Draft Horse Sale

We went to the big draft horse sale last week and while in the area we decided to go fill our kerosene containers at the general store. Things looked very still and the door was locked so we decided we had made the trip for nothing and left. Ahead in the road we noticed what looked like a truck and a buggy off of the road. We feared the worst and drove up to find that the horse had shied because of the ice on the road and gone into the snow-filled ditch. The man in the truck had stopped to offer help and soon sped off. We pulled up and got out to help the young woman that had been driving the buggy. She was fine and was trying to unhitch the horse whose legs had sunk in the snow with its rear end resting on the bank. Fortunately, it was unhurt and was led up out of the ditch and onto the road. Meanwhile, the truck that had stopped came pulling up with an Amish man to help. He asked what had happened and she told him the horse had shied and he and I together said,"Thank goodness that's all that happened." Everyone got the buggy out of the ditch and onto the road and the men got back into the truck and left. She had the horse hitched to the buggy again before you knew what had happened! We told her what a good job she had done and that she sure had a good horse because it was ready to go again without any problem and that we hoped the rest of her day went well. Off she went with the horse at a brisk trot.
I was very impressed with how this young woman handled the situation and I was struck by the big smiles on the men's faces when they pulled up to help. But two things really stood out about this whole thing for me that day. Number one: They could go to the first Amish farm for help. And number two: Someone was home. You can't take those two things for granted any more.
Nancy

Winter Workings

We finally were able to pick up the wood cook stove I talked about a while ago. It is very hard to wait for a place to be built to use it in! It is in very good shape and is the one that they used before they got their present one. It isn't an air-tight one so we won't be using it to heat (well, maybe a little bit) the house as well as for cooking.
It was so beautiful to see all of the teams hitched to the wagons with snow on the ground because everyone was busy cutting ice to fill the ice houses with. The ice had gotten five inches thick and there was a break in the weather so it was time to cut! I really appreciate the men that stopped working right away to help load the stove.
Things are very busy this time of year celebrating Christmas. I really do love Christmas and don't want it to end too quickly.
We weren't able to see the lunar eclipse last night because it was cloudy. Disappointing! Interesting that it was a blood moon.
Hope your days are going well and that you are also enjoying the holidays.
Nancy

Autumn Harvesting

The weather has been so wonderful. After the very difficult weather this year it is all the more enjoyed and appreciated. It is so fun to be outside looking at all of the Fall beauty.
We gathered black walnuts for the hulls (I give the nuts away) and I will strip them off of the shells and dry them. We also located a large maple tree to tap next year (exciting!) and we found wild rose hips. They are so very sweet when ripe and loaded with vitamin C! We also found some persimmons and that was good for a laugh! (As soon as I could use my mouth again!) I tried them once before and my mouth puckered like crazy so I thought maybe they just weren't ripe enough. Well, that's not the case! It was very ripe and it dried up my mouth immediately so that it was hard to swallow. That's the last time I'll try them! (I hope.)
We talked to an Amish man that has a wood cook stove for sale. It is in very good shape and at a reasonable price. It would be good for a summer kitchen because it isn't an airtight one that you would want to also use for heat. Someone with us asked me why I want one. I was kind of caught off-guard because I hadn't thought about "why" in a long time. I gave all of the standard sensible answers (good in power outages for back-up cooking and heating, cheaper to use because you provide your own fuel, food tastes better cooked with wood) but felt like something was missing. When we got home I thought about it and realized that all of those things are very good reasons but there is more:
It takes more time and attention; involving me in the work, and slowing me down. It brings me to a place where simply living life becomes important again. And enjoyable. Living life becomes enough. Again. Does that make sense?
Nancy