Lehman’s

We’re a strong handshake and a helping hand. Family owned and operated since 1955, Lehman’s is here to help you live a simpler life. City or country, rural or urban, we can help you build a better future, one that values personal connections, integrity and tradition. You’ll find us in the heart of Ohio’s Amish Country at our Kidron store, where our story began. For our friends who are far away, our print catalog and website give you access to hundreds of practical goods, from planting and preserving to off-grid living. With Father’s Day approaching, many of us are thinking about family. I, in particular, am thinking about two people: my dad and my late grandpa. Growing up, I was always around family and cars. My dad owns an automotive repair shop (first started by my grandpa when he was eighteen), and it’s here where many of my childhood memories took place. If you come by the Lehman’s store on a Thursday, you likely have seen my son and me churning butter. It is amazing how many butter stories I hear each week, from reminiscing about churning with grandma to folks who do it on an industrial scale. The grandpas often comment to my 10-year-old son, “When I was your age, that was my job” while others jokingly remind me, “Honey, you know they sell butter in the store these days.” Besides being a great conversation starter during my demos and giving our arms a nice workout, making fresh butter for my family is definitely an act of love and we savor the taste and nutrition from our fresh butter. The quick basics of making butter include using heavy whipping cream, either purchased or fresh from a family cow like we have, bringing it to room temperature and then using something to agitate it. Options for churning range from shaking it in a mason jar to using a stand mixer to cranking the Lehman’s Dazey Butter Churn that I have used weekly for hundreds of times. For the one gallon churn, it generally takes 20-30 minutes to achieve butter and buttermilk. I then drain off the buttermilk and save it for baking recipes and wash the butter with cold water to remove as much buttermilk as possible. If desired, salt is added at the end.