found this site while I was looking up somethi g about them,can’t remember what it was.
I read a lot of fiction about them.Forever looking at their beautiful crafted furniture on the web. Alas
,much to expensive for me and not feasable at my age in life.Would have jumped on it when I first married my husband over 50 years ago.He is gone now.
Their culture is fascinating.Their devotion to God is fascinating. If I was much,much younger I would love to travel and stay for awhile in an Amish bed and breakfast for awhile.
My paternal great grand mother came from Penn. originaly,but her history has been lost through the generations.The photo I have of her ,she is wearing a long dress and her head is covered.One child is standing beside her and another in her lap. I’ve often wondered….