Anna's Healing Read Online Free Page A

the Amish community is a real asset. She explained that Amish families have been a plus to the local economy. “It only takes one stop by the Amish Cheese House, Dutch Pantry, or Ropp Farm and Bakery to win folks over.”
    Located near the intersection of Highways 69 and 412, Cody’s Creek has become a stopping point for travelers in the market for handmade furniture, fresh produce, or a piece of homemade pie. But not everyone is happy about the Amish move into local tourist, restaurant, and produce businesses. Local farmer Leo Stuebner III admitted, “You cannot underprice these people. Family members work for extremely low wages or nothing at all.”
    The Amish of Cody’s Creek have indeed made a name for their community in the produce business, and their businesses are usually family owned and operated. Anna Schwartz recently moved to the area from Goshen, Indiana. Anna is twenty-four and lives on her onkel ’s farm. She has chestnut hair covered with the traditional kapp , and apretty round face. Standing a few inches over five feet, she could be the cover girl for Amish women. When asked about the rise of cottage industries among Plain folks, Anna said, “What we’re doing is not unique to the Amish. Folks have been selling their extra produce in stands like this for ages.”
    See the enclosed map for locations of various produce stands, including the Schwartzes’. In addition to fresh vegetables, you can find homemade sweets and the occasional quilt or birdhouse. Mr. Schwartz will also be offering tourists a walk through their corn maze beginning next weekend for a nominal fee.
    Anna wanted to reread the article, but she realized her aenti would be worried about her if she didn’t hurry home. So she folded the paper, set it back inside her shopping bag, and started the tractor, pulling out onto the blacktop and turning it toward the farm.
    She didn’t know if her onkel would be pleased about the article, but she imagined it would increase the number of folks who stopped by the produce stand. In Anna’s mind, publicity could be a good thing. She was in favor of anything that would keep her busy enough that she didn’t have to mend socks or sew patches on work pants.

CHAPTER 4
    S amuel hadn’t, in fact, been particularly pleased about the article. As usual, his expression drooped into a frown, which looked rather comical to Anna. It caused his beard to fall even lower, and often it seemed in danger of reaching his plate. In contrast, the top of his head was as bare as that of most newborns.
    At six feet, he was a large man and still fit and able to do the work in the fields. Anna wondered who would help once he was too old. He and Erin had no sons, no children at all.
    â€œBest not to have long conversations with the Englisch ,” he had muttered at dinner that evening.
    Her aenti almost smiled at Samuel’s conservative response to the article in the Mayes County Chronicle .
    Mammi , though, was thrilled.
    Anna’s grandmother sat across from her at the dinner table. Her blue eyes sparkled behind large glasses, reminding Anna of an owl she’d seen the day before. As usual, Mammi ’s face crinkled in a smile. To Anna, she looked like a child in adult clothes. Though she claimed to have once been five feet two inches, the top of her head barely reached Anna’s shoulders. As further proof that she was getting smaller, her dresses nearly reached the tops of her shoes. With skin wrinkled like the pages of an old book, Mammi looked every inch of her eighty-nine years.
    In Goshen, Anna had had the support and guidance of her parents,her four siblings, and the other six onkels . All of Mammi ’s sons were married with large families of their own. Only Samuel and Erin were childless, and only Samuel and Erin had moved to Oklahoma. Anna knew that Mammi missed her other children and grandchildren. Once a year she traveled to Indiana to visit,