On Friday, we had the afternoon free - and since there was no football, we decided on a little road trip. We started south to Harmony, the home of the biggest Amish population in Minnesota. Now I was expecting Napanee, Indiana - tons of shops and restaurants and stuff. Instead, we were greeted by a sleepy little town, a few really packed gift shops and very friendly people. We started with lunch at a the diner, it was beyond good. For $5 I feasted on Walleye, real mashed potatoes with real brown gravy, breen beans, and cole slaw. It was more than I could finish. My poor parents were stuck hearing me rave about it for about an hour afterwards. We saw a couple of buggies, but otherwise, very little sign of the Amish we had expected to see.
When we had perused all the shops, including a great shop with Scandanavian stuff which was unfortunately out of my price range - we headed east to Austins Angoras. The shop is run by Ada and her husband Jim who raise about 200 Angora goats. She was happy for the company and told us about how she had created her own market by convincing the tours to stop at her place and increase her business. She is a character, but was happy to tell me all about how much easier the Angoras are to raise than Pygmies. Hope she's right because now I want one - or two.
She also had chischilly sheep ( Navajo Churros) which have four horns. When she lost one, though, she would save the pelt and have it available for sale as a rug. I remember several women who had pelt rugs out in Arizona, though, not me. The only weirdness was that she had her favorite buck stuffed, in a glass display case right there in the store. I just couldn't wrap my mind around stuffing your favorite animal, and yet, there he was as a constant reminder of a good memory. I bought some socks, and when they say that the wool keeps yoru feet cooler - they are right. I don't like socks, but I like these.
1 comment:
There really is a place called Harmony? Harmony is the town in Philip Gulley's books. If you haven't read them, you'd probably like them. There's also a Napanee near us. No Amish there though.
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