Amish Brown Bag Tour (part 1)

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I paid $75 for this optional excursion from the COA fairgrounds. There were two buses with folks from the rally that went on this tour. My bus had 35 people and I heard that the other bus had just a few more than that. We left the fairgrounds at 8:00 AM.

Stop #1: “Rise and Roll Bakery”. This is the bakery I talked about in an earlier post. When we entered the store, we were each given a complimentary cinnamon caramel donut hole. They also had cups of coffee available for anyone that wanted one. Many folks purchased donuts and various items to go. I only had some coffee. 

 

 

As we were walking around the store my friend Theresa who is from Texas showed me a box of Apple Crisp Mix. She said, “I took this photo”. Theresa works in IT, but she also does food photography. She took the photos for this company for all of their crisp boxes. If you are interested, here is a link to her food photography. Theresa Fernandez Photography | Dallas Food Photographer. 

 

 

Upon return to the bus, we were handed a Big Brown Grocery Bag.

 

 

We also met our Amish tour guide. His name is Ovi.

As we drove through Amish country Ovi told us about himself and a lot about the Amish lifestyle. 

 

Ovis is an ordained deacon with his church.  Their services are preached in the Pennsylvania Dutch language but that when they read and write they do so in German.  The kids all have a German language class at their schools.  

 

Their church service starts at 9:00 AM and lasts approximately three hours long.  They do not have a standing church building, but instead go to various farms in the area that have enough space for those that attend the church service.  

 

If the church did not have a preacher, then he as an ordained deacon could be the preacher.  He could not become a bishop as you need to be a preacher first.  

 

There can be some music at the church service, but it would either be keyboard or guitar.  There would be some singing, but not always with instruments. 

 

 

 In general, in his community their musical instruments only consist of harmonica’s, maybe a keyboard or guitar.

Our next stop was Yoders Popcorn shop.  This was located a few miles down the road from Rise and Roll.  Upon entering the store each person was given a little bag of popcorn to enjoy while they shopped.  At this stop I purchased a bag of tri colored popcorn.  They have many other flavors and types of popcorn and popcorn toppings.

  

When we returned to the bus, we were given a box of microwave popcorn to put into our Big Brown Bag.

Casket Maker:  Our next stop was a visit to the casket maker.  This craftsman makes caskets for the local Amish community and also sells some to the regular non-Amish community citizens in the area.  He sells them to the Shipshewana and Middlebury, IN area but also sells them to an area in Michigan.


He keeps a supply of maybe 30 ready-made caskets in one of his barns in case they are needed.  They are in all sizes from baby/child to adult.  Adult caskets come in three sizes, medium, large and I believe it was an extra-large long.  


Caskets are filled with shredded paper and then there is a fabric liner along with a pillow installed.  


Often Amish folks will purchase their casket in advance and have it made to order then they store it on their property or in their barn.  You will see this later as we visit another craftsman. 

We were also given a tour of his showroom. 


As we returned to the bus, we were given a big bag of Oatmeal to put into our Big Brown Bag.  

Buggy Shop:  The next stop was the buggy shop.  Hear the craftsman showed us how he goes about making buggies.  He typically uses poplar wood because it is abundant in his area, but he will also make them out of other types of wood.


Buggy wheels can be built in many different styles and can also have rubber on them which is most common.  He showed us how he removed the rubber from a wheel in order to replace it for one of his customers.    We were also shown how he constructs the wheels.


The sides and roof of the buggies are made with tarp like material.  The roof is stronger and thicker, and the sides are a bit softer.  

He had a buggy in his shop that is from the 1800’s.  It was interesting to see, and I will include some photos.  

Buggies can be built with all kinds of added extras.  These might include a GPS, disk brakes, propane heater.  For heat they install a small propane tank into the buggy that fuels a small heater.  Manual windshield wipers.  


He showed us a buggy that had a solar panel attached to the roof, which powered the required lights on the rear and inside of the buggy.  


Each buggy is also registered and has a license plate to identify it along with a safety triangle attached to the rear.  

He makes all types of buggies from small one person ones to larger buggies that have several seats. 


As we go to leave his shop, he pushes a button and from the ceiling drops a floor that is holding a sleigh and a casket!..

Never in my life would I think I would see a sleigh and a casket side by side.  There is a video below of it being lowered.


When we got back onto the bus, we were handed a container of homemade peanut butter to put into our Big Brown Bag

Jam and Jellies:  Our next stop was at Carol’s Jams and Jellies.  Carol is a widower whose husband passed away at a young age and so to make ends meet she started selling jams and jellies with the help of her brother and children.  

 

There were many different jams and jellies on display to sample. They are not sweetened with sugar, instead they are sweetened with grape juice.

 

She also had granola and other drafty things that she was selling.  I purchased some small jars, and they are delicious. 


When we returned to the bus, we were given a jar of strawberry jam to put in our Big Brown Bag.

Check out Part 2 to see where else we stopped and what items ended up in the Big Brown Bag!