Lindsay, Ontario: Joggin' in a Jug

Four years ago this past winter I had a chance to explore the small Amish settlement outside of Lindsay, Ontario.   Lindsay is a community of 20,354 people on the Scugog River in the Kawartha Lakes region of south-eastern Ontario, Canada. It is approximately 43 km west of Peterborough.  I remember at the time, the settlement felt so remote and north, waaaaay north.  I thought for sure Lindsay had to be the farthest north Amish settlement there was.   But Lindsay is still in the part of Ontario that juts southward quite a bit so it really is at about the same latitude as Minneapolis or Portland, Oregon.  That means Amish settlements in northern New York's North Country, communities in Maine and Montana are all farther north than Lindsay.  Seems hard to believe, but true.  I would love to go back to Lindsay sometime in the summer.  The area is known as the Kwartha Lakes and is quite beautiful, but we were there when the area was frozen over by the wicked winds and snows of January.    The settlement is small and philosophically progressive, aligning themselves with the Amish in Aylmer, Ontario;  Unity, Maine, and Manton, Michigan.

One of the places we stopped was Zehr's Bakery, an Amish-owned home bakery.  The photos here are of the wood stoves they use to bake the goodies.

And then there was one of the more unusual concoctions I have encountered:  Joggin' in a Jug.  It's a brew of unsweetened apple and grape juice and apple cider vinegar.  The label makes some pretty mighty claims: that several ounces a day will keep cholesterol in check and soothe arthritis. I think the labeling laws must be a little more lax in Canada, the FDA would probably be all over that in a flash here in the USA. 🙂

You can make your own Joggin' in a Jug:

Mix all ingredients together in a large gallon jar. Drink 2 ounces a day.

But I am not vouching for any of the label's claims.  Still, the Amish proprietor spoke pretty highly of the brew.