My parents own a smashing little business in Bird-in-Hand, about 2 miles north of route 340.  Depending where you’re from, you would say it’s back in the country.  A tourist attraction, it’s been in the family for years.  It’s known as the Bird-in-Hand Bakeshop.  We sell all kinds of fresh, homemade baked goods and also have a gift shop with souvenirs, crafts, some canned goods, and bulked foods.  A petting zoo is located right next to a play area to keep the children occupied while the parents shop for their favorite goodies.  Lately the baby goat entertains visitors by jumping up on the miniature pony for a ride around the pasture.  

For the tourists, it’s a sight to behold.  Some pull out large cameras with monstrous lenses and zoom in on the creatures while others (namely, Chinese/Japanese… I still can’t tell the difference between the two) whip out their digital cameras the size of credit cards and rattle something off that I will never understand.  Yeah, we live off of tourists of all kinds.  They come by the busloads, some of them.  We gross out at the large people that set foot on the premises, but are thankful for each person that comes to visit us.  Out of the 30 employees that my parents have hired, I am the most confusing to the tourists because I am Amish Mennonite.  The rest are either Amish or Mennonite. 

Besides our retail business, we also do wholesale for quite a few markets and supply baked goods for local restaurants.  That keeps us going in the winter when the tourists dare not visit the Amish country because of dangerous weather, the cold, and maybe because they are too lazy, and other reasons. 

No, never a dull moment around here.  I’ll never forget the time a lady was cooing over the beautiful scenery of Amish Country when a bird dropping landed right on her head….SPLAT!  She yelled she would never come back again.  Or the time I was going about my Saturday cleaning in the house (right next to the bakeshop) and felt like I was being watched.  I looked up and sure enough, there were Chinese up on the porch, peering in the windows.  I was annoyed and went to another part of the house to escape.  Bad idea because there were eyes gawking in that window, also.  I was disgusted.  No respect. No privacy. 

Another time, I remember taking a Sunday afternoon nap out under the shade tree.  A bus pulled in and, since we’re not open on Sunday, people started roaming around the bakeshop and house.  They even had the audacity to come right up to me and start snapping pictures.  Imagine the joy and laughter erupting forth when they show their friends at home the picture of an “Amish” girl taking a nap.  My big brother had been roller blading and came and planted himself right behind me so he too could be on the picture.

People from New Jersey play a huge part in the tourist season.  Most have a deep longing to retire in LancasterCounty and for quite a few of them, their dreams have come true - much to our dismay, of course.  I hear their complaints all the time.  “We moved here from New Jersey about 4 years ago and thought we were moving to the country.”  Now LancasterCounty is becoming just like New Jersey…. full and noisy.”  Developments are taking over the farmyards and fields and stores and restaurants are being built everywhere one looks.”  They like to complain about the smell, the fresh country air, and all sorts of things.  I’ve learned in life that some people like to complain because they can.  Some like to complain because they want to.  Some because they have nothing better to do.  And then there are those that are just content in whatever state they are in, including Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 

O my, they come from far and wide to visit and learn the ways of the Amish.  They come and are intrigued, fascinated, and amazed at the people of this land.  If only they knew how they fascinate us in return.  How clueless they act, how crazy their questions sound, and their reaction to the sights and sounds they see or hear. The look on their faces when you tell them the baked goods are homemade or when you tell them facts about the Amish lifestyle.  “You mean you really live like that?”  It’s entertaining, really and we don’t even have to travel to see these kinds of people.  They come to us.  Now don’t take me wrong, some of them are very respectful and very nice and have actually become good friends of mine.  And we accept the way God has made each person and do not want to be demeaning to any race.  Sometimes I find it humoring to listen to a conversation between an Amish worker and a tourist.  The things they both think of to say to each other.  My o My.

Well, I too, am intrigued by the Amish at times.  Not all the action around here comes from tourists.  Our active, little neighborhood is full of Amish and funny things that happen to them, too.  Just the other day I stepped out the back door and noticed that our neighbors’ deer were going ballistic over something.  They were all worked up, running in circles, and into each other, scampering about.  I thought they were going to jump their nine-foot fence.  As I was trying to think what I would do if they actually would jump the fence, something big and black caught my attention.  The same thing that had the deer all worked up.

I looked out towards the road, and there was a large, black cow gracefully trotting down the road, happy to be somewhere else besides that stinky barn.  All of a sudden, out of nowhere, came 4 Amish men (not so gracefully), flying down the road on foot.  Hats a flyin’.  It was a cow chase!  When they reached the stray cow, they weren’t quite sure what to do with it.  So they yanked on its tail till I thought it would fall off, and forced it to lie on the ground.  Once on the grass, the four young men all sat on top of the huge, black lump to prevent it from escaping.  Soon an Amish man, riding bareback on a horse, came along with a rope and a whip.  Once they had the rope around the cow, they tried to yank it up to a standing position.  They used the tail method again.  It worked.  It was standing.  But that stubborn cow would not budge.  Three men pulled on the rope and the fourth man whacked it on the rear. Looked like tug-of-war. That stubborn buffalo had no intentions of moving, and was definitely not changing her mind for 4 young Amish men.

They were now on the road and a bus and a few cars full of excited tourists were stopped to watch.  The men waved them on by so they could whack the cow without some animal rightist getting them in trouble.   After a long period of time and still no budging from the cow, one man jumped up on her back, trying to ride her.  Didn’t work.  Finally, a large truck with a cow trailer attached came to pick up the stubborn beast.  A little Amish boy came shooting down the road with a bucket of cold water and splashed it on the cow to make it move.  It reared into the back of the trailer and was whisked back home to the rest of her friends. 

So, between the tourists and the Amish, this country is full of fun, interesting, exciting happenings.  That’s only a glimpse of some of the things that happen around our quiet little neighborhood.  But I do love it and I hope you come visit us, too.  It’s the kind of place you don’t want to miss when visiting LancasterCounty.  You’re also welcome to visit our website: www.bihbakeshop.com. (by Rosie Miller, Bird in Hand, PA)