Lehman’s Country Life

We’re constantly looking for new product ideas. Funny how they find us sometimes!

Last year I attended and spoke at the Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) convention in Columbus, OH. MEDA is a charity that was founded by family business owners like me. Pioneers in micro-finance to the poor, they also provide advice to entrepreneurs.

For the first time, several Amish business owners attended. As is a common practice among the Amish, they hired a driver and van to get from the Kidron area to Columbus.

Unfortunately, one of the women missed the van because she was attending a
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

Having grown up with the name Lehman, I have lived the life of misspellings. Now that I go by two last names, as in Glenda Lehman Ervin, the chances for a typo have increased dramatically. So much so, in fact that I keep a file. Irvin, Erwin, Glenna, Linda, Brenda — you get the idea. And that is understandable. I should thank the (former) Lehman’s Brothers for at least popularizing the spelling of my maiden name.

We often look at our reports to see how folks are coming to our site. We’re not being nosy — just trying to discover the best ways for you to find us. I was interested to see all the derivatives of the spelling of our family name.

A common, and certainly understandable, misnomer is Layman’s. After all, that’s phonetic. We also get Lemans, Leighmans, Lehmanns, Lahmans, and Leemans, well as Kidron Hardware Store, Amish Hardware Store, and Non-Electric Appliance Store. I am sure you aren’t missing the irony here — we use high tech to sell low tech so people are googling for our non-electric merchandise.

Some of the other interesting search terms include wooden buckets, grain mills, clothes line parts, wood stoves and hand-crank ice cream maker. Only at Lehman’s Amish Non-Electric Kidron Hardware Store, right?

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

We want your new product ideas, dead or alive.

Some of the coolest and most practical items we carry came from your suggestions! Best of all, we will give you a $100 gift certificate for every idea we use!

Here are some great ideas that customer sent us:

Diamant Grain Mill – The world’s best grain mill! (Special thanks to Peter V)

Water distiller – Safe, pure water without electricity. (Special thanks to Kristina F)

Victorian Sewing Bird - Your third hand, it holds pins and fabric for you. (Special thanks to Carol P)

Steam Canner – Faster, lower temperature canning! (Special thanks to Karen L)

Waspinator – Banish wasps from your yard! (Special thanks to Kristin R)

There are hundreds more on our website. We’re grateful for your help! We’ll take all the ideas we can get.

We’re willing to try most any idea. What doesn’t make the cut? Only the most far out ideas. Here’s one that didn’t:

The main thing that kept us from trying this idea, outlandish as it may seem to some, was that it was not a “ready to go” manufactured item. Sorry to be skeptical, but I’d like to test the prototype before I bet on it.

For the “insider’s secrets” on how to choose a winning product idea, click on “Read the rest of this post”, below!

Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

Last year I blogged about hypnotizing chickens. Recently, I visited a friend with a small homestead farm. As the 10 or so guys in our group sat around the kitchen table, I found myself talking about the phenomena. Guys being guys, I was immediately challenged.

“Prove it!” they said.

Little did they know that one of them would soon be in a trance.

Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

daffodil wood carving and carving tools

I am sure many of you have been enjoying the spring flowers.  I know I have!  In Kidron, Ohio the lilacs are in bloom and we are still seeing the last of the beautiful daffodils.  The delicate daffodils and flowers in the photo above though are made from wood, believe it or not.  The photo does not convey the paper thin realism that I got to see in person.  I was quite impressed!  Rod Hardy shared with us his woodcarving skills during a demo on Sat. May 2 in the Buggy Barn at Lehman’s and brought a whole assortment of floral and wildlife carvings for us to enjoy.   Included in the photos above are some of the woodcarving tools that Lehman’s carries and that Rod uses to create these beautiful pieces.   You can see he also has some beautiful  bird wood carvings.  I especially enjoyed a tiny hummingbird eating nector from a flower Rod carved.

Floral and Wildlife Wood Carving Demo

I am helping Lehman’s schedule area artists and crafters to line up  interesting demos for the whole year.  We certainly want to invite Rod back along with a wide assortment of other talented artists and crafters.  We know from experience that visitors to Lehman’s are a creative, hands on kind of person so it is our pleasure to share this with you!  One of the perks of doing this is then we get to hear about what you do with the ‘work of your hands’!  That is so refreshing in todays busy world.  Thank you!

Floral and Wildlife Wood Carving by Rod Hardy

To see the schedule for upcoming demos please visit the Events tab at the top of this page.  To read more about the Ohio Arts and Crafts Guild demonstrators visit the OACG web site here.

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites