May 2, 2007

The Farmer’s Wife: a place of country charmBy Patricia WolffTheNorthwestern.com

Omro – A lady from Iowa wondered if she’d heard correctly while shopping Friday at The Farmer’s Wife, the tiny gift shop on the Roger and Donna Laabs farm near Omro.

She’d laid down $41.90 to pay for her purchases and Donna Laabs took the two twenties and waved the rest away. The visitor appeared a little stunned.

“I always do that. It gives you seed money to come back,” Laabs said.

To say that The Farmer’s Wife, one of numerous home businesses that dot the countryside in the Omro area, is laid back is an understatement. It is Donna Laabs’ business, workshop, and favorite place in which to visit with old friends and new ones.

The shop is open daily except New Years Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve. The place is filled to the brim with gifts, floral arrangements, fresh eggs from Laabs’ own chicken coop, candles, benches, hutches, baskets made by the Amish, bird houses, dishes, trunks, soaps, picture frames, jams, jellies, pickled eggs, quilts, dishes, cook books and greeting cards. The place is awash in chickens and roosters. The flavor is decidedly country.

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