wednesday's words and wonderings and wanderings

Last week  my boss asked me to ride along in the box truck to go to the produce auction with her. Her son is the one who goes to the auction every week to buy vegetables to supplement what they grow at the farm. He wasn't able to go and she wanted a riding buddy for the 1 1/2 hour drive to Bainbridge, Ohio.

Along State Route 41 in rural western Ross County, Ohio is a thriving settlement of Old Order Mennonites. The community features a general store, a bakery, a craft shop, restaurant, and a produce auction, along with several other smaller home-based businesses. This area is gorgeous when the leaves begin to change in autumn. Ross County is perched on the edge of Appalachia where the flat farm fields of central and western Ohio run up against the first rolling ridges to the east. The drive was beautiful. We went from two lane highways, through small towns, to narrow two lane roads where horse and buggies shared the road with motorized vehicles. For being 1 1/2 hours away, the fall colors were more vibrant than the ones at home.

Old Order are those Mennonite groups of Swiss German and south German heritage who practice a lifestyle without some elements of modern technology, still drive a horse and buggy rather than cars, wear very conservative and modest dress, and have retained the old forms of worship. Formal schooling in all groups ends with eighth grade. All speak Pennsylvania Dutch as their first language. 

My boss has been going to this auction for many, many years, and she knows so many of the farmers and their families. We visited a couple families while there. One man, Jesse, refinished a butcher block for her. It was painted blue and white when she got it but now it is a magnificent statement piece of furniture. We stopped by Freddie's farm to get some apples and his daughter was delivering 200 loaves of sourdough bread to a customer. She said this week she baked over 500 loaves. 

For six hours, we had taken a step back in time to a quiet, gentle life, one where we were welcome but one that belonged to the Mennonites. It was a reflective drive back home with a beautiful sunset right as we pulled into the farm.