There is a place not far from Lexington where horses are still used to plow fields and pull buggies, and homemade bread is just as common as Wonder loaves wrapped in printed plastic.
With one turn off highway 127, just south of Liberty, Ky., one can experience the simple life. Here, the folks guiding those horses or baking that bread are gentle, friendly individuals who just so happen to live life a little differently than most of us.
Liberty is located in Casey County, southwest of Lexington. It is a county where groups of Amish and Mennonites have moved to farms and literally set up shop. The phrase "Mennonite community" could conjure up images of a central living area, or even a wall or demarcation indicating where the community begins and the "rest of the world" ends. No such thing exists.
The Mennonites living in Casey County aren't marked by a sign on their mailboxes or by a common address. Farms owned by Mennonites stand out only because they are tidy and neat, and they don't have cars or pickup trucks parked out front. Instead, a more common mode of transportation visible from the road is a team or two of pale blonde Draft horses, grazing by the road between tasks.
The term Mennonite describes a Christian denomination, but that faith also promotes a way of life. Children are educated in one-room schoolhouses, neighbors move from house to house by horse and buggy, rather than by car, and communication is more often by mail carrier than by telephone. As a result, members of the Mennonite church often live close to one another; many are also small business owners.
There are more than 30 Mennonite-owned businesses in the South Fork area of Casey County. Some are pretty specialized and Lexingtonians may not have need of their services, such as the farrier, harness maker, and buggy maker. However, there are also farmers who have fresh produce for sale in the summer, a bakery, quilt and fabric shops, a cheesemaker, and numerous furniture stores. When visiting these shops, you'll likely be greeted by the shop owner or one of his children, and the same person at the counter probably also helped make the products available for purchase.
Before visiting Kentucky's Mennonite community, don't plan to spend a lot of time doing research on the Internet to plan your trip. As much as the Internet has changed the way the travel and tourism industries operate, these technological advances have yet to infiltrate the Mennonite businesses in Casey County. In fact, many of them don't even have phones, so checking business hours may not be possible. However, don't let that dissuade you from considering a day spent meandering around Casey County. Instead, relish the opportunity to spend a day away from business as usual. Pack an iPod for the drive down, or a few CDs (there aren't too many radio stations in the area either), but turn off the cell phone (you might not have service anyway), leave the DVD player at home, and prepare for a different kind of adventure.
A drive to Liberty, Ky., will take about 1 1/2 hours from downtown Lexington, and registered right around 67 miles on the odometer. Take Nicholasville Road (US 27) to SR 34 outside of Danville. Take SR 34 to US 150, and stay on 150 until you reach SR 127. State road 127 leads directly to Liberty. At the corner where 127 and State Road 70 intersect is the Liberty/Casey County Chamber of Commerce. Stop there for a map of the landmarks and businesses in the South Fork area, which includes Amish and Mennonite-owned homes and businesses.
Proceed further south on 127 to reach the South Fork Area. A left turn just past Liberty onto SR 910 leads to the patchwork of Mennonite and Amish farms and businesses just east of 127. Right at the corner of 127 and 910 is a plain and unassuming building with a Bakery Shoppe sign in front. Its appearance gives little indication of what is inside. Walk up the unpainted porch steps and through the door (when the OPEN sign is turned around) and you'll be presented with a difficult choice and that is picking from a wide offering of handmade baked goods. Behind the counter will probably be one of the bakers, owner Florence Shirk, or her mother, Bertha Shirk.
This bakery shop is one room that serves dual roles as kitchen in the morning hours, and as a life-size display case later in the day. On the wall are shelves with baked goods set neatly in a line; sourdough, whole grain sourdough, wheat, white, and multigrain loaves of bread made that day sell for about $2 each, plus sweet rolls and other desserts. On the front counter are doughnuts, cut and fried by hand, that run 65 cents (with filling; plain doughnuts are 50 cents).
Florence Shirk opened this store in July of last year on her parents' farm. The Bakery Shoppe is open Tuesday through Saturday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. A local patron said she regularly sends the Shirks' pumpkin rolls and cookies to friends in other cities, by request.
Getting a snack for the drive through the more rural parts of Casey County is probably a good idea. Few of the businesses are within walking distance of one another; this is more of a drive and eat kind of day, than a park and walk trip.
Depending on the time of year, there may be many opportunities to stop and snack. When the year heads toward summer, local produce stands will open up offering Casey County's famous melons, plus corn, tomatoes, squash, onions, strawberries, apples, potatoes, and other produce. In early fall sorghum production will begin, and one of the state's top sorghum families, the Oberholtzers, will mill the grain into syrup at their farm on Sloan Fork Road.
A seasonless place to stop for food is the Bread of Life CafÈ, located on SR 127 before SR 910. The Bread of Life CafÈ is one of a number of entities founded by Jerry and Sandy Tucker. The couple moved to the area in 1984 in search of affordable land. First they established the Galilean Home for Children, a non-profit faith-based place for children whose families cannot care for them. They now live in the South Fork area, surrounded by Mennonites, and have expanded their ministry to include a Christian academy, Angel House (where children of women in Kentucky's prison are raised free of charge until their mothers are able to care for them), and the Bread of Life CafÈ, where profits benefit their programs. One of the Tuckers' daughters, Becky Martin, owns a bed and breakfast close to the Galilean Home that is one of the only lodging options in the area.
The Bread of Life CafÈ is one quarter gift shop and three-quarters restaurant, with a steady stream of apparent regulars greeted by name, and newcomers who are welcomed just as warmly. Every lunch and dinner hour includes a buffet option, full of hearty country foods, but ordering from the menu is also available. On a recent visit, buffet lunch items included seasoned mashed potatoes, green beans, fried chicken, chicken fajita strips, tomato spinach soup, three kinds of desserts, fresh yeast rolls, and a fresh salad bar. The yeast rolls stood out as they were clearly fresh and a healthy size for one serving, but all of the food was hearty and filling.
After lunch, a snack from the bakery, some fresh vegetables, and a taste of sorghum, the idea of eating another bite might be too much. However, make a point to visit Zimmerman's Farmstead Cheese. If nothing else, buy some cheese to snack on at home; it should travel well, as long as the temperature is below 80 degrees in your car (or plan ahead and pack a cooler for all your Casey County goodies).
Elvin Zimmerman makes it easy to find his farm. After leaving 127 and turning onto 910, signs indicate the way to Zimmerman's Farmstead Cheese shop. It's worth the winding drive.
Upon reaching Zimmerman's, the first sight is the source of the cheese; cows placidly graze on the hill just before his house and on the acreage surrounding it. At the edge of the pasture is a plain white building with a sign in the window that indicates if the store is open or not.
The building serves as storefront, production center, and aging house for Zimmerman's cheeses. Elvin, a native of Lancaster County, Penn., learned his craft while living in Wisconsin.
"I was wanting to make an old-fashioned cheese like my mom made," he said, referring to Ada Zimmerman's many years of making homemade cheese. "I probably spent 10 years getting into it. Then I took a cheesemaking course at the University of Wisconsin at River Falls."
Church activities brought Zimmerman and his family to Kentucky from Wisconsin in 1999 (they attend the Cedar Hill Mennonite Church about four miles from their home). Initially the family lived in Todd County, where Zimmerman owned a metal business. After Elvin sold the company in 2003, all 11 of the Zimmermans move to their current 206-acre farm.
Although Zimmerman has only made cheesemaking his profession for the last year, it has been a hobby of his (complete with a herd of cows) since 1988. Zimmerman's current herd of 25 cows descend from his original group and are mainly Jersey and Dutch Belted varieties. He said he hopes to grow the herd size to 40 cows by the end of the year.
Elvin Zimmerman heads up the cheesemaking process every Monday morning and Thursday evening, but has a lot of help from his three sons Amos Ray, 14, Allen, 12, and Warren, 10, and daughters Joanne, 16, and Karen, 15. After the cows are milked, the raw milk is kept in a tank adjacent to the cheese building. It is drawn out into a square, stainless steel trough that is specially made for this process. The trough has a system where heated water surrounds the milk and raises it to 88-92 degrees. At that point starter and rennet are added to create a curd, then it is all stirred and taken up to 102 degrees. Zimmerman is quick to clarify that all of his cheeses are raw milk cheeses, meaning the milk used is unpasteurized and his ingredients never reach above 102 degrees. Since the product remains unpasteurized, it is all aged a minimum of 60 days, by law.
Zimmerman said he feels strongly that using the raw milk technique preserves both the flavor and quality of his product.
"If you take it above 110 degrees, you start changing the enzymes and the proteins, plus you start destroying the natural bacteria in the milk," he said. "This way you have the flavor and health benefits from that raw milk."
The Zimmerman family, which also includes Elvin's wife, Lovina, and four other young children, produces nine flavors of cheese: tomato basil, smoked, regular, and sharp cheddar, jalapeno and plain Monterey Jack, colby, baby swiss, and yogurt cheese. They turn 300 gallons of milk into the product twice a week, then package and age everything on site.
Although Zimmerman does not have a phone, news of the high quality of his product has spread. He sells some cheese through the Rainbow Blossom stores in Louisville, through a buying club, and through distributor Buddy Jenkins in Bourbon County, who brings Zimmerman's cheeses to the Lexington Farmers Market and Good Foods Market. To buy straight from the source, Zimmerman's Farmstead Cheese is open every day but Sunday. Elvin Zimmerman also offers a cheesemaking course at his home. The next scheduled dates are May 8, June 5, and July 3. For a schedule and registration form, send mail to Elvin Zimmerman at 1390 Henson Creek Road, Liberty, Ky. 42539.
On the way to Zimmerman's is one of the most well-known landmarks in the Casey County Mennonite community-Nolt's Bulk Foods. This shop carries everything from brown rice flour to fresh zucchini. For a shop its size, the inventory is immense. The far back wall is mainly spices (both familiar and unfamiliar ones are available here), another aisle contains a wide variety of flours, grains, and baking items. Everything from calico bonnets to cookware Calico bonnets hang alongside cookware, canning supplies, and every other kitchen implement at Nolt's, and during the summer a produce stand nearby sells locally grown vegetables and fruits.
On a recent visit Mennonites, visitors, and locals shopped side by side, referring to lists made specifically with Nolt's wide selection in mind. One woman said she stops at the store monthly for all her baking needs; the Bakery Shoppe down the road gets all its raw materials from the store as well. One aspect of the Amish and Mennonite communities that has become mainstream of late is an interest in natural, minimally processed, or organic foodstuffs. Although Nolt's is somewhat remote, the selection of such items is surprising.
Nolt's is a perfect example of traditional culture and the area's Mennonites coexisting side by side. The parking lot in front has a large area for cars and trucks, but also ample parking set aside strictly for buggies. There is no electricity in the building, so shopping is made easier on a sunny day, but a warm welcome is standard regardless of the weather.
Amidst Mennonite-owned businesses in the South Fork area are everyday businesses tucked into the curves of Casey County's winding roads. One of them is Lavender's Quilt and Fabrics. This home-based shop was opened by Gary and Judy Lavender in 1992 and stocks a wide range of fabrics from all over the world. Many of the fabrics are calicos used in quilt making, but almost any fabric need can be accommodated by the Lavenders.
A trip to Casey County, particularly between May and October, can be a lovely getaway day. For children and adults alike, it can combine a drive in the country with an educational experience and some excellent, natural eats.