Welcome to Amish Country

If you’ve ever been to an Amish community, chances are you’ve seen houses with signs much like this. Today we have cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, and the ever-present milk!

We are so fortunate to have a fairly large settlement of about 200 families nearby, and we spent a good portion of today there.  Mr. W has Amish friends there, and it’s always one of our most favorite things to do – just whiling away a day in the peaceful Amish community. It was a gorgeous day, not too hot, a blessing for the middle of July!

The Amish were ‘making hay while the sun shines’ – among other things. I got some ‘far away’ photos (no close-up faces of course), and we also took several of their haying process – which I found fascinating!

First comes the mowing of the fields --

Then comes loading onto the hay wagon. What a stack!

Then the part I found most fascinating – loading into the hay mow (rhymes with “how”).  You can see somewhat how it is done here – as you scroll down through the ‘filmstrip’. The hay hooks grab the hay… which is attached to a long rope, and two children with the horses are on the other side of the barn… pulling the hay up into the mow.

We always talk about this ‘secret passageway’ that is maintained as a shortcut to the road. I’m also thinking – a good place for Amish kids to play hide and go seek, and maybe also good for the older kids to sneak off every now and then! (I’ve read far too many Amish novels, haven’t I??). You can see a glimpse of the house at the end of the passageway.

Horses! I love to see the horses – not so much when they’re working (poor babies), but at rest and play. Take a look at these beauties --

Below, in my opinion, is the perfect shot and pose, but somehow I foiled it all and came out with a blurry picture. Darn!! So I added some paintbrush effects  to help hide my mistake! Golly, the horse weeds almost look artistic here too :-D

Today we saw wheat shocks in the fields. Per Mr. W: “The wheat shocks are configured diagonally so the prevailing winds dry the wheat most effectively.” Okaaay, thank you Mr. W for that technical analysis! Interesting!

Finally, here is an important piece of advice. If you have a subject you’ve been longing to take a photo of… take it immediately!! Before it’s too late. Here is the Mt. Pisgah Church coming down :-( It was sure a lovely old church in its day.

 
After we finished our tour and visits, we then stopped in our little town on the way back home to attend the 80th birthday celebration for one of our friends and neighbors.

What a nice day we had. However, chores await. So off I go. Enjoy the remainder of your weekend!