I would almost bet that 99.999% of those that read this have never been to Clarita, Oklahoma. If you by chance have, you probably missed it unless you saw the one 8"x30" road sign stating "Clarita". It's just a wide spot in the road. It's really not even an incorporated town or city. It's on the highway near the next most well-known town of Olney, in Coal County.
Back in the late 1970s Clarita was about dried up and blowed away when some new folks moved from Ohio and set up shop there. There presence has fanned the dying embers and Clarita now has a new lease on life. You and I would call these new folks Amish. They just call themselves Plain People (and I'm not really sure about the capitalization).
About ten years ago I provided inspection services on a runway extension project in Durant, Ok. Due to the weather and some extraneous issues there were plenty of days that nothing was moving on the runway project. At lunch I started hanging out up at the north end of the AP where there were some hangers being constructed. They were all pre-engineered red-iron frame structures about 350' x 80'.
Only one crew of 5 men was working and they definitely looked Amish, beards and no moustache with what appeared to be all hand made clothes. A few still wore their 'trademark' straw hats.
I watched these guys hop on the hangar like ants on sugar. They had the entire frame up in one day, setting the roof purlins the next morning. I was a little confused in the fact that they had a generator and power tools, a rubber-tired picker and they all came to work in a van.
Now I thought Amish folks didn't cotton to power tools and such. So bein' the somewhat nosey fella that I am, I had to ask.
The best time to talked seemed to me to be the ONLY time these fellas sat down, at lunch. But I didn't jump in too quick. Their lunch time was preceded by a prayer. A prayer time longer than the Cash Family traditional "Bless the spuds, bless the meat, thank God, let's eat." Anyway, these guys were good folks. Friendly, but always "business".
These men hailed from the small Amish Community in Clarita, OK. Their wives, sisters and mothers had made all their clothes. I mean made. Wasn't even any store-bought material, all spun and woven wool and cotton. None had driver's licenses. Their 'van' belonged to their only non-brethren employee, Manuel. (That's pronounced "Man-well" for all you folks north of "thirty-six thirty") They 'rented' Manuel's van along with him as laborer and chauffeur to get back and forth to the job. Power tools were ok for work only.
They had a "business" and red-iron building erection was their game. These guys did not fool around and five men got more done in a day than some other contractors got done in a week. A work ethic that would make a normal man's back hurt.
After getting to know them over a short period of time I discovered that no one was part of their community that didn't want to be there. They saw it as necessary attrition if one left the fold. All their work and profits were communal. They all farmed and fed cattle when they got home. Along with prayer. A very important part of their daily life.
Their presence in Clarita represents the town's youngest population. They live throughout the Clarita and Olney area on well kept farms. They are farmers, ranchers, dairy farmers, carpenters, cabinet maker, a saddle shop, metal workers, grocers, gift store owners, a restaurateur, craftsmen, a buggy maker,general building contractors, a meat processor, a greenhouse, and a Farrier. They are an integral part of the Clarita community and support and take part in all community events.
They also support local construction and restoration projects with advice and hands on assistance. The biggest event each year is the Amish School Consignment Auction held the second Saturday of September. This is the largest one day event in the State of Oklahoma. The entire community, Amish and English pull together to keep the community like one big family.
Founded in 1978 by a relatively conservative group of Amish from Ohio and Indiana, the group is just a single church district in size, despite it’s almost 4 decades in existence.
As with some isolated and religious based communal life, there can be controversy, please read on... They not only brought their way of life from Ohio and Indiana, they brought their farming techniques...
But to adapt and survive in the serious compact clays of Oklahoma the Clarita Amish decided to allow tractors to be used in the fields. Tractors have been used since the community decided in favor of it in 1994 (with the requirement that they be steel-wheeled).
The justification for tractors was the difficulty of working the region’s hard-packed soil with horses (“Some Amish to Use Tractors; Those Opposed May Move”, The New York Times, April 16, 1995).
“We farmed (exclusively) with horses for the first couple years. We really all tried,” explained Clarita Amish minister Raymond Miller in an article for Oklahoma Today. ”Well, with good horses, we could plow two acres a day, and you plow ten acres and (out here) that part you plowed is dried out deep as it was plowed. So it’s just a completely different ball game than what we had back East.”
Miller added: “The reason we agreed to go on and use the tractor ourselves, own the tractor, was so that more of our young people can stay on the farm and raise the family at home” (“The Simple Life”, Ralph Marsh, Oklahoma Today, September 1996).
I'm not making light of their way of life, but it seems to me we should all be so lucky as to have the biggest socio-political decision of the decade to be what kind of tractors to use. But it was indeed important to them. Such alterations in century old traditions are not taken lightly.
My world is light years from their's. While I do respect their wishes and their work, I have to wonder why they cling to such simple lives. I don't know the answer.
I do know that when one of them asked me if I was a righteous man, I was the one that blinked. 😉
This is a good book. I think you would enjoy.
I will put myself in the 99.999 percent category although there is a very slight possibility dating to 1984. We were headed for Texas on Highway 69 and somehow cut over to drop into Madill. I prefer the shortest route, even if its through a cow pasture, so it might have happened.
Your analysis of things with the Amish community is a near perfect match for the group who moved into this area starting about 10-12 years ago. They came from the heart of the Ozarks in south central Missouri. They have two schools as they have spread out over a fairly large area. They will not own phones, power equipment, vehicles, tractors or anything modern. But, they will USE all of those things if owned by others. They won't operate tractors or vehicles but will work all day with nail guns, saws, cell phones and almost everything else so long as they are borrowing or renting it from someone else. They will hire dozers, backhoes and such when needed but they will not get on it or attempt to operate it. All wagons and machinery are on steel wheels---no rubber allowed. I recall seeing a field sprayer that was mounted to a manure spreader such that the pumps were powered off chain drives from the rear wheels of the spreader. At one farm they have your standard old style upright silo that they use. They fill the silo by forking the silage into a large quilt-like heavy cloth square with ropes around the edges. Workers use block and tackle arrangements to hoist the "bag of silage" to the top where workers carefully empty it into the pit while youngsters spend their day tromping it down with their bare feet. They are totally into the communal aspect where certain ones raise beef cattle, others raise dairy cattle, others raise hogs, chickens, turkeys, etc., while others are cabinet makers, harness makers, carpenters and so forth. The dairies can only operate because the single purchaser of their milk has erected buildings with refrigeration systems to store the daily input until the semi-milk hauler arrives to take it to the processing plant. The Amish do not own these buildings, so must have some sort of deduction taken from their payments to reimburse the milk company for the investment.
We have a sizable Old Order Mennonite community in our county - some live right across the road from me. They are good people and maintain their lifestyle although there is beginning to be a little loosening of secular matters. For quite a while they have used modern equipment for their farming & businesses (mostly farm related or craftsmen), but they are beginning to allow electric lights into the houses instead of being strictly lanterns, oil, or propane. But still a very simple life compared to the rest of society. However, it's still horse & buggies, but no car ownership - they will accept a ride and use a taxi when essential.
Mennonites and warm milk
I had a buddy years ago that drove a dairy tank truck and picked up raw milk from all the small owner-operator dairies spattered across the State. There was one Mennonite dairy he picked up from and the milk was hand pumped into his truck with what he considered some pretty antique equipment and six bearded men. He said it took a while compared to the more modern farms.
On a side note he said the temperature of the milk was always an issue with all the dairies. The Mennonites apparently had a wind operated evaporative cooling system for their tanks. He said they had more consistent milk temps than a lot of the commercial producers. And they did it without electricity.
Go figger....
They are really decent folks, and I have a lot of respect for them.
One thing's for sure, if the enemy ever successfully creates an EMP and knocks out our electrical grid, it will be business as usual for them, while the rest of the country comes to a standstill and scratches for something to eat.
While I don't prefer their standard of living, it does have some advantages.
Attractive women is not one of them, though. I like a little make up, myself. A fresh coat of paint can even make an old barn look good.
That analogy could get you in a heap of trouble!
StL, if you enjoyed that you would like this too, you too Unc!
"See You in a Hundred Years [Logan Ward]"
Near where I live in Northeast Mississippi, we nave both Amish and Mennonite communities. Both communities have a work ethic to be admired. They are an honest and hard working people.
I had a 21" D-handle machete leather sheath, one I liked with a solid leather belt loop sewn into the sheath itself that I had used for years that finally had seen its better days. The ones on the market now have the belt loop with dinky brads or a small loop stitched on to the side of the sheath. A few months in the field is about all that quality of craftsmanship will take. I took an extra new shorter sheath for an example and my old favorite broken good leather sheath for length and a pattern to an Amish leather worker and he made me two new leather sheaths for my machete. They are awesome quality, strong construction, top quality leather, and they are holding up years later. We buy raw honey, wicker baskets, and other leather products for my wife's horses. A lot of people use their farrier to get their horses shoed. Everything they make is quality workmanship with a craftsmanship rarely found outside their communities.
One unknown aspect
Wow! I didn't know about that!
One unknown aspect
Sorry, guys. The bad guys here aren't the Amish, it's the sensationalizing write-fer-a-buck authors. People like that can make you look like a guy that steals candy from babies for fun. It's no fun when the microscope is turned on you.
One unknown aspect
I went to the big auction last September in Clarita. It was more like a big flea market with auction on on a lot of stuff such as old furniture, livestock, and Amish quilts.By the way, the quilts went from a couple of hundred dollars to a way over a thousand.
The food prices from the venders was outragous. I was disappointed and don't think I will go back, however I think the Amish folk are good hard working people.
One unknown aspect
A number of observations:
It appears there is a general oversupply of adult dogs, but people are still buying puppies at the shops, some of which end up in shelters and are put down. This is the root of the problem, and is inherent in human nature.
Dogs with registration papers would seem to be less likely to be abandoned.
The rather high auction prices quoted in the article would seem to apply only to registered dogs.
The producers are selling into a legal market where there is demand. Can't the protesters do something about demand rather than attacking supply?
The article assumes that what is ok for cattle, sheep, and hogs is not ok for dogs. Why aren't they arguing against cattle auctions and hog confinement farms? I guess puppies are cuter.
I'm not sure about one of their statements - that Ohio is the only state east of the Mississippi that allows dog auctions. Google: dog auction Thorp Wisconsin. The article I read indicated that licensing and inspection had been enacted but didn't say auctions were prohibited.
The writer has a good grasp of the principle I often quote from a Heinlein novel. Which would you rather have, a juicy medium-rare pink grilled sirloin steak, or a hunk of seared bloody muscle flesh from an immature castrated bull? The article was written with lots of emotional subtext, words with a more negative connotation than their surface interpretation. "As a sky the color of wet pavement starts yielding rain" has nothing to do with the subject, but sets a downer mood. If it had been a nice day, I doubt they would have written "Under scattered fluffy clouds that made dancing shadows cross the sunlit scene ..." They mention sheriff deputies but don't really say what they are doing. They describe the auctioneer's chant as "buzz-saw". And so on.
It is a problem how dogs are sometimes treated. It is a shame how so many end up in the humane society shelter. But I don't like sensational articles.
One unknown aspect
I kinda thought the same thing, Bill. With such an emotionally charged subject as 'puppy abuse' it would have been a lot better (and probably easier) to report facts and let the reader draw the conclusion.
It's kind of like the six o'clock news...it borders on fiction.
On a personal note, Money Penny and I donate generously to our favorite few canine shelters here locally. Surprisingly there are even crooked and cruel "shelters" that play on folks emotions and take your well intended donations. Very little or NONE of the money reaches the doomed animals in some cases.
The human animal is capable of some disgusting behavior, toward animals AND each other.
One unknown aspect
>
> The rather high auction prices quoted in the article would seem to apply only to registered dogs.
>
> The producers are selling into a legal market where there is demand. Can't the protesters do something about demand rather than attacking supply?
>
It seems the photographic evidence would trump the words of the writer.
This is an advocacy group. They are gong to present their case as advocates.
There is a vast number of rescue groups throughout the US and the internet. One can adopt at a reasonable cost. Recently, two people that we know have adopted from a local rescue group. Both dogs were pedigreed.
Our dog was rescued from a person who was running a 'puppy mill' over the border here in MS and bringing in small lots of dogs to sell. He kept them in inhumane conditions which you would not believe.if I told you. I dropped the dime on him in more than one way and he was a local minister.
Once I was assisting on a wetland determination and we stumbled upon a beagle puppy mill. There were between 500-750 dog with no supervision. Dogs penned in small enclosure in abandoned barns and coops.
c
