Our Thanksgiving Turkeys are raised by Amish farmer John Mark Stoltzfus, from Sunny Hollow Farm in Hagerstown, Indiana. Last week I shared a story about one of the many times that Morgan Springer made a memorable trip to John Mark’s farm to pick up poultry for us.
Another time, he took his buddy and sister with him and as they were loading up the birds, his buddy commented to Morgan that John Mark’s daughter was cute. He joked about meeting up with her during her rumspringa (an Amish coming-of-age ritual where teenagers leave their farm to explore the outside world, all while deciding whether or not they want to stay in the Amish community). Later, when they were ready to leave, she told his buddy that she already had her rumspringa. He was very embarrassed!
Then, once they had loaded up the chickens and were ready to head home, John Mark told Morgan to be sure to stay out of the marsh, since his trailer weighed near 2 tons. Morgan got confused about what side of the road the marsh was on, so he turned left instead of right at the first road and drove straight into the marsh, sinking in and sticking fast.
Coming to the rescue again, John Mark rode over on what looked like a Roman chariot pulled by two huge, stocky, studly, almost nightmarish looking horses. The chariot was made with 2×6’s running across, connecting two metal-spoked wheels, with a hitch on the back. With one pull, Morgan’s trailer was pulled out of the muck and they were on their way!