I got to visit a hutterite colony while we were out of town. It was one of the neatest things I've ever gotten to see. I thought that we were just going there briefly, but we ended up getting a tour of their whole place. I was blown away.
First, we were in the house of the hutterite we went to see. The men needed something welded, so they took off to the shop and we visited with his wife. She was so nice, and had the most unique and charming accent you have ever heard. She offered to show us around and preceded to give us a tour of pretty much the whole place.
We saw the laundry room, the kitchen and dining rooms, a new home that was to be a wedding gift for a couple getting married at the beginning of June, and the slaughter house.
The laundry room was completely tiled, from floor to and including the ceiling. There were three or four sets of stainless washers and dryers. Everything was spotless.
The kitchen was just crazy. When we walked in, there were tables set and ready to go. She told us that we were in the children's dining room. Any child on the colony 15 years or younger had their meals there. All the kids clean up after themselves as well. The next area was the adults (15+) dining room. Men on one side, women on the other. Everyone sits in the same spot every day. All appliances are stainless steel, restaurant style. It all looks like it was purchased yesterday, but the kitchen is five years old. Just off the kitchen is the baking area, with industrial dough mixing machines, and a separate "rising" room that smelled like cinnamon. In the basement is their major food storage area. They also store their home made soap in the basement as well. At one point she gave Danny a bun, and he accidentally dropped it on the floor. She went to grab another, and I stopped her and told her that her floor was much cleaner than mine, and he eats off mine all the time. It was that clean.
The newlywed's house was really nice. No carpet anywhere though. The bathrooms were gorgeous, and there was so much storage throughout the house. The newly wife gets an enormous sewing room (which you need when you make all your own clothes, your newly husband's clothes, and all your kid's clothes too). They said that the woman always goes to the man's colony when they marry. Just the way things are. There were about 85 people on the colony we visited.
The slaughter house was as clean as the kitchen. I got to see the chicken plucking machine too. She said that the slaughter house was their old kitchen, and it still had all their old appliances in it, which were just as clean as the ones in their new kitchen.
After the tour, we went back to her house to wait for the guys to come back, and we sat and visited with them. Danny was a typical two year old maniac, and he absolutely loved all the food they were feeding him. It was so cool to chat with them for a while and learn a little about their culture. She has six children, four were there when we were visiting. A couple of the girls followed us on the tour, giggling and speaking German to each other so I am sure they had a few comments about the city slickers, lol.
The one thing I was bitter about was that my camera was in the truck when the guys went to the shop to get the welding done, so I didn't get any pictures at all. Which was a shame, because it would have been nice. But I am not sure that they would have let me take any, so maybe it was better that I didn't have to put her in a weird position by asking her.
I'll share a couple of the pics I've gone through so far...
The boys and their kids for the weekend:
My Uncle, the cowboy:
Danny and his entourage:
My cousin at work:
I had to keep switching from auto to manual, because I didn't trust myself to set things up right. It alternated between cloudy and sunny, and I think it was throwing the white balance off. I had to do some adjustments. I hope they look okay. I should be back with more tomorrow.
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