Lehman's Country Life

Most of the risks I’ve taken have ended in failure. Three broken bones, a handful of ugly scars and a trail of wrecked cars are testimony to the physical risks. Some of my failures didn’t leave physical scars, but I sure remember them well. For example, I bought several “sure thing” stocks. Turns out the only sure thing I know about investing in the stock market is that I generally sell stocks for less than I paid.

That said, as I think back over my life I’m realizing that the successes I have had all came from taking a risk. For example, I took a chance by getting married at a very young age, and found a life partner I’ve been able to rely on as a source of happiness and comfort. At work, I took a chance on buying an abandoned warehouse six miles from our store in Kidron, and secured impossibly cheap space for almost unlimited future growth.

So, while taking risks may lead to painful failure, it seems like a fact that taking chances is the only path to success.

I’ve spent my whole working life at Lehman’s, so my work is one place where I can especially see the effects of risk taking. Lehman’s wouldn’t even exist if my Dad hadn’t
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Want to learn what one of our local friends is saying about Lehman’s? Check out the Garden Gate Get-A-Way blog posting. Thinking of visiting? You can stay at the Garden Gate. Now is a great time to visit. Fall leaves are reaching their peak!

Galen Lehman, President, Lehman’s


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Autumn is a busy season of squirreling away the garden’s bounty for winter nourishment. These days it seems that every waking moment is consumed by picking, preparing or preserving food. However, to be honest, standing over a hot stove is not my favorite place to be when the weather is gorgeous outdoors. So although we do have plenty of beans in the freezer and tomatoes on the canning shelves, I am also contributing to our winter food storage by doing more planting in the garden.

A number of years back I purchased Eliot Coleman’s book “Four Season Harvest” from Lehman’s, and it has transformed our winter food plan. Eliot is an innovative organic gardener from Maine who runs his gourmet salad business during the winter months using various cold frames and high tunnels. I decided that if he can do it in Maine, I can surely do it in Ohio and the past seven years our family has eaten fresh salad greens all winter long out of my cold frames.
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Apples are possibly fall's most versatile fruit.

One of the things I really enjoy about fall is the time in the evenings to do a little more cooking. Apples, pumpkins, squash and even tomatoes are still available in local produce markets for us to partake of.   Each year more than 100 million bushels of apples are produced in Ohio during the fall season, featuring about 40 different varieties.  There are many farms open to pick your own, take a hayride and maybe get your pumpkins too!

Apples are a wonderful addition to a meal or for a quick snack.  They provide us with vitamin A and C, along with fiber, and other phytonutrients to keep us healthy.  They are low in fat and sodium, which makes them a perfect choice with only 75-80 calories for a medium apple.
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As the fall weather slips in it may seem work should slow down.  Not so for those of us that has chosen to live a life closer to the Olden Ways.  Many of us have farms, animals, and gardens to tend.  There is firewood to gather and the last of the harvest to put up.  But that doesn’t have to stop you from serving rustic and hearty meals to keep that energy up.

These recipes are rich in vegetables and rib-sticking good in the cooler weather.  Some use the slow cooker; others are quick and easy. All are perfect for supper one night and a hot lunch the following day.

Cuban Pork and Sweet Potato Stew
1 large (1 lb.) sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½” dice
1 pound lean pork loin, cut into 1″ pieces
1 can (14½ oz.) diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 medium garlic clove, minced
¼ cup orange juice
2 medium scallions, chopped (green part only)
½ tsp. table salt
¼ tsp. ground cumin
¼ tsp. black pepper
1½ TB fresh lime juice
2 TB fresh cilantro, chopped
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Well, college is as stressful for me as it’s ever been, but I’m still finding time to keep ahead of my garden. Several days ago, I had my first of (hopefully) many tomatoes, and just yesterday I had my first three green beans – everything has been delicious!

I’ve learned some things, though, too. For instance, a) that tomatoes need pruned, and b) that there is such a thing as loving a cucumber plant to death. For the tomato pruning, it turns out that anything that is dead or dying should be removed. One of my friends advised me to simply lop off a particularly tall shoot. However, it is better to instead cut off any leaves that are near the bottom, and don’t have a chance of getting to the light. By removing these and also the dead leaves, the energy distribution of the tomato plant is more efficient – less energy is wasted on leaves that are dying.
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Curiosity Kitten and the Donkey, by Brigit, age 10

The annual cycle of transition from summer to fall is upon us and everything seems different. Many things change, but much remains the same. I used to tell people, “The only thing you can count on in life is that it changes.” But farm life is a good lesson in the cyclical nature of everything.

Here’s my list of the top three things that stay the same:
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Lehman’s, and our founder Jay Lehman, were recently featured in an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The reporter compared trying to get Jay to talk about himself with “yanking a 31/2-inch nail out of petrified wood.” Still, she managed to get him to tell some pretty amazing stories about his life! Read the article and see photos of Jay and the store here.

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We all say that we hate the legal bureaucracy that enmeshes us. That bureaucracy often prevents us doing what we think is important, ethical and correct. This explains why lawyer jokes are so common and so universally understood. But, we all recognize the importance of having a lawyer you can trust.

I’m not very good at memorizing phone numbers. I know my work, home and cell phone numbers. I know my wife’s cell phone number. I also have one other number memorized; that of my lawyer.

This weeks agenda at my peer support group of company executives called for a discussion of how to choose and best use an attorney. The group is run by the local chapter of MEDA. This small group gathering is a source of strength, encouragement and wisdom for me. I look forward to every meeting. This month,
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This week I had the astonishing privilege of sitting down for a one hour, face-to-face conversation with the CEO of one of the largest companies in the world. I lucked into the appointment through a friend of a friend, but I still can’t get over the generosity of a man who has so much on his plate yet was willing to share time with me. It was an incredible gift.

The first thing that hit me, almost from the second I met him, was a wave of restored faith in corporate America. I walked into the interview with a list of questions that I hoped were important enough to prey on the time of a world-class CEO. But, the meeting didn’t open with the question I expected, which was, “What can I do for you?” Instead, I was disarmed by his genuine warmth and interest as he leaned forward in his seat and said, “Tell me about your company.”

I was surprised to realize that he seemed to have come to the meeting with the same excitement and anticipation that I did. It was a gratifying revelation to find someone whose decisions affect the jobs of thousands of people and whose annual sales are about 200 times more than Lehman’s and yet who is just as caring, humble and, well, “human”, as the next guy. But, building up trust in corporate America was not why I came. I came to learn. So, what did I learn?

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