What better way to end off September long weekend than by spending the day at the Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV)?
Fall on the Farm took place, and they had pioneer demonstrations, including windmill flour milling, steam engine threshing, sawmill demonstrations, and more.
There were also tours of the museum grounds and lots of activities for the kids.
Robert Goertzen, Interim Executive Director and Program Manager at MHV says they have partnered with Eastman Immigrant Services for several years and continued this year.
“Eastman Immigrant Services work with many of the local cultural groups, and we thought, what a wonderful time. Fall on the Farm, just before school starts, after people's summer holidays are over, and we're celebrating harvest events and harvestings. And let's celebrate our culture, the Steinbach local area culture, as well as the culture of all of our neighbors and friends who have moved in, and we're really thrilled about that.”
They had a Cultures Stage with performances from nine different groups. Food vendors were also set up for people to enjoy foods from other cultures along with traditional Mennonite foods.
The demonstrations are a fun and educational way to teach what life was like and Goertzen shares his favourite one.
“Something that's unique to Fall on the Farm is the butchering station. In the morning, they are doing a hog butchering demonstration to just to say, ‘Look, this is how farmers used to live in their families, and they used to take the time in the fall to harvest the meat that they needed for the winter’, and so the hog butchering is something very interesting. It helps you to see where your food comes from and how every part of the animal gets used, and none of it is wasted.”
He continues, “Then they're also doing some chicken butchering, so that's also something that's kind of interesting. And so, these are all activities that would traditionally have been done on the family farm and now we're able to do the demonstration to show how that's going to how that would have helped sustain the family over the winter.”
He explains that they have had a busy summer and as the season changes some things will look different, but the MHV will be open seven days a week until September 30.
“If you haven't been to the Sunday buffet, there's still time for that in September. We also have several author events coming up. We've got a book launch happening on September 22 called the ‘Secret Treaty’ and that's going to be very interesting, talking about how Indigenous relations with the early Mennonites were passed down orally in the Indigenous communities and something that maybe we weren't aware of or didn't know about. So that will be a very interesting evening. We also have the grand opening of our exhibit, 150 years Mennonite Reflections of living in southern Manitoba for 150 years, and that's it's open currently, you can come anytime to look at that, but we will have special guests and evening on September 24th the grand opening and every it's free, everyone's welcome.”
Check out this TikTok and photos from Fall on the Farm:
@steinbach_online Cultures Stage at the Mennonite Heritage Village for Fall on the Farm #fallonthefarm#culture#fun ♬ original sound - SteinbachOnline