I
Sauder Home Blooms With Rewards Of Their Labor
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
MANHEIM (Lancaster Co.)
Ruth Sauder fingers a large vine
that grows by the porch of her
home. The 12-foot tall vine
blooms with large delicate purple
flowers and is heavy with
fragrance.
“These are blooming like every
thing, but you never know. Some
days they don’t open at all or only
after three in the afternoon,” she
said.
Ruth is referring to the blooms
of a climbing woody vine called
passionflower.
The intricate lacy-appearing
flowers bloom for only one day
and then die, but enough blooms
remain on the vine to provide color
for at least one month.
According to lengend, passion
flower is a plant whose elaborate
flower parts are said to represent
Christ’s crucifixion. Early mis
sionairies are said to have named
the plants.
The missionaires believed that
the 10 colored petals represented
the 10 apostles present at the cruci
fixion. Inside die flower, colored
filaments form a showy crown,
which was thought to represent the
crown of thorns. The five pollen
bearing anthers suggested Christ’s
wounds. The divisions of the pistil
represented the nails of the cross.
The bladelike leaf was symbolic of
the spear that pierced His side. The
Russell also makes toys and benches to sell at their road
side stand.
coiling tendrils suggested whips
and cords.
Ruth has always loved flowers,
but said that she didn’ t have time to
grow them until she and her hus
band Russel moved off the farm
where they also had operated a bed
and breakfast.
“In those days, we gave them
lodging, breakfast, and supper,”
Ruth said. The couple had five
guest bedrooms open fra* guests
over an 18-ycar-penod.
The supposedly retired couple
now live in a brick rancher located
on the edge of the Sauder’s Cen
tury Farm, which is operated by
their son Glen, his wife Shipley,
and their children. A daughter
Nancy Stoltzfus and her husband
Jay live nearby.
Don’t let that word “retired”
fool you. Ruth, who is 77, and Rus
sell, who is 78, operate a bustling
farm stand and grow produce in
their one-half acre garden to sell.
Ruth keeps busy with her many
indoor and outdoor plants. Russell
has a large collection of toy and
pedal tractors and makes wooden
benches and wooden riding toys to
sell. He also reflnishes furniture
and restores sewing machines and
chairs.
As she talks, Ruth keeps busy
straightening the assortment of
colorful bell peppers, filling con
tainers with freshly washed sweet
potatoes.
“These are the best cantaloupes
Interspersed among a busy day of gardening and operating a produce stand, Ruth
and Russell Sauder find time for hobbies. Ruth enjoys growing flowers. Here she exa
mines the large delicate blooms of the passionflower. According to legend, the intri
cate parts of the lacy-appearlng flowers are said to represent Christ’s crucifixion.
Russell Is shown with part of his collection of toy tractors and pedal tractors that he
restores. His expertise In restoring the tractors spreads by word of mouth and he has
completed work for collectors across the U.S.
you can buy,” said a regular cus
tomer. “You won’t find better tast
ing ones anywhere.”
The colorful produce picked
during the peak of maturity attracts
a steady clientel.
“We wily sell what we grow,”
Russell said.
“This keeps us busy.” Ruth said
of the produce stand and shakes
her head in affirmative when asked
if she enjoys outdoor work.
Stuck in the flower bed are two
wrought iron plaques that sum up
the reason why she and her hus
band enjoy working with the soil.
One reads; “He who works in the
garden works hand and hand with
God.”
Another proclaims: “The kiss of
the sun for pardon. The song of the
bird for mirth. One is nearer God’s
heart in the garden than anywhere
else on earth.”
“God is good,” Ruth said. “I
have a heart condition so I couldn’t
do this on my own. But my daught
er plants the flowers forme so I can
Russell grows all the produce sold at their roadside stand ar >d delights In providing only
the best at the peak of flavor.
f mg I A tm J* 1 i
jTIL/i VIJD
take care of them after that.”
Their son and son-in-law help
erect poles for the 80 tomato plants
in the garden. A grandson grows
the cantaloupes.
Inside the couple’s modest brick
home, Ruth has a large wooden
ladder from her parent’s farm. The
ladder hangs from the ceiling and
is used for hanging plants attached
with meat hooks, another relic
from past days.
Russell has a fascinating collec
PK !y /itl
“chicks and peoples.” Ruth said that she cuts holes in the
sides of the discarded footwear and the plant spreads
through the holes.
tion of pedal tractors and toy trac
tors. Some are new and some he
has restored.
He said, “I restore pedal tractors
and ship them all over the U.S.”
“One person tells another per
son and that one tells another one,”
Russell said of the word spread
about his hobby and restoration
work.
The couple’s home is located
across from the Pleasant View
' Rest Home along Penryn Road.