Mennonite Women

Just got this lovely book from Amazon. It has some great photos in it as well as some history on each one. I am so intrigued by the simple ways these women live by. I enjoy learning about fashion has been in our history. This photos show both the Victorian dress and the simple clothing of the Mennonite ways. The Victorian styles actually almost look extravagant in comparision to the simple Mennonite dress. They would surely need an apron while making applesauce in the way they are doing it on the front cover. I love how they are all working together to make an overwhelming chore suddenly one of pleasure as they exchange conversation. It looks like the man in the group has the easiest job, using the apple corer/peeler.
I have one of these old peelers as well as some newer ones that I use. They sure came in handy when I lived on my little farmette in California and had lots of apple trees. Thank goodness we had all of that apple sauce, it was so needed to live on throughout the winter months. Sadly, I never got a picture of the pantry where all of these jars where stored.
I used to take the apple peeler/corer to school and use it with the kids for fall celebrations. They loved the long 'peels' we would make. It is a fond memory.