Inside an Amish Ice House
Exterior of an Amish ice house in Medina County, OH
Interior of an Amish ice house in Medina County, OH
We regularly source produce for our CSA members and our farm stand from members of the Amish community in Southern Medina County…
One of these family farms is run by the Schlabach family. The farm grows a variety of fruits and veggies for us, including yellow squash, zucchini, radishes, snap peas, spinach, onions, cabbage, lettuce, scapes, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, mini cucumbers, peppers, winter squash, strawberries, black raspberries, cherries, pumpkins, and more.
The Schlabach family also provides us with pies, bread, and cookies; and they have a greenhouse where they sell perennials, as well as the occasional bouquet for our farm stand.
The Schlabachs are a large family with 15 children — 11 daughters and 4 sons. Eight of their children are now grown and have families of their own, giving the family 22 grandchildren.
One thing that makes the Schlabach farm especially unique is its ice house. They are the only farm we work with that uses one…
Maureen, our CSA Manager, recently talked with the matriarch of the family, Mattie, about how the ice house works. Mattie said that they’ve had their ice house for two years, and three other families nearby have one, so they understood what they were getting into.
The outside of the ice house is 8 feet by 12 feet. The interior is about eight inches narrower on each wall because of the thick Styrofoam insulation. They hired a company to come and build the cold walls, and then they built the wooden exterior themselves. The house has a drain and a vent on top of the roof.
To keep the ice house cold, the Schlabachs keep ice in it…
They harvest ice from a pond about a half mile away with the other families who have ice houses. Among the families, about ten men drive their horses pulling sleds down the road and collect the ice. They cut 6-8 inch deep chunks with a gas-powered saw. They intentionally leave a few inches of ice on the pond rather than cutting all the way through, which helps prevent the blocks from falling into the water. Mattie says that they like to harvest the ice on a very cold morning so that the ice won’t melt and the guys won’t get wet. The ice will last an entire year in the ice house!
You can see from the picture that they have a huge pile of ice in the middle of the insulated room, nearly to the ceiling. Interestingly, Mattie says that ice that’s white and contains snow in it will last longer than clear ice that’s only water.
It's one more example of the ingenuity and hard work that goes into growing the fresh produce we bring to our CSA members each week!
If you would like to join our CSA at the time of this article, you are welcome to join late even though the season is underway. Simply contact us and a member of our team will guide you through your options!