I woke up at the Bed and Breakfast to the sound of horses clomping on the road. A buggy was passing by and I heard several of them rolling by before I finally got out of bed. Hubby and I went downstairs for breakfast around 8:30. There was only one other couple there and they’d only stayed one night, like we did. They were passing through on their way home. The other couple we’d seen the previous night at dinner had left early in the morning to head back to Massachusetts.
Ron made breakfast. I can’t recall, exactly, the name of the dish, but it was some sort of grain bread, soaked in maple syrup, baked, and then had a hard-cooked egg on top. We had link sausage on the side and orange juice and coffee. Ron’s wife prayed before we started our meal. The food was good and there was pie for dessert. Yes, they served dessert after breakfast.
Ron and his wife Pat talked about different Amish traditions while we ate: including Rumspringa and the fact that the Amish in their community don’t ride bikes – they ride scooters instead. Pat also said that there were some orders of Amish who don’t even run. I didn’t understand what she meant but she explained that there were some who don’t participate in Rumspringa.
After breakfast, hubby and I packed our stuff and loaded the car. Ron said goodbye and invited us to come back and visit them again. He also encouraged us to go next door to take a few pics of the mill and here they are:
He also told us that business has not been booming for them over the last couple of months. I told him it was probably because of the bad economy. He said that the breakfast they’d just served to four people…well, last year he would have been serving breakfast to a full-house of 18 people – they’re usually booked solid this time of the year, but that hasn’t been happening lately. If you decide to visit Lancaster County, be sure to check out Ron’s Bed and Breakfast and think about staying there. My hubby and I enjoyed staying in his house, even if it was only for one night. Ron proved to be a wealth of information about Amish history.
Afterwards, hubby and I made the journey to The Plain And Fancy Farm. On the way, I saw a bunch of Amish buggies outside of someone’s home. Here’s the pic:
I’m assuming this was where they were having church. From talking to Sally, I gathered that they have church every other week and they’ll have the service in someone’s home.
Got milk???
I also saw a place that was selling goat’s milk! Not sure why anybody would want to purchase goat’s milk? Anybody reading this blog know the answer? Here’s the pics for the signs for goat’s milk:
When we got to The Plain And Fancy Farm, we paid our money to see the movie called Jacob’s Choice.
The theater was fashioned in the way of an Amish meeting place. The wooden benches had no backs, so they were not very comfortable. Since they weren’t crowded, hubby and I sat in the back in the handicapped seats…reason being, these were fashioned like regular comfortable chairs and I didn’t feel like sitting on a hard wooden, backless bench during the course of the movie.
The movie was about a boy named Jacob, who is going through his Rumspringa. He’s on a baseball team and he’s been staying out all night with his friends. His father and grandfather are not pleased with his actions since he’s been faltering about joining the Amish church. During the course of the movie, the grandfather talks to Jacob about Amish history, and you are reminded about how the Amish started. I’ll sprinkle in the history as I recall hearing it…but don’t quote me on these “facts”. I don’t know a whole lot about the Amish so if you want to know the history, it’d be best to research it outside of this blog entry!
The Amish is a subgroup that broke away from the Mennonites. They lived in Germany, but met lots of persecution. William Penn (or maybe it was William’s dad? Can’t recall) provided a place (Pennsylvania) where all could come and practice their religion freely. The Amish emigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania. The Amish and Mennonites are part of the Anabaptist movement. They don’t believe in infant baptism…baptism should be a choice, and that’s why they encourage adult baptism. Currently, there are Amish in a number of states, including Canada.
Jacob struggles with making the choice of joining the Amish church. He’s falling for an Amish girl, but she doesn’t know if Jacob would be the right mate for her since he still hasn’t joined the church. A tragic event causes Jacob to finally make the decision that’s right for him.
The movie was different because they’ll show different things on different screens. It’s kind of hard to describe, but one way to let you know what I’m talking about is, when Jacob’s dad and grandfather are discussing his recent actions on one screen, you’ll see Jacob trying to sneak into the barn on another screen.
After the movie, we stopped at the pen housing the small horses. Here’s a few pics of one of the horses:
You could place 25 cents into the dispenser to get food to feed the animals. They encourage you to leave the cracked corn feed in the bucket – they don’t want the horses eating out of you hand!
We then went for a buggy ride! Quite a smelly experience since the horses relieved themselves shortly before we took off! The driver told us about Amish history while she took us on our 25-minute ride. Here’s a pic of hubby in front of the buggy:
Then we had lunch at an Amish-themed restaurant. I had fried chicken, chicken pot pie, and mashed potatoes and gravy, chow chow, and corn, I think? It was a lot of food and I couldn’t finish it! Hubby had barbequed sandwich and fries. After eating we browsed in the store attached to the restaurant. Amish fiction was clearly represented! Here’s the pics of the books that I saw:
That’s about it! We had a great time and I’ll probably visit again and plan to do more research on the Amish!
~Cecelia Dowdy~
