Everyone who works with me here at Lehman’s knows that my absolute, hands-down favorite thing we sell is the Amish Buggy Robe. They’ve heard me sing its praises, rave over it and talk it up for a long, long time. They are all very much aware that I. LOVE. MY. BUGGY. ROBE.
Now, before I started working here I had never heard of such a thing. Even though I grew up in this area of Ohio’s Amish Country, I never really thought about how the Amish keep warm in their buggies when they’re driving around in frigid, below-zero temps. Now that I own my own buggy robe, I feel a little bit less sorry for them – these things are WARM.
Recently one of our good friends paid a visit to the small family shop where our buggy robes are made and took these photos. Yes, they’re cut and sewn by hand, packed by hand – everything by hand. Once you feel how thick and dense this blanket is, you will appreciate the work that went into it!
Two Christmases ago, I bought two buggy robes – one for us (I mean me) and one for my mother-in-law. At first I balked at the price – $100 for a blanket? But as soon as I touched the robe, felt how unbelievably soft, heavy and thick it is, and realized that it would probably last forever, the price seemed just right. I mean, high-end fluffy fleece throws are priced similarly – and this, THIS is a blanket I knew I could not find anywhere else but right here in my own neck of the woods. Plus, I liked the idea that my well-reasoned purchase was helping to support a home-based Amish family business.
This past fall I came down with a flu-like virus that kept me in bed a full week, with a high fever for much of that time – not my idea of fun, and my family didn’t like it much either. During the post-fever chill sessions (which came and went every few hours) the buggy robe was the ONLY thing that could keep me warm and comfortable.
A few weeks ago our family enjoyed a free family movie night put on by our school’s Parent-Teacher Organization (it was a great time – there was even free popcorn!). Everyone was instructed to bring blankets to sit on the hard cafeteria floor to watch the movie. Guess who had the softest, cushiest, most comfortable place to sit? Us, with our buggy robe.
If you’re looking for a blanket to add to your household, you’ll be hard-pressed to find one as luxuriously warm or completely unique as an authentic, Amish-made buggy robe. In fact, we have it on good authority that this blanket actually kept wandering cowboy blogger Mark Pendl from freezing to death last winter in a 40-below-zero storm. Read about that harrowing experience here!
Buggy robe shop photos by Bruce Stambaugh.
