Dear List Members:
We are lucky enough in our valley to have an Amish farm community about
seventeen miles down the valley, where they have established a community
market. I had apple cider jelly for breakfast this morning, and their food and
fresh vegetables are wonderful.
I wonder what improvements have been made in the horse drawn equipment
category, in the last fifty years. My grandfather was a black-smith, but after
world War II, demand for his services dropped. As a little fellow, I had the
pleasure of hanging with my grandfather while he worked metal, and even got to
pump the bellows a few times, to help out.
It occurs to me that there should be hydraulic brakes on vehicles, along
with other safety measures. I still own a John Deer number 1, horse drawn
sickle mower, along with a horse drawn hey rake. One other piece of equipment
is rusting down in the woods, that being a hey loader, which was pulled behind
a wagon and as the horses pulled the combination along, the loader would pick
up a wind-row of hey and pile it on the back of the wagon. My job as a
teenager was to keep the hey spread equally on the wagon as the hey came up.
When my father hooked a tractor to this combination, he about worked this
hillbilly to death.
The Amish molasses are similar to those my grandfather once produced. He
was the champion molasses maker in Cocke County Tennessee. His apple cider was
also widely reputed.
It is great to be able to shop with the Amish, as it is in many ways, like
a home coming.
Yours Truly,
Clifford Wilson
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