Master Craftsmen: Amish Builders Raised My Barn Roof in Two and a Half Hours

Two days , I witnessed something that seems almost impossible in today’s construction world: five Amish craftsmen from Hiram, Maine, drove two hours to my property here in Lincolnville , Maine, and completely build and make weathertight my 24’ x 32’ barn in just three hours—including a lunch break.
The crew arrived with everything meticulously planned. Their large flatbed trailer carried not just the 19 custom trusses they’d manufactured, but all the additional materials needed to complete the job. What impressed me most was their foresight: most materials were pre-cut and ready to install, eliminating guesswork, measurement and trimming lumber and metal panels, and wasted time on site.

Here is a photo of what I have built in the past two weeks, with the help of two friends:

Fourteen foot walled frame

No Boom Truck? No Problem.
Amish craftsmen had assembled and erected the 19 twenty four feet wide trusses, using ingenious techniques that made expensive machinery unnecessary. Working with gasoline-powered chainsaws and compressed air tools driven by a propane motor—their electricity-free alternatives to conventional power tools—they moved with precision and purpose. Their circular saws and nail guns, all powered by compressed air, proved just as effective as any electric equipment.
As you can see from the photos below, their process was both methodical and efficient.

A 24’ truss being raised by hand—no boom truck needed

Fearless and Skilled
Perhaps most astounding was watching these men work at heights. Two members of the crew appeared to be teenagers, yet they moved across the 6” wide narrow wall plates—exceeding 20 feet in the air—with the balance and confidence of seasoned professionals. They wore no safety harnesses or protective equipment, relying instead on skill, focus, and generations of handed-down expertise. Their fearlessness wasn’t recklessness; it was mastery.

Working fearlessly over 20 feet in the air

The young crew members demonstrating remarkable balance and skill

A Different Way of Working
Since the Amish don’t drive, they hire transportation to carry them, their materials, and their tools to job sites. On days like this, when they’re working far from their home community, the driver stays to assist with the work. It’s a fascinating collaboration between traditional craftsmanship and modern logistics.

The Result
By day’s end, my barn stood complete with a full metal roof and drip edge, and workmanship that exceeded anything I could have hoped for. The attention to detail, the efficiency, and the sheer skill on display left me thoroughly impressed.

The completed 24’ x 32’ metal roofing—finished in just three hours

Next up- siding, doors, windows.

Hope in Your Town

substack.com/@mattlillywhite/note/c-168299641

Taking Stock While in the Dark

October 27, 2025

Today’s IChing is welcomed. I need it. :

#2 Earth.
Creating success from the source, harvest in the constancy of a mare.
A noble one has a direction to go.
At first: confusion. Later: gains a lord.
Fruitful in the southwest, gaining partners.
In the northeast, losing partners.
Peaceful constancy brings good fortune.’

What does this all mean?

From Hillary Barrett , “I Ching: Walking your path, creating your future”

“The noble one has a direction to go. He has an objective in mind, but is still in search of the best way to reach it. He wants something to serve – a person, an idea(l), something that will allow his strength to be used to the full.

This introduces the idea of ‘direction to go’ for the whole oracle; the next line defines it…

At first confusion: seeing possibilities ahead as many as scattered rice-grains. Losing your bearings as if enchanted. Earth supports all possibilities – this doesn’t make for clear starts.

But later, maybe just because you’ve set yourself in motion regardless of the confusion, you gain a lord (the character shows a lit lamp – a light-person, a guide) and harvest.

Primary meaning: to have a direction to go means things gradually clarify. At first you open to all kinds of input, and eventually this allows the beacon/guidance to appear, and the path comes into focus.

Like confusion first, lord afterwards. Maybe your individual sense of distinctive purpose emerges after you join and work with like-minded people.

—
In feng shui the SW is considered the area of the house representing partnership and is recommended for the master bedroom, whereas the opposite direction, the NE is the area for the single person and makes a good den or private study.
Also, the idea of making progress with the “constancy of a mare” could be emphasizing the need for letting things take their time as in advice to let things evolve slowly, no need to make a snap decision.

“All matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration” – Einstein.
I note the reference to moving slowly like a mare and Einstein saying that reality is energy slowed down.

I am shaken awake today by the presence of darkness and cold this morning. Since my well went dry last week I am still learning how to deal with less water and feel the lack of piping hot water coming easily out of the faucet of my kitchen sink. Everything is harder now, especially when the dirty supper dishes in the are left unwashed in the sink and I have to scoop water out of 5 gallon buckets and heat it up in order to loose. The crusty bits that cling to my dishes and pans.

My best friend Edward and I check in with each other at 6:30 am every day via a phone call. He suggested that I generate my day by turning on my propane hot air furnace (it’s 40 degrees out ) and also start a fire in my wood stove that will take over the heating of the house.

It helps!

All of this reminds me that I have to crank up my little tractor, hook up the dump cart and get going on moving three cords of split cut hardwood under cover to use this winter.

Right now it’s just in three piles drying in the sun ( and getting wet when it rains) but this years extreme drought conditions has allowed the uncovered piles to remain dry.

I plan to read David Hinton’s Wild Mind, Wild Earth while sitting by the warm stove and drinking coffee this AM.

The I start a new painting. I finished this one yesterday:

Bigelow Preserve 8” x 10” 2025

Add me (#440) to the list of dry wells

A man with his water bucket buddies

As of this week, my well went dry. With a few days of rain predicted it is possible that my twelve foot deep well will recharge but the race against the freezing ground surface will likely shut off my chances of easy access to water. It’s never gone dry in 47 years.

I need to drill a deep well but the demand is so great that my best hope so far is to have a well drilled in the spring. Long wait lists.

Posted below is yesterday’s Bangor Daily News on the severity of the current Maine coastal drought.

“Numer­ous rivers in east­ern and north­ern Maine have dropped to record low levels this month or are approach­ing them as the driest con­di­tions in the state in more than 20 years keep get­ting worse.

Bod­ies of water are low in Aroostook, Pen­ob­scot and Wash­ing­ton counties, the National Weather Ser­vice’s Cari­bou office said Sunday.

Below the sur­face, ground­wa­ter is also depleted. Wells are run­ning dry around the state, with the 439 repor­ted so far eas­ily out­pa­cing num­bers from recent years, includ­ing Maine’s last drought in 2022, when 95 wells went dry, accord­ing to data repor­ted to the state.

Con­di­tions are now drier than Dix­mont-based well driller Tre­vor Gould or his father, who star­ted in the busi­ness in 1972 but is now retired, can remem­ber.

“He’s amazed how dry it is, I’m amazed how dry it is,” the younger Gould said, describ­ing dirt that feels like powder in dug trenches and is as imper­meable as con­crete at the sur­face. “It’s ridicu­lous.”

Almost 75 per­cent of the state is now in severe or extreme drought after the sixth driest sum­mer on record, accord­ing to the National Drought Mon­itor, and the rest — primar­ily north­ern counties — is in mod­er­ate drought. Nearly all of Oxford, Frank­lin, Waldo, Han­cock and Wash­ing­ton counties are in extreme drought, accord­ing to the site.

The Upper St. John River in Aroostook County, the St. Fran­cis River along the New Brun­swick bor­der and the Mat­t­awamkeag River in Pen­ob­scot County are see­ing the low­est flows since records have been kept, which range from 73 to 90 years for those bod­ies of water, accord­ing to the weather ser­vice.

So are the north branch of the Pen­ob­scot River in Rock­wood, near Que­bec, and Libby Brook in North­field, though records there don’t go back as far, the ser­vice said.

Nearly the entire Pis­cata­quis River is close to its low­est flow in 123 years of recor­ded his­tory, as is the Pen­ob­scot River at West Enfield, though it is heav­ily con­trolled by a dam.

In Cherry­field, the Nar­raguagus River is also approach­ing its low­est flow in 77 years, accord­ing to the weather ser­vice. That has reduced fish pas­sage and access to hab­itat for young Atlantic sal­mon, the Depart­ment of Mar­ine Resources repor­ted to the state drought task force earlier this month.

Below the sur­face, hun­dreds of wells have gone dry around the state; 55 per­cent of Main­ers used private wells for their drink­ing water in 2023, accord­ing to the latest state data avail­able. A vol­un­tary site run by the Maine Emer­gency Man­age­ment Agency lis­ted 439 dry wells this year as of Monday. The major­ity are in Oxford County, fol­lowed by Somer­set, Frank­lin and Cum­ber­land counties.

That data is self-repor­ted and depends on people know­ing about the site, the drought task force said earlier this month, so it is pos­sible that the prob­lem has been more wide­spread than the data on the site sug­gests.

But com­pan­ies that drill deep wells, in place of shal­lower dug ones, are facing more demand for their ser­vices this sea­son. Car­mel Well Drilling, which serves greater Bangor and bey­ond, has seen a 30 to 40 per­cent increase in calls this year from people who are out of water or run­ning dry, accord­ing to owner Kevin Hol­land.

The com­pany is see­ing a large volume of work that he also attrib­utes in part to a short­age of water well drillers.

A new drilled well can range from $6,000 to $12,000, sev­eral Bangor-area drillers said.

Maine’s most recent major drought was in 2001 and 2002, when around 17,000 private wells dried up, crops suffered mil­lions of dol­lars of dam­age and even­tu­ally mil­lions of dol­lars worth of upgrades were spent on water mains and con­nec­tion points, accord­ing to the National Integ­rated Drought Inform­a­tion Sys­tem.

Rain­fall is pre­dicted in north­ern and east­ern Maine this week, but isn’t expec­ted to make a dent in drought con­di­tions, accord­ing to the weather ser­vice; it would take 10 to 15 inches of slow, steady rain to do that before the ground freezes.”