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| Jean is old order Mennonite from New York State. Jean and her husband David and family live on a dairy farm, and travel their community using horse and buggy. She tells her story exclusively on Amish Stories. |
In our town was recently an auction as our freezer company closed. We didn’t use it very often, but we did use it. If David shot a deer and we didn’t have enough room in our refrigerator or freezer we stored it down there. Many of the Amish in our area used them to store much of their meat. Amish have refrigerators in their homes but they are gas or ice. If they had more meat than would fit in their refrigerator freezer-they would store it at the freezer company. Now they will have to store it further away.
With the freezer company closed, there is no more delivery of ice to some of the Amish homes. Also, if you brought in a deer you got while hunting you took that to them, they would skin it, cut it up and pack it for you. We didn’t have any meat down there when they closed, but we will miss the place as will many others.
I didn’t go to the auction because I didn’t think there would be anything that would interest me. David, Edward and Michael went. They came home with a several rolls of paper to wrap meat in after it has been cut up. We can use that when we slaughter some of our animals for meat. David also brought home a freezer that is hooked up in the barn. He told people that he would be glad to cut up meat and package it for them. He would store it in the new to us freezer until people picked it up. Deer season will be coming pretty soon.
The Amish man behind us fell off his ladder while trying to clean the house windows. His parents weren’t home at the time so his wife ran through the field to David. This was, of course, one of the rare times he wasn’t carrying his cell phone on him so he ran to the house to tell me to dial 911 and to tell them he would ride in the ambulance. I had Michael and Edward stay home to care of David Jr. and Susan while we went over to the house.
The poor fellow was out cold from the fall. It brought back memories of when the same thing happened to David when he was working on the outside of our house. David went to the hospital in the ambulance with the Amish man. She and I rode there in a driver car. All of us, including the Amish man came back in the driver car several hours later.
They believe he had a concussion, a few minor cuts and bruises, but nothing else. Doctors told his wife what to do for him. We left our cell phone with them in case they needed us or an ambulance again-but they didn’t. We called the Fire House and told them to call the house phone explaining what happened.
After our chores were done the next morning, my Mother came over to watch David Jr. and Susan while Michael, Edward, David and I went over to help them with their chores. Some of other Old Order Mennonite and Amish were there getting ready to help, too. The injured man was up and ready to work, but we made him sit, relax and give orders. David went up the ladder to clean the windows. He came down with a smile on his face.
I asked what’s so funny. He said to let him go in and make sure. After he went upstairs and came down stairs and looked at the windows he started laughing. He had the Amish man, his wife and me come into the living room and announced that the windows were the new reversible windows. David showed them how to clean the windows without taking them out or going up on the ladder to clean them.
It seems they had never cleaned the windows before. When the house was built and the new windows went in-the ladies there ,myself included, cleaned the windows. Next time the windows needed to be cleaned they had just had their twin babies so we ladies cleaned them again. As a surprise for them the Amish man’s father had bought these windows for them as a surprise when the house was built. He forgot to tell them what type they were. They really came as a surprise.
Be With God, Jean
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Home made lamp oil
From Renee
Jacob (my son) made a glass jar oil lamp using a
jar
olive oil
nail
hammer
1 piece of 100 % cotton strip
Punch a hole in the lid with the hammer,and nail
then poke wick through
Pour olive oil in jar
put lid on
&
light
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