On Saturday afternoon Nancy and I took a slow ride up on Fountain Nook Road, starting in Maysville and ending up on US 250. (These pictures watermarked for their protection.)
Green Valley School is where I started teaching school as a helper for Rudy Menno's Fannie. I knew nothing about teaching school but she claimed I can teach and so I did.
This farmstead was owned by a Hershberger family when I was teaching in Maysville.
Working the fields.
The black horse in the yellow field with the farm buildings in the background, plus the beautiful sky overhead makes for a perfect picture on Fountain Nook Road.
I remember when these custom made mail boxes started showing up. I don't know who invented or made them but it came about because so many mailboxes were vandalized and beaten to pieces.
More field work.
We stopped to get this shot of the horse and buggy, and as a bonus someone walked out of the house.
Little Swartzentruber Amish boys. The biggest one is quite happy to see us with a camera.
This boy was burning the trash. It is a chore you do every Saturday after the weekly cleaning is complete in the house.
At the sawmill three men were cutting slab wood into smaller pieces to heat the water in the big iron kettle to take their Saturday night bath in the galvanized tub. Then also heat water Monday morning to do the weekly washing. They don't have such huge loads of laundry as one might think, because a weekly bath means a weekly change of cloth for the adults. It is just a way of life. It was this way when I was a child, but in Mom's time it was a monthly sponge bath in the winter months and a weekly wash house bath during the hot summer.
I love this setting way back in. I am sure the lane is one mud mess in the spring and whenever it rains because they don't gravel their lanes. They may have gravel drives and lanes if the men spread the gravel by hard labor.
Every time I travel this road I am on the lookout for these milk cans. I think only one time they were out by the road ready to be picked up. That is the picture I want but I know I have to be there at the right moment to get such a shot.
I am assuming and reading between the lines but knowing the Amish, especially the ways of the more conservative groups, these young men are visitors from a distant Amish settlement and are spending the weekend in the area.
Down the bank from the previous picture these two are mowing the grass. I am also assuming the barefooted one is from this home and the girl with the black stockings and shoes is the visiting girl who came with the boys and is probably a sibling to a few of them.
The bright red blanket hanging on the old picket fence in front of the red buildings is eye-catching.
An old bony milk cow grazing at the intersect of Fountain Nook Rd and US 30.
These photos are beautiful. Thanks for sharing. I like to take photos in Amish country, too, but I'm not nor ever have been Amish. I feel shy about taking photos of the Amish, but it doesn't seem to matter to you. Do you ask permission or explain, or do you just snap and wave? Thanks for answering.
ReplyDeleteI snap and wave. I was Amish and so I know that almost nobody cares if someone just takes their picture if it can be done from a distance. Don't ever ask permission to take a picture because they have to say "No" even if they want to say "Yes". It is the posing part that is forbidden by the church and not the taking pictures by outsiders.
DeleteThank you so much, Katie! I was having a guilty conscience for nothing, I guess. :-) My pictures will never be as beautiful as yours. You sure do have an eye.
ReplyDeleteAbout once in a Blue Moon an Amish person tells me not to take their pictures. I have no problem with their request and assure them I won't intentionally do it again. And we are both happy.
DeleteThank you for both the pictures and the explanations--without the text they would not have nearly the value for most of us who do not know the difference between Swartzentruber and other old order Amish! Were your parents Swartzentrubers?
ReplyDeleteMy parents were not Swartzentruber but Andy Weaver/Dan Schrock people, which would be about two notches higher than Swartzentruber.
DeleteKatie,
ReplyDeleteI can send you some photos of milk cans sitting on the platform waiting to be pickup by the milk truck if you want. Let me know.
Tom the backroads traveller
Thanks Tom, but I want the challenge of getting such a picture with my camera.
DeleteThese pictures are glorious! What a treat. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering the same thing as Stephanie regarding any resistance you may receive from Amish folks getting their pictures taken. You answered it and then some.
Is it normally the girls' job to mow the lawn? Are there any jobs girls are not allowed to do? What are they expected to do? What if they hate doing jobs they are expected to do or if they do them poorly, like burning dinner on a regular basis? Let's say there's a couple and the husband loves to cook and the wife work in the fields. Would they be able to "trade" jobs?
My Mom was her Dad's right hand man because there was only one boy in the family. and in families where there are all boys, they help with the housework. But as a while men do the field work and the women the housework, the garden and the yard. This is the way it used to be when most Amish were farmers, but the roles might have changed.
DeleteWhy yes, I didn't even think of the number of boys and girls a couple would have. I can see where that would put a fuzzy line on the work roles of the kids and parents. Thanks for responding.
DeleteI really do appreciate your picture taking skills.
Awesome pictures!
ReplyDeleteAll these pictures are amazing! Not sure how I missed them when you posted. My sister Katie Maes kids go the that school in Maysville.
ReplyDeleteWho is your sister married to? Maybe someone I taught at that school?
Delete