Expect to see more pickled cantaloupe

Today’s WashPost (here) describes the migration of Amish families from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin. In an effort to escape the urban sprawl of the eastern states, families are opting to buy land in the pastoral farming communities of Wisconsin. According to the article, Wisconsin now ranks fourth in Amish population (with about 12,000), after Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana.

Most Wisconsinites welcome the new ‘immigrants.’ The Amish grow crops and make products that are well received on the Wisconsin markets: the article mentions good sales of goat cheese, rhubarb pie, furniture, leather harnesses, and a new one for Midwesterners – pickled cantaloupe ("people here hadn't heard of pickled cantaloupe, so we tried selling it and they really like it," commented a woman from an Amish household).

Is the migration always a complete success? Not everyone is pleased with the Amish swell here. Town meetings have helped build tolerance among those who have reacted less than graciously to the presence of the Amish. One Wisconsinite commented bluntly that “the Amish ‘are the worst thing that have ever happened to this area.’ [The long-time Wisconsin resident] owns a farm-implements store that has been in his family for three generations. Because the Amish do not buy mechanized farm equipment, he said, his business is struggling.” Others complain that the horse-drawn buggies are unsafe and that horse droppings ruin the country roads. Indeed, one Elroy resident got so angry when a buggy caused his car to go into a ditch that he went on a violent rampage against a local Amish family.

Overall though, the Amish appear to like the move to the north. The title of the news story is “For the Amish, the Grass is Greener in Wisconsin.” True, the article was written in April when it appears a lot greener to many of us. Against the chill of a Wisconsin January night (the Amish typically do not use electricity), these newcomers may have been longing for their more southern spaces.

[photo: Green Co., WI]