Dutchman's Store, Cantril, Iowa

My mother is in her 80's and will freely admit that her middle name is "GO". Flowers are great and so are fancy meals out but Mom would rather have an adventure. I am from Mt. Pleasant, Iowa the county seat of Henry County and that is where Mom lives today. It is about 2.5 hours drive time south of Manchester and is a town of a bit over 7,000. Let me start by saying that the Midwest and Iowa is right in the heart of it, offers some of the best day trips and treasure hunts. My husband and I love to camp, canoe and take in local fairs and events. There is so much to learn and experience within a short distance from our door steps here in Manchester. Would you like to take this weekends adventure with me? South of Mt. Pleasant, toward the Missouri boarder you will find Van Buren County. There are no large cities in the entire county but all through the spring, summer and fall there are activities planned and are mapped out for you if you got to http://www.villagesofvanburen.com/. My personal favorites are Bonaparte, Bentonsport and Cantril. Cantril was our adventure with Mom. Friday we took off in the middle of the afternoon and headed south. Mom knew the agenda and was already siked up for the adventure. Saturday morning we were doing to make a brief stop at my cousin's just out side of town and share hugs with her and her family as well as another cousin that had arrived the day before from the Omaha area. Coffee cake, coffee and "remember when's" were great but we had an adventure planned. So, from Martha's farm we continued west on hwy 34 to hwy 1 and followed that to hwy 2 and on to Cantril, Iowa. We were headed for the Dutchman's Store in Cantril. History:Cantril, Iowa was established in 1872 and is home to Old Order Amish and Mennonite communities. Several of the businesses in town are owned by Mennonite families. Amish families have businesses at their homes. These can be found along Highway 2 and on V64 and J40 near Lebanon. Watch for homemade signs along the roadway. They are very friendly and will be glad to visit with you on week days and Saturdays. You will find buggies sharing the roadways, and horse drawn equipment in the fields. Although their homesteads and transportation are picturesque, please respect their privacy by not photographing the Amish families.A Mennonite, Clair Zimmerman and his young wife opened the Dutchman's Store back in 1985 and has operated it and has added on to it on a seemingly regular basis every few years to the point that the store that exists today is a full block long. The long front porch of the store was loaded with gardening materials, seedling plants, flowering baskets and lovely homemade bent willow rocking chairs that you could purchase for just over $100.00. You have to kind of be observant to tell for sure which door is the entrance but once we found it it was hard to decide where to start. Mom and I went one way and my husband went another. Den likes his vittles and Mom and I love to create whether it is in the kitchen or the sewing room so that is the directions that we started. I was prepared to see prices a bit higher than your local Wal-Mart or Fareway but that is not what we found. There are 4 long isles of sewing fabric and notions as sell as snaps, hooks and eyes and safety pins in bulk. The fleece fabric that I found there was really beautiful and of go