AMISH MIDWIVES

The novel I am finishing now, SARAH'S GIFT, is about an Amish midwife, so I've been deep into research on that topic. Fortunately I have a friend who is a midwife, and through her I've been able to meet others, so it's been a fascinating trip.

In contrast to much of mainstream America, a high percentage of Amish women prefer to have their babies at home, and cite a variety of reasons for doing so. For one thing, having a baby at home can be much less expensive! But more importantly, most Amish regard childbirth as the natural process of a healthy body, not as a medical procedure. After all, they say, women have been having babies with a midwife in attendance for centuries. To them, unless a woman has risk factors that make a hospital birth preferable, having a baby at home is both comforting and comfortable.

Amish midwives typically come to the woman's home to assist in delivery, but there are a growing number of birthing centers in rural areas as well. One midwife I spoke with said that she would much rather go to the mother's home, but that it had become too difficult to do that, especially if two of her mothers decided to have babies at the same time fifty miles apart.

Mary, this particular midwife, now has a birthing center in a typical Pennsylvania farmhouse, which looks so much like a home that women are sometimes surprised to learn that she doesn't actually live there. The only concession she has made in the way of furnishings is to use hospital beds, which allow for greater ease is adjusting position.

Mary, also sometimes called Grandma Mary, has been delivering babies for 36 years. For her, this is the most rewarding thing she could do, and she remains close to the couples and the children, sometimes going on to deliver the babies of women whom she delivered. When I asked what her greatest disappointment is, she replied that it was when things went wrong and the patient required hospitalization. That happens rarely, but when it does, she has the patient quickly transferred to a local hospital.

Amish women typically become midwives--"catching babies"-- through their longing to help other women have the kind of birth they want. Though they may receive formal training, much of their education comes in apprenticing to an established midwife.

SARAH'S GIFT, the fourth book in my Pleasant Valley Amish series from Berkley, will come out in March, 2011.

SNICKERDOODLES

I've received several requests recently for the Snickerdoodle cookie recipe, maybe because the Amish women in my books LEAH'S CHOICE and RACHEL'S GARDEN always seem to be baking them. One person who wrote asked if there really were such cookies, or was that a made-up thing!

Yes, indeed, Snickerdoodles really do exist, and the recipe is a favorite one among Pennsylvania Dutch cooks. And the sweet sugar cookies with their cinnamon topping are definitely a favorite among children. My grandkids love them. Why are they called Snickerdoodles, you ask? I have no idea!

Pennsylvania Dutch country is a place where cooks take their recipes seriously, and every little variation of a recipe is carefully saved. I have three or four versions of the Snickerdoodles, but here is my favorite:

SNICKERDOODLES

½ cup soft butter or margarine ¾ cup sugar
1 egg 1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp ground nutmeg ¼ tsp salt
2 T sugar 2 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and beat until fluffy. Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Blend into creamed mixture to make a stiff dough.

Mix the 2 T sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Shape the dough into balls the size of walnuts. Roll cookie balls in the cinnamon sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet and flatten with a fork. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until very lightly browned. The cookies will have their characteristic crinkled appearance on top. Remove to cooling rack, cool, and enjoy!

SPRING CLEANING

What is it about the first warm days and the appearance of daffodils in the yard that makes my mind turn to housecleaning, of all things?! A young man's fancy may turn to love at this time of year, but for me, it's the urge to have my house clean, inside and out. It must be something in the Pennsylvania Dutch genes--that's all I can think. When I was a child, my mother treated spring cleaning as seriously as a spiritual ritual. Everyone had to help, and everyone got to share in the satisfaction. And in those days, with a coal furnace, the house got really dirty over the course of a long, cold winter!

Just now, with a book due May 1st and another due August 1st, I have plenty of excuses not to dive into spring cleaning. After all, houses don't get nearly as dirty now as they used to. But the urge wouldn't go away. As a sort of compromise, I started with my office. After all, a clean office will make my work go better, won't it?

I began with sorting out my storage closet. Oh, dear, oh, dear. There were things in there which hadn't seen the light of day in years. I became slightly side-tracked, reading through old magazine stories and wondering whether this or that old manuscript might be re-cycled into a new story. I discovered connection cords for printers long gone and several hundred feet of telephone cable. Wonder what I was saving that for?

Finally, buried in with office supply receipts from 1990 (Tip: you don't have to save records for the IRS for more than seven years, it seems.) I discovered a list I'd made sometime in my first few years of writing. Turns out that my first year of actually selling what I wrote was 19**, and in that year I wrote twelve short stories and sold six for the magnificent total of $185! Somehow, that hand-written sheet brought back all those feelings I had when I sold my very first story. Someone liked my writing enough to pay me for it! Real people would read and perhaps enjoy the story I had created! I was a writer!

Over the years, that excitement sometimes gets buried under deadlines and publicity opportunities and galleys to read and talks to give. But you know what? It's still there. It's just as exciting to sell a book now as it was when I sold that first little story to a children's Sunday School paper. I just need to be reminded of that once in awhile.

So now not only do I have a clean office, I have a renewed sense of purpose about my writing. That was certainly worth a few hours of hard labor, wasn't it? I'm diving into the last few chapters of the current work with energy to spare.

I wonder what I'll find when I start on the kitchen?

Have a great spring, everyone.

Hugs,
Marta

SUCCESS MADE SIMPLE

It's a delight to introduce an excellent book by someone who has been such a help to me in my Amish fiction. Erik Wesner, the go-to guy for all things Amish and author of the popular AmishAmerica blog, has a book out now--SUCCESS MADE SIMPLE: AN INSIDE LOOK AT WHY AMISH BUSINESSES THRIVE. Whether you are interested in Amish culture or in entrepreneurship, you'll find this book simply fascinating. With his easy, engaging style and wealth of knowledge about all things Amish, Erik has created a book that deserves a spot in your library.

Here's a bit about the book:
According to the Small Business Administration figures, only half of all newly opened companies will survive for five years. In comparison, an Amish small business stands a 95 percent chance of thriving. SUCCESS MADE SIMPLE is the first practical book of Amish business success principles written for the non-Amish reader. The book offers a fascinating look at the reasons for the remarkable success of Amish businesspeople.

SUCCESS MADE SIMPLE reveals how, with only an eighth-grade education, these thriving businesspeople choose and manage employees, acquire skills and know-how, get and keep customers, and lead their companies to lasting success. The common threads woven throughout their experiences stress the vital importance of cultivating strong relationships, creating long-term goals, taking the welfare of others into account, and maintaining personal integrity. As one Amish businessman says, "Erik Wesner shows that success has many more dimensions than numerical growth. SUCCESS MADE SIMPLE is a valuable read not just for mainstream American business people but also for the Amish."

SUCCESS MADE SIMPLE is available now. You can find it at your local bookstore or order it online at Amazon.com.

Spring and Dandelion Greens

Spring is finally here in Pennsylvania--lots of mud, crocuses blooming, daffodils up, and a faint green haze on the willow trees. In RACHEL'S GARDEN, Rachel sees spring as a time of renewal, taking comfort in the signs of new life all around her as she recovers from her long winter of grief.

One of the favorite dishes of spring here in the country will be ready before long--Dandelion Salad! Dandelions may be something to dread in suburban lawns, but not here in the country. When the first tender leaves come up, it's time to enjoy a treat.

Here's my recipe for Dandelion Salad. I also enjoy using this dressing with fresh spinach and leaf lettuce.

DANDELION SALAD

Pick about 2 quarts of small, tender dandelion leaves.(Note: you can only do this is early spring, before the center stem comes up.) Wash thoroughly and drain. Fry 1/4 lb. of bacon until crisp and break up.

For dressing: beat 2 eggs, add 1/2 C sugar, 1/2 C water and 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar. Add to the bacon pieces in the pan and stir over low heat until the dressing thickens. Pour over the greens and add sliced hard-cooked eggs and/or sliced mushrooms, if desired.

This recipe and other Pennsylvania Dutch favorites are in my PA Dutch Recipes brochure. If you'd like a copy, just e-mail your mailing address to me at marta@martaperry.com.

RACHEL'S GARDEN releases!

I'm so happy to announce that RACHEL'S GARDEN, the second book in the Pleasant Valley Amish series from Berkley Books, will be in stores on March 3. This second book in the series takes place about a year after the events of LEAH'S CHOICE, and if you read that one, you'll have a chance to re-visit the people and places of that story. However, RACHEL'S GARDEN does stand alone as a story.

Here's a bit about the new book:

It has been almost a year since the Amish community of Pleasant Valley lost Ezra Brand to a tragic accident. Since then his wife, Rachel, has struggled to raise their three children and run their dairy farm.

Rachel's friends and family have come forward to help--Rachel's friend Leah, who is now married and expecting a child; Ezra's brothers, who work on the farm; and Rachel's parents, who are no strangers to grief after their only son, Johnny, left the Amish community. But their constant advice, hoever well-intentioned, puts undue pressure on Rachel. And when Gideon Zook--Ezra's best friend, who survived the accident--asks her permission to build the greenhouse that Ezra had always promised her, she finds his presence too painful a reminder of the past.

As spring turns to summer, and Rachel puts her heart into growing the flowers and plants that have always brought her joy, can she discover the courage to make her own choices...and embrace new beginnings?

May I ask a favor of you? If you read the book, please let me know what you think of it. And if you enjoy RACHEL'S GARDEN, you could help me by placing a favorable comment or rating about it on www.amazon.com and/or www.christianbook.com. Those reviews do make an impression on others!

Best,
Marta

Following A Dream

People are always asking small children, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" How did you answer that question? Usually I said I wanted to be a mommy or a nurse or a teacher. But what I really wanted to be was a writer.


It all started when I was eight. My mother took me to the library, and I picked out a new book, The Secret of the Old Clock. The adventures of Nancy Drew captivated me. Most little girls, when they reach the end of the book, want to be Nancy Drew. Not me. I wanted to be the person who wrote that terrific story.


So why couldn't I say that when people asked me what I wanted to be? I guess because I didn't know any writers. I'm not sure I even realized that writing books could be a career. Or maybe it was because I feared that was a dream that would never come true.


Amanda Bodine, in my book, HEART OF THE MATTER, out this month from Love Inspired, has reached the age of thirty--one of those milestone birthdays when people take stock of how they're progressing toward their dream. She's still single, without a serious boyfriend in sight. She's working as a reporter, but the serious stories she longs to write elude her. Worse, her new boss, Editor Ross Lockhart, seems convinced that she's a frivolous Southern belle who can't cover anything more important than a local dog show. She longs to prove herself, but when Ross finally seems ready to give her a chance, she learns it's only because he wants to get close to her family to write an expose on their family secret. It's time for Ross Lockhart to learn that the most important thing--the heart of the matter--is love and family. Without that, all the success in the world isn't important.


Like me, Amanda has a dream, but that dream is one she may have to sacrifice in order to save her family. I hope you'll like this second installment in The Bodine Family series, and be on the watch for Adam's story, A GUARDIAN'S HONOR, coming in July.

And I also hope that whatever your dream may be, you'll find the courage to pursue it with all your heart.

Blessings,
Marta