Lehman’s Country Life

“Hurry, bring the water in,” Mom called as we dawdled at the pump on that bright morning. We were watching Daddy pile up tools nearby - shovels, a crowbar, hammers and nails. He and another hired hand were going to clean out our well.

Mom called one more time, then Daddy looked up. “Better get that water to your Mom,” he said, and we scrambled. Daddy never gave orders much to us kids, but when he did, it was time to move.

We pumped hard, bringing up great gushes of pure, cold, sweet water to rock the bucket hung on the lip of the pump spigot. The two buckets were filled quickly and we ran them to the house and came back for another filling.

“That’s enough,” said Mom,
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On almost any Monday morning, you’d catch Mom in the kitchen, first filling the old wringer washer with hot water, turning it on, then filling the swishing tub with dirty clothes that hit the suds one by one with a satisfying plop and blurble. Like a hungry monster, the washing machine pulled the clothes downward into the steaming, soapy water. After a moment, they’d rise like undersea monsters, pale colors and shades of white, mounded like the smooth back of some creature… then they’d swish and swoop downward, only to rise and do it again.
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This Saturday, March 28th, millions of people around the world will turn out their lights for one hour to draw awareness to global warming. Now, I’m not going to get political, environmental or any other “al” about the whole thing (to each his own, I always say), but it does seem like a rather simple, and dare I say, pleasant thing to do. Just turn things OFF - the lights, the tv, the radio, computer, etc., etc., etc. -  and have a little quiet time with those vaguely familiar humans who inhabit our houses  (our families).

As purveyors of hundreds of non-electric products and the publisher (for over a quarter century) of the Non-Electric Catalog, one hour without power sounds pretty easy, and even somewhat amusing to us. After all, many of our loyal customers live this way the majority of the time…

There are myriad activities one could enjoy with the lights (and other appliances) off, but here are a few suggestions that spring to mind.

Light an oil lamp and open a good book

Light a candle and pray, meditate or just think

Sit in the dark and tell stories, reminisce or have a family planning or brainstorming session

And, if none of those are appealing, why not go to bed early and get some (probably much-needed) extra shuteye?

Are any of you planning to participate this Saturday? If so, please comment and let us know what you did and how it went. We await your responses!

For more information, visit www.earthhour.org.

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By Francis Woodruff, Editor and Publisher, The Dalton Gazette & The Kidron News

Reprinted with Permission

When temperatures drop below zero in the wintertime, there are few outside activities that many of us can do. But for several Amish families this weather presents the perfect conditions to cut, pack, and store ice in their ice houses for the coming summer months. The Amish, who live without electricity, use the ice for food refrigeration.

Recently, Joe Miller watched as his son David J. Miller and his family slid the heavy blocks of ice down a wooden plank board into a room designed for ice storage. “This is perfect weather for cutting ice,” Joe Miller said. “The colder the better.” He explained the colder it is when the ice goes into the storage room the better, because it stays colder longer. In addition to refrigeration, the room can also be used to freeze other foods, he said - like a giant freezer.
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It was a couple of years ago that Euell Gibbons got me all fired up about making my own maple syrup. It was late winter then and I was not prepared for my venture into syrup making at that point. But the following year I was ready. And I was fortunate enough to get me some of that sweet, golden nectar.

Yes indeed, there was some work involved, but the results far outweigh the effort. I was in it not to sell bottles of syrup, but to just make enough for my family and even a few friends to try.

With just a few maple trees (we will discuss species later), you too can have your own sugary sweetness. It doesn’t take a lot of fancy equipment; in fact, about the most expensive thing you will need is time.
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Jaclyn at Lehman’s recently demonstrated how to assemble and light an Aladdin Lincoln Drape oil lamp. This is another video available on Lehman’s YouTube channel.

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North America and many other places have been diluged with weather emergencies. It has been happening since there was life on earth but now with cell phone cameras, TV and Internet we get close up views of what is going on. Some upset weather is worse than others.

Where we live we can predict with certainty the power will go off  in the winter and  some times spring. With North West winds off the Atlantic  and salt spray from the ocean  we can be plunged into darkness easily. A few years ago we had a lot of snow and fierce winds. The power was off for four days and other places much longer. By preparing ahead your life doesn’t have to become a disaster when the weather turns bad.

Here is a list of things you can do to prepare for this type of emergency ahead of time.
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That’s how we felt on Sunday evening. And we were powerless (as in, electricity-free), for about 15 hours, as the remains of “Ike” careened through Ohio. We’re a lot luckier than some! Everyone here at Lehman’s has a story to tell - some are still without power, schools are closed and there is ample firewood to be had just about everywhere. (The photos here are of my own yard - blessedly, we had no damage to our house).

After the power went out about 5pm, we lit every scented candle we had and dug around in dark drawers and closets for batteries, then ended up removing half-dead ones from our remote controls to place in flashlights and a small pink lantern that belongs to my 2-year-old. All those batteries were dead in about 2 hours and we had headaches from the very disturbing mixture of midnight jasmine/french vanilla/springtime dreams/pine needle candles. Caught unprepared? You BET we were!
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High oil prices this winter mean families using propane or heating oil, both petroleum-based products, could face a pricey winter. In the Midwest, the average heating winter bill will run more than $2,100 — 26 percent above last winter, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The hurricanes battering the Gulf Coast may also lead to higher fuel costs, as Hurricane Katrina did in 2005. The Gulf’s offshore crude oil production accounts for about a quarter of total U.S. production. The region also produces a substantial portion of the nation’s natural gas. So, if you are thinking about buying or upgrading your wood heating stove, now is the time to do it!
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When is a flashlight not a flashlight?

When it joins the orchestra!

While this sounds like a joke that some of the kids would get up on stage to tell on Camp Cabaret Night, it is quite soberly a fact. To get everyone in the act, our compere Diarmuid, set challenges for to make music from unusual, not to say eccentric, sources. It is perfectly possible (Liam proved it) to make a joyful noise from a wheel wrench! It reminded me a little of a higher pitched tuba. Wind-up flashlights are not only practical and eco-friendly, they can also be pressed into musical instrument duty and make a delightful whizzing sound when wound.
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