From Mentalfloss.com
Everyone knows you can buy cheese, fruitcake, and really good beer from monks, but those aren’t the only businesses that these holy men dabble in. Here are some stranger things you can acquire from them.
The list includes:
Coffins from New Melleray Abbey in Iowa and the Benedictine Abbey of St Joseph in Southern Louisiana
Dog training and dog treats from New Skete monastery in upstate New York
Hand cream and lip balm from the Benedictine Monks of St Augustine’s Abbey in the UK
Skiing lessons in the alps from the Cistercian Skigymnasium Stams
Bath salts and cologne from the Monks of The Community Of Saint Benedict
Hot sauce made from peppers grown in the gardens of Subiaco Abbey
Monastery Greetings sells items made by abbeys, convents, monasteries, and hermitages. The website sells roughly 1600 products and works with some 75 monasteries around the world. Founder Will Keller works to help monasteries get their products online and more accessible. Thanks to this website, you can now get a kitten advent calendar
And Buddhist monks in Japan run a bar
“When people have had a few drinks, it’s often easier to communicate with them on spiritual matters here than it is talking at a temple,” Yoshinobu Fujioka, Buddhist priest and owner of Vow’z Bar, told CNN Travel.
posted by Jon White