Howdy, folks! Today I’d like to talk to y’all about the time I moved to an Amish Farm with my family In Southwest Missouri.
That certainly was a time to have! And a very humbling experience as well, which I intend to share some of that with you today!
First off, to those reading this let me say that I AM NOT AMISH and neither is my family. You move to an Amish farm and all of a sudden people get the idea that you’ve converted.
Though we weren’t Amish, we did live in one of the houses that they had built and for almost a year we lived how they we’re living, so in January of 09′ when that nasty ice storm had hit my family we weren’t really effected at all because we didn’t have any electricity to begin with.
For about six months I believe we lived without electricity, the day light savings had went an hour back so night came fast and it got really DARK out there so we had to move very quickly getting the chores done, such as going to the windmill and filling five gallon buckets with water to prepare for our baths and also had to get water for our pets as well. As you can see there was much to be done, so when 4:00 pm came around, everyone was frantic.
“You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone…”
People can’t imagine how much water they use until they have to tote it all over the place in a five gallon bucket! Also, our bathroom was a three-seater outhouse (some people don’t know what that is). I had heard of one, but never used one until we moved there. (Don’t question the three-seater part – I will save that for some other day.)
Among other stuff living on an Amish Farm was a paradise, wasn’t that luxurious as you’d think. But it did have it’s perks, and helped us connect to the real world a little more and the beauty around us that God created. No T.V. … hardly anyway to have a computer, Well there wasn’t one. What did I end up doing for fun? Well, I had always watched Scooby Doo up until that point, though I’ve always loved to read I happened to find more time to read when I moved there.
What else could I do?
Aside from daily chores, winter was coming and we had to get wood gathered for heat which came from our wood-stove. There wasn’t much more that I could do. I found myself outside more – a-lot actually. Riding my bike, playing hoops or just running around like wild. No I didn’t actually run around like wild, but I did run around. And I got a lot of reading in as well. Mostly stuff like Scholastic, Scooby Doo and this one collection of books my mom brought me called “Puppy Patrol” – I LOVED those books! I still do! I never got the full collection, though, but during my time at on the farm I did indeed read every single one that I had. And other books, one about the holocaust, which was really sad but educational.
I learned a few things there and experienced a lot, too; I remember how before that I wasn’t much of an early-riser. I’ve never been much an early-bird anyways. But when you’ve got no T.V., computer, or much light at night, you find yourself going to be around 7:00 pm and waking at 7:00 am while being awakened by your distant neighbor’s mule. Or the neighbor himself talking (He was a very loud-speaking man) One morning I woke and heard his voice and he was all the way at the back of our land by a fence talking to my grandmother and uncle. That’s how big his mouth is – some people are just that way, though.
Having that experience will also help me in my acting career as well. When I was attending the two week acting camp in July of 2011, all my classmates were all fascinated about the whole thing as well. And that is something that one of my Drama instructors mentioned to me is that It would help knowing how it is to be in that setting if I ever got an opportunity to play a role in such a time period, having the experience living that way would help me in the future.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”- Benjamin Franklin
It has also taught me to be prepared. That isn’t just something that the Boy Scouts or living an Amish lifestyle taught me but something my grandma has instilled in me from the day I was born. Being prepared for anything that will be thrown your way is important and it helps keep you from panicking as much, too. Knowing what to do is important in a time of urgency; without preparation you are just preparing yourself to fail.
God bless y’all!
Sincerely,
