Traveling through Ohio and PA, Visiting Amish

[Carl Russell]

I spent the day driving to Ohio to visit Wengerds at Pioneer Equipment to discuss how we can get a more prominent Amish presence at NEAPFD. Then I spent a couple hours riding on a forecart with David Kline while he planted corn with four abreast, discussing family, farming, animal power, and cultural ills.

Tomorrow to Forest Manufacturing, meeting Countymouse to check out the buffer, I&J, and White Horse.

I feel like a traveling salesman.

Carl

[mitchmaine]

don’t know about salesman, but i couldn’t think of a better representative. mitch

[Andy Carson]

It was great to meet you, Carl, and best of luck testing the buffer! I checked into my fall schedule and thought a little more and have definitely decided to come to NEAPFD. I should see you there again and hopefully meet others who I have only “virtually” met.

[Tim Harrigan]

OK, Andy, you head northeast and I will head south to SDAD. Looking forward to it.

[lancek]

hey Taylor and Tim you guys ought to meet up with Ira and me somewhere in Ill and all of us run to sdad together, that is if Ira is planing on going?Tim

[Ira]

It’s something to think on

[Tim Harrigan]

I will be going to SDAD on the way back from visiting my son in Georgia so I will not be over that way. Look forward to meeting you in VA though.

[mitchmaine]

carl, any update on your visit out west? must be on 2nd cut yet. mitch

[Carl Russell]

Three days and two thousand miles later, I’m home.
On Friday I met with Amish maufacturers of horse-drawn farm equipment, the Wengerd family at Pioneer Equipment, and rode on the forecart and talked about life with David Kline while he planted corn with 4 abreast on a a rounded hill-top field in east central Ohio where we could see similar fields and farmers in every direction.

Saturday I ate breakfast at a restaurant in Punxsatawney PA, with a woodchuck mascot sitting on the counter. Rendez-vous’ed with Andy Carson (Countymouse)(Great to meet you too Andy)to check out his draft buffer single-tree at David Miller’s Forest Manufacturing, where we all fell into discussion of the horse-saving theories behind the innovation. Traveled to Lancaster PA to I&J an White Horse machine, spending the afternoon traveling lanes between Amish farms. I drove back to Central PA to reunite with Erik Lofgren and his family, after 30+ years, thanks to FaceBook. After 14 hours behind the wheel found myself navigating curving back roads through PA mountains in the dark and pouring rain to stay with my young friend Kevin Cook.

Today I started with home cooked breakfast of eggs potatoes and scrapple with Kevin, made a stop at new horse farmers Beth and Mikah’s Plow Share CSA, then on into North Central PA mountains to visit Eric and Anne Nordell, where I shared a noon meal of fresh greens and home cooked food, before the 7 hour drive back to VT. Today my map reading skills were inadequate, and due to impromtu stops, I was unable to meet with Donn Hewes, or Erika (dominiquer)(Sorry to both of you, another time)

I will put together notes on specific details to share…..after I get some sleep.

[Andy Carson]

What a trip! Are the Nordell’s coming to NEAPFD? I imagine it’s hard for them to break away, but I would love to meet them in person. I have been very inspired by thier farming techniques.

[Carl Russell]

I mentioned you to them, as I thought you may have been. They can’t get away for NEAPFD, although they would love to.

Now I have read many of their articles over the years, but it is another thing all together to stand in front of their production field and listen to Eric explain his purposes. Andy, the trip would be well worth your time.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

[FONT=&quot]I left the house at 3 am on May 21, 2010, in a rental car headed for Ohio. Running a small farm, logging, being a dad, managing an Internet discussion forum, and basically keeping busy otherwise, I just don’t get away that often. I was on a pilgrimage of sorts, to visit Amish equipment manufacturers, and several horse farmers, networking, as part of my role as an organizer for Northeast Animal-Power Field Days.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Friday was a long day behind the wheel, as I had arranged to meet with the Wengerds at Pioneer Equipment in Dalton, Ohio, early in the afternoon. After 11 hours of virtually uneventful travel, I found myself cruising down a small country road lined with farms of lush green and gently rolling hills.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]My eyes were aching after hours of taillights and road signs, and I felt them drinking in the landscape. The farms seemed to creep right up to the edge of the street. I noticed right away the marked difference in growing season. At home we had just planted our corn, yet here it was nearly knee high. Hay crops were already being harvested in some fields. It was fantastical to be driving through this farmland. In one day I had driven halfway through a season.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Pioneer Equipment is housed in a large steel building, and as I turned into the driveway I saw horse-drawn implements around the parking area. Wagon bodies, walking and sulky plows, and harrows were lined up across the lot. I was honored to meet with Wayne Wengerd and four of his sons who work in the business with him. We had a great conversation about bringing people to public draft animal events, and about NEAPFD.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Before I left, Joe Wengerd gave me a tour of their facility, including a peek at some innovative cultivating equipment they are working on. Having limited exposure to Amish businesses I was surprised by the level of mechanization in the building. Arc welders blazing away, drill presses, benders, and paint sprayers are all run off large gas-powered generators. Pioneer Equipment takes flat and round stock steel in one end of the building, and they completely build plows, wagons, forecarts, and steel wheels, that are ready for delivery out of the other end of the building.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]It was still mid afternoon when I left Pioneer Equipment, and in a half an hour I was touring along a grid of back roads looking for David and Elsie Kline’s Farm. As I approached their farm, I saw an Amish man pulling four abreast Belgians out of the end of a cornfield and preparing to turn in again for another pass. I recognized David, so I parked nearby and climbed on the forecart for a few rounds. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Riding back and forth planting in the rolling hillside cornfield that David has worked since he was a boy, we could see four other farmers with teams doing the same thing. Two hours later we had pretty much covered every topic from the BP oil spill, to ways of living that allow us to make generous contributions to our communities. I bid farewell to David and Elsie at about 6pm, and continued on the road into western PA.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Saturday morning I arrived in Punxatawney, where I ate breakfast at a restaurant with a statue of a woodchuck on the counter. Approaching my next destination, I saw an Amish carriage turning into traffic, indicating the proximity to the community I was looking for. Forest Manufacturing is housed in another large steel building where David Miller and his sons build logging equipment from scratch, as well as beautifully detailed ornate steel lattice-work, gates, and railings for stairs.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I had arranged with Andy Carson, a regular contributor to DAP (draftanimalpower.com), to meet me at Forest Manufacturing so that he could pass along his prototype draft buffer. It was great to finally get a close-up look at how he has combined a leaf spring into an single-tree, in order to buffer spikes in draft during work. David was also quite interested in the device, and the three of us had an enthusiastic discussion about the concept. Before we left, those two had agreed to travel together to NEAPFD in the fall.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]From there I drove half the day to Lancaster County. I & J Manufacturing is another shop with a full line of brand new HD farming equipment in their yard. They are located in a community surrounded by neat little farms nestled in the bottoms around creeks and across gently rolling hills. There were girls in the fields hoeing corn, teams cultivating, kids walking along back-road lanes barefoot with fishing poles, and horse-drawn buggies. In the same town I visited White Horse Machine, and was happy to find good interest in our event from both businesses.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I traveled back to central PA for the evening to stayed with Kevin Cook, a young man who is going to do an apprenticeship on our farm. I found myself driving up winding mountain roads in the dark, under heavy rain, and finally beginning to feel road weary. After much needed sleep and a great breakfast, Kevin took me to meet some young farmers who live nearby. Micah and Bethany Spicher Schonberg run Plowshare Produce, a horse-powered CSA in McAlevy’sFort, PA. After years of work on other farms, Micah and Bethany are growing vegetables on Bethany’s parents’ land in Stone Valley, where her great-grandfather farmed with horses in the 1940’s.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Significant components of this trip were the long stretches of endless highway, traffic, and urban landscapes. Driving through these areas, both the car and I were on “cruise control”. At each stop on the itinerary I would slow down into little islands of greenery and earthy activity. It felt a lot like time travel. The freeways were a blur, while the farm communities brought me into the present, and back to the ground. At Plowshare, Micah gave me a tour of their 2 acres of vegetables, and brought out his team of Haflingers. It was just what I needed to prepare for my 10 hour drive back to Vermont.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I headed northerly through the mountains of central PA, to the Beech Grove Farm of Eric and Anne Nordell. I have read their articles in Small Farmers Journal for years, but nothing compares to a first-hand tour of the gardens, green houses, and spectacular surroundings. This iconic horse-powered couple is so open and generous, it was a shame I didn’t leave time to make my visit more constructive. They shared a wonderful afternoon meal with me, and I was on the trail again.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Next on my list was a stop at Northalnd Sheep Dairy in Cortland, NY, to meet Donn Hewes. Due to conflicts in schedule I was forced to bypass, as Donn and Maryrose were off the farm.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]In three days I traveled 2100 miles. In some obvious ways it was exhausting, but in many other ways this trip was truly inspiring. I was blessed to have visited with more than a dozen wonderful people, all involved in real ways with farming, and with the use of draft animals. I also feel as though it was successful for NEAPFD, as three out of the four machinery manufacturers will be attending the event in person.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]After my return, the Nordells wrote me a quick note to touch base on some unfinished conversations. We had shared some enthusiastic comments about the substance of my trip, and we agreed that there would probably be some interest among the broad draft animal power community. In their note they tossed out one last thought. Perhaps there would be some interest in organizing a bus tour to follow the route that I traveled. They even offered to host an afternoon farm tour at their place as part of it.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Find me at the 2010 Northeast Animal Power Field Days, and let’s talk about that.[/FONT]

[Author]

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