Amish Dairy -- But Wait, There's More
A little over a month ago, Jon and I made a trip to visit the dairy that has been distributing raw milk from our refrigerators behind the stand for several many years. We went because the dairy had changed ownership and we wanted to meet the new farmers. This story has already been told.
But a couple of weeks ago we got an email saying that they had been through a dramatic storm and their gigantic new barn -- constructed of wood they had milled themselves -- had been struck by lightning and burned to the ground. This seemed like a catastrophe to us.
The barn burned on Sunday evening on July 7th. By Monday morning they had cleared the rubble with bulldozers and they were laying concrete block by midday. A busload of family and friends arrived on Monday from their old homestate (PA). We got daily updates from their one woman communications staff, who was watching in awe from the sidelines. Every photo had dozens of Amish men and boys working, hammering, holding up timbers, standing on the sidelines. There were no women in the photos, and this tells me that the women were keeping the cows milked and all the builders and children well fed.
The milk deliveries were a couple days late but they did not miss a week. Their cooler and freezer had burned up with the barn so they had to come up with new ways of taking care of the milk.
Every day the progress was staggering. They did not build the exact same barn again -- they built cinderblock walls where there had been none before, they laid a concrete floor, and the timbers were finished wood from a sawmill. By Thursday morning they were putting the first roof trusses up -- it took them an hour and a half to set the trusses on a barn that was about 100 feet long and maybe 50 feet wide.
I had so many questions, and I sent them to the woman who was documenting the progress. Where were they getting the wood? Sawmill in Southern Maryland. How did they get those trusses so fast? Family member in PA has a business. Who are all those people? She said they had six contractors working at the same time as well as 50 Amish men.
And questions I didn't ask -- are there some number of standard barns that all Amish know how to build? Did they have plans? Did anyone draw a picture? How did they know what to do so quickly? How could they afford this?
Of course the most amazing part is that so many people left their homes and farms and businesses and got on a bus and came to help, on a moment's notice. It melts my heart to think about that. They worked so fast and hard -- and within a week the barn had been rebuilt. Better than before. I am sure that no one got much sleep that week, least of all the women. Luckily it wasn't as steamy hot last week as it is now.
Most of us would never want to live the life of those farmers -- doing everything the harder way -- but all of us would like to know that there is a busload of people out there who are ready to come and put our world back together, with no warning. The same question that comes up in almost all these posts -- the question of being connected and understanding where you fit in -- is uniquely answered in the Amish community. All communities have struggles, there is no reason to idealize anyone, but these people really know how to do some hard work in a hurry, together.
But a couple of weeks ago we got an email saying that they had been through a dramatic storm and their gigantic new barn -- constructed of wood they had milled themselves -- had been struck by lightning and burned to the ground. This seemed like a catastrophe to us.
The barn burned on Sunday evening on July 7th. By Monday morning they had cleared the rubble with bulldozers and they were laying concrete block by midday. A busload of family and friends arrived on Monday from their old homestate (PA). We got daily updates from their one woman communications staff, who was watching in awe from the sidelines. Every photo had dozens of Amish men and boys working, hammering, holding up timbers, standing on the sidelines. There were no women in the photos, and this tells me that the women were keeping the cows milked and all the builders and children well fed.
The milk deliveries were a couple days late but they did not miss a week. Their cooler and freezer had burned up with the barn so they had to come up with new ways of taking care of the milk.
Every day the progress was staggering. They did not build the exact same barn again -- they built cinderblock walls where there had been none before, they laid a concrete floor, and the timbers were finished wood from a sawmill. By Thursday morning they were putting the first roof trusses up -- it took them an hour and a half to set the trusses on a barn that was about 100 feet long and maybe 50 feet wide.
I had so many questions, and I sent them to the woman who was documenting the progress. Where were they getting the wood? Sawmill in Southern Maryland. How did they get those trusses so fast? Family member in PA has a business. Who are all those people? She said they had six contractors working at the same time as well as 50 Amish men.
And questions I didn't ask -- are there some number of standard barns that all Amish know how to build? Did they have plans? Did anyone draw a picture? How did they know what to do so quickly? How could they afford this?
Of course the most amazing part is that so many people left their homes and farms and businesses and got on a bus and came to help, on a moment's notice. It melts my heart to think about that. They worked so fast and hard -- and within a week the barn had been rebuilt. Better than before. I am sure that no one got much sleep that week, least of all the women. Luckily it wasn't as steamy hot last week as it is now.
Most of us would never want to live the life of those farmers -- doing everything the harder way -- but all of us would like to know that there is a busload of people out there who are ready to come and put our world back together, with no warning. The same question that comes up in almost all these posts -- the question of being connected and understanding where you fit in -- is uniquely answered in the Amish community. All communities have struggles, there is no reason to idealize anyone, but these people really know how to do some hard work in a hurry, together.
Comments
Post a Comment