BELLEVILLE - When her friends suggested Wanda Yoder collect her journal entries from seven months with Mennonite Central Committee's mobile meat canner into a book, she always told them it would have to be a picture book, because she had never written anything.
Her new book, "Together We Can,'' does indeed contain more than 200 color photographs, but it's not just a picture book - the 8 1/2 by 11-inch, soft-cover volume with 110 glossy pages chronicles the journey of J. Loren and Wanda Yoder in their 20,000-mile, seven-month journey accompanying the canner for a season, from Oct. 8, 2008, to May 1, 2009.
"I had a team that just worked with me wonderfully,'' she said. "I had a couple in Virginia (James and Marian Payne) - she was my first-grade school teacher - they're the ones that helped me make the book come along. There were a lot of e-mails back and forth and three visits to Richmond (the Payne home).''
Her publisher is Masthof Press, of Morgantown - which happens to be owned by Wanda's cousin and former Allensville resident, Lois Ann Mast.
The Paynes, who have written books previously, warned Wanda that it would take two years for the project to come to fruition. "They were skeptical, to say the least,'' Wanda noted.
As it turns out, the Paynes were wrong - it took just 15 weeks from Wanda's first e-mail to the Paynes and until she could pick up copies of the book, fresh off the press in Morgantown.
"They all did an excellent job for me,'' Wanda said.
The first e-mail to the Paynes was sent Nov. 6, with Wanda's polished version of her travel journal. She would send more copy by e-mail to Virginia daily, sometimes more than once a day. The Paynes did the editing, and Mrs. Payne still shakes her head and laughs at the speed in which the book was completed, Wanda said.
"It was just like reliving the whole journey again, so it was just great,'' Wanda recalled of the four months that "pretty much consumed'' her as she worked on the book.
Yoder's goal was to get the book finished in time for the Central Pennsylvania World Hunger Association's annual meat canning project, which starts Monday at the rear of the old Fairmont Foods building in Belleville.
Wanda said she started keeping a daily journal at the start of their trip -setting up the canner and the canning process, her thoughts, stories of events, the humorous as well as the serious, wrong roads taken, the people they encountered, foods they learned - including dishes from the Russians in Alberta, Canada and South Dakota, and from a Hutterite Colony in Minnesota. She made the decision to keep a journal after they left home; a book was the farthest thing from her mind at that time, Wanda said.
The book contains a couple of recipes, including Swiss Mushroom Buns from the Hutterites - the recipe serves 100.
Wanda came up with the idea to make a commemorative quilt of their journey, so she asked in advance that a quilt patch might be made at each stop, something unique to that area, which would be compiled into a quilt.
Photos of the quilt patches introduce the narrative of the canner's stop at each location in Yoder's book.
The quilt contains 44 patches, commemorating 40 stops, with the four corners being the hands of the four MCC volunteers who traveled with the canner for the '08-'09 season. A large center block contains the names of all the volunteer men who worked on the canner since 1947, along with the state and country they came from.
The quilt will eventually be displayed in MCC headquarters in Akron, Pa.
Belleville dairy farmers by occupation, the Yoders "just talked about it and we just kind of agreed - it's easier that way'' to sell the cows and take off with the canner for a season, Loren said, looking back on the decision to change their lives so completely.
They purchased a fifth-wheel camper and pickup truck which was their home throughout the canning season, which took them to various locations in the United States and Canada.
"A lot of people told us they could never stay away seven months,'' Loren said, adding that they were home once, when the local canning project took place. "It was a wonderful journey.''
The Yoders paid all of their own expenses for the trip. Loren worked on the canner at any location or wherever he was needed and Wanda pitched in as well.
Their children, Jaylene Hess, Marsha Kuhns and Craig Yoder, all were supportive of Loren and Wanda's decision. Craig took care of the animals that remained on the farm after the dairy cows were sold - "which we were really thankful for,'' Wanda said.
After their return to Belleville, Loren went to Bosnia in September to help distribute canned food with Mennonite Central Committee. Some of that meat happened to have been canned in Mifflin County. A few photos from the Bosnia trip are included in Wanda's book.
Today, back on their Belleville Farm, the Yoders do crop farming and raise beef animals.
Yoder's book, "Together We Can,'' may be purchased throughout the canning event at the rear of the Fairmont Foods building in Belleville during specific hours in the coming week. The cost is $20 per copy. Wanda will have her books at the canning from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday, 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, and 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Mail orders may be sent to Yoder at 341 Maple Grove Road, Belleville, PA 17004, or by e-mail at wanda_50@hotmail.com. Mail order copies are $20, plus $5 shipping for the first copy and $3 shipping for additional copies.
The Yoders also are available to do programs and display the canning quilt. They may be reached at 935-5317.
