I was hanging laundry out to dry this morning and heard a horse and buggy in the distance, and I began to think about the things I appreciate about living in Lancaster County, and I wrote this poem:

Life in Lancaster County by Kelly F. Barr

Land of buggies, bonnets and straw hats;
Ladies quilting and men talking spring planting.
Children chasing farm cats.
Plowing fields and manure spreading.
Laundry hanging on the line.

Summer fields green and golden
with tobacco, corn and wheat;
Gardens full of zucchini, peas and spinach;
Amish children in bare feet
Peek around Mama’s skirts.

Fall brings great harvests
For income and feeding family;
We have pumpkins, wheat and corn
Filling the Thanksgiving horn;
And sharing from our bounty.

Fun to be part of a barn raising,
While the livestock are in the field grazing,
And the ladies prepare the evening meal;
Thoughts of shoo-fly pie keep me working with zeal.
This is life in Lancaster County.