Lehman's Country Life

One of Cleveland’s newspapers, The Plain Dealer, recently featured an article about Lehman’s.

The article features an interview with Galen Lehman, Glenda Lehman Ervin and Jay Lehman as well as a glimpse into the workshop and work of Eli Miller (Lehman’s Craftsman) and Chuck Kirkpatrick.

Galen, Glenda, and Jay talk a bit about preserving quality American-made products, while focusing on Eli and Chuck’s role in Lehman’s efforts to continue to supply Historical Technology. Eli and Chuck work hard to manufacture and assemble some of our most historical and popular products that are still very useful today. Such Eli/Chuck exclusives include:

• Reading 78 Apple Peeler
• Lehman’s Best Butter Churn
• Our Best Grain Mill
• Old-Style Bucksaw
• Old-Fashioned Corn Planter
• The Froe

Also mentioned in the piece is a bit of Lehman’s history including the oil embargo and Y2K that are prominent chapters in our long proud story. There is even an audio interview.

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Webmaster: A Story and an Idea ( in New England, we call them Idears)
The power just came back on after a very cold day in Vermont, an ice storm, no heat, no electricity until a little bit ago. Well, an old woodstove helped us get through the day. This old stove come with the house and isnt really designed for cooking, but it was pressed into service today for coffee, hot water for tea, soup, and beef stew. Without Sunday football on TV to distract me because we had no electricity, I got to thinking about those beautiful woodstoves I’ve seen in Kidron when I’ve been back in Ohio visiting the relatives and family. So when the power came back on, I got on the web site and started wishin’ and thinkin’ about the many products that Lehman’s offers that could help us get through a day without power here in Vermont. We have many power outages here.

That was the story. Here is the idear. I would like to have a Lehman’s Wish List capability in My Account so I can place items on a wish list. I can think of many. Having the list would help me prioritize purchases based on our budgeting.

Whats the best wasy to learn about the cook stoves and whether or not they are appropriate for my home? I want to get rid of this old heat stove and put in a cook stove.

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This morning the first major snow fall of the season is supposed to net us over 2-4 inches of snow (looking out the office window, it looks like 5 inches). At Lehman’s we love the seasons, and in Northeast Ohio we get them all. You take the good with the bad when you get all the seasons, each presenting its own challenges and more importantly, their own beauty. Our neighbor has a wonderful barn that is used for boarding horses. The snow covering the barn and the trees beyond is very beautiful.
Herb took care of the sidewalks and the trees are wearing their snowy coats. The down side is the schools are closed or delayed and driving is difficult.

It just occurred to me that some of our regular readers may be thrown by the new graphic at the top of the Lehman’s Country Life web site. Don’t worry, you are at Lehman’s Country Life! We are just trying to show an appreciation for the beauty, and hope you enjoy it as well.

One idea we are working on is to take a photograph of a barn here in Wayne County through the seasons, these would be turned into proper graphics for display at the top of Lehman’s Country Life. In order to put this idea in motion I need a barn to photograph, for that I have turned to one of our contributors, Sue Steiner, who is getting the photos. Sue is an excellent photographer, artist, and regular contributor to the blog.

I hope the new graphic does not cause anybody to panic. We thought it would be nice to have a seasonal graphic, besides, change is nice once in a while. Enjoy the season.

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You don’t hear those words anymore!

Here in Wayne and Holmes County Ohio, the local paper, The Daily Record, does a nice job of reporting a balance of local, national, and world news. Recently Lehman’s was featured on the front page of the newspaper. The small part that Lehman’s played in the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is well-known around Kidron and Dalton, as well as the readers of Country Life, and now the rest of the Wayne and Holmes County area is aware of the connection.

Here at Lehman’s we are very proud and excited about this Christmas connection.

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I just read an article in one of the industry newsletters asking, “Do consumers care about online privacy?”. The article went on to outline how consumers do not understand the rules of the online marketplace, and there is a general apathy toward privacy and security. I am not so sure I agree. People may not necessarily understand or research what online security is about, but they certainly expect it. Personally, I do not blame them. (Note to self: write an article about security at Lehman’s!)

Security is just one part of the equation. Another part is establishing credibility. So just how do you establish online credibility? There are many businesses online; some are only online and others support a print catalog and online presence. Lehman’s is one of the unique businesses online that offers an online catalog, a print catalog and a physical store (open since 1955). If you have never been to Lehman’s store in Kidron Ohio, I personally recommend a trip. Even with an established catalog and a store that has existed for over 50 years, not everybody knows who you are. This is where a third party comes in to help.
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A surprise for the wife – revisited
The bakers edge pan is getting a work out. Since I despise the idea of baking from a box (all due respect to Betty Crocker), I thought I would try to make brownies using the recipe in the instructions for the pan. The first batch came out very nicely. Took them into work, they were enjoyed with rave reviews. The second batch went to Westview manor where my wife works. They were cleaned out (along with a batch of special recipe chocolate chip cookies) in no time flat.

So I thought I would blog these brownies. They really are easy to make, I clocked them at a half hour prep time (with several stops to watch Brett Favre on Monday Night Football). I know this is considerably more time than the five minute box, but from what I understand the results are well worth it. Remember I do not like brownies, the women in my life do.
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My mom has an awful time understanding technology. One of the best methods I have found to help her understand technology is to equate it to something she understands. My mother is a very intelligent woman, holding a Masters Degree, she worked in an office most of her life. When she got her first computer, she could not understand what was going on when Windows informed her that there is insufficient memory to run the application.

She would say that I have “10Gbytes of memory” (dated isn’t it)!

What she did not understand was the difference between storage memory and system memory. I told her that the storage memory was how big of a file cabinet you have to store folders, documents, etc. the system memory was how big your desk is to put those documents and folders on for use. That helped her considerably.

I will be writing a series of articles to introduce some of our more technologically challenged to some of the marvels that are available. As I find more marvels I will be adding, and introducing them.

I would like to introduce the readers of Lehman’s Country Life to the idea of RSS (Real Simple Syndication).

“Great” you say “but what does it mean to me”?

What is RSS?

I saw a blog posting elsewhere that described RSS as (Ready for Some Stories) I thought that was good. In one simple click you can get all the latest postings from Lehman’s Country Life and your other favorite blogs as well as the comments. Uber Cool huh? Most of the modern browsers have a built in feed reader including the latest release of Internet explorer (version 7) from Microsoft and FireFox from Mozilla. You can also utilize the services of some of the feed reading services on the web like bloglines or google. Some additional reading can be found at What is an RSS
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What is it with women and chocolate? Whatever it is, it seems to make them happy, so is the case with my wife. Whether it be some of the “specially made” chocolate chip cookies, or a pan full of brownies, it just seems to make her happy. Me, a good steak dinner, but that is not the point. The wife will eat every brownie around the edge of the usual 13″ x 9″ pan first, leaving the rest for the kids or as the last pieces eaten. I don’t get that either, but again, not the point.

When we got a sample of this Baker’s Edge pan at Lehman’s, I knew it was something that the wife would like. Well, today I purchased one and brought it home. Since I get home before her, I thought it would be a nice surprise to have some brownies waiting for her. She hasn’t felt well the last few days (the weather in North East Ohio has been a trifle damp- right Sarah), I thought this may help cure the blues. Not such a bad guy am I?

The pan comes packaged in a nice sturdy box, complete with instructions for use and a spatula made for the pan. The pans surface has a nice non-stick coating, only time will tell how it will hold up. The instructions suggest washing the pan first so I got my son on that job, while I started mixing the batter.
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It is often a running joke in my world, programming by the light of the Amish Double wick. As a hopeless techie and programmer, I am forever attached to technology. This does not mean that I cannot enjoy some aspects of life without electricity.

The Amish Double Wick lamp is one of the first purchases that I made from Lehman’s. I find candles very comforting and relaxing but sometimes lacking a bit in light output. Incandescent lamps are far too bright, besides they do not have the soft glow or dancing flame that is so soothing. Forget fluorescent lamps, they say the cycle of the lamps is imperceptible to humans, I dislike it none the less. At Lehman’s I am fortunate enough to have a desk lamp with an incandescent bulb, that is on the entire time I am at work. It serves to offset the fluorescent lamps of the office. I do not think Galen would want me to run an oil lamp at the office, I should ask him though. What do you think Galen?

My version of the Amish Double wick is one of the last examples with the old style font. It holds a lot of oil, which gives me a lot of time between fill ups. The oil I use (Lamplight Ultra-Pure) does not smell, give off any fumes, cause me any headaches, and burns clean. I try to keep the wick trimmed properly but this is an art I have not mastered yet. Filling the font is done in the garage, the large gallon size bottle is sometimes difficult to control and the font suddenly fills faster toward the top, spills are frequent.
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Ever since Elaine (One of Lehman’s buyers) told me to take a Terra Cotta bread pan with a crack in it home to test, I have been into making bread. She told me that the manufacturer said it was normal for a Terra Cotta pan to have these characteristics. Elaine wanted to know if, through use, the crack would get worse? Nope, it has not, in fact I like this pan a lot. Recently I stopped by the store to pick up the dough bowl that I have had my eye on for a long time. This is a wooden dough bowl that is intended to be used for bread rising. According to Sarah’s copy (our copy writer and the editor of this blog) and research on the internet, I find that the bowl provides the insulated environment that is perfect for the bread to rise.

Bread rises perfectly – Baked goods stay warmer
A welcome relief to bread bakers everywhere! You know how difficult it is to find the perfect spot when it’s time to let your bread dough rise. Our dough bowl is the answer. It doesn’t retain cold so bread dough rises perfectly. Insulates, so baked goods stay warmer. Absorbs oil (which helps season it), so fried foods stay crisp.

Another nice feature is the bowl does not need to be oiled, in fact it soaks up oil that comes out of the rising dough.

While at the store I picked up another terra cotta bread pan (being so satisfied with the first). The recipe I use makes two loaves so, typically I use the terra cotta pan and one of my standard glass pans for the recipe. As I was making my loaves of bread for the week this past weekend, I wondered how big of a deal it was to use the dough bowl. Then as I loaded the loaves in the new terra cotta pan that just got seasoned by my son and wondered how much of a difference these items make in the quality of the bread. I am going to answer that question below.
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