P. L. Gaus’s Ohio Amish Journal

 The wheat and barely harvests in Holmes County are well underway, again, and on most farms, one finds a field like this one, where the shocks are out to dry.  It’s quite an amazing thing to watch a family bring in the crop.  Everybody works at it, from grandparents and parents, down to the toddlers.  First, a sheaf is made by laying a bundle of stalks lengthwise, and then tying it in the middle.  One group works at this task.  Then behind them, others gather the sheaves and stand them to make a shock, something like seven to twelve sheaves stood up together.  Father comes last, spreading the last sheaf out over the top to make a cover.  The shocks will stand like that for several weeks, so that the grain can dry and cure in the open air, and a field like this is a common sight this time of summer.  Mostly it is wheat that is done this way, but other grains are also shocked, as is the feed corn in the fall. 

 Such a field plainly marks this farm as Amish, and this one is typical of those in Holmes County, Ohio.  There is a windmill to pump water, and several outbuildings for hay and livestock.  There is also a Daadihaus for the grandparents.  Then, the roofline sports two chimneys, one at the back for the wood stove in the kitchen, and one in the center, for wood stoves, probably on each floor of the house.  But other things mark this as an Amish farm, too.  First, there are no cars and no wires.  There is no TV antenna and no cable service.  It’s hard to see in this photo, but there are several clotheslines near the house, and on the back side of the house, there is the typical shade porch running the full length of the dwelling.  It is all very plain, old-fashioned, and simple, like an Amish farm should be, but to my way of thinking, wheat fields like this one give Holmes County an exotic flavor, in a curiously old-world sort of way.  I never grow tired of seeing it, but I guess you could have predicted that by the fact that I’ve blogged about it before.  It just seems to me that some scenes are worthy of repetition.

The wheat is in this year, and it seems as if there was much more of it planted in Holmes County than usual. In fields nearly everywhere one turns, the crop has been cut, and the sheaves have been shocked, stacked that is, as in the picture. Oats, barely, and other grains are done the same way, and late in the fall, the field corn will be put up too.

It usually takes the whole family working together to harvest a field as big as this one. Even the kids who aren’t big enough to help, really, are often out with the family in the field. I’ve seen men with scythes cutting by hand, women and children following along behind to gather six bundles, which are then tented together, with a last sheave spread out over the top as a cover. That makes the shock.

I have never stopped long to watch, because it’d be too intrusive to just stare at a family at work, but this is quiet work, and it is hard. It is also extraordinarily peaceful. Living this close to the earth has its rewards, even if it does involve hard work.