Many years ago I lived a little more than an hour away from the Amish area near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was a fun day trip to travel to this area and see the beautiful farm land.
My friend Joan was visiting me in Rhode Island and planned to drive back to Illinois. I had appointments in Illinois and jumped at the opportunity to drive back with her. She wanted to head south from Rhode Island and travel thru the Amish area of Pennsylvania and I was delighted to ride along. Joan did some research and found there were bed and breakfast options as well as the chance to have dinner with the Amish. How fun to look forward to this new visit and an opportunity to learn more about the gentle people in this part of Pennsylvania.
We left RI about 6 am and had a pretty uneventful ride all the way to the Lancaster area. Made real good time and had fun wandering around the roads. Joan was the driver and I was the photographer...trying to snap pictures as we drove thru the countryside.
Our reservation for two nights was at Iron Stone Acres Bed and Breakfast. We were greeted by Sharon, a lovely Mennonite lady who told us she has been sharing their home/farm for 28 years!
It's always amazing to see the buggy's on the roads along with cars and trucks!
Breakfast in the morning:
Our host, Sharon....a great cook!
Her kitchen:
We enjoyed breakfast with a lovely family from Texas, who had 3 beautiful daughters and 2 sons.
Our visit was just before the corn harvest, and honestly, I think they grow GIANT corn...I look small next to the corn field!
We enjoyed driving past one farm after another. It was harvest time and the farmers were cutting down stalks of corn, by hand in some cases...and piling them onto wagons.
The Lancaster area has tons and tons of tobacco farms. The leaves are huge!
Farmers hang the tobacco leaves in their barns to dry.
Tobacco barn...with slats open for lots of air to circulate thru to dry the leaves.
The second night we paid $20 to have dinner with an Amish woman. Sadie was 78 years old, she lives alone, lost her husband several years ago, and she has been cooking dinner and having guests for 8 years, in her home. Her home is a manufactured home on the property of the family farm. It is totally solar...or non electric. She was anxious to show us her clothes dryer, the wooden rack on the wall below.
And here is a battery stored within a night stand and a lamp and a fan can be operated from the battery power.
Sadie also wanted to show us how she lights the kitchen, over the sink. She has a drill battery pack, that a lamp fits on. She cooked chicken for us...and talked about some of the food that she buys at ... Costco!
Corn stalks being ground up...the young Amish boys watch the machinery going up and down in the field.
It was a great visit, with a drive thru the town of Hershey, PA, too.
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