I see the long wooden wagon out my studio window. An Amish man dressed in two shades of blue wearing a straw hat stands with reins in hand driving the horses. Two little boys, no more than toddlers, dressed the same, stand next to him. Another boy, a little older, sits on the side of the wagon dangling his legs over the side.
They turn off Route 22 onto the land where for the past few days there has been a lot of sawing and hammering going on. They’ve been making the bents and trusses, the bones of the workshop and home they are building.
You can see what I did this morning, in the photo above. The triangular trusses piled up on top of each other. The ladder lined up in size order.
I was out at 6:30am and I knew by the horse and wagon traffic that Amish men were coming from all over to raise the bents for the new building.
I went to meditate and when I looked out the kitchen window an hour later I saw that the bents had already be raised.
All day from my studio I heard the banging of hammers, drone of saws, whinny of horses and shouts of the men as they worked.
They didn’t stop when it started to rain. And as I took this picture I thought how reassuring it must be to know that while one group of people are working on one part of the roof, there are other people working on another part.
Shared work, each man doing his part and getting the work done quickly and efficiently.
It comes with a price, that kind of efficiency. As much as I’m curious about it, and admire it, I would suffer under the strict rules and beliefs that seem to be needed in order for this kind of community to work.
This is what the building looked like at the end of the day.
Curious that it is so close to the road. Looks like a good size piece of property.
It’s like in the days when the old farm houses were built close to the road. Long driveways are just trouble especially for a horse and buggy. They have no way of plowing them and and maintaining them are difficult too.
This is so interesting and I’m hoping that you will have good new neighbors. We have a lot of Amish in our region also Mennonites. Lovely people.
I can only imagine they will be good neighbors Uta. And I find their way of living fascinating in so many ways.
Their work ethic and discipline is impressive. Like you, I would feel oppressed but if you grow up in that community perhaps you don’t consider any other way.
I don’t think most of them do see another way of being. There is a sense of security and certain freedoms that I feel we have lost. I see it in their children and the way they are trusted to do things most of the rest of the country would see as “unsafe”. And to see themselves as necessary and important in the family structure. I just haven’t figured out how to have such a society where certain people don’t have to be submissive to others.
Wow. That’s impressive.
It is Sandy, today the roof is on and most of the siding the last time I looked.