My Farm

[JimmyO]

Well this is kind of an experiment, me trying to learn how to post a picture. If it turns out alright you will see about 10 of the 85 acres I have. The garage along the driveway is 25'x38'. I just remodeled it this past winter and it has a one bedroom guest house on the second floor. From the outside you wouldn't think that there was much there, until you get in and realise that is is actually a lot bigger than it looks. The barn is 40'x60' by 32' to the peak in the upper level. There is also a lower level with 8' ceiling. The barn was built sometime in the early 1900's. It has chestnut and oak siding and a slate roof. People are constantly amazed at how wonderful of condition it is in. The house is kind of hard to see but it is the white between the pine trees. In January the Amish will be siding and roofing it to match the garage. The pond in the front is just under a 1/4 acre. The one in the back is 2 acres. I rent the tillable acreage out to a local farmer as I don't have the equipment or the desire to farm it myself. You can see a wagon loaded with straw ready to be hauled away along the second driveway(this leads to a gas well that is on the property)

My wife and I have considered building a new house and have gone as far as looking for new property. However we have not found anything that has anything close to the setting we have now. We hired an architect to design an addition, however after $1500 in fees we came to the realization that it would never be exactly what we wanted. So for now we are going to make the outside look more presentable along with some minor changes on the inside. Plus the fact that we have 2 gas wells on the property and get free natural gas is a benefit also. We don't want to build a new house on the existing property as it sits on a dirt road that is very dusty and there is no way to keep the vehicles clean during the winter and spring. So for now this is home until we find somewhere that we would rather be. Thanks for taking the time to view our home.

Jimmy

 

[TerryinMD]

Jimmy,

Nice picture!! Yep, that looks like NW PA.

Can't remember but I think I may have mentioned to you previously that my grandfather had a farm just north of Sandy Lake. I have a couple of uncles still in the area.

Good luck to you.

Terry

 

[njrqs]

Looks great to me. I'd put up with the dirt to have a nice looking place like that one.

How'd you get the aerial photo?

And amish - What's the GO there ?

<font color=blue>Neil from OZ.</font color=blue> /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[TerryinMD]

Neil,

Amish are anabaptists who live in a close knit farm-based community. They only use modern conviences when absolutely necessary. They are plain clothed usually wearing no bright colors. Most still speak German (Dutch as they say) and consider anyone who is not Amish - English. They travel in horse drawn wagons and use horses to till their land.

Here is a link to learn more - Amish in Pennsylvania

Terry

 

[JimmyO]

Terry,
Yes you did mention that you have relatives in the area in a previous post. Don't remember which one though. Actually Dutch and German aren't one in the same. They have similarities but still differ quite a bit. Dutch is their day to day language, German is used during church services.

Neil,
The Amish in my area are Old Order Amish. They don't drive cars(they use horse drawn buggies), don't have electricity or modern plumbing, and all farming is done by horse power(literally). Most are either farmers or involved in construction. The construction crew that I have used several times for various projects are probably the hardest working group of men I have ever seen. They work very cheap and do great quality work. The arial photo was taken by a work associate of my wife. He has his own 2-seater plane and he is an amateur photographer. I am hoping we can convince him to do it again once the house has been re-sided. I would really like an arial photo from the opposite side.

Jimmy

 

[njrqs]

Yes guys I have heard of Amish thorugh the X-Files (Where I learned all about the US before I joined TBN !! /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif)

What I didn't kow is that they did house sidings !

How do you find them - Like the Yellow Pages or do you have to know one to get some work done?

Cheers

<font color=blue>Neil from OZ.</font color=blue> /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Thomas]

Jimmy,
Thats just plan beautiful and what I would call home.

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[snowman]

Jeez...I thought the barn was your house until I read through your message!

Nice place.

 

[jinman]

Beautiful shot and beautiful place! You have a lot to be proud of and I don't think I'd be looking to move. It just doesn't seem possible that you'd find a nicer place.

JimI

 

[jdkid]

Hi ya

How do you find them - Like the Yellow Pages or do you have to know one to get some work done?

I think beening in horse drawen carts with beards might tip ya off there njrqs
be a funny building site tho no power tools or radio and i be safe to go out on a limb here no workmans ass crack or wolf whisles
catch ya
JD Kid
oh hang on some are not that far in the past i have seen a pic and i'll try and track it down of a amish farmer no-till seeding with a new drill behind horses

 

[Bird]

JD, I don't know much about the Amish; just saw a lot of them in my travels and know they have a reputation for good work, but apparently they do make some exceptions where power tools are concerned. I read that the Amish dairy farmers had to make some exceptions for refrigeration of the milk or get out of the business. And I know of an RV manufacturer who has (in the past at least) advertised the fact that they employ a number of Amish workers to build their RVs. A lot of people think that means "quality" but I toured their factory and found they were using good power screwdrivers and, like some other plants, only stripped the threads on about 1 in 3 screws./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[jdkid]

Bird
yea i looked at the link someone eles put here bout them and i think it will still take a day or 2 before ya see them on TBN but i got to take my hat off to them for sticking to what they belive in there was a write up on the link bout barn rasing ,bare land in morring and new barn by sunset now thats team work
catch ya
JD Kid

 

[JimmyO]

First, thanks everyone for the nice replies.

The Amish around here do use and own power tools. However the first time I hired them they made a list of the couple of power tools that they were going to need and I had to provide them. 8 years ago they were allowed to use them, but not own them. Since then they have changed so that they can own them, but they cannot use them on an Amish building. Kind of like the gas wells that we have drilled on their properties. They can have the wells, and receive the landowner's share of the royalties, but they can't use the free gas from the wells to heat or light there homes. However, in Holmes County, OH they are allowed to use the gas. From what I was told, the bishops from the state get together approximately twice a year and decide on what things will be allowed and not allowed. A guy from my office got the chance to speak before them on the issue of the natural gas usage, but it was ultimately rejected as an unneccesary convenience.

Neil, I have had the oppurtunity to meet a couple hundred different Amish families through work. Once you get to know them they will tell you who does good quality at a reasonable price. Then you wait until the evening or a Saturday and stop and talk to them. I have had the oppurtunity to witness an Amish barn raising twice. The one was the result of a barn fire. The barn burned late Monday night, Tuesday the materials were ordered and the burned barn was cleaned off the existing foundation, Wednesday the frame went up, Thursday it was sided and the roof was shingled. When it comes time for a barn raising, everybody from the congregation shows up. Nobody goes to work until the barn is completed. At both of the raisings that I witnessed there was a total of about 4-500 Amish present. About 150 men working plus spouses and children. It is absolutely amazing to watch.

Jimmy

 

[JimmyO]

Here is a picture I found on the internet of a typical Amish barn raising.

Jimmy

 

[HR_Mutt]

JimmyO
Is that barn leanin' to the left?/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
regards
Mutt

 

[JimmyO]

I would guess that it is poor photography. That picture is just one I found real quick on the internet, I didn't actually see it. However, of all the Amish barns that I have seen, none have leaned.

Jimmy

 

[Wal]

HR_MUTT,

Here it is all straightened up. Gosh, if fixing things in real life was were only so easy. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[dtmarion]

That's a is a great shot and it looks like a perfect place to call home.

 

[raptor]

Beatiful place, excellent picture also.

Enjoy God's blessing.

Raptor

 

[MDNick]

I am originally from Holmes County Ohio, my folks still live there, outside Millersburg (Miller is a VERY common Amish name).

The Amish are indeed a strange breed of cat. The community around Holmes county has a broad range of Amish sects, from the black amish (old order, not african-american) to the mennonite. And no, strictly speaking the mennonite are not an off shoot of the amish, it is precisely the other way around. The mennote were getting to lax for the amish, so they split off.

No one in the black amish family is permitted to have power anything. The next lax sect permits the BOYS to drive autos until they join the church, which is when they get married (also is when they grow a beard). Often the youngest boy never marries, as much to stay at home as to provide transportation. The woman rarely ever drive the horse, to say nothing about a car. At the other end of the amish sect from the black amish sometimes seems that the only semblance to the ways is in their clothes, all pastel colors for the women, men wear blue denim (NOT blue jeans) and pastel shirts, simple clothes, and just a bonnet, not a full hair covering 'hood'.

My Dad drives through the heart of the amish community to and from work near Kidron (yes that is where Steiner Turf is). He regularly sees an amishman on the phone in his shead leaning against the chest freezer. Neither the phone nor the freezer is in his house, so it is legal. Now adays the cell phones are very popular with them, since they can leave them in the buggy, or hide them real easy in the house.

Some sects are permitted to have tractors, some not. Those that can have tractors may not be permitted to have pneumatic tires. Do you know how strange a Kubota looks with rubber tractor tire tread BOLTED to a drum on a steel wheel?

The popular misconception that is perpetuated for the tourists is that they are a harmonious peaceful churchgoing group of people. And they are to some degree. But they can also be a bunch of drunks that are becoming more and more in-bred. They drink a LOT of wine. As to the in-bred, it is getting harder and harder to find pure blood, as obviously their numbers continue to dwindle.

My Dad served on a Jury panel some years ago. One of the cases was a young amish man that burned a barn down. Quoting the trial:
Would you say Eli was intoxicated?
Do that mean drunk?
Yes, that means drunk.
Yeah, he was drunk. He's a real tiger when he gets a skinful.

And yes it was an amish barn, and yes he helped in the barn raising the next few days.

Our house was remodeled by an amish crew in the late '70's. The cost was VERY reasonable and the workmanship was incredible. They did use electric power tools on the job site. Dad had the same crew build a garage about 5 yrs ago. They had slipped a LOT in quality, reliability and trust.

As you may have guessed I get a bit of a kick out of the way they are protrayed in the media and as a tourist draw. Not knocking them, Holmes County has nothing else going for it, 'cept for the Amish. Far and away the largest business is tourism and the Amish is what brings the tourists. And trust me, they know it!

I don't mean to put them down. I respect ANY group that talks the talk and walks the walk. Many of them do, many don't. And they don't want to give up the image because it is one of the few places where they can earn a living. Loose that image and the Amish mystic is gone with them.

Sorry this was long, everyone is always curious about them, and it happens to be something I just grew up with.

Nick

Farmer kid usetabe, Farmer Wannabe