Bluffscape Amish Tours in Lanesboro, MN

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If you are making plans to venture to Lanesboro, Minnesota for a family vacation, a quiet get-away for two, or a day trip with your friends, be sure to include a Bluffscape Amish Tour in your itinerary.  Your Bluffscape guide will take you on a fun, educational tour of our Amish neighbors.  This June you may see the Amish plowing and dragging their fields with their horse-drawn equipment and planting their crops as we are experiencing a late spring with many rain showers, therefore, a later than usual planting is taking place.

With all of this rain we have been having, the grass grows fast and that means lawns need mowing.  A lawn mower some of the Amish use is pictured above.  They hitch up their horse and ride along on their “one-horse mower”!  Otherwise, many Amish use the manual push lawn mower on their yards to cut the grass.
Take a break from your lawn mowing and head to Lanesboro to ride along with Bluffscape Amish Tours located at Stone Mill Hotel & Suites and enjoy munching on sweet, buttery cashew crunch, too.  Now, I better check on my lawn . . .

Taking the High Road

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While gearing up for a busy Amish tour season with Bluffscape Amish Tours in Lanesboro, I am also getting ready for my daughter’s high school graduation.  As I’m cleaning, I ponder what she will experience at college and beyond.  Kirsten plans to major in international business at college and is excited to start her next journey in life.  As I perused the various business major pamphlets the university provided, each focus requires a business ethics class.  No matter how large or small a business, ethical behavior is required.  Business ethics can cover a wide range of topics, but as a small business owner in a small town, treating your customers well, of course, is the most important aspect in a tourism business.  Also, respecting your competition is also part of business ethics.  I am a true believer in treating everyone fairly and honestly.  If you try to defame another’s business or person, it won’t get you anywhere.  Instead, one needs to find ways to improve him or herself and their business, not hurt others to make them appear better.  As we start the busy tour season, we need to focus on our own business and what we can do to make it better and offer the best to our guests and community.  I’m hoping my daughter is paying attention to how we handle our business practices and that of her employer’s to learn first-hand what to expect in the business world and take the high road on her next journey in life.

On the Road Again with Buffscape Amish Tours

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Bluffscape Amish Tours are once again driving down country roads to bring you to Amish farms filled with Amish-made crafts, furniture, quilts, and, of course, sweet, buttery cashew crunch!  Winter wants to hang on here in Minnesota in mid-April, but we will gladly take you out to learn all about the Amish culture to get your mind off the rain and snow that seem to plague us this Spring.  You may want to wear shoes that can get a little mud on them, as we do get out at each farm to enter the Amish retail shops.

One change in our tour this year is the absence of  our non-Amish stop at Austin’s Mohair Goat Farm.  Sadly, Ada, passed away last November.  Ada was an inspiration for many as she always had a smile and greeted everyone like they had been friends for years.  I believe you can still order her famous Mohair socks from her daughters.

Keep warm thoughts and maybe Spring will finally arrive to brighten our days!

Bluffscape Amish Tours Gives Thanks!

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November brings us Thanksgiving.  Bluffscape Amish Tours in Lanesboro is thankful for a wonderful Amish tour season.  Thank you to our tour guests who spent three hours (or more!) of their day riding along on our tours learning about the Amish culture of Southeastern Minnesota and meeting Amish families at their farms.  Thank you to the Amish families on our route that teach us how to live a humble, simple life without modern conveniences and always having a positive attitude.  Thank you to the Amish for sharing your talents in woodworking, baking, canning, basket making, quilting, or cooking up a batch of sweet, buttery cashew crunch (covered in dark chocolate)!  I am amazed at your work that you share with us.  Thank you to Ada at Austin’s Mohair Goat Farm for showing me how to work with passion and live life to the fullest!  Thank you to the staff at Stone Mill Hotel and Suites for handling our tour reservations and helping our guests.  Thank you to our knowledgeable, reliable Bluffscape Amish Tour guides:  Vern, Rory, Eric, and Dave, my husband, who will drive an extra vehicle on Saturdays in the fall.   They go above and beyond in providing hospitality and a fun, educational Amish tour.  Most of all, I am thankful for my family as I am blessed with a hard-working husband, two beautiful daughters, and a new son-in-law!  Take the time this Thanksgiving to count your blessings and think about what you are thankful for this year.

Only three more days to catch a Bluffscape Amish Tour for the 2012 season!  November tours are only on Saturdays–November 3, 10, and 17 at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.  This will be an opportunity to do a little Christmas shopping or sit back, relax, and let us do the driving in the countryside to visit Amish farms and shops.

Bluffscape Amish Tours will be closing for the 2012 season in mid-November, but Lanesboro is still open for business!  Check out the Lanesboro Christmas Inn Tour on December 2.  You may see the Bluffscape bus shuttling folks from one inn to another.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Autumn Bluffscape Amish Tours in Lanesboro

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September and October are one of the premiere times to ride along on a Bluffscape Amish Tour in Lanesboro.  As autumn arrives the Amish of Southeast Minnesota are harvesting their crops of corn and picking late summer produce out of their gardens.  You may see shocks of corn drying in the fields while your Bluffscape tour guide drives you along country roads to visit the Amish people while narrating about their simple lifestyle.  While out on a Bluffscape Amish Tour, you may want to purchase buttery, sweet cashew crunch made by the Amish.
Bluffscape Amish Tours depart Lanesboro daily at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. from the Feed Mill building and Stone Mill Hotel & Suites.  Please call now to reserve your seat with Bluffscape at 507.467.3070 or learn more about our quality Bluffscape Amish Tours at www.bluffscape.com.  

Spring Bluffscape Amish Tours in Lanesboro, Minnesota

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Spring is a beautiful time to come along on a Bluffscape Amish Tour located in historic Lanesboro, Minnesota.  The past few weeks we have observed the Amish plowing their fields with a team of horses pulling a one bottom plow.  It is quite a contrast to the large modern machinery that their English (non-Amish) neighbors use in the field.  Due to the early Spring, flowers and trees are blooming and the grass is a lush, Kelly green.

The Amish children are finishing their school year this week.  It is fun to watch the kids playing at recess outside of their one-room schools located along the countryside.  You will need to ride along with me to learn more about their schooling!

Looks like rain in the forecast, but rain or shine, it is always a good time to go on a Bluffscape Amish Tour.

Running Amish

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As an Amish tour business owner and guide, I’m interested in learning more about the Amish culture.  While I was going through the mail a few days ago I found my daughter’s April 2012 subscription to Runner’s World magazine.  A caption on the front cover caught my eye, “Bart Yasso Runs With the Amish (And They’re Fast!)”.  If you are a runner or not, it is an interesting read regarding Pennsylvania’s Dutch Country Anabaptists producing strong, fast runners.  Anabaptists are Christians that practice adult baptism instead of infant baptism.  They adhere to humility, hard work, and a simple life.  Yasso mentions meeting and running with Mennonites, more progressive Anabaptists, and Old Order Amish, a very conservative branch of the Anabaptists. The Mennonites would wear the usual running apparel, but the Amish men had to wear black pants with suspenders and button-down shirts while running–typical dress for Old Order Amish.  He stated that an Amish lady ran wearing a long skirt and a head covering.  But, they could all wear running shoes.  Another interesting part of the story was that they ran by the light of the moon.

I could tell you more about the article, but I want you to read it for yourself, therefore, I’m including a link to the article:  http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7120,s6-243-297–14236-0,00.html

Yasso does a great job of explaining the Pennsylvania Amish culture.  The Amish of SE Minnesota are a more conservative group of Old Order Amish also known as the Swartzentruber Amish.  I’m not sure if their elders would allow them to participate in marathons like the Amish out east. I will have to check with a few of the local Amish to see if any are interesting in running for sport.  If it draws attention or shows pride, they probably are not allowed to do so, but if it is for exercise and encourages others to run for fun, maybe it would be allowed.

All this reading about running almost makes me want to become a runner . . . time will tell!

2012 Bluffscape Amish Tour Season

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Bluffscape Amish Tours is happy to announce our fifth Amish tour season!  As it is often said, time flies when you are having fun.  We have thoroughly enjoyed giving Amish tours since purchasing the business from Flaby’s Amish Tours in Lanesboro five years ago.  We look forward to starting our season Saturday, March 4, weather permitting.  Tours will run Saturdays in March and daily, Mon. – Sat. from April through October. 

Ticketing and departure will be in the same location again this year at the Lanesboro FEED Mill located on the north end of downtown right next door to the Stone Mill Hotel and Suites.  The reservation specialists at the FEED Mill will answer all calls and help you with your reservations for our tours.  As a reminder, Bluffscape Amish Tours depart at 10:00 a.m. and at 1:30 p.m.  The tours are about three hours long. 

I look forward to introducing you to the Amish folks on our tour stops.  They are very welcoming and appreciate our visits.  Remember to bring cash along if you want to purchase their famous cashew crunch, jams, hand-made baskets, and other Amish made items. . . it’s all good!

I hope to see you on a Bluffscape Amish Tour.

 

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