While visiting an Amish friend this past in winter, I woke to the gentle creaking of old wooden steps, and I knew my dear friend was on her way to the cellar to add wood to the stove. Her husband was on a three-day hunt, and while he’s gone she’s diligent about maintaining the wood stove so her family stays warm throughout the night and no one shivers when crawling out of bed in the morning.

During each visit, I understand more of how things work inside Old Order Amish homes, their community, and their faith. One of the many things I’ve found interesting is their methods of heating the home during the long, cold winters.

The days of mainly using open hearths are long gone. Too much of the heat goes up the chimney along with the smoke. Even so, the Amish may build a fire in the family-room hearth at the end of the workday.

The Old Order Amish haven’t adopted the modern way of heating a home, but neither do they use the usual pioneer methods. As is typical of the Old Order Amish, they’ve found a successful medium between those two worlds—pioneer and modern America.

Generally the Amish heat their homes with heating stoves and often with a cookstove on the first floor, with heat rising naturally to the second floor. Kerosene heaters are used in some homes.

I have observed two other ways the Old Order Amish heat their homes in winter. One is to have a boiler in the cellar or basement that leads to a radiator. Another is to have a wood or coal stove/heater in the cellar or basement connected to ductwork that leads to the first floor (and the second floor in newer homes).

A fair number of Old Order Amish homes were built in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds, so heating them is challenging.

Heating stoves became popular in America in the mid-1800s, but the Amish and Mennonites were using wood stoves from the time they arrived in America—long before Ben Franklin’s famous all-metal stove that he patented in the mid-1700s.

Although most Amish have propane tanks in their backyards, few use propane to heat their homes. Propane is used for refrigerators, hot water tanks, and summertime cookstoves. Many Amish have two cookstoves in their kitchens: a gas one for hot weather and a wood-burning one for cold weather. Many Amish also have gas stoves in the basement or cellar for canning during those stifling hot summer days.

In The Hope of Refuge, Ephraim only had one type of cookstove: a wood-burning cookstove. Do you know why? For a chance to win an Amish-made washboard wall hanging and your choice of one of my autographed books, leave an answer below. Whether your answer is right or wrong or on another topic or  just an “enter me,” you’ll be entered into the contest! A winner will be drawn Tuesday, April 27.

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I’d like to introduce you to Sherry Gore, author of Taste of Pinecraft: Glimpses of Sarasota, Florida’s Amish Culture and Kitchens. I first came in contact with Sherry in 2006. Our friendship has grown over the years, and now I’d like to give you a chance to get to know her.

Sherry is a member of Sunnyside Mennonite Church—a Beachy Amish Mennonite church in Sarasota, Florida. For three years Sherry has been a scribe for the Amish newspaper known as The Budget. The Budget is a national publication serving the Amish and Mennonite communities since 1890. She is also a writer/food reviewer for The Pinecraft Pauper, Pinecraft’s village newspaper.

Sherry has written a 400-page cookbook. In addition to nearly 700 heirloom recipes from Amish and Mennonite women across the country, there are stories and tidbits about births, engagements, weddings, deaths, funerals, birthday celebrations, ordinations, anniversaries, wildlife encounters, and accidents.

Daniel Fisher, editor of the Pinecraft Pauper says that the cookbook is filled with, “…everyday comings and goings of life in Pinecraft, our Amish/Mennonite village situated in the heart of Sarasota, told through years of letters submitted to The Budget newspaper. Even if a recipe flops, the story with it won’t.”

You can read more about Sherry and about how to order her cookbook by click here. In my spring newsletter, I offer a chance to win an autographed copy of  Taste of Pinecraft: Glimpses of Sarasota, Florida’s Amish Culture and Kitchens. In this blog post, I’m offering a second cookbook. So if you entered the newsletter contest, here’s another chance to win a copy of Taste of Pinecraft.

For a chance to win, leave a comment below. Contest ends Monday, March 29. A winner will be chosen Tuesday, March 30. The winner will be announced as soon as she or he responds to my e-mail.

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This contest is now closed. The winner of Taste of Pinecraft; Glimpses of Sarasota Florida’s Amish Culture and Kitchens is RaDonna Murner. Congrats, RaDonna! The newsletter contest offers another chance to win the cookbook as well as an Amish-made wall hanging, but to enter “newsletter contests” you need to be signed up for the newsletter. To sign up, go to http://www.cindywoodsmall.com/newsletter.php

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We have our “Amish Letters & Contest” blog winner! The winner is Tina Rice! Congrats, Tina. She won an Amish-made wall hanging. She’s already responded to my e-mail, and the wall hanging will go out with tomorrow’s mail. Like many of our past winners, Tina has entered several of my contests, so if you didn’t win this time, don’t give up!

I received another letter from one of my Amish friends today. As I handled the long white envelope that arrived in my mailbox, I thought about how it had been in a home built in the 1700s and addressed to me in the same manner as if it were the 1700s—by candlelight. I slit open the envelope with my letter opener and unfolded the crisp, white paper with a smile of anticipation on my face. Seeing the handwritten words and knowing that I have in my hand the opportunity to “visit” with my friend always touches my heart.

E-mail, texts, Twitter, Facebook, etc. are wonderful. I enjoy those too. We can stay in touch with family and friends no matter where we, or they, are. But how often do we save or print out e-mails? Most of the new communication technology promotes brevity.

I poured myself a cup of coffee and moved to my recliner, ready to absorb the sights, sounds, and aromas radiating from those pages in my hand.

Even in this age of instant communication, there is something special about getting mail that you can hold in your hand, knowing that someone cares about you enough to sit down, take pen in hand, and share his or her life, thoughts, and feelings, then seal and stamp the letter or card and take it to the post office.

Do you have any special letters or cards you have saved that you enjoy rereading? Handmade cards from your children when they were little, with misspelled words and crooked hearts pasted with too much glue? Maybe a collection of special letters from a loved one, tied with an old-fashioned ribbon?

I could never give away the letters that have passed between my Amish friends and myself. But I can share one part of a letter I received recently. It read: Subject: AMISH VIRUS You have just received the Amish Virus. Since we do not have electricity nor computers, you are on the honor system. Please delete all of your files. Denki!

Another thing I can share is an Amish-made goody.  I have a quilted wall hanging—sewn with the same care and thoughtfulness as the written letters I receive.

If you’d like to be entered into the drawing for the 17-by-18-inch wall hanging, all you need to do is leave a comment below.

If you’re reading this on one of my Facebook pages or Amazon or elsewhere, you need to pop over to my Web site, http://www.cindywoodsmall.com, and leave a comment on this blog entry.

The winner of the last Plain Talk Blog contest is Sandy Moritz of California. Sandy won an autographed book, a set of Amish-made potholders, and a box of Amish-made gift cards. Congrats, Sandy!

Note added by Cindy on March 12–WOW at the beautiful notes you all have written! I’ve been so moved by them, and I know many others have been too. THANK YOU!!  I forgot to mention when the contest ends. I’ll draw a winner on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 and notify her (or him) via e-mail.

Tea Tonic

Throughout history, honey has been effective as an analgesic (pain reliever) and perhaps even a healing remedy. Vinegar was always my mother’s favorite antiseptic, as it containing many purifying and therapeutic properties. With this delicious tea, you’ll get the restorative powers of both.

Begin by making a cup of hot tea, preferably decaffeinated. Add one teaspoon of honey and one teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Any honey is good, but health advocates claim that honey made by bees in an individual’s own region is even more beneficial to the body’s system—especially if you deal with seasonal allergies.

This tea is very tasty and is known among the Amish as being helpful with headaches, colds, flu, sore throat, insomnia, and many other ailments.

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Dead Reckoning by Ronie Kendig

Ronie Kendig is a debut novelist. That’s right a debut novelist! Her first book, Dead Reckoning, releases TODAY!!! Ronie is a suspense writer, and she’s devised MISSION JULIA! Look for clues in the text below, follow the trail from one blog to another, and you’ll have a chance to win a prize package that includes an iPod Nano!!

If you see names you don’t recognize, you may be engaging with her characters. I hope you’ll play and welcome Ronie and Dead Reckoning on the book circuit!

MISSION REPORT: Julia Jaxon is still missing. Her brother, Reece Jaxon, launched this mission to find his sister when details about her identity were inadvertently released in Ronie Kendig’s DEAD RECKONING. After hijacking Ronie’s post on Novel Journey, a team of specialists are searching for clues to her whereabouts. Won’t you please join us and help locate Julia? The more eyes roving the globe, the better the chance to find her.

When Shiloh Blake’s first large-scale unDerwater archeologIcal dig traps her in the middle of an internatioNal nuclear arms clash, she is forced to flee for her life into the streets of Mumbai , India . Is the man trailing her an enemy, or is hE sent by her CIA father to protect her? Whoever he is, the only way to end this nightmare and prevent a nuclear mEltdown is to join forces with former Navy SEAL Reece JaxoN.

For more information on how to play go to: http://supernaturalcraving.blogspot.com/

Ronie Kendig has a BS in Psychology and is a wife, Mother of four, and avid writer. Her novels Include Dead Reckoning (March 2010, Abingdon Press) and Nightshade (JuLy 2010, Barbour Publishing), Book#1 in The Discarded Heroes series.  She speaks to various groups, voLunteers with the American Christian Fiction WritErs (ACFW), and mentors new writeRs. Ronie can be found at www.roniekendig.com.

MISSION: JULIA (M:J) is entirely based upon a work of fiction entitled Dead Reckoning by Ronie Kendig. No lives are in jeopardy, but if you thought so—imagine how awesome Dead Reckoning will read!