Lehman's Country Life

It’s no surprise that retailers predict technology will be at the top of many holiday wish lists again this year. But if you’re not techno-savvy, or not comfortable with the expense of high-tech gifts, there is very good news: low-tech and “no-tech” gifts can still fit every taste and budget, and they’re often a welcome change from more complicated gadgets.

“Simple, non-technology gifts will always be in style,” says Glenda Lehman Ervin, Vice President of Marketing for Lehman’s. “Items like food, linens, cookware, lotions, candles and old-fashioned toys can be wonderful gifts – to give and receive – for people who are not necessarily plugged in to the high-tech trend. They can also be refreshing and fun alternatives for the tech-heads in your life.”

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My office, which used to be in a tiny corner of the warehouses in Kidron, is now about five miles north, along with our warehouses and several dozen administrative staff. Even though our World Headquarters (as we jokingly call it) is off site, I still make sure I get down to the store several times a week. Sometime I have to park in the cow pasture (I am serious — watch your step!) and as I hoof it into the store, I glance at all the license plates in our parking lots. Texas, California, Florida, Michigan, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, of course Ohio, Washington, Montana — this was on one day, folks. The most interesting one was a lovely red BMW with Hawaii plates. I wish I had taken a picture of it. How did it get here? Plane? Boat? It certainly didn’t look like one of those hydrocars.

It’s all informal surveying, but after I check out the license plates (something, by the way, my Dad has elevated to a science) I take a moment to check out the guest book, that stands unassumedly in the lobby of our 1840s era barn. I also keep my ears open for comments that customers make. I thought you might find them interesting, too.

• This is where the new merges with the old and years hold many memories
• Mommy, is this a store or a museum?
• This is the Rolls Royce of hardware stores.
• Thanks for doing your part to save the earth
• You were green before green was in
• I’ve never seen anything like this!
• They could charge admission for this place (we don’t, by the way)
• There’s nothing like this in my country. (from a woman visiting from Japan)
• I make it a point to visit every year. (lives in Texas)
• My Dad [or uncle, or brother-in-law or insert other relative's name here] would love this place.
• Lehman’s hardware rocks (presumably from a teenage visitor, but who knows)
• Every member of our family, from grandpa to little Timmy, can find something they love at Lehman’s
• My husband was late to his own wedding because he couldn’t leave this store.
• I was on a missions trip in Eastern Europe and we found your catalog in a remote orphanage in Russia
• Thanks for your water filters, which we use to purify post-operative IV solutions (from a doctor in West Africa, via e-mail)
• Finally found the pieces to repair my grandmother’s oil lamp — now we can use it every day

Glenda

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Fall in Amish country is always beautiful, but some years the colors are more intense and dramatic than others. Why, I wondered. You probably remember the whole photosynthesis/chlorophyll cycle from your eighth grade science class. Basically the trees are getting ready for winter, and the green is fading so the leaves are showing their true colors. Okay, that’s about as far as I am going to go, not being a teacher myself.

Typically, fall color arrives in northern Ohio in late September, with color quickly progressing through the southern part of the state by late October.

However, the vividness of the colors and how long leaves remain on the trees depends on weather and can vary from year to year. The month of September, unpredictable at best, is key to October colors. What we want are cool nights and sunny days. The varying temperatures bring on a chemical change in leaves, producing the deep russets and purples that light up Ohio’s woodlands in fall.

Rainy weather means trees keeps their leaves longer to prolong the season. Of course, severe windstorms can bring leaves down abruptly and cut the fall color season short. We all remember a fall or two where the leaves were beautiful in early October, and a harsh wind and rain storm knocked them all down. Conversely, periods of quiet weather can lengthen the season well into November.

To help you plan your drive into Amish country this fall, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources will begin issuing weekly Fall Color updates on October 4. The weekly Fall Color forecast will be available on the Internet at ohiodnr.com and by calling the state’s travel and tourism hotline at 1-800-BUCKEYE. It offers current reports on peak viewing opportunities in our area and is quite, pun intended, cool.

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