By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
Cattaraugus County officials got a glimpse inside several Amish businesses and homes during a tour of the Amish Trail on the western part of the county on Thursday.
The annual Agriculture Tour is organized by the Cattaraugus County Department of Economic Development, Planning and Tourism, which promotes both agritourism in the county and AmishTrail.com.
“We wanted to show a different way of farming this year,” said Crystal Abers, director of the Department of Economic Development, Planning and Tourism.
The county has been promoting the Amish Trail as a brand for the past 18 years. They have made it a destination and provide detailed maps of where to find Amish businesses — both paper maps and online at AmishTrail.com.
Two vans took representatives from the Agriculture and Farmland Protection Board, Cooperative Extension, Planning Board, County Legislature and others over back roads along the Amish Trail — past homes, farms and fields and one-room schoolhouses with children playing outside.
There were often simple signs of businesses — from lumber to sheds to quilts to greenhouses and roadside stands selling home-grown produce.
The first stop was at Fair Spot, 7535 Mosher Hollow Road, Cattaraugus, where they have green houses and produce, where Alvin and Annie Raber and their four children grow and sell produce. Fair Spot had a variety of pumpkins and gourds on display along with other fall produce offerings.
Elizabeth Buck, a vegetable specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension who has worked extensively with Amish farmers in the past several years, said they are “Very professional.” Some dairy farmers are diversifying into raising sheep. There is a growing demand for mutton among different cultural groups in Buffalo. By diversifying, they can avoid the ups and downs in the milk market.
The next stop on the Amish Trail was at the bake shop at Eli and Clara Yoder’s farm on Seager Hill Road in Conewango Valley. Clkara told the visitors she’s been in business for 21 years — not always at this location.
On a Saturday, she said they sell between 160-170 pies of all kinds, as well a sweet rolls and breads, donuts, cookies, brownies and other baked goods. There is a line starting early in the morning until everything is gone. Set your GPS to 12282 Seager Hill Road, Conewango Valley.
Next, at the community-owned Valley View Cheese Plant and Store on Route 62 in the town of Conewango, the visitors found areas where local residents could sell locally-made items and lots of different cheeses in the deli.
The last stop was at Anna’s Quilts, 10,352 Pigeon Valley Road, Cattaraugus, where Anna and her husband, Jacob Hurtzler live. They have seven daughters and four sons.
She handcrafts up to 40 quilts a year. She started in 2016, and gets help from her daughters and sewers. She has a foot-powered Singer sewing machine given to her at age 16.
All the quilts are hand-stitched. They can take 100 hours over six weeks to complete, since she has other work. She said she has many different patterns, but often gets ideas from other quilters in coming up with a design.
“We get a lot of traffic from the Amish Trail,” Anna said.
Besides running the farm, Jacob and his sons run a sawmill. He has also begun to diversify by crafting caskets for two county funeral directors. “I wanted to do something no one else was doing,” he told the visitors.
David Zilker, chairman of the Agriculture and Farmland Protection Board said he liked the tour, especially the opportunity to meet and speak with members of the Amish farming and business communities.
