{"id":4627,"date":"2022-01-06T17:29:57","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T17:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zuschlag.us\/?page_id=4627"},"modified":"2025-01-12T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-12T23:00:00","slug":"building-a-barn","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/zuschlag.us\/?page_id=4627","title":{"rendered":"Building a Barn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Given the complications of everything else going on in my life.\u00a0 This one was easy and indeed a welcome project.\u00a0 \u00a0Aside from the alarming cost, it went really well!<\/p>\n

Giving up the renovated \u2018big barn\u2019 \u2013 the one in which we held our wedding reception was hard. \u00a0But the truth is, we can still look at it across the pond, and I think I\u2019ll still probably wind up spending more time in it over the years that I care to. \u00a0So it was a loss I could live with.\u00a0 The smaller barn next to it, which was basically a flimsy shack of a barn always meant to be torn down, was oddly harder to part with \u2013 it has been the home of my chickens and pigeons for 21 years.\u00a0 I built all their pens over the years and while ramshackle, it did its job.\u00a0 Now I had to scramble to find them a new home.<\/p>\n

So a new barn closer to the house and purpose built for the chickens and pigeons and \u2018stuff\u2019 (mowers, tractor, etc) made a lot of sense and was something I was excited about building.\u00a0 Actually, the site had been planned for years as well, so it really was a matter of finding someone to build it for me.\u00a0 That proved to be the hard part.\u00a0\u00a0 Shopping around showed that there was a wide, wide disparity in pricing, even for something as utilitarian as a barn.\u00a0 Of course, not wanting something quite so utilitarian made it a bit harder, but even so, I was shocked at the price range.\u00a0\u00a0 Finally settling on \u201cThis n\u2019 That Amish Outlet\u201d<\/a> to build the barn proved to be the right choice.\u00a0 Not only was it half the price of the nearest competitor, their workmanship, based on two examples I had seen, was excellent. \u00a0So I drew a sketch of what I wanted, paid them a hefty deposit, and waited.\u00a0 A crew of Amish carpenters would put together the barn in panels in Lancaster, PA and bring to Virginia and assemble it in June.\u00a0 I was told I would be surprised at how quickly it would all happen.\u00a0 Turns out, I was surprised at how long it took. \u00a0Finally at the end of September, I got a call saying that they were ready to come down and assemble my barn. They arrived at 7 am on the appointed morning with several large flatbed trucks, a super high-tech modern crane, and a crew of Amish teenagers. \u00a0Within 3 days my barn was built and roofed. \u00a0That did surprise me! \u00a0All that was missing was the barn door (on order since August for a September delivery.\u00a0 I\u2019m now told it \u2018might\u2019 be ready in February).\u00a0 \u00a0The barn was exactly as I had drawn it, and wonderfully constructed.<\/p>\n

The crew were fantastic.\u00a0 They surprised me on several counts.\u00a0 First their youth, and then their seemingly non-Amish ways.\u00a0 Some were dressed in traditional garb and sported the expected bowl haircuts, others not.\u00a0 But all had no problem handling electric power tools, cell phones, and they all had big trucks and one drove the high-tech crane like it was a go-cart.\u00a0 These guys clearly had deep knowledge of 21st<\/sup> century technology. \u00a0This familiarity with the modern world, however, went hand in hand with their youth.\u00a0 They all had left school at the 8th<\/sup> grade as is the Amish way.\u00a0 Once they reached 17-18 years old, they were basically free to do what the wanted.\u00a0 Get a job, live on their own, etc.\u00a0\u00a0 Once upon a time, they\u2019d reach that age and get married and join the Church and settle down.\u00a0 Some actually still do.\u00a0 But most young Amish men, like most young men everywhere aren\u2019t all that eager to get married at age 18.\u00a0 And what\u2019s a young man going to do if he doesn\u2019t get married until the ripe old age of 26?\u00a0 Well, he\u2019s not likely to officially join the church beforehand, so he\u2019s most likely to get a job, see how the world is, and then eventually settle down.\u00a0 Now, if you\u2019ve only got an 8th<\/sup> grade education your job prospects are pretty limited – hence this crew of late teens and early 20s all working hard in construction, making money and having all the clothes, trucks, and phones that their \u201cEnglish\u201d counterparts have. \u00a0I was actually a bit disappointed.\u00a0 I wanted them to appear \u2018other\u2019 and somehow quaint and backward.\u00a0 But they were all just like any other young men.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, they may have been a bit politer and more hard-working than their \u2018English\u2019 counterparts, but frankly not really.\u00a0 Maybe just a little neater and a tad less jaded.\u00a0 Desperate to get some insight into their lives I asked the one fellow who stood out, given his high style haircut and flashy basketball shorts, \u201cwhat\u2019s it like, working with the Amish?<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 He gave me a puzzled look and said, \u201cBut I’m Amish too!<\/em>\u201d \u00a0I was shocked. They just didn\u2019t seem like the slightly inbred yokels I\u2019d always imagined the Amish to be.\u00a0 He patiently explained that it was only once they had consciously decided to join the Church and be baptized that they would have to follow all the rules.\u00a0 Until then, once they were old enough to live on their own and get a job, no one cared how \u201cEnglish\u201d they looked or what technology they used.\u00a0 In fact, some may not even ever join the Church.<\/p>\n

Finally, on the last day their big boss came to inspect and see that I was satisfied.\u00a0 This was Reuven, the man I\u2019d spoken to on the phone and delighted in his Pennsylvania Dutch accent. \u00a0He was driven to the site by another co-worker and when he stepped out, he did not disappoint.\u00a0 Homespun clothes and suspenders, beard with clean upper lip, and generally straight out of Amish central casting. \u00a0But he was so cheery, funny, and such a contrast to my image of a dour Amish that I still couldn\u2019t believe it.\u00a0 Where was all the narrow-minded piety and urge to \u2018shun\u2019 anyone that didn\u2019t follow all these arcane rules?\u00a0 I had always lumped the Amish in with Ultra-Orthodox Jews, Southern Baptists, or the Taliban, as fundamentalist idiots stuck on scriptural literalness and their intent on denying their enjoyment of God\u2019s creation to its fullest as a misguided piety signaling. \u00a0I guess my prejudices were confronted with evidence to the contrary!\u00a0 Needless to say, I\u2019ve adjusted my priors.\u00a0 \u00a0The jury is still out on those fundamentalist \u201cwoke\u201d progressives, however.<\/p>\n

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