Good afternoon, morning for me and Cind.
Well, I'm going to try this again. Had a great day in Bonduel yesterday.Bonduel Founders Day. We got there later then we planned. ET had me set the alarm for 4:30am.... He got up then fell asleep in his chair in the living room !!
Anyway we got there by little after 11am. Our tour van left at 1pm so I didn't have much time to shop on the streets for treasures !!!
They had over 150 vendors. The first stop was at a dog grooming business. I peered into the window and saw they had chicken food, Nutrena Country Feed 50 lbs layer for $10 a bag. They said they couldn't sell it by the due date so were not going to carry it any longer. I asked if they would take $9 a bag if I bought all 5. Yep, ET wasn't to excited to have to find room in our already packed van that seems to never get unloaded !!
Then ET says he can't walk so slow so he walked ahead. Caught up to him later.... in the mean time he went back to the van to get his stash of cash.... no he doesn't look for Christmas gifts or neat items to buy. He heads right for the food..... When I caught up to him he had a HUGE pulled pork sandwich with all the fixings.$5.00 I had to admit that I did try it.... very good.
Found a beautiful tote bag with a horse and buggy fabric. The bag is made out of black screen and half is covered with red and black (my favorite colors) that have the horse and buggy. Horse looks like my black Queen Girl.
Anyway that was $18 but I got it for $16 because I bought two other small items for my niece. Gotta bring her something when the baby gets here next month. Before we left ET had another $5 pork sandwich and I had some homemade Amish I cream that the guy was making on site using a John Deere gas run generator. Cool !! Good ice cream but he did admit it was made with milk from a jug.
So we made it through half the vendors and then headed to the Dollar General store to meet the tour van.
I got the front seat !!! YIPPEE !!
First stop was a harness shop. The Amish guy named Joe pulled a shoe from the horse and reshoed it for the group to see. Then we went inside and he showed us his leather supply, his sewing machines and harness dipping tanks. I've seen it all once before but was just as interested in it as I was the first time.
THEN I spotted his horses and asked about a black one in particular.......It is a black Quarter Horse that is up for SALE... Hello CUTIE.... you want a black horse. The mare is gorgeous. I think he said she is 11 yr old. You and that guy that is looking for another horse came to mind. He said it is his brothers horse. He will find out more about it today. I'll call him tomorrow. I want to know if it would be a good beginners horse. He said his kids ride it but that means nothing. Those kids can ride in their sleep !!! LOL He wants $550 for it. Bet you could talk them down.
Then on we went to the Amish School where they teach all grades. They only school up to 8th grade. They teach then English and German up to 5th grade. They have an electric printer in the room that is run off of a batter that is charged by a solar panel.
Then off to the chicken farm. I"ve been there before too. At Mlio's place. He owns a Frisian Stud that I thought would make good looking babies with my spotted draft/Frisian mare.... but I don't need to bring any more horses into the world when so many need rescuing
Anyway, you wouldn't believe it. A whole pole barn filled with white leghorns and looks like production reds, or red stars.
They have tons of nest boxes and the eggs roll down into a covered conveyor belt for collection.
The chickens all looked very healthy. It was behind glass so don't know how it smelt or if it did. Did not look dirty at all considering how many chickens there were. They had long PVC pipe made into waterers. I will upload pictures in my next post.
He said there are a few more farms that bring the eggs to his place for cleaning and sorting. There were huge baskets filled with eggs.
He said his hens were getting old. I asked how old are they and he said 15 months. Ready to cull soon. I asked if he sells them to people for egg layers and he said yes. $3 each. I might just have to go get some of those girls. I would like the leghorns cause they are very efficient eaters, I just worry about their big combs up this far north.
VickyW do you want any ? I'll bring them to ya !!
With all of those chickens I didn't see any sickly or dead chickens. He said they go through about 3-4 wheel barrels full of feed a day.
I ended up buying a dozen of extra large eggs for $3. I basically wanted the carton with his name on it and then I wrote his number on it for future reference.
Last stop was the Lark Amish Store. Again, I've been there. Bought a jar of cinnamon sticks for $1.29 for my apple pie shots. Couldn't believe the price on the women's Amish shoes. $56. Guess they must be paying for comfort and not style or else someone is making a pretty buck on them.
Oh and I did buy a black Amish shoe with a hen and chick planted inside and a small spider plant from an Amish vendor. $.50 each....Would have liked the pair of shoes but only had one.... How fitting eh??? LOL
So after the tour was over ET and I ventured out to find a few of the horse trainers. Drove around and around the area making circles... turns out the street sign I was unable to find was actually non existing and the cross road sign was actually turned in the wrong direction.
When we finally found Perry's place we pulled in and there was a paddock with several mini ponies. Two hackney pony yearlings...just adorable.
There were Goats everyplace. HELLO BL4..... they are all milk goats !!! He had a pen with the babies. The ones that were due to deliver within a few months were housed with the mini horses. There was a huge pole barn filled with the ones that get milked. I asked if they sell it and he said a tanker comes and takes their milk. Then I asked if they sell it to people... He said... well we're not suppose to......with a grin on his face. I'm sure you could get some fresh goats milk there.
I didn't actually talk to Perry because he was in Indiana attending a funeral with JR the owner of the tack shop that I like to deal with. His three sons gave me the tour.
Then on to his horses. Two HUGE Percheron Mares. I can't remember their names but there were in your face friendly.
Then there were two more huge girls. Sally and Suzie. They were brown Percheron/hackney horse crosses. (hackney horse not hackney pony(there is a difference)) They are gorgeous. They are broke to drive. He wants $3000 or the pair.
THEN my favorite horse of his.... Midnight !!! A Morgan/Frisian Mare...... I WANT !!! Not for sale though.
I asked who the Frisian sire is and his name is FLURRY.... guess what.... that is my Farrah's sire..... So this was my Farrah's half sister !!!! Small world. So we have relatives in the Amish community !!! LOL
Then drove over to Jr's shop (Bonduel Tack Shop) even though they were closed I looked at some of the carts they have for sale outside and peered in the windows. Just like a kid looking into the windows of a candy shop !!! YUM I love just looking at all that stuff !!
So by then it was getting very late. So back to Shawno to
Tractor supply. Got a $30 bulb planter (long handled with handle bars on the top and bars for feet for $6.99. And a few other things.
Then went to The Flamingo Restaurant for dinner. Excellent Broccoli soup, Chicken Parmesan OK. ET had stuffed pork chops
Then back to
Tractor Supply to look at the part we need for our Post Hole Digger.... Cause ET wouldn't come in the store the first time.....
Bought him a pair of boots for his birthday that I really shouldn't have since the tractor part is going to run about $300 thanks to him not paying attention !!
The boots are going to be on sale Oct 9th. They said I could bring the receipt back and get the 15% off. Good deal, then have a reason to go back !!! LOL
So all in all it was a great day. Still spent to much money !!!
Well I had better send this before I lose it or tick some of you off cause it is at least a page long!!!
. Welcome back!!
