Winter on the Farm

Wild horses thrive out west, even in the worst conditions. Yet, people worry about horses on a farm getting cold. Horses are as tough as deer or buffalo. They have it made on a farm where people are providing food and shelter.

Up until around 1920 almost everyone depended on the horse for transportation year around. The Amish help us "Englishers" get an idea of what our great-grandparents lives were like. It wasn't quite like... getting in a warm car, in a heated garage, and jumping out to run into the mall.  Someone has to harness up a horse and hitch it to the buggy before going anywhere. Those buggies don't have a heater in them either.

When you get home, no matter how late, someone has to un-harness, brush and feed the horse. Wintertime is get-by mode on a farm. Amish are hardworking people, who are rarely caught unprepared for cold weather. Barn full of hay, crib full of corn, pantry loaded with canned goods, woodpile heaped up, they are ready for whatever winter brings. When the weather is really bad, chores can take all day. 

You might have to use an Ax to chop open the water tank. Spend extra time bedding down livestock with a fresh layer of straw. Plow snow or shovel the walk. Imagine how nice it is, to finally get inside after fighting the cold for hours, and then sit close to a wood burning stove with the smell of homemade bread circling around you like a wreath. 

 In the picture below, you can see that we have a few Amish homes in Kalona. The city is accommodating for Amish, even providing a shelter for tying horses while shopping.

James (pictured below) is using a team of draft horses to plow snow out of a drive. He is 16 and not sitting on a couch, playing video games, or texting his buds. It was -4 when this picture was taken and this young man is getting a job done. Molly and Mary (his team of Belgians) are more-than-likely happy to have something interesting to do, rather than standing around looking over a fence.

Photo courtesy of Laurie Erwin Gabbert
Interested in reading about Draft Horses and Amish? Read my novel...
Under the Heavens

Horse Barn

My wife's grandparents moved to this farm in 1918, when they got married and left the Amish. They became Mennonites, which was not a very big jump back in 1918.

This building is actually a corn-crib. We are not sure when her grandpa built it but it seems by the type of structure, that it must have been in the 30's or 40's.

My wife's parents moved into a small house out back when they got married in 1948 and farmed as partners with their parents for a number of years.

My dad-in-law tells stories of the two couples working together, milking a dozen cows by hand. I can just imagine that scene. He said that he would sit on one side of the cow and his new wife would milk from the opposite side.

Like most farms in 1948 they had 12 cows and 12 sows.

When my wife and I moved here in 2000, I converted this corn-crib into a horse barn. My dad-in-law was also a plasterer for a living. He stuccoed the outside of the crib making it very tight and useful as a horse barn.

I store hay in one of the cribs and made a hallway out of the other. You can see my horses reaching their heads into the feed bunks in the hallway.

My sweet little granddaughters love our draft horses and beg to sit on their backs. Karm and Coke don't seem to mind at all. In fact, I believe they love all the attention my five grandchildren give them.

Under the Heavens (in pictures)

 Here are a few pictures that provide a glimpse of the world Lenny enters in my novel, Under the Heavens.  One of my main goals for putting together this blog, was to share pictures that would help those who are reading the book to visualize what they are reading about.

 Lenny takes plenty of buggy rides along quiet country roads, heading to Church, Singings and volley-ball games.

He also spend a lot of time making hay with his cousins.  He enjoys looking at the cathedral type space in a hay-mow as well as the glory of the sky out in the open fields, Under the Heavens.

 This picture of Lenny seated on a "fore-cart" was taken the same day as the cover photo.  As you can see, Leah has just climbed the fence to go visit with her new-found-friend and of course... to pet Tug and Train.

 I took a picture of this farm house above, when at Amish Acres, in Nappanee Illinois.  It seems like the proverbial "perfect" Amish home, very much the way I visualized Uncle Alvin and Aunt Lydia's place.

 If you're going to spend all day in your garden, it might as well be made beautiful with plenty of flowers.  This is a "Grandpa House" like the one Lenny's grandpa and grandma live in.  There is a large Amish home next to it and happens to be a few miles from my place, in the very area where the novel is set.

 Harness hanging on a wall behind a large black Percheron.

Lenny spends the first part of everyday walking down to a creek to gather in Alvin's dairy cows.  These cows here are actually standing in a little pond trying to cool off in the heat of an August afternoon, but it reminds me of Lenny's trips to the creek.

Yoder Towers

This is the actual feed mill I had in mind, while writing Under the Heavens.

This grain elevator/feed company used to be named, Yoder Feeds, and these elevator towers are still called Yoder Towers by locals to this day. There used to be a giant Y in the white painted area, on the highest tower, just as described in the book.

To find out more, click on this link below.

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Heavens-Thomas-Nye/dp/1936746794/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

On the Road

 This young guy is around 12-14 and barefoot, driving a big team of draft horses

In the good-old days, young people were often sent out to do big jobs by themselves.  They were trusted with livestock that could be dangerous and farm equipment that was expensive.  It was expected that they would work hard, because everyone had to contribute to keep the family farm afloat.

A teenage boy coming in from the field, with a horse-drawn sprayer

It is so common, in our modern world, to let our teenage children hang around all day and play video games, or mess with smart phones.  Mom and Dad are both working forty-plus hours and then having to split household duties when they get home.  If you don't think things have changed much in the past couple generations, go visit an Amish farm.  You will get a chance to see what things were like for grandpa.  And I think you'll find that it was a very happy, healthy lifestyle.

Three early-teen girls pass our house one fine afternoon

Even if were not planing to make our families return to "the way things were", I still feel it is an education to see what it was like and reflect on what life could be, or should be.  It is too easy to let life happen and then try to figure out what went wrong, with our home, family or marriage.  Maybe we should take a few lessons from hundreds of generations of families that went before us.  We can hear them speaking from antiquity ... through those who have not left the past behind.

Amishland Bike Tour

 Last summer I was driving through an Amish area of Indiana, near Michigan.  Locals call this area between the states Michiana.  I just happened to be there during a yearly bike ride named, Amishland.  I wanted to drive slowly through Amish farmlands, so I followed the path for bike riders.  I was happy to go very slowly!

I would rather have been on a bike but didn't know about this yearly event until that day.  My biggest surprise, was how many Amish/Mennonite bike riders were on the road along with the tourists. These girls in the picture above seemed to be having a lot of fun and gave a friendly waive right after I took this shot.

 There are so many beautiful scenes along the way!  This is a "must do" bike ride for anyone who enjoys lovely views, Amish gardens, horses and good food.  The Amishland event is near Shipshewanna, a fantastic place to visit if you have an interest in Amish at all.  I highly recommend the Blue Gate Restaurant while your in town.  The waitresses are dressed Amish (some are Amish) and the food is fantastic!  I'm a really huge pie fan, as you know already if you read my novel, Under the Heavens. The pie I had at Blue Gate was fantastic.

One of my most memorable pieces of pie was in an Amish home.  My wife and I stopped in at the home of our close Amish friends (can't call ahead) we were dropping something off and only planned to stay for a moment.  There was this apple pie sitting on the table that caught my attention; piled twice as thick with apples than any pie I had ever seen.  They must have seen my expression, because they asked us to sit down and have some.  I answered, "We don't need to eat up your pie."  Our friend's elderly mother, who lived in the grandpa house and had made the pie, answered, "Well, I made it to eat."

I honestly was thinking that the apples would not be cooked all the way through, because of how thick it was. I was wrong. It was cooked perfectly and logged in my memory as one of the best pieces of pie I ever had!

 These pictures were all taken during the Amishland bike ride.  This ought to give you some idea of what a good time your in for, if you take the tour.  I have no connection with the organizers of this event but I shared a link to their homepage at the bottom of this blog. The event is scheduled for August 1-3, 2014.

Here is the Amishland bike ride link:

http://www.amishlandlakes.com/ride2014.html

Garden Spot of Iowa

In my mind, Kalona is the garden spot of the state of Iowa.

Most of these pictures were taken in the past few weeks. I love fresh garden produce and enjoy driving past Amish farms and looking over their huge gardens.  I am always impressed when I pass an Amish farm (on my way to work) at 7:00 a.m. and see teenage girls already working between the rows.  On my way home, someone is usually working in the same garden.

In my novel, Under the Heavens, I mention that an Amish garden is lived in as much as any room in the house.  That is probably an understatement.

Amish farmers near Kalona still plow up fields, making them appear like huge gardens. In the old days, all of Iowa was plowed, gone over with a disc and harrow, until all soil was neatly combed.

Most farmlands in the U.S. now fall into the category of no-till.  Once harvest takes place, remaining stems and root systems are left in place, keeping soil from eroding.  This is good for the soil but not as easy on the eyes.  The farmlands surrounding Kalona still look garden like.

Garden tea is a delightfully fresh drink, it tastes like summer in a glass, and is a staple in almost every Amish home.

I highly recommend taking a leisurely drive through an Amish/Mennonite community and noticing their gardens. Many Amish families sell fresh garden produce for a living.  Stop in and let yourself go back in time, to a place where food was anything but "fast", and almost everything is healthy and tasty.

The Road to Nowhere~

Sometimes, when I'm out driving, I see a road that draws me in.  I find myself wanting to head down that road and imagine that some great adventure awaits me there.

There are a few roads like this in my area that I have never been down.  I'm saving them for some lonely afternoon, or keeping them a mystery because...

... sometimes when you take a road like this they turn out to be just another ordinary road.

Okay, I admit that I usually take every interesting road I see, because I'm looking for great pictures to share with my blog readers.  And I am obsessed with the beauty of God's creation.

Furthermore, in my area there are surprises around every curve in the road.  You never know when you'll cross a hill and see Amish children riding a pony.  One rainy day on my way home from work, I passed a farm where a plain-Mennonite family lives.  Two boys were out flying a kite in the rain.

Next time you see a road that seems to be drawing you in... take it!  If you find some great adventure there, it will be worth being late to wherever you were going.  If it's just another road you haven't lost much.