Amish men in the community get together once a year to pull ice from local streams and ponds to supply their needs for cold storage. Utilizing this ice in specially designed "freezer" in the basement of their homes. This "freezer" is nothing more than several concrete blocks stacked on top one another to form a sort of trough.
Once harvested this ice is expected to last well into October of the next year. Multiple Amish families utilize this ice. It is usually kept in a central location for all of the families to share.
The ice is then pulled by horse drawn sled to the central location where it is unloaded by hand and placed into a special "ice house".
Once the ice is in the Amish-made ice house, it is stacked multiple layers high. The Amish men then use saw dust and wood shavings as added insulation. Community members are free to come and go as they need ice. Their integrity and brotherhood is second to none. You couldn't find more hard working people as individuals and as a community.
Amish Basket Craftsmen Workshop
Old Order Amish are capable of using newer tools, all except for the electric. These ingenious individuals have removed the motors from power equipment and replaced it with a pulley. Using a diesel powered motor, it turns a long crank shaft and a series of belts and grooved wheels, operating the machine as if it were in one of your or my garages.
This primitive outbuilding has been converted into their workshops and is utilized daily (except for Sunday - sabbath) by several members of this close knit family. The skill of weaving hand made baskets usually starts at the early age of 4. Most children who are taught this skill only use it until they are old enough to work in the fields or along side their mother. Some of the children who are out of school (after completing the 8th grade) and are at least 16 will leave the farm daily to work as an apprentice for another tradesman.
The Amish craftsman still use hand tools and manual drills to accomplish tasks that seem difficult even by modern standards. The heirloom quality that is produced from these primitive shops is held to the highest personal standards by the individual making the craft.
Working in the Fields
Here you will see a modern Amish horse and buggy. You can tell it is an Amish family with a little more money then most due to the tail light on the carriage. In the background you can see stacks or bundles of wheat ready to go to the market or broken down for the family to use.
