I caught these horses grazing in the morning mist at a September dawn a few years ago. The photo was taken in the heart of Ohio’s Amish country in Holmes Co., Ohio.
“Horses in the morning mist” is my Photo of the Week.
© Bruce Stambaugh 2019
Tag: horses
At the Gate
I had just finished talking to the young man about taking photographs on his father’s farm. As I started to get into my vehicle, I spotted the man at the gate to a ranging hillside pasture. This stunning pair of steeds trotted down to greet their friend. Since he had given me permission to shoot photos, I had to take this scene. I doubt that the man thought he and his beautiful horses would be my first photo.
“At the Gate” is my Photo of the Week.
© Bruce Stambaugh 2017
The Grass is Greener
I am fortunate to live among the largest Amish population in the world. A photo opportunity is seemingly around every curve. On a recent nice day, I was out and about taking some photos of spring emerging. As I topped a small hill, I saw this pastoral scene and just happened to catch this horse reaching across the fence to munch the same lush grass it was standing on.
Apparently, the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence. “The Grass is Greener” is my photo of the week.
© Bruce Stambaugh 2015
Photo of the Week
When I rounded the “S” curve north of our home, I saw this scene and hoped the horse wouldn’t move before I could capture the moment. Fortunately for me, it didn’t. I think the beautiful animal was simply enjoying the warmth of the morning sun, something that has been all too rare in northern Ohio this spring.
It just seemed logical to title this photo, “Outstanding in his field.”
Click on the photo for a full image.
© Bruce Stambaugh 2014.
Photo of the Week
I have been encouraged by friends and followers of this blog to share more of my photographs. I have decided to post a Photo of the Week, choosing the best photograph taken during the previous week.
I hope you enjoy this series of photos, and I welcome your comments.
The first offering is of an Amish farmer with his Down Syndrome son. The youngster walked the length of the field to catch up to his father and the team of work horses. His father placed a large chunk of a recently cut tree trunk on the harrow for the boy to use as a seat. Half-way across the field, the father handed the reins to his young son to guide the team of horses on his own.
Click on the photo to view a full image.
Charm Days will charm you
By Bruce Stambaugh
Ever experience a wooly worm contest? Ever want to go to Charm School? Ever watch a scoop shovel race?
You can do all that and much more October 8 and 9 in the little village of Charm, Ohio, located in a part of Amish country often overlooked by many tourists. If you are one of them, you don’t know what you are missing.
Charm Days began in 1987 with just a few businesses in the quaint and quiet unincorporated town holding a customer appreciation day sale, according to Ed Raber, one of the original organizers.
“Once the idea to expand the event to raising funds to help people was adopted,” Raber said, “we knew we had to reach beyond our little community to make it successful.”
Raber said the planners picked the second week in October to time Charm Days with the changing of the leaves. Charm sits in a small valley surrounded by unglaciated hillsides that hold a patchwork of farm fields stitched together with impressive deciduous tree lines.
During Charm Days, the folksy schedule of events swells the town’s population from 80 to 6,000, and no one goes away disappointed. Contests, food, fun, auctions and just plain old-fashioned curiosity attract thousands of people to the two-day event, coordinated by a long list of volunteers.
Raber emphasized that all the proceeds go to benefit the Charm Community Share and Care Fund. Raber said it was the decision to turn Charm Days from a special sale by merchants into an entertaining, fun-driven way to raise money for local needs that really turned the corner for the event.
“The first auction lasted 10 minutes with only a handful of items,” Raber remembered. “Now the auction lasts five hours.” Raber said that how the donations of auction items arrive is indicative of the generosity of the community.
“Nobody goes door-to-door asking for items,” Raber said. “People just know to bring things in.” A silent auction will also be held for Hospice of Holmes County.
Most of the events take place under a large tent that fills the grass playground of Charm Elementary School, where Amish children attend kindergarten and first grade. That allows Charm Days to go on rain or shine.
The festival kicks off with the Wooly Worm Derby, an event that alone is worth the trip to Charm. This year 124 children will coax their wooly worms up dangling strings. The teachers from Charm School will also participate, and there will even be a wooly worm race involving local merchants. It should be interesting to see if the adults behave as well as the children.
Each food stand at Charm Days raises money for local individuals and families who have experienced a devastating catastrophe. For example, the proceeds from one lunch stand will go to help a 17-year old boy who was severely injured after being kicked by a horse. Unfortunately, the young man has now developed cancer.
“We work with the bishops of Amish churches to help organize the bake sales,” Raber said. “The bake sales usually generate between $5,000 and $6,500.”
Even Friday’s volleyball tournament makes everybody a winner. Upon registering the teams, which numbered about 50 last year, designate what organization or person they want their winnings to go to. First place gets $500, second $300, third $200 and all the other participating teams $100 each for their particular charity.
Friday evening’s entertainment features three local favorites, Liberated 4 Him, The Glick Family, and Holmes County Bluegrass. The music starts at 7 p.m.
Saturday’s activities begin bright and early at 7 a.m. with the Flea Market. At 8:30 a.m., the Horseback Fun Show begins. Participants are expected to arrive an hour earlier to register for each event, according to Ray Raber, who is organizing the equestrian contests.
The horse show will take place near the intersection of SR 557 and CR 600 just south of Charm. Raber listed eight events, each with three different divisions. All are open to the public to participate in as well as watch. Ray Raber said the horse races would be completed prior to the auction beginning.
The benefit auction is the main event of Charm Days, hopefully raising $40,000 for the share and care fund. A Trip Around the Star queen-sized quilt, done in various browns and teals, is one of the highlights of the sale. Pieced by a Charm resident, about 20 local women hand-quilted the lovely piece in just two days.
Another specialty item to be auctioned off is one of only three replica grandfather walnut clocks of the original one built by Keim Lumber founder Moses Keim. Other quilts and merchandise, including many other handcrafted items, will also be sold.
By all accounts, it’s a festival you really don’t want to miss. Charm is located six miles south of Berlin on SR 557.
Charm Days schedule of events
Friday, October 8
– 1 p.m., Wooly Worm Derby
– 6:30 p.m., Volleyball for Charity
– 7 p.m., Old Time Fiddle Playing
Saturday, October 9
– 7 a.m., Flea Market
– 8:30 a.m., Horseback Fun Show
– 11 a.m., Benefit Auction
– 4 p.m., Drawings from participating merchants with a $1,000 cash grand prize.
Horseback Fun Show Schedule
– Obstacle Course Race, which is a new event
– Water Relay, where three different groups try to fill a bucket with water carried in a glass cup while on horseback.
– 100-yard dash for riders with ponies 50” and under.
– 200-yard dash for riders with horses over 50”.
– Pole Bending, which is similar to barrel racing.
– Stick Horse Race for children five years old and under.
– Scoop Shovel Racing, where a horse rider pulls another person riding a scoop shovel.
– Barrel Racing.
Events that occur throughout each day include:
– Benefit lunch stands
– Benefit bake sales
– Homemade barbecued chicken
– Homemade ice cream
– Homemade soft pretzels
– Kettle chips made fresh
– Kettle corn made on the premises
– Community Silent Auction for Hospice of Holmes County
Spring’s multifaceted green abounds
By Bruce Stambaugh
Green is not my favorite color. But I’ll make an exception, especially now when every plant and animal seems to be greening up in some way.
The most obvious change is in the grasses. They all transitioned from bland dormancy to verve seemingly overnight. Once relieved of their heavy snow burden, then drenched with intermittent rains followed by warm, sunny days, the grasses grew emerald uniformly on natural cue.
Whether front yards or rolling pasture fields, the green on green effect is stunning. It may be the greenest green I have ever seen, or maybe the winter was simply so long and so hard, that I forgot what true green really looks like.
Nevertheless, it’s marvelous to see the countryside covered with such a luscious, vibrant carpet. Only problem is mowing will commence shortly, if it hasn’t already. But it will be nice to inhale that fresh cut fragrance again.
In preparation for that initial trimming of 2010, many of the yards in Amish country have already been rolled and fertilized. That was part out of necessity, and part out of relief that winter was finally over. Yes, we had one nasty, last snow that left the roads the slickest of the winter. But my bones say that ammunition has been spent.
Grass isn’t the only vegetation to go green. My wife’s tulips, daffodils, crocuses and lilies have all displayed their various leaves at different intervals. Of course, the crocuses have bloomed and faded, and the daffodils were primed for Easter.
In the woodlots, colts foot were the first to unfold. The giant hardwoods hovering over them have swelled their buds, anxious to let their leaves unfurl. They’ll wait until it’s safe from certain future frosts, unless coaxed open by an extended warming spell.
The evergreens have no such problem. They have already transformed from the deep, mature green of the hibernation months to a lighter, brighter green that mirrors that of the grasses.
Things are greening up around my little garden pond, too. The moss and lichens, long covered by two feet of snow, now look like splotches of paint and bristle brushes, respectively. Water lilies are shooting their first leaves to the surface.
Both the variegated water plant and the variegated reeds are coming to life, with the former having a huge head start. Its bulbs are pushing their pale green and russet pointy leaves profusely, fighting through some soft, velvety grass that somehow homesteaded over the winter.
I would eliminate the grass altogether, except that the pair of resident bullfrogs prefers its lush softness for their sunbathing and bug collection. The frogs’ color, too, has evolved from the mucky blackness of the bottom of the pond to more their natural camouflage.The male tries to woo his mate with his deep throated croaking both day and night. From nearby wetlands, choruses of spring peepers erupt. It’s all music to my ears.
High on the neighbor’s pasture where Holsteins and draft horses grazed earlier in the day, deer come out of hiding at dusk to nibble at fresh green sprouts. By night, they clean the corncobs at my birdfeeders.
Really, just airing out the house with open windows and doors that invite refreshing breezes brings you closer to mother earth. I also glory in the secondary benefits, the simultaneous serenading of birdsongs and echoes of children playing.
Spring doesn’t get any greener than that.
Plowing haiku
Row by row Belgians
pull the farmer and his plow
up and down the field.
Bruce Stambaugh
April 8, 2010
Horses in the snow
Hillside horses fixed in the fog,
All facing north,
Heads to the ground,
Nibbling at whatever
They can find
Through the new fallen snow.
Bruce Stambaugh
Dec. 31, 2009
Roadkill Crossing 
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