Of the Farm
There are many writers out there, but few have the command of the
English language quite like the late John Updike.
A Pulitzer prize winning author that we can call our own, he grew up in
the Reading area, and used small town Pennsylvania as a setting in many
of his novels,such as- The Rabbit series, The Centaur, Olinger Stories,
and Of the Farm.
In Of the Farm, the protagonist, Joey, a big time ad executive living in
Manhattan, his girlfriend and his son, go back to Pennsylvania to visit
the farm his mom still lives on. When they arrive, his mom makes them a
meal in case they are hungry.
As Updike writes, ” A Pennsylvania snack, a meal by our standards: pork
sausage, pepper cabbage,… applesauce…”
He makes references to many PA foods in his writings, and this quick
sentence inspires us for one of the courses at our Ploughman Cider
Dinner on October 2. We be doing 5-courses paired with our friend and
7th generation apple famer- Ben Wenks.
