Vol. 2 No. 7
{AMISH COMMUNIT Y NEWS}
A Summer Surprise
August 11, 2010
By Jacquie Foote
Early in the morning on Wednesday, June 30 this year, David Hostetler and his three sons got themselves, their horses, and their equipment ready to do a familiar job in an unfamiliar place. In doing so, they would bring about six acres of land full cycle … from the plow (over 100 years ago) … to city housing … to vacant land (over 10 years ago) … to the plow. In 1999, housing that stood on land at West 25th Street and Bridge Avenue in Cleveland was demolished. Because of a fault line discovered on the edges of the property, the site was considered unsuitable to build upon. In an effort to create a green area for the neighborhood, the foundations of the buildings were dug up and hauled away. Good soil was brought in to fill the holes. Then, soil samples were sent to the University of Massachusetts to be tested. The results showed the land to be free of contaminants. At this point, the Ohio City Near West Development Corporation began to seriously talk about an Ohio City Farm. A $20,000 grant earmarked for insurance coverage and capital improvements was obtained from Neighborhood Progress, Inc., a local nonprofit group. It was obviously necessary to use the money wisely. So, when discussion about fitting the soil for farming started, a member who lives in Chardon thought of asking an Amish farmer to do it. He knew the land would be in good hands and that the Ohio City Farm would get good value for their dollars.
Summertime By Sarah Miller
The first man approached about plowing and tilling the acreage was Bishop Mose J. Miller. This was not a project Bishop Miller felt he could take on. But he suggested David A. Hostetler of Hayes Road, a farmer he knew well. And so it was on a recent sunny June 30th morning, Tim Miller, an Amish carpenter working on the exterior of a building near West 25th and Bridge Avenue, turned around to see a team of Belgians driven by another Amishman plowing a vacant property nearby. As Tim’s father, Donnie Miller, remembers it, Tim told him he was so surprised, “He nearly fell off the scaffolding.” Tim wasn’t the only one to notice. Quietly, residents of the neighborhood gathered at the cyclone fence that had been erected around the six-acre plot to watch the work being accomplished by David, his sons and the seven horses he had brought. They plowed and disked from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. that day. David returned the following Friday with his sons and six Belgians to finish the job. They started at 8 a.m. and were able to leave at 5 p.m. It was raining that day, so few came to watch the finishing of their work. If things go well with the Ohio City Farm project, other properties may well be returned to farming, and it could be that once again, to the delight of city residents, teams of Belgians will be seen working the city land.
Each summer we looked forward to our annual Parkman Homecoming. I don’t know what year they quit having them, but we had fun watching the pretty floats and buying cotton candy and ice cream. One year, about 1952, when I was 10 years old and staying at my brother’s in Troy, they had a Troy Homecoming. I walked up to the school, and the children were having races to see who ran the fastest. Well, I thought I’d try. And I got first prize! Well, the “grand” total was 50 cents. And I thought I was rich! HA! How times have changed.
When I was a child, we lived on a farm. There were four of us girls in a row. So, we had lots of fun. We would play hide and seek in the barn. One day, my sister hid in a horse’s manger. Well, before she had a chance to get out, he bit her on her arm. Needless to say, she didn’t try that again! We also made a playhouse in our corncrib after most of the corn had been fed. Playing baseball was our all time favorite. We also played lots of Andy-I-Over. When we had company, we children would play Gray Willie. After dark it was fun trying to scare each other. We didn’t buy pop. We made our own root beer from a bottle By Rachel Miller of extract. Thinking about summer … in 1971, on Aug. 19, our barn was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. It had been WANTED FOR OUR NEXT ISSUE … very dry, and the creek by us in our pasture was dry. By the time It’s just about back-to-school time! Please share the fire trucks were ready to fill up, there was lots of water! It had any back-to-school memories, jokes, rained that hard! Ivan wasn’t home; he had gone to a church and favorite school lunchbox recipes! singing on Route 528. Our neighbors called the fire department. Please send these in by Aug. 16. This was when we lived on Nauvoo Road.
Summer Barn Fire
Our next issue of Plain Country is Sept. 1. Deadline for submissions is Monday, Aug. 16. Advertising deadline is Monday, Aug. 23. Please send the information that you’d like to share with Plain Country to P.O. Box 626, Middlefield, OH 44062. You may also call 440-632-0782 or fax to 440-834-8933.