An Old Swing

My wife's Uncle Duane lives in the heart of Amish country. He always has great stories to share with me every time I talk to him. He and his sons baled and/or sold hay to every Amish family for miles around. I stopped over to visit him the other day and three of his grandsons were there putting up a swing. They had a very interesting story about this swing and I thought I should share it with all of you. Duane explained that this frame was designed to be a hoist. They would drive a team of horses through this frame and a pulley at the top would be used with a rope to hoist up the front end of a grain wagon, to unload it. After they quit using the frame as a hoist (a very long time ago) they decided to use it for a swing.

The old frame accidentally got bent a short time ago by a tractor. Duane's grandson's didn't want to see the old swing gone... so one of them welded an exact replica of the old hoist.(The guy you can see kneeling down near the frame.) His son is the little guy taking the first ride in the new swing. If you look really close, you can see the old hoist laying on the ground behind Uncle Duane. This is where the story gets really interesting, to me. When the three grandsons dug down to the old cement footing, to attach the new frame they made an fun discovery. There were names written in the cement.

These young men found their grandmother Marilyn's name written in the concrete along with three of her other siblings names. The baby of their family didn't write her name... so we have an idea of how long ago this footing was set. Aunt Marilyn passed away a few years ago, and this was the farm she grew up on. I think it is cute to see her child-like signature (which she happened to misspell, there is an extra i in there.) Someone drew lines between the names, Rodney, Howard, Marilyn, and Linda.

Uncle Duane's great-grandson will be the Fourth generation to play on this swing, that is set on an old grain-wagon hoist. You can see the footing with the names in this picture. Uncle Duane has a great family. I'm very impressed that his grandson went to all the effort to make an exact replica of the old hoist. And, that his grandsons took the time to come set it in place and keep the family traditions going. They were rewarded for their efforts, with a connection to their grandma. A set of autographs that lay hidden under the soil for around 75 years!

Hauling Manure~

        I bought this manure spreader at the Kalona Sale Barn draft horse sale a year ago.  When I started bidding on it, I realized the Amish man I purchased my horses from was standing next to me.  He started teasing me while I was bidding, "Your not going to pull this tiny manure spreader with that big team of Percherons I sold you, are you?"
       Trying to keep my focus on the bid, I told him, "This spreader box holds all the manure I want to scoop at one time!"

       It also happens that I don't have a lot of storage space and this little manure spreader just fits in my barn.

       When I took my chainsaw to another local Amish business man, to get sharpened, we got talking about my draft horses.  He wanted to know what equipment I owned.  I mentioned my manure spreader and he asked, "Do you have any other livestock?"  I told him, "No."  He teased me, "You only need your horses for pulling the manure spreader. If you didn't have horses, you wouldn't need a manure spreader. That's like the lady that said she needed a car to get to town and they asked her why she needed to get to town and she said, 'To get gas for my car!'"

Obviously, I don't need horses; but if I'm gonna have these big horses, I sure do need a manure spreader!
Karm and Coke provide me with an escape from the pressures of the modern world and plenty of material for my Amish horse blog too.

Not to mention, some beautiful scenery in my back yard and they are awful fun to have in the barn and brush.  You haven't lived until you've stood between a team of draft horses.

Grandchild Artwork

        My grandchildren know that I love horses!  My granddaughter Lyla was with her mother at a store and saw a packet of horse stickers, she asked her mom to buy them.  When they got home she had made up her mind that she was going to make a horse picture for her grandpa.  My daughter told me that Lyla wanted her to send me this collage in the mail.  I like how she has put everything together, especially the way she put a saddle on one horse.  Lyla is my horse girl, I'm afraid she has the same bug I have.  I am including a picture of Lyla sitting on Coke, even though this picture has appeared in an earlier post.

        My grandson Alex is my scientist.  He studies books about sea creatures, especially sharks, whales and sea turtles.  He drew this picture for me, I think it is a Percheron.  I am also adding a repeat picture of Alex and myself.  We took a horse drawn wagon ride a few weeks ago, at our place.

This little horse picture was on the envelope.

Mail Order Barn

        I got up early this morning and drove about 30 miles to my friend Kenny's place, where I buy most of my hay.  My trusty little time-machine S-10 pickup has 26 bales on it.  I drive this far because Kenny always sells me top quality grass hay, cheaper than I can find it anywhere close to home, and he is a great guy too!

        This time I took some pictures of his barn and asked him some questions about it.  He told me that his wife's Grandpa built this barn from a kit, he thinks was ordered out of a Sears catalog.  I have never heard of that!  He didn't know when it was built but guessed in the 20s or 30s.  He told me that each board came with a stamped number on it, so that a person could follow pre-printed directions.  Kenny has been told that four other barns just like this one were built nearby and this is the only one of those four left.  It seems that the arched roof was a weakness, that is until Kenny's grandpa-in-law took matters into his own hands and reinforced the rafters as seen below.  He also added these dormers which also was part of a plan to strengthen the structure.  That old guy is a man to be proud of!  People like him are what this country was built on.

       This beautiful old building and many like it across America need to be protected, they are irreplaceable.  Much of the hay stored in this mow (or loft) will come home to my place for Karm and Coke's winter chow.

       For more old barn photos check out my Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/AmishHorses 

      Click on this link and look for my photo album "Barns" don't forget to "Like" my page while there!

  

Green Beans Are Ready!

Today was another trip out to the "Home Place" for me (Robyn) and my boys as well as their cousins. My boys LOVE spending time with Grandma Shari in the garden and today was no exception. They were all so cute to give a hand in picking. We later enjoy ours steamed in the microwave and topped with butter and salt. Oh so yummy!
Take a peek at the green bean picking.

 

 

 Time in the garden is always rewarding!
 

Bountiful Harvest {Making applesauce at the Home Place}

Greetings from Robyn about the "Home Place" this warm July morning.

Growing up in the countryside by Kalona there is one sure event to take place each year; the harvesting of fresh fruits and vegetables. Last week my mom and dad (Tom the author and Shari his wife) had my boys overnight for a special treat for both me and my boys. When I went to pick them up Grandma Shari was in the process of "working up" some apples into delicious homemade applesauce. My boys had helped pick apples that morning and then Grandma got right to work. Noticing that she had hours of work on her hands I got right to work helping her.

Along with "working up" apples we worked up some memories too. As I carefully pressed the apples through the Victorio Strainer I began to reminisce of all the years I sat watching my mom and Grandma Ruby crank the apples through. When I was very little (ages 3-5) I sat opposite "helping" pull the waste from the end and guide it into the bowl thinking those mashed up seed and peels were so neat to touch and squish. As I grew older my job switched over to using a spatula to gently guide the hot applesauce to the opposite end of the pan as it poured down the spout. And then as I was a teenager my job became the cranker and masher which involves pushing scalding hot apples through the top dish while cranking to grind the seeds and peels through one end and creating smooth streams of hot applesauce out the main spout.

The best part of "working up" apples is the opportunity for women of all ages to sit and have conversation with each other which usually involves stories of the women in past generations doing the same. For instance, I think that every time since I was a little girl the story of my Great Grandma Kinsinger having a Victorio Strainer tip and pour scalding hot apples on her arm and burning her badly was topic of discussion when asking us to stand back while the apples were transported to the strainer.

And then, there are the memories of that big bowl (or two or three) of warm applesauce with heaping spoonful's of sugar on top, sometimes resulting in a tummy ache from over-indulgence. The hum of box fans ring clear in my memory too as the kitchen heats up quickly from the apples on the stove top in mid-July. As well as the sweet aroma of fresh warm applesauce that lingers through the entire farm house, always keeping your tummy hungry for more.

Take a peek at the process.

Starting with the beautiful blooms in the trees earlier this spring. We knew that there would be a bountiful harvest.

 

 

 

 

One of the 6 bags full of apples that the boys picked with Grandma Shari.

Apples soaking in the sink, waiting to be cut and stemmed then boiled.

Scalding hot and straining the extra liquid out just before being put into the Victorio Strainer.

And the process begins. . .

Even the "waste" is pretty to look at with the shades of green and brown and red. This also makes great compost for the garden!

And the bowls and bowls of applesauce waiting to cool then be mixed with sugar and poured into freezer bags for yummy applesauce all year round.

Why add sugar? Well, just ask my oldest son Alex! After offering him a bowl of freshly made sauce he turned it down saying it was too green and he wanted the jar of the unsweetened sauce from the grocery store. I asked him why? When this is so yummy? A couple of days later I told him he needed to try it one more time because I think that he is missing out! After adding in a "touch" more sugar he licked the bowl clean! He said "Mom, those apples must have just been a little too green and after sitting in the fridge for a couple of days the applesauce must have "ripened" up!" Haha! Pretty cute logic coming from an almost 6 year-old. The texture is what makes homemade sooooo good and the sugar helps balance the sour from the green apples.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the process we use to make homemade applesauce. Although I am sure Amish would not freeze their applesauce but can it instead. Which involves even more work and another process in addition to "working up" the apples.
Mom ended having up with 60 quarts of applesauce that remains stocked in the deep freeze for all of use to enjoy!

all photos in this post are:  ©RubyEllenPhotography 2013

Dusk on the Farm {A story through Pictures}

I always love going out to "the farm" to spend time with my mom and dad and siblings. There is something I miss about coming home after a ball game and sitting on the porch swing, watching for fireflies, enjoying the sunset, weeding the garden and watching the horses. I had the privilege of sneaking by for a couple of minutes after my brother's ball game last night. So pretty.

 

 

Dusk on the farm... A sight to behold.

 all photos are ©RubyEllenPhotography 2013