Recently, my business partner (who is also my wife) and I made a trip to Amish country. It was her first time there, but I had been once before a couple of months back. Amish country is beautiful, consisting mainly of small farms. The first sign that you are in a special place is when you get off the main roads and start down the small residential lanes. Invariably you run across a buggy, usually covered, and being pulled by a single horse. You will have to go around many of these buggies in Amish country, as they are everywhere.
I have been told by my Amish friend that the horses are often retired standard bred horses, because they are already trained to pull a cart or buggy and have a steady gait. Our Amish friend has a larger buggy to accommodate him, his wife and five children.
As we are driving down the several small roads toward our destination, I notice many houses that do not have electrical lines running to them. There are small one or two room schools every mile or two along the roads. Many of the farms have craftsman signs advertising furniture making of various types and even a book binder. When was the last time you saw an advertisement for a used book binder?
At our destination, our Amish friend’s home is beside his two story shop. His buggy is sitting beside the house. Neither the shop nor the home has electricity running to it, but the distinct hum of a running motor is evident nearby. This is the gasoline generator that runs the electric which powers his modern tools and lights in the carpentry shop.
Upon entering one realizes this is a high quality operation. The shop is very clean and highly organized with wooden cabinets in various stages of construction sitting around. Our Amish friend has two helpers who are also very highly skilled. He helps load the latest Murphy bed commissioned by us. This time it is a cherry bed with two matching book case cabinets. The bed pieces are loaded in the trailer in the flat to be assembled later. The bookcases are already assembled.
Before we leave our Amish friend’s shop, he tells us about a dry goods store just up the road. We decide to stop there. The dry goods store has every kind of Amish grown natural food product you can imagine, including dried vegetables and fruit, noodles, popcorn (very good), soups and other dried goods. Toward the back of the L shaped building fresh fruits, meats and cheeses can be found. There are many employees, all Amish, to assist with questions or help customers to find something.
We started out with a small basket, thinking we would get only a few items. By the time we went up to the counter the basket was filled to over flowing with goodies and I could barely carry it. All in all it was a great experience. After our grocery stop, we were on the road toward home with a very successful journey undertaken.
