A Horse Tale

I ask a lot of questions of my Amish clients. Every day. Can't help it--I'm curious! Today, we were cruising through the Morrow County fairgrounds looking at farm equipment in advance of the upcoming farm auction. The conversation went something like this:

Moe: There's a nice manure spreader.
Hank: Um, hum. But it's PTO.
Moe: Oh, okay.
Me: What's PTO?
Hank: PTO means the spreader is powered by a horse's tail.
Me: Really?
Moe: Yes. You just put the tail in the [?] and as the tail moves around, it operates the spreader.
Me: No way.
Hank: Yeah it is. But I don't want that kind because it wears the horse out.
Me: You mean, the horse's tail going around operates the spreader?
Moe: Yes.
Me: How do you know the spreader is PTO?
Moe: It says it right on the equipment.
(I am quietly looking at all the equipment for the letters PTO.)
Me: I don't see PTO on any of them. And how do you keep the horse wagging his tail? Hit him with something?
Hank: (..begins to make up something else, then says...) I have to tell the truth. It doesn't run by the horse's tail.
Me: What!?! You guys had me believing that!
Hank and Moe are now laughing.

Bottom line: PTO means Power Take Off. You hook-up the spreader to a tractor, and the power of the tractor powers the spreader. They were looking for a "ground driven" spreader--operation of the spreader occurs with every step of the horse that's pulling it. Or so they tell me.

Schlittenfahren: Sled Riding

Two young Amish-men that I drive, along with their father, are trying to teach me Pennsylvania Dutch (a dialect of German.) Recently, they taught me Schlittenfahren*, or sled riding. It sounds like Schliddafawda to me.

I was thrilled today when I heard the word in use at the Amish bulk food store! A little boy came in and the clerk asked him if he was Schliddafawda. I'm picking up new words all the time. How exciting!

*I found the correct spelling at translate.google.com. Click Schlittenfahren, or copy the link and paste it into your browser to see for yourself.

Life is like...

Life is like a blanket
Of newly fallen snow
Be careful how you tread it
For every step will show

--Author Unknown

 Mae R.* shared this poem with me recently. She does not know who wrote it.

*Name changed for privacy purposes.

 

Going to See Mother

Grandpa A.Y.* is dying--maybe tonight. I have driven him, his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren around Ohio for the last three+ years. Grandpa's wife of 62 years passed away just over a year ago.

The last time I drove Grandpa A.Y. was on a trip home from Michigan. He sat up front, across the van from me. Someone in the back of the van started singing, and before long everyone had joined in. Some of the choruses were in English, so I got to join in on "Amazing Grace" and a few other selections. Grandpa looks frail, and his shoulders bend forward when he walks. But, his baritone voice was strong in the van that day.

We stopped at the Toledo Zoo on the way home. A.Y.'s daughter and son-in-law pushed him around the zoo in a wheelchair. It was a gorgeous day for going to the zoo. Grandpa was elated! He was the last one to get dropped off that night. On the thirty-some miles from his daughter's house to his own home, Grandpa recalled how much he enjoyed going on trips with "Mother" and how when they got home after a trip, they would spend time talking about the trip. I didn't know what to say. I asked him what kinds of things they talked about. "All of it," he replied. Everything. The people they spoke to, the stories they heard, the sites they saw. Grandpa sighed. Now he had to go home to an empty house. No Mother to talk to. He missed her so bad!

Perhaps Grandpa A.Y. will get to see Mother this night. Or in the morning. What a time they will have reminiscing about their journeys! Please keep their family in your prayers. Many are traveling from out of state this evening, and more will be coming in the next few days. A.Y. is 80+ years old, and he wants to go home. But he will be missed!

*Initials are used to protect the privacy of this Amish man and his family.

Beautiful Belgians on a Central Ohio Amish Farm

Click on an image to make it larger.

Down the Keyhole

An Amish farmer was sharing with me some of the funny things his kids said when they were leaning to speak English:

• A visitor to the farm asked a little boy where his dad was. After much thought, the little boy said, "Down the keyhole." What he was really trying to say was that his dad was in the pasture. Kuh (sounds like koo) is the German word for cow. Kee (not the correct spelling--I am spelling phonetically) is the plural form of Kuh. The boy couldn't think of an English word for pasture. The best word he could come up with was "hole" or a place to keep the cows. Hence, kee-hole!
• Another visitor asked one of the boys where the restroom was. The boy replied, "we don't have any of those here. All we ever do is work." He thought the man wanted somewhere to rest....not the toilet.

Although the Amish only go to school until the 8th grade, they are well educated. They speak at least three languages: English, Pennsylvania "Dutch" (which is actually a German dialect), and high German. German is for church and Bible reading. Dutch is the first language they learn, and the one they speak at home or among themselves. They are required to speak English in school--when they start school, they are completely immersed in English. The only day they are allowed to speak Dutch at school is on Fridays. They are taught German in school, too, but only use it for religious purposes. Some Amish also speak Swiss--it just depends where their ancestors immigrated from.

Timbering

One of the many jobs my Amish clients do is timbering. Some pull the trees out of the woods with a team of horses. Those in the photographs were skidded out with a John Deere. The trees are cut into specific lengths, then hauled away by a logging truck, then taken to a lumber yard where they are cut into lumber, treated and kiln dried.

Since I'm 1/2 tree-hugger (no doubt as a product of the '60s), I had to know if they were destroying the woods or clearing the land. Neither. Customers call them when they want to sell standing timber. Many people will hire the forestry service to come out and mark specific trees that need to go--but the Amish know how to choose and mark trees as well. The largest of trees are culled from the woods, making room for younger trees to grow. If the woods are properly culled, new growth is abundant and the process continues without the destruction of woodlands.

When we started out this fine February day, the temperature was 5 below zero! Brrrrrrrrrr!

Putting Up Ice

Have you ever thought about how Old Order Amish refrigerate their food? They don't have electricity to plug in a refrigerator or freezer. In the winter, they "put up ice." They harvest ice from their ponds to put into an insulated basement room. Some use sawdust for insulation. They fill the room up with blocks of ice, then fill in the gaps between the walls and the blocks of ice with sawdust. Often you will find a refrigerator in another basement room--it's not plugged into electricity--with blocks of ice inside to cool milk and meats. When the ice melts in the fridge, they go chop another chunk and put it in the fridge. 

One Amish woman (let's call her Bea) told me she stores lettuce from her garden all winter long in her spring house, which doubles as her ice house in the winter. She wraps each lettuce head in newspaper, puts them down inside a large Styrofoam cooler with a tight lid, and stores the cooler in the ice house. When she's ready to use it, she unwraps a head of lettuce. A few outer leaves have to be removed from the head. The remaining lettuce is just as fresh as it was when she put it up! Bea says the ice in her spring house lasts all summer long and into the fall. Pretty cool!

Driving the Amish

I have been driving the Amish now for over three years, during which time I have learned a lot about the Amish people, their customs and culture. While many Amish do not allow pictures to be taken of themselves, my camera is my constant companion and I find many interesting things to photograph. I love sharing my stories about driving the Amish. If you are kind enough to read them, please keep in mind that the Amish are diverse among themselves. What is true in one Amish district, may not be true among all.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog. Feel free to comment or ask questions. I promise to stay true to the events and happenings as I see them, and to stories that the Amish tell me. The Amish are very private people. I will not reveal the actual names of people, "names have been changed to protect the innocent" (channeling an old saying from the television series "Dragnet").