John and Anna are building a pond. This pond will have several uses. It will be a swimming hole, and ice skating rink, a fishing hole, and a source for water for the plants on the farm. This spring the hogs will do their thing by rooting and packing down the bottom so the water will hold. I'm not sure how technically that works but that is how the Amish build a pond.
The big red barn on the hill.
Meet Ruby. She is a Morgan horse and she is used to pull the buggy. I guess you could call her the fancy horse.
This is Blondie (she can with her name). She is one of two of the draft horses on the farm.
And Blondie's sidekick is named Barbie. I know those names just don't sound like Amish names. And they aren't. It would be a hard thing to change their names now that they have known them all their lives. So John has decided to just keep the names the same.
If I remember right, this is Rover. Sweet, sweet dog. He reminds me a lot of our beagle, Ella Bella
And then I find the rabbits. I know that the black and white on is a Rex. I'm not sure about the black one. And the bad thing is...they don't have names. I told the boys that they will have to name them before I come back. I hope that doesn't mean what I think it means. Poor bunnies!
And with all those kids, you just have to have a milk cow. Didn't catch her name.
I found a swing in the barn. What a great place to play. Lots of things to climb on jump off of. Who needs a playground in the park?
The one room schoolhouse is really close to the house. So close that the kids sometimes run home for lunch. I ran home for lunch when I was in grade school. I guess it was about a mile for me.
Look at all that wood. Hope it is enough to keep them warm all this winter because I don't think the Amish get Snow Days. Their are nine students and a teacher. Locust Knoll is it's name. Sounds like something that you would hear about on Little House on the Prairie.
While I was in the barn meeting all the animals, Anna sent up some sausage that they got from one of Andy's pigs right before they moved to MO. I don't know if I will ever eat it all. Still hanging on to pieces of the Andy's as long as I can. After visiting with John and Anna I ran over to Sugartree Grass Feed. They are a hersdshare. We are a delivery location for them. Sugartree and Cedarmore share the same drivers. It was the first time I had met Scott and his family. They are Hoover Mennonites. They have 'a more simple life' than the Swartzentruber Amish. They cut wood in a mill by using the power the horses from walking on a treadmill. You have to see it to believe it! I came home from there with some homemade noodles, some jam and warm wheat bread right out of the oven. Lovely family! I think I might get to know them better over the summer.
