Among the 35 or so people who showed up for a meeting that November day in 2019 were about 15 Amish farmers, many of them angry over $100,000 they said they were owed.
Aaron Schwartz, an elder member of the rural Western Pennsylvania settlement where those Amish lived, hosted that meeting at his simple frame home, even though he was owed much less than other farmers.
“Maybe somebody could salvage this thing,” the 62-year-old Mr. Schwartz remembered thinking.
It wouldn’t be easy. Those owed money were resolute about dealing with Penn’s Corner. “All of us farmers said, ‘No more produce,’ ” Mr. Schwartz said. “It could’ve gotten a little messy.”
Meanwhile, his wife, Prisciolla, was busy serving the crowd — chicken, mashed potatoes, homemade maple ice cream with raspberry preserve topping. Mr. Schwartz opened the meeting by reciting from memory a child’s poem from the 19th century.
Tension in the room eased.
Farmers' anger melts thanks to co-op that's bridging Amish, modern worlds in Clarion County https://t.co/hAUoXzDZEt
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (@PittsburghPG) February 8, 2021