As you’ve witnessed in past blog posts, we have an over abundance of last year’s hay crop. In an effort to try to find buyers for about 200 square bales, we posted a free ad in the Farm Bureau Spokesman, a weekly newspaper for Farm Bureau members (a very informative Ag related publication). Like in fishing, we got a few bites but nothing very big. The other day, we got a phone call from a young man who needed some hay for his 160+ dairy herd. Dairy cows need excellent alfalfa hay. There is something called the RFV (relative feed value) of hay that requires an actual calculation and I believe that they need something close to 200 RFV. Anyway, we have never calculated the hay crop but my dad was pretty confident that he had some high quality hay to sell.

When they drove in the yard they had a big pick up truck with a wide flat bed and they towed a hay wagon. Over the phone, the farmer mentioned he wanted around 100 bales, but he must have liked it because he bought the rest of our crop that we’ve been waiting for someone to buy, which was over 160 bales! So it was well worth the wait. We helped load them all onto their wagon and truck. Now that’s a lot of hay!

If you look closely at the picture, you can see the two young men wearing black hats. The man on top is the dad and his 10 year old son is on the ground. They are Menonites, a religious sect from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania who live very frugally, wear uniform type dress and have several rules according to their religious beliefs. I find them fascinating, from their accents to their way of life. Many have moved to Iowa because they are slowly being pushed out by the ever growing populous of Philadelphia. They can sell their land there for $20 – 30,000/acre to developers and move to Iowa, buy a small farm, and continue their quiet and peaceful existence in an area that is free from large metropolises. I think for some, it’s a very huge adjustment, but Iowans welcome them and respect their beliefs and traditions. Some businesses in Charles City even have a place they can tie up their horse and buggy, the community is that hospitable.

I am in no way an expert, but just from my observation there are several different sects of Menonites. Some use electricity and some don’t. Some drive and some don’t. Some use rubber, some don’t. Some can only use steel or wooden wheels, others can use rubber tires. Some wear black hats and suspenders and some wear all blue. Some have Amish style beards and some never have facial hair. Many of them hire someone to combine their corn, but I have seen some harvesting in snow with their horse, wagon, and all by hand. Menonite farmers are highly skilled. Many of them are woodworkers, master gardeners, builders, contractors, and greenhouse owners to provide them and their families with supplemental income. Many of their families are large, with anywhere from 6-12 children. I think the idea is to have as many helping hands around as possible. The gentleman here and his son hired a man and his truck to drive them to our farm. We helped them do the work, but his 10-year old son was not shy of work! He was lifting 50-70 pound bales of hay that weighed the same as him!

I hope to catch a few pictures or videos of Menonites at the local farmers market where many sell their goods. Then you can get a better idea of what the women wear, how they speak and possibly some differences in dress among the sects. I wish you could taste their baked goods and fruits and vegetables, most are organic without certification and are very natural. In a neighboring town there is a Menonite store that is considered ‘health’ food, but in fact it’s all just wholesome, non-processed, homemade goodness. We all should be eating that way!