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11/23/09, Farmers, IN - With regret, we said goodbye to Barry, Sally Jane, Geena, and Marie this morning. They were all really fantastic company and it was hard to see them go.
After pulling out of J.W.’s the gals road along for a couple of miles, until Barry picked them up. Then it was just Denise and I, going it alone.
I had the two Belgians hitched up and Denise was riding Doc. The terrain was hilly and the lads were more then ready for a nice lunch break. I stopped at the farm of old friend Greg Truax for lunch. There we met Perry, who has seen me each time I rolled through Spencer.
Traffic was fairly heavy, with lots of hills, but fortunately, the roads were good with wide shoulders. After lunch, the lads were starting to tire and I had to stop a couple of times to let them blow when we were climbing the big hill out of Freedom, IN.
At lunch, Bob broke his halter, so we pulled into the small Amish settlement of Farmers to buy a new one. Ed, the Harnessmaker, invited us to spend the night. With the generator, it’s a little easier staying with the Amish, so I accepted.
While we were getting the horses unhitched, his son in law stopped by and invited us over for supper. Supper at the Lehman household was really nice. To give you an idea of how it is like in an Amish household, here are some of the highlights: There are no electric lights, but propane gas lighting is just as bright. The houses generally have both hot and cold running water. The houses are clean and modern, with propane providing most of the power, to include the refrigerator. There is no TV - but who really cares. As people of the Amish faith generally read a lot, there are normally bookcases, lined with books. Kids are polite and don’t interrupt adults when they speak. Families are generally large, so expect a big dining table. Grace is said before meals. Take a modest portion and pass the food around. It there is enough for seconds, it will come around again. Pennsylvania Dutch is generally spoken at home and German is spoken for church service. If there are English present (non-Amish) then English is the language that everyone uses. Because our cultures are so far removed from each other, many Amish people have as many misunderstandings of ‘English’ culture as we do of Amish culture. The key is: we’re all just people.
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