Finally, I was able to go out to my Faux Farm. And finally it wasn’t raining! (more…)

I have no clue – but there she was, just out takng a walk in the road. Can you blame me for taking the photo? I mean really, how often do you actually get to see the chicken cross the road? (more…)

Saturday was a cloudy day out in Lancaster County. The ground was wet and there wasn’t much work going on in the fields.

Plus it was the Gap Mud Auction. I did not go as I find this auction to be overwhelming due to it’s location. It is at a major intersection and the feeling and sense of community is lost with all the traffic. That is more my problem than anyone else’s as it is a highly attended event. Just not by me. Instead I traveled around the countryside on my way to Sylvan’s, taking some photos. And here they are.

I liked the green roof on these barns.

A quintessential buggy againt a white Amish barn.

A few quilts airing out on the line.

Nancy has picked her wedding day in November. It will be the first Amish wedding I will attend. I am so happy for her, and her boyfriend is a really nice guy. When I look at her compared to my oldest daughter of the same age, there is such a difference. Nancy is ready to be a wife, mother and member of a community. She has worked towards this her entire life. And quite frankly, I want the same thing for my daughter  however, it will be a few more years of college and experimenting, possible heartache and disappointment before she gets to that place. By then Nancy will have a few children. I can’t say which is better – I can only say that there is a peace and certainty about Nancy’s place in the world that my daughter will not have for a long time.

I am partial to farms in Lancaster County and for the most part they are Amish farms. The non- Amish farmersare affectionately referred to as tractor farmers by the Amish and that pretty much distinguishes them from each other on a basic farming level. You either farm with a tractor or with animals and there is too isn’t much in between.  However, I am aware that there are farms in other areas and so in all fairness when I was coming back from New York today I stopped in New Jersey and took some photos of farms in Clinton, NJ. So here is a little picture story about what I saw. I mean, what kind of Faux Farmer would I be if I didn’t check out all different kinds of farms. Just because I am a pretend farmer doesn’t mean I can’t pretend to be a well rounded faux farmer!

In NJ they seem to be more partial to red barns whereas the Amish tend to stick with white for the most part, though not always.

In NJ I didn not see any white barns, just for your information. I got no answer for that either.

Amish farmers tend go for the dairy cows and they have to be brought in each night for milking. They are fed in the barn each night and each morning and so you don’t usually see cattle being fed hay out in the fields in the Amish community like I saw here in NJ.

Now this might seems a little weird but you don’t generally see stone walls around Amish farms.  I guess it is because most of the land is very flat. They are big on fences, especially those white vinyl fences. I don’t have an answer about the stone walls. Maybe the land just wasn’t rocky and didn’t yield a lot of stones that they needed do something with. Just an observation.

Little falling down sheds are universal among all farms. Having said that, the Amsih community in Lancaster is very big in making new sheds and in fact probably manufacturers more sheds than anyone else on the East Coast. But again, old sheds are almost a farm requisite.

And last of all there are the barn cats. They are universal among barns and do not discriminate between NJ and Pennsylvania, Amish or English. It is pretty basic with them, they want food.

So that is all the time I had to take photos between getting back on the highway and heading home. Hope you enjoyed the tour. I know I did.

Faux Farm Girl

Annie

All the barns stand out against the white snow. (more…)

I am partial to farms in Lancaster County and for the most part they are Amish farms. (more…)

This is my first introduction to you of my best Faux Friend B. King. She is a fabulously creative floral designer and flower shop owner. You will meet her in the next week and she will give us great tips on how to create easy floral creations of our own. She has wicked since of humor and occasionally you can even see her on QVC selling garden items. (more…)