Yeah, last year was the first that the ice-harvest was almost cancelled. It's held on Feb 2. Last year we had a warm spell - but then around mid-January, temps went to zero and below and by Feb 2 there was 9" of ice (8" is the minimum). Same thing seems to be happening this year except, if it doesn't turn cold in the next few days, there won't be enough ice. It was 15 below here two weeks ago, and now it's been hitting the high plus 40s. Weird. If this weather keeps up, there won't be any more maple sugaring either. I think the maple trees are getting confused. Ice harvest is held at Hanford Mills Museum, East Meredith, Delaware Co., NY. My wife is the asst. manager there. It's a "living history" museum - i.e. it wasn't built as a musuem. It is an orignal water and steam powered grist and saw mill that is now cared for by musuem people. Historically, the mill pond has always been used for community ice. Only difference now is - it's not done for profit or out of necessity anymore. All ice is scored with an ice-marker and mules. Then cut by hand (unless the old Ford Model T ice cutter is fired up), poled up a ramp, loaded onto an ice-sled, and pulled by horses to the ice house. Local people come and cut, load, and stack the ice. Then come August, there's an ice-cream making festival where the pond ice is used to make the ice cream.
Yeah, it's a lot of work and time - but fun at the same time. Especially mid-winter if the sun comes out. I get a kick out of seeing kids coming for the first time. Kind of hard to convince some of them that this was once the only way to have ice in the summer.
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Today's Featured Article - Gatherin of the Orange - by Rick Nikolich. In July of 1998 I was talking to fellow Allis Chalmers collector Mike Schilling about the annual "Gathering of The Orange" AC show coming up in August of 1999. He got this wild idea that we should get a convoy of AC tractors and drive them from Charlotte, Michigan 105 miles to LaGrange, Indiana.
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