Jennings, Old Stone House, and the North Country Brewing Company

The day was warmed up enough, and we were recovered from our sicknesses enough, to venture out.  We started with a hike at the Jennings Environmental Education Center, which is part of Moraine State Park.

 Dr. Otto Jennings was one of Pennsylvania's most renowned botanists, exploring western Pennsylvania and teaching others to appreciate its unique natural areas.

 We started out in a prairie area.  "Prairie" - the French word for meadow - was the term used by explorers to describe sunny, open, grassy places.  Prairies were rare and welcome sites since most of Pennsylvania was covered by dense, dark forests.  Prairie soils were created by the glaciers that once covered this area.  Only 4-6 inches of topsoil sits on a layer of clay that is more than 20 feet deep.

Grasses and flowers that grow in a certain combination are indicators that this area is a prehistoric prairie.

 From the prairie we meandered into the more forested area.  Looks like a Hansel and Gretal kind of place.

 Many trees were down, or looked like they could fall down any minute ...

 From there we came upon the Old Stone House.

 The place was not really open, but there were people inside so we invited ourselves in.  Turns out that Butler Community College was holding a cooking class there - the last of several Saturdays of classes where they learned early American Hearthside cooking.   This being the last class, they were doing desserts!  They had made stews, soups, breads etc on previous Saturdays. They offered us some home made cookies and let us watch them at their craft.

 Everything was cooked in the hearth, in dutch ovens covered with the burning coals from the fire.  They have a pie and a pound cake cooking in there.  Below is the pound cake that they opened to show me.

 These are the cookies that they made. (Cookies were really good!)

 Seems that they offer early American Hearth cooking classes through the summer there.  (Information HERE)  Sounds like a fun and interesting thing to do.

From there we went into the town of Slippery Rock to the North Country Brewing Company for lunch.  John hopes his beer turns out as good as it was there.

 Some signs in the restaurant.

 Good food.  Good place.

[The North Country Trail is actually a 4600 mile trail that goes from North Dakota to New York state.  A northern version of the Appalachian Trail, I think.  I didn't know about this trail, but it dips down into western PA a bit, cutting across the top of Moraine State Park, not far from this restaurant.  This is the southernmost part of the trail.]