From Pig Stalls to Wedding Venue--Ladies' Retreat at "The Farm"

Last weekend was one of the most delightful ones I've spent in a long time.

I'd been asked about six weeks ago if I would be willing to speak at a ladies' retreat in Tripp, South Dakota, in place of a lady who had to cancel due to physical issues.  

I was willing, and when I asked Jonathan about it, he decided it was the perfect time to also go up with me to South Dakota and work on a remodel project for Society of Indian Missions in Norris while I went on to Tripp. 

This is where the retreat took place--an absolutely charming venue called simply "The Farm."

I don't know anything more charming to me than old farms that have been refurbished, but still have remnants of the old kept intact. 

Like this old plow, milk cans, bedsteads, and watering cans. 

This is the old Jerke Homestead, with the name pronounced Yerk, rather than Jerk. 

Clear back when President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, the great, great grandfather of the grandfather who gave us ladies a virtual tour of the homestead

 obtained this land. 

It has remained in the family ever since, something the family is very proud of.

Mr. Jerke said his roots are German Russian. His ancestors were peasants in Germany when Napoleon started making peasants serve in the army. Napoleon would put the poorest peasants out front in battles so that they would be the first to take the brunt of the attack and be the ones killed.

So when Katherine the Great of Russia invited the peasants to come to Russia/Ukraine where she would give them land, they moved gladly.

Later these German Russians moved to America, homesteading throughout Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Now many are known as Amish, Hutterites, and several other names that were unfamiliar to me. 

Only four years ago, this farm was still a real farm run by Amish, complete with pigs and cows in the barn! In fact, there is a plate preserved on one of the beams in the ceiling of the first story of the barn, with the number 256 or something like that, which is the number of one of the pig pens.

Since then, the farm is being refurbished into a retreat center or wedding venue, with this old farmhouse (viewed from the deck of the second story of the barn) turned into an overnight guest house with very simple, meaningful decorations. 

Here Crystal and I are being given a quick tour of the house.

 You can see that under the eaves where a typical house would probably have a closet, this house simply has another little cubby hole with an extra bed in it!

And here Crystal is looking into yet another cubby hole under the eaves, which is another tiny room just big enough for one bed and one chair--the room I was assigned--just off this bigger bedroom. 

 

This man who is overseeing the restoration of the farm is a believer who wants this "Farm" to bring glory to God. 

At night, the cross is lit up. 

 

When guests arrive, they are given a folder with a Scavenger Hunt, if they desire to do it, 

a hunt that directs them to various Scripture plaques around the farm. If you desire, you may pause at each one, looking up the references and reflecting or meditating.

This one faces the old sheep barn and sheep pasture.

 There are about twenty of these Scripture plates all over, and I was able to locate nearly half of them while filling in my Scavenger Hunt paper. This is one of the most meaningful things I did there. 

It was precious. 

Here is the paper with the scavenger hunt items. Later, the farm director told us that one group of girls found all the plates except one! When they went to knock on his door to ask where it was, they discovered that plaque on his door--which was as it was meant to be.

"Ask and it shall be given unto you; seek and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you!"

I was completely intrigued with this idea.  

I enjoyed walking about the farm in between the workshops where I spoke and had activities for the ladies.

When I found out that the farm grandfather had visited Ukraine in recent years to see where his ancestors had lived, near Odessa, I told him I wanted to give him one of my newly published books, Roses in Kiev.  And so I did. He was so touched that he said, "I want to give you a hug!"

And he did, right in front of all the ladies in the dining hall where we were talking!

Here, in fact, is a braided loaf of bread preserved from Ukraine, about 19 years old, in the museum section of the barn, just off the dining hall area.

And here is one of those old fashioned brooms.  

A really old fashioned baby buggy that was found in a shed on the farm. 

Here are ribbons from "Germans from Russia Heritage Society."

An old cream separator in the corner, and maybe a knife sharpener? not sure. 

I was pretty sure that next to this plow which had plowed on this very farm, is a corn sheller. Maybe an old farmer could help me out.  

From pig stalls to a retreat center and wedding venue, this place has been transformed into a place that brings much glory to God!

 

More about the retreat in another post.