It's older than turkey at Thanksgiving, hot dogs at the ballpark. It's the tradition of eating pork and sauerkraut on the first day of the New Year.
Our own Kirk Wilson has never been a fan of sauerkraut. But give him pork, mashed potatoes with peas mixed in and a little sauerkraut juice over it all, and he will happily look for the good luck it promises.
"There's an old Pennsylvania Dutch saying that if you eat pork and sauerkraut at the beginning of the year, you'll have good luck," explained Doug Bonsall, Treasurer at the Perry Valley Grange.
We aren’t sure if it was the hope for a prosperous 2013 or for a good meal on the first day of the New Year, but the Grange hall doors opened at 11 and the dining room was quickly filled with hungry people.
"it's all good,” smiled Phyllis Lebo, who made her way to the Grange from Mechanicsburg. “I tried everything and it's very good."
Natalie Reitz was coordinating workers in the kitchen. Grange volunteers made the sauerkraut.
Freshly peeled potatoes were mashed to a smooth consistency. The pork went in the oven New Year’s Eve for a slow roast.
"We pickled our own beets. We did those by the quart,” Natalie explained. “We did 100 quarts of pickled beets this summer. We made our own chow chow. Everything here is something we have made ourselves."
Did she mention dessert, which included homemade cakes, pies and cookies?
Sally Scruggs and her husband traveled from Jessup, Maryland to New Bloomfield for Monday night's drop of boxed huckleberry and heard about the dinner.
"The dining experience was exquisite, pork, fresh mashed potatoes," Scruggs told us. “Probably haven't had fresh mashed potatoes in 15 years or homemade, we get the ones out of the box."
So why pork and sauerkraut? Sauerkraut is technically cabbage, which is said to be lucky.
As for the pork, a pig cannot look backward without turning around so it's a positive thing to look forward to the future.
Our own Kirk Wilson has never been a fan of sauerkraut. But give him pork, mashed potatoes with peas mixed in and a little sauerkraut juice over it all, and he will happily look for the good luck it promises.
"There's an old Pennsylvania Dutch saying that if you eat pork and sauerkraut at the beginning of the year, you'll have good luck," explained Doug Bonsall, Treasurer at the Perry Valley Grange.
We aren’t sure if it was the hope for a prosperous 2013 or for a good meal on the first day of the New Year, but the Grange hall doors opened at 11 and the dining room was quickly filled with hungry people.
"it's all good,” smiled Phyllis Lebo, who made her way to the Grange from Mechanicsburg. “I tried everything and it's very good."
Natalie Reitz was coordinating workers in the kitchen. Grange volunteers made the sauerkraut.
Freshly peeled potatoes were mashed to a smooth consistency. The pork went in the oven New Year’s Eve for a slow roast.
"We pickled our own beets. We did those by the quart,” Natalie explained. “We did 100 quarts of pickled beets this summer. We made our own chow chow. Everything here is something we have made ourselves."
Did she mention dessert, which included homemade cakes, pies and cookies?
Sally Scruggs and her husband traveled from Jessup, Maryland to New Bloomfield for Monday night's drop of boxed huckleberry and heard about the dinner.
"The dining experience was exquisite, pork, fresh mashed potatoes," Scruggs told us. “Probably haven't had fresh mashed potatoes in 15 years or homemade, we get the ones out of the box."
So why pork and sauerkraut? Sauerkraut is technically cabbage, which is said to be lucky.
As for the pork, a pig cannot look backward without turning around so it's a positive thing to look forward to the future.