This blog features happenings on the Old Windmill Farm in Lancaster County, PA and a glimpse into Amish life.
A new message is posted ever 2-3 weeks (that’s the goal!)
Making hay
“School Picnic”
Springtime in Lancaster County means excited children and teachers are ready for school to be dismissed for the summer. Children are excited to go barefoot at the first chance. Parent’s rule of thumb is that you need to see six bumble bees before the children can go barefoot.
The Amish schools don’t have days off thru the year with the exception of Thanksgiving, 2 days for Christmas if not on the weekend, New Years Day, Easter Monday, Ascension Day, and Whit Monday for Pentecost. Holidays thru the school term are fun events: such as exchanging Valentine cards, exchanging Christmas gifts and other holiday fun. The mothers are expected to bring a hot lunch to school especially after the New Year. School can seem monotonous at that point so the parents help to break up the days with the surprise visit of a hot lunch in casseroles, wrapped in blankets to keep them hot till they get to school.
School will be dismissed for the summer in two weeks. The students will play a game or 2 with neighboring schools usually at the end of term. Our daughters’ students played a neighboring school and defeated them with a 24 run lead.
Also the school picnic is a big deal at the end of the term. The mothers bring a covered dish, one of the fathers makes grilled chicken. Usually by oldest, everyone gets a turn to make the chicken. Of course the children are proud of their father for making the chicken. It’s always a busy time of year: time to plant corn, harvest the rye grass to be fermented for feed for dairy and beef cows, plow and break down the soil to make it fine and also gather the big rocks in the field. Talks in the Bible on planting the seed in good soil brings a harvest of 60 to 100 fold.
Our children’s school has 9 families. At the end of year picnic the children sing hymns for their parents. Hymns are practiced and sung thru the school year. The meal is served with approximately 5 different desserts along with ice cream. After the meal there is a hot game of softball: the fathers against the students, grades 5 through 8. The dads have the power to hit the ball far, but the students have the agility. The students also do races and other activities.
We had a filly (female) horse born on the farm April 14th. We named her Butterfly, because there is the shape of a butterfly on her nose. Spring and summer are exciting times on the farm.
From our family to yours,
The Lapps
As a footnote we want to share what happened three weeks ago. Farmers with large animals, is a liability with the animals breaking thru the fence or a gate is left open by mistake. On a Thursday night we were awakened by the phone ringing at 2:30 AM. My aunt was calling to inform us that their dog barking awakened them. They got their flashlight and saw big horses, ponies and mules in the field behind their house. Of course on our end we were fast asleep and needed to get a grip of what was happening. We got dressed and out the door as fast as we could.
So right now there are 7 big animals outside the fence that are so glad to eat a smorgasbord of all the grass they can handle, including what they can’t handle (remember my writing about colic in a previous blog). We are outside the door with a very hopeless feeling. The horses can be 3 miles from here in 10 minutes short. The only thing we could do is pray and give it to the Lord. And pray we did!
We got to the back of the barn: lo and behold the horses were back. We opened the gate and herded the horses back to where they belong. We still believe in modern day miracles. We still believe in the power of prayer. My wife has a book where she writes down unusual happenings and memories of the children. Is also important to remind the children of the miracles and power of prayer.
We had bought a big huge horse (almost a Clydesdale) who was the cause of the gate being pushed over and setting the horses free.
WETA, the PBS station in the greater Washington DC area, just presented a “Get Out Of Town” travel show about Lancaster County, including a segment about the Old Windmill Farm.To watch click on the photo above or here. The Old Windmill Farm segment starts at 11:50 and last about 4 minutes. It features a mother and daughter who have a travel series.
We were pleased to see many of our Jewish guests visited the farm during Passover.
These orthodox Jewish boys enjoyed a visit from the goats.
This filly was born on Sunday, April 21.
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Old Windmill Farm – 262 Paradise Lane Ronks, PA 17572
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