Welcome Comfort Farm

More pictures from our trip to NY State.

We spent our time with three separate families. I love the sights, sounds, and even the smells from an Amish farm! 

This gal proceeded to walk through the newly poured cement floor in the barn at milking time. Oops. 

This is where a picture is worth a thousand words. 

Storage shed/outhouse where the above seating is located. 

 
Looking forward to the coffee break!

A pastoral farm setting. No neighbors but for trees, farmland and a big gulch. 

My kind of transportation.   

Over the next few days, I will post pictures from our stay last week with our dear Amish friends in NY State. It was a wonderful and peaceful time, as you reckon back to the days of our grandparents. Hard work and simplicity rules, but oh, the pleasures of that environment tickle my soul.

Whoa girls!

We stopped out to one of our Amish friends to pick up some milk and Irv had the team hooked up to a wagon on his way to get pumpkins for the sheep. Derek stayed back and entertained the little kids while Michael helped pick up the pumpkins. After delivering the harvest to the sheep, Irv unhooked the wagon and set about moving the team to another piece of equipment. Michael filled in for a minute, holding the reins, so I could get a picture. Gentle giants, Dolly and Penny, who are a dream to work with, stood perfectly still for the photo. These are two of Patricia Polacco's Belgians, being boarded at the Amish farm. Penny, on the left, is Dolly's daughter. 

Michael has poison ivy all over his face. He was at a scout camping trip and came home covered in the stuff. That is why his face is so red and splotchy. He has it all over his body too. 

Amish Auction Fun.

I am always amazed at how these buggy horses can stand patiently for hours on end. 

Yesterday I ended up clerking at a friends auction and had the best time. It was quite an experience and kept me on my toes! I also got to visit with Amish friends I had not seen in a long while. I bought a non-electric coffee pot at the auction and we gave it a try this morning. Joel swears the coffee tastes better. I think it does too. There is just something about stepping back into a much simpler life that draws me in. I am always humbled to be in the presence of my Amish friends. 

Amish Ironing.

With not so much as a fan to cool you, ironing when you are Amish is a hot chore, indeed. Temps were in the mid 80"s last evening when I stopped in and the humidity was high. They had done laundry earlier in the day and Betty was midway through the ironing. The iron is heated on the stove and then pressed onto the clothing. They have two irons so that one can be heating up while the other is being used.

This is the stove the Amish use in the summer months. It uses "white gas".  They have another stove similar to this one on the summer porch that is used for canning. The other stove in the kitchen is a wood burning stove, used for cooking and heat. While I was there last night, strawberries from their garden were being canned in quart jars. But not before I was served up a big bowl! Mmm.

Amish Wedding Dinner.

Last night we went visiting to some Amish friends of ours to have a dinner in celebration of a wedding tomorrow. Our long time friends Irv and Betty are gettin' hitched. Their house was crowded with family and friends, along with the "English" friends as well. They fried up 60 pounds of chicken to feed us along with macaroni -n- cheese, green salad and your choice of the 35 pies they made in about 4 different varieties. The Begians shown above belong to Patricia Polacco. She boards them here and they learn their manners as well as how to work.

While we ate, we watched the littlest of the Amish children lean a church bench up against a picnic table and use it as a slide. It was the cutest thing. Amish kids get along like no other group of children I have ever watched. The older children talk with the adults, visit amongst themselves, help with the youngsters, assist with the serving, cleaning, adjusting of tables and benches, etc, anything to be useful.

The Amish community that we are friends with use buggies with no cover and no rubber on their wheels. They are a conservative, Old Order Amish sect.

This is the bench wagon, usually pulled up to the home having church. They will be used for the wedding on Thursday. The legs on the benches fold in under the bench itself, making for easy storage and transportation.

As far as the eye can see, there are Amish farms, fields and gravel roads. Like stepping back in time, it was a relaxing evening enjoyed with dear friends who celebrate family and community every day of their lives.

Amish Noodle Time.

I stopped out at the Schmuckers this morning and it was noodle making day. Ruby had an over abundance of eggs and that often signals time for noodles. A family event, they cover the tables with sheets and whip up a huge batch of noodle dough. They run it through a noodle making machine with a hand crank and make large noodles first. Those are laid out to dry just a bit and then they run the noodle back through with a cutter attachment and make the finished product. Once cut, the noodles are allowed to dry for two or three days and then are packaged up. Mmm. There is nothing quite like farm fresh, Amish homemade noodles!

Garden helpers

Yesterday was planting day and I had plenty of help to get the veggies in. The Amish know their gardening and they waste no time getting the work done. We headed for Frosty Boy afterwards and cooled off with mint chocolate chip ice cream cones. Mmmm!

Making soap.

Last night I took the boys along to Mary Ann's house to learn how to make soap, picking up Betty and Anna along the way. Betty had brought along some home cranked ice cream made with fresh cream too. Mmmm. Walking in at Mary Ann's, I immediately noticed homemade donuts, frosting on several because "she knows I love frosting". Before long, several other buggies showed up and we had a crowd to visit with.

We made vanilla oatmeal soap using coconut, palm, olive, and soybean oil, mixed with lye, distilled water, vanilla essential oil and oatmeal. Once poured in the molds, it had to rest and stay warm for 24 hours. Mary Ann will then slice the slabs into bars and let the soap cure for three weeks. She had made a batch a few weeks earlier and sent us all home with fresh bars of soap from that batch. This stuff lathers great and smells wonderful.

Mary Ann's husband, Dave, took us all out to the barn to see the lambs that had been born recently. What cuties! My boy's wrapped up their night with buggy rides from the Amish kids up and down the long driveway in a little buggy cart pulled by a tiny pony.

We finished off our night with fresh brewed coffee, homemade donuts, and some pretty delicious ice cream!

Amish Lawnmower

I am amazed at the dexterity it takes to actually mow your grass with a pair of Belgians and this contraption. I fear if I tried this, a few fence posts and clotheslines would be history.