28/05/2026
As I was working in the barn last night, my eyes kept drifting towards my great-grandfather's tractor. My memory instantly shifted to when I was a little girl, exploring and playing in his tremendous garden in southern Indiana.
He was born Amish in 1905, and the story goes this 1944 Allis-Chalmers was the first thing he purchased after he "jumped the fence". In case you don't know that's Amish humor for "leave the Amish". Ha! Though he died before I was born, my childhood was filled with stories about him. Oh, how he loved to garden alongside my (sweet as her sweet pickles) great-grandmother. They would tend to their crops together with earnest care. He was a preacher a carpenter and an avid lover of growing all things. The trade he passed along to my father and his passion for growing I equally share.
I remember well my great-grandmothers kitchen in the summertime. It seemed to always smell like a mix of vinegar and her famous sugar cookies. I can see her now in her house dress, covering always in place upon her head. She's bent down, working in her strawberry patch, tending to her grapevines, or standing at the stove pickling well anything!
They were people of deep moral integrity, faithfulness, humility and compassion. They toiled years away creating a heritage that I know I will never match. Still, my secret hope is that they are peeking down from heaven watching me try, fail and sometimes succeed.
I'll never know if my grandpa Elmer ever thought of his great granddaughter. But every time I look up at that orange tractor, you can bet that I'm thinking about him. 🚜🧡
Is there something that sparks your memory or makes you feel close to the ancestors in your past? I want to hear your stories!
