Mary Swander's Buggy Land

Host Mary Swander tells the story of the "Bridge to Nowhere," the antique structure that once spanned the Amish River and connected Bull Town and Freemartin Town. Swander follows with a reading of some excerpts of her book of poetry The Girls on the Roof , a Mississippi River saga of a mother and daughter stuck on top of the roof of a catfish dive for three days during the 1993 flood. While there,...

In the final segment of the Fork Tales performance in Mt. Vernon, IA, farmer David Miller captures his run-away duck with a Mattel fishing net and puts out a wildfire burning through two acres of cover crops. Host Mary Swander then throws open the mic to two young volunteer storytellers---Eva and Alyssa-who have their own tales of ducks and crops. Music by Dale Beeks and the Mississippi String Ban...

Host Mary Swander provides a continuation of the Mt. Vernon, IA, Fork Tales Performance. Suzan Erem, the Executive Director of SILT, a sustainable land trust that builds food security by circling cities with community-based food farms, recalls how she became a rural activist. Laura Krouse, owner of Abbe Hills Farm and a legend in sustainable agriculture, tells how she endured this season of errati...

A Fork Tales performance: The first of three live recordings. Host Mary Swander coached farmers to tell their own weather-related stories at the Mt. Vernon, IA, Farmer's Market. First, Allan Mallie tells of his optimistic approach to derecho damage on his farm. Then Kevin Woods recalls surviving adolescence on a farm where the farrowing house was warmer than the human house in the winter. Music by...

It's the Quilt Show in Freemmartin Town. Host Mary Swander tells of her inclusion in an Amish come-as-you-are quilting bee. Ruby, the grossmommie, gives her recipe for Jell-o Postage Stamp Quilt Salad. A browsing of Plain Interests , the Amish newspaper, includes the care of a brood of bluebirds. Music by the Silver Trailer Girls, Laura Hudson Kittrell, Monica Leo, and Aleta Murphy. Underscoring b...

Host Mary Swander interviews Vernon Ropp, a local Mennonite man who makes lawn art, converting sewing machines to toy tractors. Ropp tells of attending an Amish one-room school and struggling to learn English. During the Korean War, he became a conscientious objector, performing his service work at the Alexian Brothers hospital in Chicago. Ropp traveled the world with the Mennonite Disaster Servic...

Host Mary Swander tells farm jokes and stories that she has garnered from her Amish and Mennonite neighbors, Practical Farmers of Iowa members, and her own experience of living in an old one-room Amish schoolhouse. Music by Alan Murphy from his album Hogs in the Cornfield.

Host Mary Swander tells a story about star gazing with the Amish and what it means to stay home for long periods of time. She explores the connections to the night sky in her poem "Heaven?" She reads about a universal cure from the Balm of Gilead tree when she browses Special Interests, the Amish newspaper. Music by Annie Chapman Brewer, Too Many String Band, and Marco Cacho.

Host Mary Swander explores the history and use of the harmonica, the one instrument that the Amish are allowed to play. Gospel tune: "We are Going down the Valley" Story of harmonicas as wedding presents. “Heavenly Harmonica Potatoes” recipe by Ruby, the grossmommie. Music by Patrick Hazell.

Mary Swander celebrates multi-cultural holidays by reading her classic Amishland Christmas story Adeste Fideles in Chinese, a tale of neighbors helping neighbors. Music includes Silent Night in German, Adeste Fideles in both Latin and Chinese.

Mary Swander interviews Iowa City landscape painter Marcia Wegman who captures the subtle beauty of the Midwestern farming landscape. Descriptions of realistic and abstract paintings emphasizing the contours of the land, the changing light and seasons, textures of the vegetation, and the wonders of the sky.

Rural churches get creative during the pandemic with drive-in-church services. "Angel Band" by Banjoy with Bob and Christy Black. Mary Swander delivers a monologue about local Amish, Catholic, Mennonite and Methodist church communities.

Mary Swander explains how she came to live among the Amish and the many gifts her neighbors have given her—including bear meat. She talks about Amish teenagers hunting bear in Colorado and plays The Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase on her banjo. Farmer Carlos Williams tells about hunting lightning bugs in a corn field. Swander’s perusal of Plain Interests focuses on the healthy benefits of good soil...

This episode focuses on selling livestock. From her book Out of this World: A Woman’s Life among the Amish.   Mary Swander reads of taking her sheep to the butcher in the back of her neighbor Donna’s car. Musician farmer Paul Roberts and the Great Blue Grass Herons sing Selling Hogs.  Swander tells of encountering a cattle drive while she is standing naked in the prairie. Finally, Swander peruses...

Mary Swander explains how she developed her online implement dealership among her Amish neighbors. Monroe Ropp uses one of those implements–his manure tank-­­­- to put out a house fire, and Paul Roberts and the Great Blue Grass Herons sing The Ballad of Monroe Ropp .  Swander reads excerpts from her drama Farmscape and peruses the Amish newspaper Plain Interests.