by Barry Dyck - September 2, 2010 Fall on the Farm: Our final festival of the summer is now only days away. On Monday, Sept. 6, hundreds of people will gather at the Mennonite Heritage Village to celebrate Fall on the Farm. This will be your last opportunity in the 2010 season to bring the family for a day on the museum grounds, watching log sawing, threshing and other pioneer demonstrations, enjoying the MHV Auxiliary’s waffles, experiencing the petting zoo and pony rides, and participating in structured tours of the village by Roland Sawatzky and Lawrence Klippenstein. Some time ago our facilities manager, Benjamin Klassen, had a vision to restore one of the artifacts on our yard. This machine, which converts raw horsepower into a spinning pulley which in turn powers a small stationary threshing machine, was in need of repair. So when Klaus Wall dropped in recently to say he had a few weeks of time on his hands and would enjoy volunteering here if we had some work for him, Benjamin quickly matched his skills and time available with the repair of this machine. With the support of Alfred Wolgemuth and a few other volunteers, the project has now virtually been completed. Assuming we can also find someone to do a few repairs on the stationary threshing machine, the plan is to demonstrate the use of this equipment at Fall on the Farm. No smoking: Mennonite Heritage Village has a no-smoking policy. This policy includes all buildings and the entire village. As part of our ongoing effort to make MHV a family-friendly museum, and in light of the significant number of old and valuable artifacts, particularly our vintage buildings, the board of directors has determined the entire village should be a “no-smoking” area. For guests who do need a cigarette while visiting the museum, we have provided a smoking area in front of the Village Centre, just north of the main entrance. We appreciate the cooperation our guests demonstrate in adhering to this policy. Livery Barn Restaurant: In last week’s column I reported on our new “chicken and Bubbat” lunch special. I was one of many who thoroughly enjoyed the meal, which consisted of two pieces of delicious chicken, a square of Bubbat with raisins and a serving of boiled potatoes topped with a very tasty gravy. The Livery Barn Restaurant was humming that day, so clearly others came to enjoy it as well. Our “chicken and Bubbat” lunch special is now available every Tuesday until the end of September. The windmill: Did you know the Steinbach area has very few days a year with sufficient wind to make flour in the windmill? We tend to think we have a lot of wind, but it’s rarely strong enough to turn the stones that grind the wheat into flour. (No doubt that’s why Steinbach’s original windmill was replaced by a steam engine only two years after it was built). However, in the last two weeks we have had some days with very strong winds, which have given our millers, under the direction of Al Hamm, the opportunity to mill quite a bit of flour. Food services manager Helen Bergen was delighted to again have full access to this stone-ground flour for baking in the Livery Barn Restaurant. Stone-ground flour is also available for purchase in five-pound bags in our Gift Shop. Calendar of Events -Sept. 6, Fall on the Farm -Sept. 11, Mennonites and Music concert in Neubergthal, 7:30 p.m. -Oct. 2, Mennonites and Music concert at CMU, 7:30 p.m.

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