Amish In This Maine Community Are Keeping Food Lovers Happy

Of all the Maine Amish communities (11 and counting), the Unity settlement has gotten the most media attention over the years – whether it’s about a beloved local market being rebuilt, “donut day“, ice harvesting, or a specialty meats business in the community.

That’s why it’s neat to see this look at the community at Smyrna (Aroostook County) – and specifically some Amish food businesses catering to hungry customers. Via the Bangor Daily News article by Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli:

SMYRNA, Maine — A growing number of Amish-owned businesses dot a several-mile stretch along Route 2A in Aroostook County, with two more that sell wood-fired artisan pizza and homemade ice cream just added this summer.

Those two offerings have joined the menu of locally produced goods available for purchase at The Back 40 Farm Market in Smyrna, which is a retail hub for the Amish community’s handmade offerings including local meats, cheeses, dairy, baked goods and canned jams and jellies.

About 26 families belong to the Smyrna Mills Amish community, sharing their products, tasks and skills to support each other’s businesses, which include Pioneer Place, an Amish general store; Moosehead Meats, a USDA-certified slaughterhouse; Sturdi-bilt Amish Storage Buildings, The Back 40 and more.

Those businesses have benefited from the growing demand across Maine and the country for fresh, locally grown and produced foods, including heirloom tomatoes, crisp vibrant greens and burgeoning melons.

The article details a Saturday morning visit to the area’s businesses, and the two new ones in particular – a brother-and-sister pizza business at the Back 40 Market and an ice cream business at the same location. Here’s more on the pizza siblings:

Leona and Milan Frantz, siblings who are both in their early 20s, started their made-to-order artisan pizza business a few weeks ago, operating under a tent just outside The Back 40 on Fox Run Drive every Saturday, from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Leona Frantz, who also makes the jalapeno cheddar bread for the Back 40, makes fresh dough from flour she has milled down from grains within the last 24 hours, then mixes in the market’s commercial kitchen. This gives the dough time to rise slowly and then rest in the cooler overnight.

“They say flour has a shelf life similar to milk,” she said.

Leona and Milan Frantz found a portable wood-fired pizza oven in a catalog and ordered it for their business. The metal oven stands on a table and uses small pieces of wood for fuel. Once it gets going, its temperatures can reach up to 850 degrees Fahrenheit, said Milan Frantz, who also works full-time at Sturdi-bilt.

And here’s more on the ice cream business:

Another member of the Amish community, Kenneth Miller, also stayed very busy on Saturday. Just around noon, he was dipping creamy scoops of his freshly made vanilla and strawberry ice cream into waffle-style and regular cones.

Similar to the Frantzes, Miller also runs his new business under a tent outside The Back 40 on Saturdays. He also works full-time at Sturdi-Bilt Storage Buildings.

The ice cream, made with locally sourced raw milk, is initially mixed in The Back 40 commercial kitchen and then frozen.

Some might wonder how Miller is able to create ice cream in the middle of summer without modern appliances and freezing techniques, which Amish people avoid using. But he created an innovative ice cream churn that actually freezes the ice cream in about 20 minutes.

This is a Michigan Circle community – the term for a special affiliation or grouping of Amish communities which originated in Michigan (check out that link for what makes them different from other Amish groups). This community tends to be more seeker-friendly, and less camera-shy than your average Amish group.

Along those lines, the article features some photos of the Amish entrepreneurs. “Frantz” is also not a typical Amish name, suggesting that the siblings’ father and perhaps mother as well are converts.

This is also Maine’s oldest Amish settlement, hitting its 25th birthday this year. Neat to see a closer look at a couple of this community’s young businesses – and sounds like some delicious treats are on offer for those who make the trip.