Zero Turn

[Ed Kennell 45,300]

14 year old Elam making perfect zero turns this morning.   

 

[Achto 31,244]

4 abreast seems a bit over kill that piece of equipment.  

 

But then again I've never driven hay burners before. 

[Ed Kennell 45,300]

5 hours ago, Achto said:

4 abreast seems a bit over kill that piece of equipment.

Yep, they are clearly operating at idle.

The fertilizer truck arrived just as Elam finished.

 

The Elam went over the field again.   Notice the two outside horses are black buggy horses.   The colt on the left is in training, learning to pull in step and follow voice commands.

Then David and 4yo Amos are laying irrigation tubing and plastic.   The pumpkin, watermelon, and cantaloupe plants that are growing in the greenhouse will be planted thru the plastic with a wagon wheel planter after last frost.  The plants will be fed fertilized water thru the line under the plastic.

 

 

[WHX?? 55,639]

Hopefully you straitened him out on the color of that seat. 

[squonk 45,780]

19 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

14 year old Elam making perfect zero turns this morning.   

 

 

That kind of zero turn won't get stuck on wet leaves! 

[953 nut 64,588]

22 hours ago, Achto said:

4 abreast seems a bit over kill that piece of equipment.  

 

But then again I've never driven hay burners before. 

Two horses could do the job for a couple hours, four horses can do the same job all day with a reasonable lunch rest break.

[Beap52 2,090]

It seems to me that in this day and age it's difficult even for the Amish to not be drawn into modern conveniences.  The Amish around here have at least some type of phone service in which to contact the outside world.  They can easily rent a vehicle and driver.  They seem to travel around the state and even neighboring states with relative ease.  It's common to see them shopping at Walmart. 

 

I had an image in my mind's eye that they lived in the 1800's or early 1900's, but other than lack of commercial electricity, farm tractors and some tools/modern conveniences the Amish folks arn't much behind their English neighbors. Our local Amish grocery/variety store is air conditioned. 

 

Come to think of it, Some of the ways I do things are looked upon as  being "old timey." 

[953 nut 64,588]

There was a large contingent of Amish farmers at the White House yesterday as a part of the "Great American Agriculture Celebration" at the White House, honoring farmers and ranchers while announcing new agricultural policies. Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture, gave special recognition to the Amish and their sustainable agricultural practices.

Years back I was driving  my  street rod  through Amish country and pulled into a gas station at the same time as an Amish man in his buggy. He was using the hand crank pump to buy kerosene while I was  taking a restroom break. When I left the store I walked over and checked out the buggy and heard my wife laughing. Turns out the Amish man was checking out the street rod at the same time. We spoke for a few minutes and my wife asked if she could take a picture of us with the horse and buggy, he posed like a pro! Wish I had that picture to share.

[Ed Kennell 45,300]

18 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

he posed like a pro!

I always understood taking pictures of Amish was forbidden ...the graven image thing.    After becoming friends with my new neighbor, I asked.  He said he had no problem with pictures of his activity but they are not allowed to pose for pictures.    Different strokes for different folks and sects.

[WHX?? 55,639]

14 hours ago, Beap52 said:

it's difficult even for the Amish to not be drawn into modern conveniences.  

True ... buddy down the road buys big enclosed trailers and decks them out for job trailers for the Amish. Fully wired, heated, microwave, power tools, the whole nine yards. 

Turns around and rents them to the Amish builders. Pay a guy to haul it to a job site and plug it in to customer's power. So they can rent it and use it it just can't own it. Same with phones.

[squonk 45,780]

Most Amish can have any modern convenience they want if it's related to their business. Like air conditioning for their store and lights, phones, advertising ect. 

 

There's an Amish engine shop down to the south of me. He has battery powered Dewalt shop lights in the showroom and shop. Generates electricity with a genset. Has an answering svc. That relays messages to his wife and he might call you back in a week.  He's got almost the entire Sten's catalog in his showroom along with just about every belt size known to man. Hardware up the wazoo! 

 

Last time I was there there were 2 young boys working the field next to his shop. 2 horses pulling a rotary plow powered by a Briggsy. 

[Ed Kennell 45,300]

18 hours ago, Beap52 said:

 

I had an image in my mind's eye that they lived in the 1800's

I had the same image until the Amish bought the 36 farm next to me for growing produce.  The first step they took was to locate enough water to irrigate the 25 cleared fields.

Instead of dousing with copper rods or a forked peach branch, a high-tech engineering firm was hired  that used seismograph to map out the water table under the farm.

Two locations were selected and 400 ft wells were drilled.  The water is lifted from the wells and pushed thru the irrigation piping without using any pumps.

Liquid fertilizer is injected into the water as required during the growing season.

A diesel powered air compressor is used to power the waters air lift  system.

https://ebrary.net/121258/environment/lift_pumps_principle_working_lift_pumps

That one compressor is also used to power air motors that operate some power tools and a generator that is used to charge batteries and the electric fences.

Most of the equipment is wheel driven, but some of the equipment, sprayer, brush hog,, fork lift, grain drill, has battery start Honda engines.

Propane is used for lighting and refrigeration.   Wood is used for home heating and cooking.  Coal is used to heat the greenhouse.

With the exception of the fork lift that is used to load and unload trucks, all of the equipment is moved by the owners horses.  Outside trucking companies are used to deliver and spread the lime and fertilizer and to haul the produce to auction. 

 The only connection to the GRID is a land line phone located 200 yds from the house in a phone booth.  Although they accept any help from my wifi.

After the first years harvest I was watching a cover crop grain being drilled.  He stopped and showed me the sorgum seed bag that said do not feed to horses and asked me what that meant.  I said it probably meant the seed was coated to help germination, but I would check it.  Goggling sorgum for horse feed, I learned sorgum can cause health problems for horses.   I printed the info and delivered it to the farm.   He was very careful to keep the horses away from the sorgum and never planted it again.

Another time he came to me asking if I had seen his dog Ginger, a beautiful Husky/Shepard.  I had not, but we drove around all roads in the area around the farm and I drove the same route for several days with no sign of Ginger.  About a week later he came to my door and asked if I could contact the  ASPCA . I invited him in and we got on the lap top looking for a phone number which I gave him.  Then I clicked on pictures of lost dogs and luckily found a picture of Ginger.  I offered to take him to pick up the dog, but he declined saying his hired driver would take him.  Two days later I saw the dog back on the farm.

 

I am thankful the Amish had deep enough pockets to out bid the developers when this farm was sold at auction 6 years ago.    I know not all Amish make good neighbors nor do all English, but I am thankful for mine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Beap52 2,090]

I'm thinking each clan more or less decides how modern they want to be.  

 

I think I have shared this little story before but a fellow in my Sunday School Class drives the Amish a lot.  One day it was cold and he was taking his customers somewhere and they pass an Amish man on an uncovered buggy.  The Amish lady asked her husband why didn't that man use a covered buggy and her husband replied that that clan didn't believe in covered buggies.  The  lady replied "I couldn't live that way." 

 

I've not had a lot of interaction with them.  On a jobsite where they were replacing the roofing on a barn I was rebuilding.  They stopped at McDonalds about each morning for breakfast and brought it to work with them.  When I worked at a local farm and home supply, I had some that sought me out when they needed help.  We  often bumped into Amish carpenters at our local lumber yard.  I'd say a fellow could certainly have worst  neighbors.