Barn Boards and Baling Wire

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John Sumwalt says, ‘My old farm kid’s heart fluttered when I spotted an exceptionally fine herd of Holsteins across the road from an ancient monastery along the road to Downpatrick, Northern Ireland.’

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‘Coos’ are content on the Isle of Mull as the Sumwalts travel toward the Isle of Iona.

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A John Deere tractor sits in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland, two blocks from the cathedral cemetery where Saint Patrick is buried.

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A grocery store in Oban, Scotland, highlights ‘great’ farm foods.

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A full moon rises over Oban, Scotland – a beautiful seaside town in the north of Scotland with a population of 8,500, which can swell to 25,000 during the tourist season.

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Jo Sumwalt walks a path in the beautiful Princess Street Garden in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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The Rev. Canon Professor John Riches is an ordained Anglican priest who teaches New Testament and Biblical Criticism at Glasgow University.

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St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow, Scotland, is 206 feet tall with painted ceilings, an ornate font and a musical tradition some say is among the best in Scotland.

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John Sumwalt examines a King James Bible in the Church of the Holy Rude near Stirling Castle. The infant James VI in 1567 was crowned King of Scotland in Holy Rude following the forced abdication of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots. In 1603 he succeeded to the English throne and became James I on the death of his cousin Elizabeth I.

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John Sumwalt says, ‘I will long remember the soaring organ music and exquisite voice of the soloist resounding off the beautiful stained-glass windows and high ceiling of the cathedral, which opened as St Mary’s Episcopal Church in 1871.’

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The Very Rev. Kelvin Holdsworth, Provost of St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow, Scotland, greets John and Jo Sumwalt with their group of American pilgrims during a recent September Sunday.

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Jo Sumwalt takes in the Great Hall at Stirling Castle, next door to where Mary Queen of Scotts was crowned as an infant in 1543. The Great Hall was built about 1503 for King James IV as a venue for royal events; it’s the largest medieval banqueting hall ever built in Scotland, measuring 138 feet by 47 feet.

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The Titanic Memorial Gardens at Belfast City Hall opened in 2012 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of RMS Titanic. A monument includes the names of all 1,512 victims of the disaster.

John Sumwalt/For Agri-View

John Sumwalt For Agri-View

I had hoped to see some working farms during our visit to Ireland and Scotland. We saw a few from the bus window, but stopping and talking to farmers was alas not part of the itinerary on our carefully organized religious pilgrimage. We saw lots of cathedrals, castles, monastic ruins, museums, statues, distilleries, pubs and gift shops, but only a few farms and farm animals.

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John Sumwalt is a retired pastor and the author of “Shining Moments: Visions of the Holy in Ordinary Lives” and “How to Preach the Miracles.” Visit amazon.com and search for "John Sumwalt" for more information. A noted storyteller, he offers storytelling programs for churches and community groups. Email johnsumwalt@gmail.com or call 414-339-0676 to reach him.