Amish Day

A couple of months ago we went to Lancaster County PA to visit one of the farmer's that we get some of our food from (meat, milk, eggs, honey, syrup etc) He isn't the farmer I buy from the most, but he still has good stuff and he was having a customer appreciation day. So we rented a car and headed out. My parents joined us as well since it is only a 2.5 hr drive for them and they also love PA.




On the road into his farm there were so many Amish houses. You could tell by the clothes hanging on the line. Simple cotton and lots of black.



This was his very simple property. This is actually the house that his parents live in but his is right next to it and very similar. Their garden was beautifully planted and well taken care of. His wife and I talked for a very long time. We have a lot in common, she had all 7 of her kids at home which of course I loved :) She was very sweet and spunky.



Because it was customer appreciation day they provided a buffet lunch. All organic all homemade and amazing. I didn't get a shot of the dessert but it was so yummy complete with homemade raw milk ice cream. Yum! And these chips are from another local, they are fried in lard so they are the best chips I have ever had.

This is Abner Jr. For the rest of the afternoon we had free reign of the farm and he showed us around a bit and helped us catch the chicks.

E in the barn looking for the litter of kittens that was running around.

Here is Abner again with his pony. There was a cart attached that the kids were going to ride in. I thought that they were going on a dinky little ride around the yard.

So I put the kids like this, basically E is flush with the side and L is above it. Which is fine if you are going on a ride around the yard. Not racing up a country road and around the bend. I was so terrified because E was already leaning as Abner Sr. made the turn, so I ran after it but it was going so fast I couldn't keep up. A million thoughts raced through my mind like boy, head, smashed, pavement. A headline that read "Amish picnic gone tragically wrong" Crap. Finally, I saw them coming back around the bend with E clinging to L with all her might but he was still leaning over the side too far for comfort so I ran along side it and he slowed down enough for me to fix him until he got back to the yard. Phew! Crisis averted.

One of the milk cows that wasn't out to pasture that day.

The herd of about 30 being brought in for the evening milking. All of Abner's daughters round them up each day and bring them in by chasing them and slapping their behinds. It was quite amazing to see these little girls bringing 30 cows across the street.

I love getting my food from these Amish farmers. Not all of the Amish are into sustainable organic farming but this one (and a few others) are. It is so nice to know that my food is fresh and that the animals are treated well and fed right (ie cows eating grass not grain and dead chickens. And chickens eating bugs not grain laced with antibiotics etc) This family was so wonderful and so ready to answer questions and show us around. I love love love the country, it is so beautiful in PA and so quiet and peaceful.

We visited the farmer that I use regularly this past week so i will post about that soon.