Farewell to 2015

Life rarely turns out exactly the way you want it to, but you still have an opportunity to make it great.  

Replica of an 1829 Stephenson's Rocket,

built for the 1923 film, "Our Hospitality"

You have to do what you can, with what you have, exactly where you are.  It will not always be easy, but it will be worth it in the end.  Remember, there is no perfect life, just perfect moments. And it's these moments you must cherish; it's these moments that make the whole journey worthwhile.  Obstacles can be viewed with quick thinking in positive light, as seen in the film, above.

Thank you for being a part of our journey at Eaglesfield Percherons.  May you all find peace, love and prosperity in 2016.  

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The School Bus is Here!

1930 Aroostook County School Bus
Making Rounds in Downtown Presque Isle, Maine.

(These lucky children have a heater!)

Photo:  Dick Graves Collection

Today's the Day for the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train!

It's that time of year again, and Santa, aboard the Canadian Pacific line visited us today in Didsbury.

The Holiday Trains travel through Canada and the United States, stopping at communities along the way offering free concerts from their boxcar-turned-stage, amongst other seasonal festivities.  Over the three weeks of the program, there will be over 150 free concerts all over North America.

These trains not only bring a spark to the holiday season and tradition.  They also provide an opportunity to build up food bank supplies in both Canada and the United States.  The festivities are free, but you are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items as a donation.  Monetary donations are appreciated as well.  It is good to note that all contributions in the community stay within the local community.

Since 1999, the Holiday Train has raised close to C$9.5 million and 3.3 million pounds of food for North American food banks.  As stated before, all donations stay within each community and Canadian Pacific makes an additional donation at each stop on their route.  It has been found that in some places, the Holiday Train program can raise the majority of money a food bank requires for the year.

Click the map above for the Holiday Train Schedules for Canada and the United States.

Click the photo above to detail the Holiday Train routes and stops for both Canada and the United States.

Hopefully, you'll have the chance to enjoy the Holiday Train event, and make it a traditional must-do for you and your family to enjoy for many years to come.  Click the train above to see the video of this must-do holiday tradition.

It is through giving that we truly receive which brings joy in our hearts. What a better message for us all this holiday season.

String the Lights, Camera, Action!

Hay, It's a Light Show! (2015)

We send our greetings and salutations across the continent to the Messick Farm Equipment folks of Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. Messick's has been a long-standing icon in their community since 1952, when two brothers broke ground in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Business was (and still is) good. 

Deck the 'Botas (2014)

In 1976, the successful Messick enterprise broke ground again on a 21-acre location, later expanded this location in 2005 onto an adjacent car dealership, and again in 2013, expanding their service shop space to repair large equipment.

To give a bit of joy back to their community, Messick's started their Christmas light shows on a small scale some 10 to 15 years ago. Back then, only a couple of pieces of equipment were decorated for all to see along Highway 283 (at the Rheems Exit). 

Blanketed Holiday Lights (2013)

Then, Messick's began their annual participation in the local Christmas parade every year, driving decorated equipment.  

Messick's is Always a Hit

Elizabethtown, PA Christmas Parade (2015)

New Holland SP.275F

In 2013, a full-scale launch into a musical, light-choreographed show, supported by 32 decked-out Kubotas, sent Messick's holiday orchestra message out to the masses.   

Tractor Christmas Orchestra 2013

The Messick's traditional light show continues on in 2015, with more equipment, more lights and more sound.  All visitors have an open invitation to stop by, park and sit with the family and enjoy the show.  There is no fee for anyone to attend (except busses - $3/person).  There is an opportunity for visitors to donate for local charities (focusing on food and homelessness) on their way out after the show -- only if you are able. 

Inspired?  Want to see the effort behind such a production?  Click on the rear tire below to join the Messick boys as they perform a "show and tell" explaining the process.

Under a Spray of Lights

Elizabethtown Christmas Parade 2015

New Holland SP.275F

The Messick family philosophy is to work with credibility, honesty, integrity, and courtesy because a sincere relationship with their customer is of utmost importance.  

We are sure that Lancaster County appreciates Messick's for their business, as well as their fellowship, entertainment and charity collection efforts during the holiday season.  In 2013/2014, they raised over $50,000 for local families via: 

Habitat for Humanity

Mennonite Disaster Service

Water Street Ministries

Paxton Ministries

Community Cupboard of Elizabethtown.

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Eaglesfield Percherons salutes you, Messick Farm Equipment, and your efforts from afar.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

•.¸✽✽¸.•

Messick Farm Equipment
187 Merts Drive, Elizabethtown, PA 17022

717-367-1319 / 800-222-3373

877-260-3528 Parts Hotline

W.T. Walter's Victor

W.T.  Walters Company's auction advertisement for Victor, an import from 1881 to Baltimore, Maryland.

Is It, Or Isn't It?

Here's an answer to an age old question that surfaces this time of year . . . Is it a yam, or is it a sweet potato?

First Things First.

A yam is not a sweet potato.

A sweet potato is not a yam.

(Nor is it even a potato -- it's a root vegetable!)

Huffington Post, November 26, 2013
Renee Jacques & Andy McDonald

Yams are from Africa, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and Central America.  A theory for the name "yam" could refer back to the slave-era of the South wherein the African word, "nyami" (translation: to eat) was shortened to "yam."

Thanks to the FDA regulating food labeling in the United States, there is not a standard with regard to identity of sweet potatoes or yams.  However, the USDA requires sweet potatoes to be labeled as such, and not as yams. 

Sweet Potato-Apple Cobbler
By Kitty Forbes, Georgia ~ Southern Living ~ Click Photo for Recipe

Back in the 1930's "yam" became a marketing term for the sweet potato in grocery stores in selling their fresh and canned products.   It might have simply been a preference for a "4-letter vs. 12-letter" word abbreviation for store signage in advertising the product.

                                                                    

                         Sweet Potato Soup w/Maple Bacon                         Roasted Sweet Potato Salad
                            By Realfoodandicecream.com                        By AverieCooks by Averie Sunshine

            Click photos for recipes.

Sweet potatoes are grown in the United States with a primary concentration of production coming from the great States of North Carolina, Louisiana, California, Mississippi and Texas (in that order).  Harvesting kicks into gear mid-to-late August through December, with the November - December crop being the must luscious and flavorful.  

The Best Roasted Sweet Potatoes
The Food Lab ~ J. Kneji Lopez-Alt ~ Serious Eats ~ Click Photo for Recipe

Their blooms hint to us that they are of the Morning Glory family.

How do you tell them apart?

Yam:  If it's ugly and hairy, sometimes cylindrical, starchy and dry (more like a yellow potato).  If it's (typically) orange, thin skinned and moist and a tuber shape, then it's a sweet potato.  

In Asia, the sweet potato is purple in color.  

In other cultures, lime and sweet potato are mixed to dye cloth. 

Photo:  Foodcolor.com

The pigments in purple sweet potato are called anthocyanins 
which have been noted as being 
"among the most desirable for their superior color and stability."



Sweet potatoes are beneficial for your health in a number of ways:

Nutrition Facts Serving size: 1 medium (4.6 oz / 130 g) Calories 100   Calories from Fat 0 *Percent Daily Values (%DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.	Amt per Serving	%DV*		Amt per Serving	%DV*
	Total Fat 0g	0%		Total Carbohydrate 23g	8%
	Cholesterol 0mg	0%		Dietary Fiber 4g	16%
	Sodium 70mg	3%		Sugars 7g
	Potassium 440mg	13%		Protein 2g
	Vitamin A	120%		Calcium	4%
	Vitamin C	30%		Iron	4%

✽  Vitamin B6 (reduces the chemical homocysteine that is linked with degenerative diseases, including heart attacks); 

✽  Vitamin C (bones and teeth; colds and flu); 

✽  Vitamin D (immune system);

✽  Iron (energy / red and white blood cell production, resistance to stress);

✽  Magnesium (relaxation and anti-stress); 

✽  Potassium (electrolytes regulating heartbeat and nerve signals); 

✽  Slow to release sugars into the bloodstream (without sugar spikes linked to fatigue and weight gain); and 

✽  High in carotenoids (precursor to Vitamin A in your body -- eyesight and antioxidants to boost immunity).

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Loaded Sweet Potato Skins
Visit Sally's Baking Addiction ~ Click on Photo for her Page & Recipe

Max Fleischer's "I Yam What I Yam" Short Released on 9/29/1933
Music by Sammy Timberg

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Every Day Should Be Remembrance Day!

A pinned poppy on your lapel represents the blood spilled by those who gave their lives (red); the black represents the mourning of those who did not return home; the green leaf represents the crops growing and future prosperity at war's end.  The leaf should be positioned at 11 o'clock, representing the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month -- the time that World War I formally ended.

 

Click the flag above for The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, "In Flanders Fields"

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PS: Sean Hardeman, we're always thinking of you . . . Be safe

Poetry in Motion in the Ring by the Ring Man

Some say that when all the horses work together in sync while in hitch, it's like poetry in motion.

Here is another form of poetry in motion captured by production team Kuma Films of skilled Taiwanese street performer, Isaac Hou and his Cyr Wheel.  

The Sumerians invented the wheel, circa 3300 BC.  Magdalen Islands native, Daniel Cyr, designed the Cyr Wheel in 1996 AD.  In 2003, Cyr was a winner of the Silver Medal at the wheel's debut at the prestigious Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris. Look for the Cyr in use in the Cirque Eloize shows, Normade, Rain and iD, as well as in Cirque du Soleil's Cortero. 

With holidays on the way, we'll soon enough will be turning in circles.  We might as well imagine this as a giant harness ring, watching someone making an art of going in circles, and sit back enjoying the dance.

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Taylor & Jones (1909)

Farm Percussion (Study 8 - 1951 Deutz)

It Was Like Yesterday

We Never Will.

Click the flag above to hear about the Bible found at 

Ground Zero in the rubble of where 

the South Tower once stood tall.

The South Tower had the 107th floor public observation deck.

It was the first building to go.

We remember the Canadian Victims
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Garnet (Ace) Bailey, Former NHL Player (53) on United 175

Meredith Ewart (29) and Peter Feidelberg (34) both from Montreal, 104th Floor WTC South

Christine Egan (55), Nurse from Winnipeg Visiting Her Brother
Michael (51) at His Office on the 105th Floor WTC

Ken Basnicki (48) from Toronto at a Headquarter Conference, 106th Floor WTC

And Ron DiFrancesco of Hamilton, Ontario, who is believed to be the last known survivor 

to escape the South Tower.  He was on the 84th Floor, and was 1 of 4

to escape working above the 81st Floor.

•.¸✽✽¸.•

The observation deck of the World Trade Center was visited by millions.
In the 70's the rooftop (110th) was accessible only by adults,

 and only when there was low to no wind.  

Turn back the clock to 1994 and enjoy what once was.

[Keep volume down due to electronic feedback.]

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God Bless the Souls, Survivors, Rescuers, Families and Friends.

Borden's Hitch in Parade, Competition, Milk, and Law

Borden Condensed Milk Co. Hitch (1908)

Winner of the Work Horse Parade Obstacle Test

Bain Archive, Library of Congress

In 1907, the first Work Horse Parade took place at Washington Square, Fifth Avenue and Worth Square at 23rd in New York City. This was a feature of the Decoration Day Celebration organized by the Woman's Auxiliary and sponsored by the ASPCA.

Washington Square, New York City (1907)

Bain Archive, Library of Congress

According to a New York Times article dated May 19, 1907, the expected participation was 1,200 horses and their delivery companies.  Those companies whose doors were open and delivered included confectionary houses, coal, fire departments, police departments, wholesale grocers, breweries, butchers, milk companies, laundries, and others.

In Front of the Grandstands at the Working Horse Parade (1909)

Bain Archive, Library of Congress

The object of this parade was to introduce the owners and drivers of the working horses in the city, and to garner public interest in the horses' welfare. 

Grandstand Onlookers (1908)

Bain Archive, Library of Congress

Competitions were also a part of this working horse extravaganza, where the horses were judged on many points, including the ability to negotiate obstacles efficiently.

Borden Condensed Milk Co. Competing in Obstacle (1908)

Bain Archive, Library of Congress

Bird's Eye View of the Obstacle Course (1908)

Bain Archive, Library of Congress

Budweiser Competing in Obstacle (1908)

Bain Archive, Library of Congress

The working horse served New York City well for nearly three centuries.  It appears that the Work Horse Parade ended after 1914. At that time the automobile was on everyone's minds and taking over the means of transportation.   

In 1857, Gail Borden established the New York Condensed Milk Co., which later became the Borden Company.  Borden's Condensed Milk played a key role in sustaining the Union Army during the Civil War.  In 1875, Borden's sons pioneered the selling of sanitary milk bottles in New York City.  In 1919, the Borden Company owned 21 milk plants, 8 milk farms, 156 country bottling plants, and 3,400 horses and wagons.

Borden's Condensed Milk Co. Plant (1900-1910)

Plowline: Images of Rural New York, Project of The Farmer's Museum

Borden's Advertisement (1898)

Guidebook for Travelers in the Klondike Gold Rush

As a footnote:  In the appellate case of Brand v. Borden's Condensed Milk Co., 89 A.D. 188, 85 N.Y.S. 755 (1903), it became well settled that failure to properly hitch or guard a horse in a populated city justifies a finding of negligence on the wagon owner.

Moral of the Story:  Always head your horse.  

Draft Horse War Effort 1939

Canada joined the war against Germany in 1939 as a part of the British Commonwealth.  The United States joined in the effort after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.  However, quite a few U.S. pilots joined the Canadian Air Force in 1939 to aid in attack.

Planes were desperately needed during this time in Canada.  Prior to 1941, any delivery of aircraft from the United States into Canada in support of the war effort was considered to be, in and of itself, an "Act of War."  

Putting to task a working solution, a decision was made that the aircraft in the United States would be flown to the Canadian border at Sweet Grass, Montana and Emerson, North Dakota.  At those crossing locations, draft horses were hitched to the planes in the United States and pulled into Canada.  Once in Canada, the planes were then flown to military bases where they began developing the fleet for the Royal Canadian Air Force.