Adventures in Amish Country and a Farmhouse Visit

Well as promised, this is the last installment of our trip to the east coast last month.  For those of you who have not been following our adventures, breathlessly awaiting this post 😉  So far , we had traveled to Atlanta – to Asheville, NC – to Williamsburg, VA – to Washington DC – to Lancaster, PA.

My mother had been to Amish country before and really enjoyed her time there, so we were excited to experience it.  The Amish lifestyle is fascinating  and you can find out more about their beliefs and lifestyle here if you like. 

The countryside was so beautiful and the roadsides were flanked by countless farms.  It was fairly easy to tell which farms were Amish by looking at the clothes hanging out on the laundry line.

Our first adventure in Amish country consisted of taking a buggy ride.  As many of you probably know, the Amish do not use cars, tractors or electricity.  But, they do have horse driven buggies. 

Our driver’s name was Rueben and I enjoyed talking to him as he drove us around. By the way, there is a reason that Rueben is not in this picture…..the Amish do not like to have their picture taken.

As fun as the buggy ride was, I was looking forward to stopping by some of the stores which feature many Amish made goods.

I think one of the things that I like about fall are mums and pumpkins.  How about you?

Many of the stores had pumpkins for sale as well as gourds.  I saw two different types of gourds that I had never seen before…..

There are actually gourds that grow in the shape of apples and swans.  I have to get seeds and try growing them myself.

It was easy to tell that we were right in the middle of farm country.  Many of the gift shops had produce for sale as well. 

Can you think of a better place to put broccoli?  I can’t wait for my broccoli plants to grow 🙂

There was a huge farmer’s market that we ventured into where we not only saw beautiful produce…..

There was also an iconic treat for sale as well….

Oh, I absolutely loved the Whoopie Pies.  I love to bake and I would love to learn how to make these….they were just so delicious.  The girls bought Amish dolls at the Farmer’s Market. An interesting fact about Amish dolls, is that they do not have faces.

It was time for us to head to our Bed & Breakfast.  The kids were particularly looking forward to staying there because our B&B was actually a working farm.

This is a view of the farmhouse at Airy Hill Farm.

The barn was located behind the trees.  We met the wonderful owners, Mark and Hazel and the kids couldn’t wait to meet the animals.

Airy Hill Farms used to be a part of a larger farm.  The owners sold most of the land and kept 20 acres for themselves and their sheep, alpacas, horse and chickens.

The original hog farm.

Mark took the kids down the drive to meet the miniature horse and take her for a walk.

They met the Alpacas and learned how to feed them.

The sheep were only interested in the kids when they thought that they had food.

We had a wonderful dinner nearby in Lititz and were then welcomed back at our B&B with hot tea and coffee.  We spent a wonderful night in very comfortable rooms.

The next morning the kids were up early and went to help Mark feed the animals and help search for eggs in the barn.

Kai was determined to look everywhere for eggs….

He actually found some.

I think the kids were kind of disappointed that we were not going to spend the entire day at the farm.  We decided to explore some of the other Amish towns nearby.

YES, that is actually the name of the town.  I’m thinking of making this our Christmas card.  What do you think?  Actually, I am too chicken to send this out as our Christmas card 😉  Another fun town we visited was called ‘Bird in Hand’.

We visited the local library and noticed the special parking area….

This is for horses and buggies.  The signs ask that you clean up after your horse.

We saw quite a bit of activity on the farms.  I was interested in seeing how the Amish farmers work without tractors or any power equipment.

I was only able to get one photo of an Amish farmer and I took it from far away, so as not to make him uncomfortable.

I realize that it may seem strange to write so much about Amish country and not have pictures of the Amish people to share with you, but it is important to respect their wishes and privacy.  We did see many Amish people.  The children are just darling in their little bonnets and hats.

A lot of the kids ride scooters, which have the body of a scooter, but with large tires like a bicycle.  I saw a teenage Amish boy who was racing down the road very fast on his scooter.  I was struck by the similarities to your average teenage boy who likes to drive fast in a car.

After a little more shopping, we went back to our Farmhouse B&B and the kids were free to spend the afternoon playing.

We had a fabulous time and highly recommend Airy Hill Farms to anyone who is planning a trip to Amish country in Pennsylvania.

We woke up the next morning, said goodbye to the animals and headed on our way to Philadelphia for the day and then on to New York City – the final destination of our wonderful vacation 🙂

Thank you so much for letting me share our travel adventures with you 🙂

Greetings From Amish Country…

Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."