La Leche League: A Cultural Experience

I recently applied to become a La Leche League leader, and my friend who is helping me with the process suggested I visit some other LLL groups in the area to see how they run differently.
Owen and I decided to drive about half an hour to the northeast end of the county - way out into the country - to meet with the Ephrata area LLL group.
The LLL website said to call for the location, and I knew that they met at members' homes. Yesterday I called and got the address from the leader, and this morning, I plugged the address into the GPS and headed down the highway listening to Owen and NPR.
When we arrived at the large farmhouse, there was only one car in the driveway along with a horse and buggy and numerous bicycles with baby trailers. A row of plain women with babies headed in the side door. I felt a bit out of place, but, hey, we were all here to talk about nursing.
The leader and the hostess met Owen and me at the door and welcomed us warmly. There were about 15 women and lots of babies and young children there, and I felt a bit self-conscious as one of only two women in jeans (clearly, no one else seemed to care what I was wearing!). Yes, I had arrived at a meeting of "Horse and Buggy Old Order Mennonites".
I really enjoyed the open fourum discussion of "Overcoming Breastfeeding Difficulties." There were two grandmothers who helped jiggle babies and shared experiences. One told me she had been coming to meetings for 25 years. There were several pregnant moms due soon, and lots of homebirthing moms. No one looked at me funny when I told a mother with a fussy baby how beneficial craniosacral therapy was for Owen as a cranky newborn. In fact, many chimed in, and some shared the names of craniosacral therapists they liked.
During the social time after the discussion was over, we talked about midwives and our children and all sorts of things. At one point, I returned from checking on Owen (who had escaped to look around the farm), and a grandmother reminded the small group I rejoined to speak English and appoligized for speaking Dutch. Then she proceeded to tell me the short history of most of the women in the room and explained that all of them spoke Dutch (PA Dutch, that is) at home except for one other lady (whose father spoke Dutch but mother did not - she's the one who drove the car, but not the one in jeans).
While I was a bit apprehensive going in, I found that I was quite at home with this house full of women. Really, I think I have quite a lot in common with them - maybe more than I do with lots of other moms I know:
- strong belief in breastfeeding as the proper way to comfort and nourish young children
- strong belief in the work of staying at home (One mom actually, asked if I stayed at home with Owen, and was pleased that "we aren't the only ones who stay home with children"!)
- can food (I noticed a stack of canning jars in the mudroom as I entered.)
- traditional nutrition (I saw a copy of Nourishing Traditions and heard a grandma talking about the goodness of butter.)
- homebirth
- use alternative medicine
I am really glad I went, and I plan to go back again - maybe every month. It was so pleasing to connect with a group of women who are so very different from me but with whom I have so much in common.