Lehman's Country Life

Over 35 vintage Bentley autos will be popping in for a short visit on Saturday, May 19–plan your trip to Lehman’s to catch them in their hour stopover from 10 am to 11 am that morning. “We’re really excited to welcome the caravan this year,” says Glenda Lehman Ervin, vice-president of Lehman’s. “These cars are works of art, and they’re not something you’d see every day.” The caravan is traveling historic highways this spring and summer.

After the car show, drop into the store. The Cast Iron Cafe will be open, and you can pick up a fresh lunch chock-full of Amish country ingredients! (Don’t miss the hand-dipped ice creams and locally made Amish fry pies. To die for!)

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At one time in the not-too-distant past, the sight of lines strung with freshly washed laundry flapping in the air were a common sight to passersby. Unless traveling the countryside populated with the Amish, that sigh is increasingly rare today. At some point, the joys of laundry dried in the fresh air gave way to the convenience of indoor electric clothes driers.
The first dryer was actually invented way back in 1799 by Pochan, a French inventor. The ingenious contraption required clothes to be placed inside a crank-operated container that was punched with holes. The container was suspended over a fire, and if the ‘ventilator,’ as it was called, was cranked correctly, the clothes came out dry. When used incorrectly, the clothes burned. By 1909, hand cranked dryers spun clothes to help dry clothing quicker, and by 1920, electric dryers first emerged on the scene. Suddenly, anyone with electricity could cut their time invested in laundry day chores significantly.
Such was progress. But was it, really? According to www.laundrylist.com’s Project Laundry List, April 19 is designated as National Hanging Out Day. “For many people, hanging out clothes is therapeutic work. It is the only time during the week that some folks can slow down to feel the wind and listen to the birds,” states site organizers, who also point out that the average American uses more energy running their electric clothes dryer than the average African uses in total for an entire year.

Hanging clothes to dry is a great way to conserve energy, thereby preserving the environment and helping to cut down on pollution. Six percent of the average household’s electric bill is from running an electric clothes dryer (77 percent of homes have electric dryers, while the others have gas or propane fueled ones). Eighty percent of American homes have dryers, while less than four percent of Italian houses own them. Supporters point out that sun dried laundry has the benefit of having sunlight bleach disinfect naturally, as well as providing exposure to the sunlight for the person hanging it. There is also a degree of positive exercise in the healthy work that this moderate physical activity provides. During wet and cold months, indoor racks can be substituted, and they actually help to restore needed humidity to the dry air.
Electric clothes dryer fires are responsible for about $194 million in damages each year. Hanging clothes to dry on a clothesline, however, means you can hang them and forget about them for awhile. You can leave without making sure an electrical appliance is turned off. They can also add heat, particularly in southern climates where homeowners struggle to keep their homes cool during hot, humid months.

Many do not realize that clothes that are air dried last longer and retain their original characteristics much better than if they were dried in a clothes dryer. Check out the lint in the lint catcher to see this effect for yourself. In the U.S., 23.8 billion pounds of clothing and textiles end up in landfills, often because they are past their useful life, a number that could be reduced by stringing clotheslines.

Laundrylist.com highlights these savings, noting that if all Americans who currently do not use a clothesline started to one for 10 months of the year, we could avoid 12 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere annually.

Probably the most pleasant reason that most people find for hanging out their laundry is the wonderful, pleasant scent that air dried laundry brings back into the home.
“I love to hang out my bed sheets, because they smell so fresh,” said Kathy, a clothesline fan. “I am convinced that we all sleep better on air dried sheets.”
Try it yourself. A simple clothesline, strung across the backyard, just might change your life for the better.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in Around the House: Making your space a better place! By Jennifer Kneuss. Spring 2012 edition of Graphic Publications.

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Berry season has always been a favorite time of the year – sweet juicy berries thick in the meadows and along the edges of the woods.  By now, many pick-your-own strawberry farms in my area of eastern North Carolina are ready for early harvesting, and folks are getting ready to put up!
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As the weather is beginning to get warmer and the days longer, many of us begin our ventures into the gardens.  I love spending the time picking out new plants, enjoy all of the different colors, and dream about all of the decorations that I would love to have in my garden.

With a new baby on the way, though, our garden decorating budget is very tight so I have started searching for expensive looking projects that can be made inexpensively.

Some of mine and my daughter’s favorite garden decorations are the ones made out of copper, but I don’t always enjoy the price tag. Whether bright and shiny or aged with a green patina, copper garden decorations can add visual impact to your space.

Dragonfly Garden Ornament

An easy project to start with is a copper dragonfly garden ornament.  A few supplies, a little creativity, and a tree or hook to hang your dragonfly on is really all you need.  Start by locating a dragonfly template for your ornament.  You can use the internet, sewing or crafting books, craft store, or a coloring book to find a basic pattern.  Use your printer or copy machine to blow up or shrink the template to the size that you want your ornament to be and print it out. Cut your design out of the paper.

Once you’ve settled on your design and have it ready to trace, gather the rest of your supplies.  You will need: a pen, copper foil, sharp shears, acrylic paint and an artist’s brush (if you want to paint your dragonfly), clear polyurethane spray,  flat-backed glass stones, waterproof adhesive, drill, 1/8-inch drill bit, 24-gauge copper wire, and fishing line.

Place your template on the copper foil and trace it with the pen. Use the shears to cut the shape out of the copper. Groove vein lines onto the dragonfly’s copper wings with the pen.

At this point, you can paint your dragonfly or keep it the natural copper color.  If you choose to paint, use different colors for the body and wings.  Be creative. Allow the paint to dry. Spray with polyurethane, if you painted, to protect the painted surface.

If you choose to leave the dragonfly a natural copper color, you can also spray a few coats of poly over the dragonfly. This will seal the copper and it will not oxidize (turn green) as quickly as unsealed copper would. In either case, allow the dragonfly to dry completely before decorating it.

 You now have the option to “bling” your dragonfly if you so desire. Glue colorful, flat-backed glass stones onto the wings.  The iridescent ones really sparkle in the sunlight. It really only takes a few stones to make an impact.  Remember to keep your wings symmetrical by placing the stones in the same spot on both wings. Clear, waterproof construction adhesive works the best to secure the stones.  Allow the glue to dry completely.

Once all your dragonfly’s bling is dry, you can  now give your dragonfly antennae.  Drill two holes, about ¼ inch apart, in the center of the head, near the edges. You will need to drill two more holes in the center of the dragonfly’s body. Cut a 3 to 4 inch piece of copper wire and bend it into a U shape.  Insert each end, from the underside of the copper, through the antennae holes, so the curved part of the U is underneath the head, and can’t be seen from above. You will need to slightly bend the wires as they exit the head to keep them from sliding out.  Give you dragonfly personality by creating spirals or bending the wire whatever way you like. A dab of clear construction adhesive will also keep the wires in place, and will fill the antennae ‘holes.’

To hang your dragonfly, you’ll again drill holes, but this time they will be in the body of the dragonfly. Align the holes vertically and, again, about ¼ inch apart.  You can also use these holes to wire your dragonfly to a garden stake.

 To hang your dragonfly, cut a length of fishing line.  Make sure to cut double the length of your desired hanging distance, as you will have to pass the line through each of the hanging holes on the body of your dragonfly.

Thread each end through the center holes and pull the line so that the ends are even. Tie the ends of your line to whatever you want to hang your ornament from.  To stake your dragonfly, use craft wire to attach it, through the center holes, to a wooden garden stake or make one out of copper tubing.

Now is the time to enjoy your hard work and the compliments from folks who see your beautiful garden decorations.  Find other designs or templates and let your creativity guide you. We are only limited by our imagination when it comes to creating.

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Every spring I go out and buy a new tractor. I get to run it around the garden from May to November. It breaks ground, raises rocks, spreads manure, and builds up the soil. Then, around Thanksgiving, we eat the tractor. Or part of it anyway. The rest we brine, smoke and freeze. We call it the pig tractor.

Pig  tractors  run  about  35  bucks  nowadays,  but  I  remember when  you  could  get  one  for  about  half  that.  That  was  before  so many  gardeners and  small  farmers wanted  one.  Used  to  be  just farmers raising hogs in the barn. Now everybody wants the one-pig- power garden cultivator, and they fetch a fat price.

It’s  worth  it.  Around  May  Day  you  pick  up  a  freshly  weaned shoat,  hocks  thin  as  cooking  spoons  and  bristles  just  beginning  to thicken.  Your  brand  new  piglet  can’t  weigh  much  more  than  25 pounds.  But  by  Thanksgiving,  well  maintained  and  fueled,  he’ll dress  out  to  ten  times  that,  not  counting  scrapple.  That’s  the astounding  thing  about  a  pig  tractor.  He  starts  out  barely  strong enough to hoe dandelions and finishes up plowing 50-pound stones.
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Heritage is really about leaving a legacy. A big theme in gardening now is the use of Heritage Seeds or Heritage Trees, or what Americans call ‘heirloom‘ plants or trees.  Keeping these old seed breeds alive means we can introduce them to other gardeners, and have tasty, strong plants.

In our garden we have old Irish apple varieties. Basically, they are varieties that went out of fashion. Supermarkets trained people’s taste buds to certain varieties. When people had a garden and took a notion to planting an apple tree, they thought ‘I like Cox’s Pippins…or Macintosh…’ Or whatever…Yet there are equally tasty ancestral varieties to those that have become supermarket brands.

The greater the variety of plants grown, the greater the food security for a region. Ireland is a salutary example. The Potato Blight that ravaged the land and her people and their descendants happened because of reliance on monoculture. The Irish peasantry used the Lumper spud variety almost exclusively. The Lumper could not stand up to the blight spores, the potatoes rotted, and the people starved.

Dragon Carrots 1126350, an heirloom variety

Tony and I plant at least four types of potato. I only routinely plant one variety, Cara, every year, with three other varieties we haven’t grown before. I explore the seed bank. Some are more blight resistant than others. Some can’t resist eel worm. But I never bank on one variety for a crop. I use the same rule for tomatoes. I have even planted a kale variety called “Good King Henry”  that has been collected by Irish Seed Savers.

We can all help save our planet’s diversity by sowing a few of those ‘ancestral’ or heritage varieties. Seeds and plants (think old roses) that have been bred and saved in certain regions tend to be hardier as they have adapted to those specific conditions.

Our ancestry is not just genealogy. We may not always have a lot of information about how those ornaments on the family tree lived. But if you plant some heritage seeds and eat the fruits of your gardening labor you share a bit of how your forebearers lived and get a literal taste of their daily life. Putting antique or heritage produce on the dinner table is a most intimate way to get to know your own past.

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Traction Engine

If you want more power, we’ll have it on Saturday, May 12 during the Kidron Antique Power Show here on the grounds at Lehman’s!

Show organizer Ethan Lehman is pleased to be back this spring. “We’ve been at Lehman’s for a little over five years. Jay Lehman (the founder of Lehman’s Hardware) offered us some space in the west parking lot, and we’ve been there ever since.” Jay Lehman owns an antique traction engine himself, a fully operational Rumley.

Ethan, naturally, is a collector of vintage engines. “They run on gasoline, kerosene, things like that. I personally like big stuff, some of which is too big to get to the show! My biggest one was made in 1911 in Cleveland. It was used to pump water into the city water system of Clarksburg, West Virginia. It’s 13 feet high and 17 feet long.”

Most of the engines showing up this Saturday won’t be quite as big as Ethan’s favorites. Many collectors specialize in small engines that can be loaded easily onto truck beds or small trailers. These engines go by many names, including Johnny Poppers, hit-and-miss engines, and stationaries. During the early years of this century, these engines were common on farms and homesteads, driving belts to run things like washing machines, milking machines and farm equipment. They often were bolted to small flat wagons called ‘trucks’ and rolled from job to job on the farm.

Popper engine mounted on truck.

“So many machines are becoming so rare,” Ethan notes. “These days, scrap prices are so high that the old engines get scrapped. Guys would rather do that than preserve them, save them. A large-ish engine could scrap out for $1,000 dollars. Here, in Ohio, you’ll see lots of old grasshopper engines (oil or natural gas pumps) getting scrapped because the gas or oil is gone. Folks who collect work hard to find the rarities like those engines and keep them running.”

The Kidron Antique Power Show is the second in our Saturday family-friendly event series this May. The show runs 10 am to 4 pm Saturday, May 12. Join us—and experience a fast-disappearing part of our agricultural heritage.

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Editor’s Note: After I started at Lehman’s, my good friends Tim and Laura shared that they are (at least for now), urban preppers, with the eventual goal of retiring off the grid. “We just love Lehman’s. They have everything we’d need at our retirement place.” Tim was gracious enough to give me an extended interview. In this final installment, he discusses their future plans, and his take on the current notoriety of the ‘prepper movement.”

Tim is realistic about what a huge change in their lifestyle going off the grid would be, though the day that he and Laura make that change can’t come soon enough for him. “I do expect things to be a lot more work than now. A lot more. But it’ll be quieter, we’ll have more room to breathe. Right now, we live in heavily populated suburb. You can look into 40 windows. Everyone checks out everyone’s yard. The city has full-time yard checker. The day we moved in, she was measuring our grass. Measuring our grass, even though it was obvious we were moving in. We had this conversation… ‘Can I help you?’ ‘Sir, you’re in violation.’ ‘Of what?’ ‘Well, here in (city name withheld), your grass can’t be over 8 inches tall, and your grass is 8 ½ inches tall.’  I was floored. I won’t miss suburbia a bit, let me say that.”

He reflects a little more on their family’s planning process, on thinking ahead and being prepared for emergencies, and becomes very serious. Currently, the family has about three month’s worth of food, water and other supplies stored in the home, and they’re prepared to shelter in place should a crisis arise. “What we’re doing now is an insurance policy to get us to our future. Cautious, well thought out preparation is your best insurance policy. We are prepared for the worst and hope for the best.”

Tim continues on, citing Hurricane Katrina as a case in point. “Look at New Orleans, at Louisiana. I was there for a while…great food, beautiful people, but I couldn’t take it, the heat. I can’t imagine what it was like for those folks after Katrina. There was no water, there was no food, and the government couldn’t get water or food to them. Here, (in Ohio), we have storms, we have blizzards. You have to be able to take care of yourself, your family, for maybe as long as a month. The government can’t hold your hand. You have to take some responsibility for your own.”

When asked about the popular culture image of preppers, Tim had no hesitation voicing his opinion. “Don’t fear. Fear blinds you. A lot of people who prep are fear-driven. That’s not the American way. Being clear-headed, planning ahead , that’s the American way.”

“We (his family) have full faith in this country. We’re hardcore patriots. But we don’t believe the end of world will happen. It’s good to have food stored up. It’s only common sense. I do not believe, like some doomers do, that the government will collapse, or thee world will end. There may be other catastrophic problems, and those are what we prepare for, events that may be comparatively short-term. I worry about EMP (solar flare) events,a weather crisis, things like that.”

His next statement proves that the future is constantly on his mind. “And it’s not just about food and water. You hear people say, ‘Have a thousand bucks cash in reserve, have three month’s salary put back. It’s not foolish. If you are between jobs, you get laid off, you have that cushion. And you can eat peanut butter or rice until you get back on your feet. Emergencies aren’t always the plague, or something like that. People forget that. Unemployment is an emergency. Illness is an emergency, you know? You have to think ahead, you have to have a plan. Never let circumstances catch you by surprise.”

He stops to think for a moment, and then finishes up his train of thought. “I’m not a doomer. I’m a self-sufficent, repurposing kind of guy. I don’t think the government is going collapse, I don’t think there’s going to be another great plague. I don’t believe in any of that. Traditional values of doing for yourself, the family as community, reaching out to larger community, I’d like to get back to that. I’m not going to be the guy in the compound looking out at my community, guarding my peanut butter. I’m going to be the guy out helping in my community when trouble hits.”

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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on May 26, 2011. It’s one of my favorites, and I am pleased to share it with you again.

We live on an acre of my father’s beautiful thirty-four acres of land, far away from neighbors and paved roads… so one day, when I heard the sound of motors coming up my gravel driveway, and then the unfamiliar voices of men just behind the house, I was suddenly filled with the urge to run for my shotgun. Being a city girl in the country, being alone out there with my children, surrounded by nothing but the trees and squirrels as witnesses, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Two men… two big men… riding 4-wheelers were parked just outside. What did they want?

I tried to calm myself. Don’t freak out. This is the country, remember? People are generally nice around here. Trying to remain rational (and not running out of the house like a mad woman, waving a gun in the air and yelling at the strangers to get off of my property!), I went outside with my arms crossed and with a stern face. I’m sure they could tell from my sharp expression that I was not happy that they were there.
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This isn't Norma and I. It's what our friendship feels like, though!

One of my great aunties used to say that close friends were the ‘family of your heart.’ The older I get, the more I know she was right!

Right now, I’m helping with a family member who is ill, and my dear friends Norma and Hugh are putting me up. Norma’s always been into cooking (she’s a great cook), and she’s interested in frugal living–aren’t we all? She wants to make her own laundry soap too.

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