Clusters of apples begin to decorate trees in Dennis Thatcher’s orchard throughout each spring and early summer, promising the reward of sweet fruit and jugs of freshly pressed cider in the fall.
Thatcher and his wife, Angela, who reside in rural western Logan County and who are members of Logan County Electric Cooperative, established Thatcher Farm in 1972, when he planted a few apple trees. Today, the farm has more than 420 trees that produce 25 varieties.
Location: Historic downtown Milford near the Little Miami Scenic biking trail.
Provenance: After customers kept asking him to make bicycle parts and repairs, blacksmith John Bishop founded Bishop’s Bicycles in Winchester, Kentucky, in 1890. The shop moved to Cincinnati in 1910, subsequently relocated to Norwood and Silverton, then finally planted on Milford’s Main Street in 1971. Bruce Bishop sold the business in 2006, and now it’s owned by Greg and Lisa Linfert.
Farm life often is seen by outsiders as slow, easy-paced, even leisurely. Actual farmers, of course, know that’s not the case, as the nearly endless to-do list almost always seems to require 26 hours in a day to complete, even at top speed.
So perhaps folks will be inspired by some of the work going on at Ohio State University’s Center for Automotive Research — a piece of which will be on display in the Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives Education Center at this year’s Farm Science Review, Sept. 18–20 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center just outside London, Ohio.
In the Christian mission field, it can be difficult, to say the least, to reach remote regions of faraway places such as Honduras, Haiti, Zambia, Papua New Guinea, or Mozambique. Aircraft play a vital role as missionaries deliver food, supplies, and the Word of God in a matter of hours or days to areas that used to require weeks to reach on foot.
A card table laden with amber honey, a small cart burdened with shiny rhubarb and lush green asparagus, a picnic table flush with tomatoes or peaches. Sweet! Your eyes settle on fresh picks but see there’s no one around — and there it is: a coffee can, a cigar box, or a little door with a slot and a sign reading “Money” or “Pay here.” Welcome to Ohio: the land of honest food and plenty of it.
Baseball may be the national pastime, but cruise-ins are Ohio’s obsession. From spring through fall, anybody and everybody — towns, museums, businesses, and even wineries — showcase vintage vehicles, and whether it’s a collectors’ show or informal cruise-in, Ohioans turn out in droves to relish the craftsmanship, chrome, and charisma of classic cars.
Since cruise-in season is underway in the Buckeye State, we’ve selected eight great events where the good times roll.
Folks throughout western Ohio — in and around the area served by Midwest Electric — have become accustomed to seeing the Freedom Train chugging around area fairs and festivals.
With a vintage Coca-Cola bell clanging and small American flags flapping in the summer breeze, the train transports youngsters and adults along midways, across parking areas, and even through livestock barns.
New Knoxville-area resident and longtime co-op member Gary Katterheinrich created the 65-foot train 10 years ago after he retired as manager of Neil Armstrong Airport.
