The Rural Voice, 1999-09, Page 26The past is alive
Historial cfarming trades are still an important
part of Old Order communities
Story and photos by Sandra Orr
Solomon Jantzi works building a wooden wheel in his Perth County shop
(above). Below, Ezra Streicher and his family make horse collars.
22 THE RURAL VOICE
Carrying on trades using
methods popular a century ago
in a modern environment
struggling to keep up with
technology, a local Amish sect may
seem calm, well -ordered and appear
stable, but the squeeze is on from
other segments of the population in
that major paved county roads cut
through their community.
Living close by, so that travel five
or so miles a day by horse and buggy,
is practical, this community is
.definitely not isolated but exposed to
outside influences of all kinds — for
example, increasing cost when they
buy farms, losing members of their
sect and having to please other non -
Amish customers.
Near Milverton, Perth County,
flourishing trades such as a
blacksmith working in iron, harness
and collar -making with leather and
carriage -making with hardwoods are
under pressure to keep using
authentic materials, tools and
equipment.
Trades involving horses have an
up-to-date significance, in that horses
for transportation are popular, for
fairs and leisure. Blacksmithing and
harness making were commonly
practiced everywhere before the
advent of cars and trucks.
Looking after reams of relatives,
these separate Amish tradespeople
make new things the old way, using
pioneer tools, old machinery, lanterns
and diesel pumps instead of hydro.
Without phones, you need a
personal appointment to see skillful
trades almost as they were practiced a
hundred and more years ago, as an
out -of -the -ordinary way to provide a
modern livelihood.
With private schools and church in
homes, the Amish are able to keep
their community to the south and east
of Milverton together with about 200
families, or about 4,000 people,
mostly farmers and tradespeople.
The facade and main corners of
the villages of Poole, Topping,
Millbank and others, hasn't changed
in decades but they are surrounded by
modern -looking homes, many
without hydro but whose occupants
still use horse and buggy.
Manny Kuepfer, a farmer and
harness maker, drives three miles
every day to get his boys from
school. A tractor -trailer whizzed past,