Clouds and Fields (part 1)

I'm an author, not a photographer.

All of my pictures are snapped on my ordinary iPhone. I do crop my photos but that's it. No filters.

 My original goal of taking pictures had to do with helping people grasp the beautiful images I attempt to describe in my novels.

If Thomas Nye shares any of the traits of a photographer, it's the recognition of natural beauty and a desire to capture a glimpse of it to share with others. I do this in my books as well as with my cellphone pics. Can you believe the glow of light and color within those clouds?

It just so happens that my wife and I have a Sunday evening passion for driving through Amish country. We climb aboard my old pickup truck and take our dog Wesely and a bowl of popcorn. Moving about the speed of a buggy with our windows down, we take in all the sights, smells, and sounds of Amish country. We've had a great run with amazing clouds and I'm excited to share them with you.

My horses are used to being captured by an iPhone. This selfie (above) of Karma, Karla, and myself might look photoshopped. Nope, it's not.

Golden and ripe for harvest, a field of oats contrasts green ditches and growing corn. (above) You can see an Amish cemetery notched out of the field and three Amish farmsteads under beautiful clouds. An Amish schoolhouse (below) sits behind a field of alfalfa hay. Clouds can add such depth and power to a tranquil scene. If these pictures catch your interest, then you may love reading my books.

Here is a link for a description of my stories: Novels by Thomas Nye

I hope you enjoyed these photos. They were all taken over the past couple of months. I titled this blog (part 1) because I have more "clouds and fields" pictures to share with you. Watch for (part 2) Be sure to click "Follow" on the sidebar of my blog to be notified when I publish new posts. You might also want to "Like" @AuthorThomasNye on Facebook.

Sunset / Sunrise Tour

 My last few blog posts have been tours... let's keep it going. These sunset and sunrise photos were all taken with my cellphone over the past two months. Believe it or not, I didn't touch the color or use any filters on any of them. Those are my horses, Karla and Karma, grazing as the sun comes up.

Karla heads for greener grass as the skies light up. It just so happens that we've had some incredible clouds at dusk and dawn leading to some photogenic moments.

This Amish phone booth serves the family that lives in the farmstead in the background. They can't just pick up the phone on a whim. You may recognize some of these pictures if you follow my Amish Horses Facebook page.

I snapped this beaut as I headed out to do morning chores. I couldn't believe the colors.

 This picture is of the same Amish farm as the phone booth photo. I travel this road to work every morning, therefore it's often a subject for my phone camera art.

 This photo has an interesting twist... it was taken early in the morning, but we are looking due west! Our bright sunrise lit up the entire sky... even the western view. The Amish buggy horses contrast the sky perfectly.

 Another Amish farm waking up under a glorious sunrise. It may look quiet here, but I guarantee that the family has been up for a while when I drive past at 7:00 am. In fact, chores are almost done and breakfast is on the table.

 A white draft horse highlighted in the morning light. Anyone that drives highway 1 between Kalona and Iowa City should recognize this Amish farm and white Percheron.

Open fields under the heavens.

 Another early-morning walk out to my barn.

Sunset silhouettes fences and horses.

 The sky glowed as orange as a pumpkin this evening. Click on each photo and take a closer look.

A Different Kind of Tale

The Amish Horses Series: A Different Kind of Tale

Under the Heavens is a coming of age story about a teenage city boy who spends time with his Amish relatives. Sort of a, Tom Sawyer meets Anne of Greene Gables. Only, instead of taking place in the old days, the setting is in this century on an Amish farm.

Drawings like this are at the heading of every chapter

 Take an adventure with Lenny Gingerich. He visits his grandpa's Amish farm for a summer and discovers a fascinating, old-fashion world exists just around the corner from our modern cities. One day he is playing video games and watching TV in a basement, the next day he is watching huge draft horses pull a tractor out of the mud. Farm dogs, horses, cows, hogs and even roosters have personalities that make a farm full of life and excitement. Add a dose of romance, as Lenny meets a sweet neighbor girl, and we have the ingredients needed to stir up an interesting platter. The table is set. Come on into the Amish farm house and pull up a seat.

Lenny will take you along as he visits Amish Church, Singing, volleyball games, and everyday happenings of life on an Amish farm.

The Amish Horses Series is a different kind of tale.

Climb up onto the buggy seat beside Lenny as he takes the ride of his life!

Attention Horse People

 If you wake up thinking about horses. focus all day on a horse issue you need to fix. (i.e. getting hay, wormer, equipment, or thinking of your training methods.) And fall asleep dreaming about horses. Then, you have a whole lot in common with me!

I love to read about horses and people who work with them. That is why I wrote several adventure novels about horses.

 Under the Heavens is about a teenage city guy who goes to spend a summer on his Amish relatives farm. Lenny is planning to stay away from horses. Little does he know, that is impossible on an Amish farm. From sunup to sundown his summer is filled with horse adventures

Grandpa is a horse whisperer and determined to teach his grandson horse-sense.

Catbird Singing is about Lenny's second trip to this Amish Horses wonderland. On this visit he finds out that if he wants to date girls, he will have to hitch up and drive high strung buggy horses on the highway.

The girls are a little too cute to resist and he has to find a way to get along with some ornery horses.

 Horses are a way of life on an Amish farm.

These books are based on my 35 years of living in an Amish community. When I bought draft horses from local Amish farmers, they didn't just sell me horses. My Amish friends seem to enjoy watching a city boy struggle to do what is second nature to them.

They don't just laugh though. They make every effort to help me succeed. That is the basis of my books.

If you love horses, you have to own one of these books.

Under the Heavens:if you love to read about life on the good-old-fashioned farm. Plowing, making hay, and then going to a young folk's gathering in a buggy.

Catbird Singing: if it sounds fun to read about a young man's funny adventures courting Amish girls while hanging onto a set of driving lines.

Either book can be read first even though they are part of the Amish Horses Series. If you love the first one, go ahead and get the other.  Book III is on the way!

P.S. Whispering to Horses is a short story about a man who hates his Amish neighbors... until he actually gets to know them. Horses are the heart of this story as well.

Click on one of the links and read a few reviews!

Best Kept Amish Secret

There are many wonderful Amish recipes for food and healing, as well as multitudes of  Amish ideas for working with horses and other livestock. In fact, I truly feel the best kept Amish secret has something to do with how willingly Amish children join in with work around the farm.

Maybe this blog post should read: A very well kept Amish secret, Under the Heavens.

Up to this date, my novels have been read almost exclusively by Amish and Mennonites. When my first novel, Under the Heavens came out, I was very nervous for those of Amish background to read it. One of my greatest surprises was how well it was received by older Mennonite folks. Many former Amish enjoy reminiscing about their early days and life on the family farm. Under the Heavens seems to bring back many good memories.

One older Mennonite man in our community actually called me on the phone to ask questions. "Where is this farm? I've been trying to figure out who this family is, do I know them?" I was very pleased that my story was so believable, he wanted to figure out just who the family was. 

My books are novels, however, they are based on my real life experiences with our Amish neighbors and friends. We have had many over the past 35 years.

My draft horses came from an Amish family not far down the road. I have had many wonderful opportunities to learn about farming with horses from that family and others in our community.

I have also been pleasantly surprised to learn that Amish folks themselves want to read books with Amish settings. It does make sense. Many Amish love to read and have made every effort to keep life simple, and separate from the world. Why would they want to dwell on that "other" lifestyle when reading.

If you have memories of life on the old-fashioned farm, these books will take you back to those days of simple pleasures, and good clean fun.

You can purchase a copy of Under the Heavens on Amazon, or receive a signed copy directly through me, Thomas Nye.

Book I  Under the Heavens  $15
Book II Catbird Singing       $15
Please send $5 for shipping costs
Or,
Whispering to Horses           $7
Plus $3 for shipping

(If you order two books, there is no extra shipping charge for the second book)

Make the check payable to:

 Thomas Nye
P.O. Box 495 Kalona, Iowa 52247

Amazon Link  also available as an eBook for $2.99 each! (Amazon or Barnes & Noble)

Plowing with Horses

        Farming with horses is aesthetically pleasing as well as environmentally friendly. Gas fumes released from this six-horse engine pass almost unnoticed and have no ill effects on actual air quality. This young man is driving six Belgian horses in two rows of three, a very common hitch method for Amish farmers.
        Below, you will see six horses hitched abreast. (the sixth horse didn't make it into the picture) This is the hitch method I describe in the Amish Horses Book Series. When I write about farming with horses, in my novels, I use my own experiences. I've been blessed with opportunities to plow and disc with a six-horse hitch on an Amish friend's farm. My own horses were part of that six-abreast Percheron team. Unfortunately, I didn't feel free to take pictures.

        You will notice in the "six-abreast photo" that Belgians, Percherons, and buggy horses are working together to get a job done.

        Notice in this hitch formation, two horses have to walk in the plow furrow, the other four horses walk on sod. In the six abreast style, one walks in the furrow, two on sod, and the other two on plowed ground. All of this becomes important in the story-lines of my novels, Under the Heavens and Catbird Singing. I try to keep these blog posts short and to the point. If you want to read a whole book filled with horse-drawn adventures on an Amish farm, you'll have to check out the Amish Horses Book Series.

        A friend of mine (Laurie) took these photos on her neighbor's Amish farm in Wisconsin. She told me that all six of these Belgians are mares. Another wonderful thing about farming with horses: Not only can these six horses help raise their own fuel, they can reproduce and raise their own replacements. They also produce organic fertilizer in large quantities. We have not yet come up with a tractor that can do that.

A Real Amish Paradise

 Shipshewanna, Indiana may be a tourist trap in some people's minds, but to me, an Amish fiction writer, it is Paradise! 

 There are so many beautiful views everywhere you drive! I took the small paved road between Shipshewanna and Middlebury to place copies of my novels in local hardware stores, and I was stunned by the vistas that surrounded me. If you decide to take a trip to the area, stop in and pick up a copy of "Under the Heavens" at Varns & Hoover Hardware in Middlebury, or  Town & Country Hardware in Shipshewanna, right along the main road near the Blue Gate Restaurant. If you can't get enough of the Amish countryside ,take home the experience through the pages of my novels.

 If you want to see the quiet beauty of God's creation go to the rocky mountains, an ocean shore, or just head down a side road in the Amish community of Shipshewanna. (I don't work for the local chamber of commerce either. LOL)

 These are only a few of the many photos I took while visiting the area last week, keep checking my blog for more! I put up a new post about once a week.

 Shipshewanna may be just a quiet county community, but for you and me, Paradise!

Amish Horse Trivia

Did you know that many Amish buggy horses began their careers as racehorses? Yep!

       Standard-bred horses have been carefully developed over the past several hundred years for sulky racing. At one time this was a huge attraction at local fairs. Almost everyone in the old-days drove a buggy and admired a good horse that could move really fast at the trot. When you see a jockey sitting on a horses back during a race, those horses are galloping. That galloping motion is not desirable when a horse pulls a cart, it is way too jerky. Therefore, the trotting horse was developed; a horse with a fast, long stride in the trot. Standardbred horses are the king of that motion and have great endurance. The same traits that make a great racehorse, translate into the makings of a wonderful buggy-horse.

Actually, this blog post is not about Amish horse trivia, but trivia about the Amish Horses Series.

       Did you know that the horses pictured on the covers of Under the Heavens and Catbird Singing actually were born and raised on an Amish farm? The horses on the covers belong to me, Thomas Nye, the author of the Amish Horses Series. I purchased Karma and Coke from an Amish family that lives a few miles from my home. Karm and Coke have never been in a horse trailer. A son of the guy I bought the horses from helped me drive them home to my place. I describe that experience in a short story you can read on this blog. On the "tool bar" above click on "Back in Time". The young man protraying Lenny on the cover of Under the Heavens is my son, Dallas. We purchased his hat at the local Amish "Country Store" as well as a pair of suspenders. The young girl, who is on both Under the Heavens and Catbird Singing, happens to be my daughter, Natalie. We borrowed an Amish dress from a local Amish girl (who will not be named here) for the first book. The dress she is wearing on Book II was also made in a local Amish home and given as a gift to our family friend. (Thanks for loaning us your dress, Meredith)

Another interesting bit of trivia: The character "Aaron Burr" in Catbird Singing, was named after my wife's great-grandpa, Aaron Burr Gingerich, who happened to be Amish. My wife's great-grandpa also had a brother with the name George Washington Gingerich. I know these are odd names for Amish men to have, but it's true. The historical Aaron Burr was infamous, as he killed a man during a duel. My wife's great-grandpa lived a few miles from where we now live. One of his great-grandsons  is still Amish and farms his home-place

Thomas Nye &
Karma and Coke wearing the bridles made by Jess Peachy

       I patterned the character "Grandpa Jesse" after one of my favorite Amishmen, a man named Jess Peachy, who is now deceased. This Jess Peachy was a harness-maker who lived not far from my home. He was very kind and willing to talk about his faith openly, and also shared excellent horse advice with me. Whenever I had an incident with my horses and needed harness repair, I would go to him to get my harness fixed, and more importantly, to get horse wisdom. We had many wonderful conversations while he worked on my harness. In fact, he made the bridles that my horses are wearing on the cover of Under the Heavens. I also patterned Aaron Burr (the harness maker in the Amish Horses Series) after this real life Amishman. It just so happens, the story of Fanny Ella's pony, Dusty, is based on a true story Jess Peachy told me. He had a pony that would climb steps into their home, jump onto a hay-rack and go for a ride behind a team of draft horses. He was offered a great deal of money for that pony and turned it down. (just like in Catbird Singing) and the true-life story (of his pony) ended just the same way it ends in the Amish Horses Series.

Making Hay (the old way)

In this old photo you can see small square bales being hoisted up in to a hay mow. The man on the ground has the trip rope. When the hay bales are inside and close to where he wants them, he will pull his rope and drop the bales. This type of hay system was designed for loose hay and used that way from around 1890 until about 1950. In the 1950's everyone started using small square bales and found that they could continue using their "hay trolleys" to hoist those into the mow, six at a time.

(These pictures were loaned to me by a good friend named Jeff, he is one of the boys sitting on the tractor)

For years, horses pulled the hay hoist rope. In this picture a small tractor is being used. My wife remembers her grandmother driving an old pickup to pull the rope. She said that she used to ride on the tailgate much like these boys are riding along on the tractor. I had an opportunity to help a Mennonite farmer put up hay this way in the early 1980's. I know that many Amish farmers still use hay hoists to this day. Some Amish farmers still put up loose hay, including one of the families I bought draft horses from. I enjoyed watching them do things the way it was done around the turn of the last century.

We have a local resident that collects hay trolleys from all over the country. The Kalona Mennonite Historical Society held a meeting in this display barn a few weeks ago. I asked for permission to take some pictures and blog about it.

In the picture below you can see a few sets of "Iron Claw" hay forks. I still have an old set that were used on our home-place even though the big barn is gone.

There were many companies that made hay trolleys, and over the years each company made numerous models. Our local collector told us that he has over 300 distinct trolleys, and some duplicates.

I thought I would throw in this picture of me standing below a few of the old hay forks. This style was used for loose hay.

I've included a short excerpt from my novel, Under the Heavens. This is a short story that was told to me, by a good Amish friend, almost exactly as I put in in the book.

If you have a few minutes, check out this wonderful video by simply clicking on the words below.

  Hay Hoist Demo Link