Last year, an Amish group of people from Ontario moved to Manitoba, and it’s all pretty intriguing to many of us. I find it quite novel to be driving along and sudden see these new and unusual highway signs:
Approaching Vita, there are other signs that catch the eye:
After glimpsing the above sign, I barked, “Hey, TODAY is Saturday! Surely there are Amish people selling things at the Farmer’s Market, right?”
RIGHT!
We’d totally lucked into this. Honestly, the most we were hoping to see was the aforementioned horse-and-buggy-related signage. The chances of visiting during the Farmers’ Market had not been on our radar. We were thrilled!
So! We arrived at the Vita Farmers’ Market to find only one vendor — a young Amish gent, with MANY delicious items available for purchase.
It was the doughnuts that first caught my eye… and YES they’re as good as they look. (Maybe even better!) Next, the fabulous pies. I also couldn’t resist the strawberry jam, whole wheat bread, chocolate chip cookies, and “soft spreading cheese”. We haven’t tried it yet (we’ve been powering through the pie and doughnuts) but I plan to pair it with a slice of their whole wheat bread, toasted, and the strawberry jam, for a sort of cheesecake-like effect.
He was also selling ice cream! A toonie got us a fresh, unique ice cream to share, it was wonderful! This was mid-afternoon and it looked like we may have purchased the second-last serving of the day. Must’ve been a fairly busy Farmer’s Market (he said there had been two other vendors but they had already left by this time), and it would’ve been better to arrive much earlier.
As we drove through the area, we noticed many sheep farms; I think they belong to Amish people. I wonder if the ice cream was from sheep’s milk. Argh, I wish I’d thought of asking him that!
Here are some close-up photos of some of our purchases:
I think you can also purchase items directly from the Amish people at their farms. They’ll have signs by the side of the road indicating what you can buy where, and when… but just so you know, NEVER try this on a Sunday. Every single sign will say “except Sunday”.
Happy eating!