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Ordinary Days: Family Life in a Farmhouse
Imagine raising six spirited kids on an Oregon grass farm. Today. That's enough to test anyone's mettle. Unbowed, author Dorcas Smucker celebrates her family life with gentle humor and disarming humility in this collection of personal essays.
Dorcas Smucker and her brood live out their days in full view in this collection of musings. Picking blueberries while watching for bears, hoping for angels driving off the nearby freeway, moving into the "thousand-story house."
Then there was the four-week road trip, which, Dorcas says, "My sister-in-law warned me would be like putting your whole family in the bathroom and staying there for three days." There are no recipes here. But there is story upon story. Dorcas has three daughters and three sons. And she has a voice that's encouraging, doubting, entertaining, but never taking herself too seriously. Often slightly off-stride, Dorcas keeps finding resource in her life at home.
Dorcas Smucker and her brood live out their days in full view in this collection of musings. Picking blueberries while watching for bears, hoping for angels driving off the nearby freeway, moving into the "thousand-story house."
Then there was the four-week road trip, which, Dorcas says, "My sister-in-law warned me would be like putting your whole family in the bathroom and staying there for three days." There are no recipes here. But there is story upon story. Dorcas has three daughters and three sons. And she has a voice that's encouraging, doubting, entertaining, but never taking herself too seriously. Often slightly off-stride, Dorcas keeps finding resource in her life at home.
- GenresNonfictionMemoir
155 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 2006
6 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 25, 2009
I stumbled upon this book because I had ordered "Emily" by Emily Smucker for the teen collection at the library where I work. Turns out, Emily is Dorcas Smucker's daughter. What interested me most was the Oregon connection -- they live in Oregon and Emily, at one time, lived in Redmond, which is not far from where I live. So I picked up Ordinary Days out of curiosity. The author is a conservative Mennonite woman who writes articles about her every day life in the Register Guard newspaper. Those article are compiled in her books. It's pretty darn unusual to find me reading anything remotely conservative or religious in any way, but I love love looooooooved the essays in this book! They are nice and uplifting and interesting. A bit of James Herriot mixed in with perhaps a smattering of Jane Kirkpatrick and just a squeeze of Erma Bombeck, with maybe not so much humor/dysfunction as good, old Erma. It's hard to describe why these books appeal to me, but they do... what a great read!
November 19, 2021
I love Dorcas’s frank style of writing and laughed so much while reading this book that my husband always knew which book I was reading. She does such a good job of detailing the ordinary in a refreshing and beautiful way.
March 12, 2019
What a fun read! I love Dorcus' style and humor, and her writing is so engaging.
February 1, 2016
Review: Ordinary Days by Dorcas Smucker.
This is a non-fiction book about an ordinary Amish family 19s day. Who could be more down to earth on Earth Day then the Amish. The father is this book was brought up in a small Amish community but strayed away when he got married but still followed some of the Amish traditions. He did become a minister, his family was religious but he modernized some of the rules that his parents followed. The book told the reader about how ordinary this family was and how they spent their time based on the mother 19s point of view with humor, situations of stress, and the raising of children like any average family.
Dorcas Smucker, a mother of six children was married to Paul, a Mennonite minister. They live in a 95-year old farmhouse near Harrisburg, Oregon. Before that they moved around a lot and even stayed on an Indian reservation for four years educating the children who lived there. At the farmhouse her responsibilities were cooking, laundry, canning, sewing, and caring for her family. Plus, other small issue as they arose like pulling splinters, settling arguments, and mopping floors.
Her children were special to her. Matt, a lanky teenager who had a habit of poking her in the ribs to hear her shriek every time she was near him, Amy, a 12-year old beyond her years and who brings home a pile of books from the library every couple of days, Emily, a 10-year old just starting to learn cursive writing, Steven, a 10-year old boy they adopted from Kenya who was active and imaginative, Ben, a second grader who had the job of clearing the mousetraps everyday to earn a quarter towards his next Lego set, and last there is Jenny, a busy 2-year old toddler who had the habit of unrolling six yards of toilet paper and dumping cheerios on the floor. They all still had their everyday chores but not as harsh as some of their Amish relative 19s children.
The book was written well and I enjoyed the pieces of humor throughout the book. Dorcas Smucker had wrote of some memories along the way that made the book more up-beat. It was like a collection of stories about their lives, telling of simple blessings and ordinary days.
This is a non-fiction book about an ordinary Amish family 19s day. Who could be more down to earth on Earth Day then the Amish. The father is this book was brought up in a small Amish community but strayed away when he got married but still followed some of the Amish traditions. He did become a minister, his family was religious but he modernized some of the rules that his parents followed. The book told the reader about how ordinary this family was and how they spent their time based on the mother 19s point of view with humor, situations of stress, and the raising of children like any average family.
Dorcas Smucker, a mother of six children was married to Paul, a Mennonite minister. They live in a 95-year old farmhouse near Harrisburg, Oregon. Before that they moved around a lot and even stayed on an Indian reservation for four years educating the children who lived there. At the farmhouse her responsibilities were cooking, laundry, canning, sewing, and caring for her family. Plus, other small issue as they arose like pulling splinters, settling arguments, and mopping floors.
Her children were special to her. Matt, a lanky teenager who had a habit of poking her in the ribs to hear her shriek every time she was near him, Amy, a 12-year old beyond her years and who brings home a pile of books from the library every couple of days, Emily, a 10-year old just starting to learn cursive writing, Steven, a 10-year old boy they adopted from Kenya who was active and imaginative, Ben, a second grader who had the job of clearing the mousetraps everyday to earn a quarter towards his next Lego set, and last there is Jenny, a busy 2-year old toddler who had the habit of unrolling six yards of toilet paper and dumping cheerios on the floor. They all still had their everyday chores but not as harsh as some of their Amish relative 19s children.
The book was written well and I enjoyed the pieces of humor throughout the book. Dorcas Smucker had wrote of some memories along the way that made the book more up-beat. It was like a collection of stories about their lives, telling of simple blessings and ordinary days.
August 28, 2016
excellent story of every day life
March 6, 2019
I love the chapters in this book because they stand on their own so well. You don't necessarily have to read them in order. I also find I have a lot more in common with a Mennonite mother of 6 than I thought (FYI - Episcopal, single mother of 1).
December 22, 2021
I very much enjoy reading Dorcas Smucker's works. Her mothering style is lovely as are her children. Her short stories and engaging and wholesome....I wish her book was a bit longer as I was not ready for the stories to end!
August 13, 2024
Fun essays about family, faith, and farm life that always manage to circle back to the opening line at the end.
December 30, 2015
The essays in this book are so personal, I confess it took me a few YEARS to finish it. Because I wanted to savor each word. It inspired me greatly as a writer, the first book that let me know that "my style" of writing was ok...that there were others who shared my love of personal story. I bought every book she has
May 27, 2025
Lovely reading!
December 13, 2010
Dorcus Smucker, a conservative Mennonite woman and author of ORDINARY DAYS is a conservative Mennonite woman and lives near Harrisburg, between Albany & Eugene with her husband & 6 children. She writes articles for an Oregon newspaper and this book includes some of those articles.
August 4, 2012
One thing I like about these books, is you can just read a chapter anytime and don't have to worry about remembering the plot if it goes a long time between chapters. After I started reading them, I found out she's Margaret Koehn's sister.
April 6, 2013
The quality of the writing is superb, almost lyrical. The stories are painted with such vividness and warmth. We have re-read this book several times as a family read-aloud and everyone loves it. Highly recommended!
April 23, 2012
Lesson learned: just because I really like a blogger, doesn't mean I will like her (or his) books. The format tends not to translate well.
March 8, 2014
Love this book. She has such an inspiring and humurous way of illustrating the simple life of raising children on a farm.
April 23, 2015
Enjoyable, thoughtful, believable read!
June 25, 2008
Great book in bite size pieces with many local references.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews