Sometime during the 1950's, our parents Edward and Mary Swartzendruber decided to combine their first names to identify their chicken-raising business Edwamar Poultry Farm. The first place that this name appeared was in the August 1957 Bulletin of the Indiana State Poultry Association. Not too long after that, they shortened the name to Edwamar Farms since corn, oats and wheat [and one off-the-rails year of tomatoes] were also being raised. Ed was the first in the area to put in an irrigation system for the corn, and most everyone thought he was crazy. However, after a few dry summers, others decided it was not such a bad idea, and now virtually every farm in the area has an irrigation system.
When Ed got more involved with Wolfe Grain in Shipshewana, and then later with EDD'S Supplies, a fertilizer business, he decided to hire a full-time farm hand. I did my share of chicken catching, manure shoveling and irrigation pipe moving, but the farm needed a full-time worker.
There were only two hired hands in the history of Edwamar, and the first was Jim Boyer. The Boyers had a farm not too far from ours, and Jim was available. The Boyer family all flew small airplanes, and Jim was a good mechanic. One thing that I clearly remember about Jim was that he was never in hurry to get anywhere or do anything 😃 You can read about Jim in this obituary. I'm not sure how many years Jim worked on the farm, but when he departed, his replacement was Devon "Slugger" Bontrager.
To say that Slugger was a character would be an understatement! He grew up Amish, but like many, left that group to join the Mennonites - "jerked-over" as such folks are affectionately known! He spoke Platt·deutsch throughout his adult life, and never did lose that low-German accent. He was a bear of a man, and there was nothing farm-wise that Slugger couldn't do. Some particularly great memories include the sweet corn patch that would always be planted so that we kids and cousins could sell corn in a makeshift stand along the road; the Concord grapes that grew behind the chicken houses and at Slugger's house that he and Esther built on the farm; and of course the barbequed chicken!! When Slugger would fire up the multiple grills for a big barbeque, there was never a shortage of helping hands who knew that they would be the first to taste the freshly grilled chicken. You can read about Slugger here.
13 comments:
The sweet corn field. About that. As I recall, Ed had to go check something out at the farm. He rounded up Jimmy Miller and myself for the ride along. It had just rained and the corn was about 4 or 5 feet tall, so you tell me what time of year it was. Anyway, Ed got to checking and us boys, being boys, got restless and started running amok (literally) in the corn field. I did not know that you could attach so much mud to a shoe. But the look on Ed's face when Jimmy and I got done with that amok running. And this is priceless: He made us crouch down in the back seat on the floorboard for the ride home. I still remember it to this day. I think Jimmy and I both came out of this as stronger humans.
Wonderful memory! The month may have been July - the sweet corn did not get much bigger than 5 feet. And I too remember the mud, particularly when moving the irrigation pipes. Each irrigation "session" put out about 1 to 2 inches of "rain", and that prairie soil got mighty sticky!! BEdward - could you ID yourself? I'm drawing a blank on who would have been hanging out with Jimmy :-)
Little Tex, of course.
Yes, it popped into my head that you are B E - thanks!! Hope y'all are doing well.
Hey, DouglaRhon, I remember summer visits to New Paris as a youngster, and one of those summers is when Ed raised tomatoes. Was with him one day when he was doing farmerly chores, like filling a water truck at the New Paris Creamery and driving it to the tomato patch somewhere in the countryside. We were on an asphalt country road and approaching an old iron bridge. The bridge posted a weight limit warning sign, and I was sure our loaded water truck drastically exceeded that limit. I drew Ed’s attention to the matter and he laughed it off. We crossed the bridge and it creaked and rumbled, but no collapse. My son-in-law, who is a civil engineer, said it would probably take two or three times the posted limit to actually collapse the bridge. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but am thinking we weighed nearly twice the posted limit.
One of my sisters and I went out to the farm with dad and Ed. Uncle Ed told us to stand in a corn aisle. About that time the irrigation water hit us! It was soooo cold and heavy. We screamed and ran
As a lad one of my tasks was herding chickens toward a straw bale chute for Doug to grab and stuff into bird crates. Those little peckers were quick and nasty. This was before the days of no range chickens. They had plenty of space to scatter.
Steve - the Year of the Tomatoes is a long story, and I believe that Dewayne Johns also gave a shot at raising tomatoes. The most memorable event was when the migrant workers almost burned down the small shop/weigh station at the farm. They were living there during the harvest, and likely started the fire while cooking. Like Ed would say, he raised tomatoes two times - the first time and the last time!
Cousin Linda - easy to believe! Ed always kept an eye of when the irrigation water was coming around :-)
Anonymous [Doc] - ah yes, rounding up the chickens - always a joy! :-)
Great tribute to two great guys. Slugger's face looks familiar, but I can't say that I met either one of them. I enjoy your blog. From time to time, I check it out. Peace
Thanks a lot Ron. I also enjoy your posts, and of course have very fond memories of your dad. He would probably be pleased that one of his Cubs from the Class of 64 is still hooping it up every week 🙂
I remember that name Dewayne Johns. When I was growing up and the family visited New Paris, cuzzin time was always cut short because the Swartzendrubers usually left early to go visit the Dewayne Johns. Lol!
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