Ben and Rose have joined with Rose’s siblings Mike and Marty to do a lovely rendition of “Palms of Victory”. This just released today, and I bet it’s going to get a lot of listens 🙂 Rose was previously in a group with brother Mike and sister Marty, called Third Fret Harmony, which we’ve seen here before. Really neat to see them uniting/re-uniting on this…
The van heater hummed while the sky was still black outside, and I was deep asleep when— Rap tap tap, rap tap tap, rap tap tap. “Hey, Haley, are you awake?” David B’s baritone voice jolted me upright. I blinked at the clock. 6:00 a.m. Seriously? I thought. Don’t these Amish let their drivers sleep? Apparently not. I slipped out of bed quietly so I…
An Amish-owned grocery store in Newaygo County, Michigan burned to the ground overnight — destroyed in a fire that broke out around midnight Thursday. This is From WOOD TV8: GARFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — An Amish-owned grocery store west of Newaygo burned to the ground overnight. The fire broke out around midnight Thursday at Brookside Discount Grocery on 72nd Street near Croswell Avenue in Garfield…
Ohio is home to America’s second-largest Amish population, with over 86,000 Amish living across the state. These ten communities rank as the biggest in Ohio, based on the most current Amish population estimates. Population numbers via Young Center for Anabaptist & Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College (source link at bottom). 1. Holmes County Area Holmes County Area (Holmes, Wayne, Coshocton, Tuscarawas, Stark Counties) Community founded:…
In March of last year, eight-year-old Alma Yoder was thrown from the buggy she was riding in, after it was rear-ended about a mile from her Van Buren County, Michigan home. Alma suffered severe injuries, and later died at hospital. Her 12-year-old brother Joey was critically injured but survived. The driver of the vehicle which hit the buggy, 31-year-old Sheila Kershner, was intoxicated at the…
An Amish man named Lewis Wengerd needed to research an excavating machine. He didn’t have computer access at the time. His church bans smartphones. So he picked up his flip phone and dialed 1-800-CHATGPT. That’s not the only way the Amish are using AI — but it might be the most memorable. I had never known Chat GPT has an actual number you can call…
Last week we heard from the school superintendent of Randolph Central Schools in Cattaraugus County, New York, who placed blame for a local budget’s failure to pass on both the Amish, and those he claimed “used” the Amish to “flood the vote”. In that post I noted that those Amish living in the district, and thus having every right to vote, were likely motivated by…
Following the news of once-Amish Eddie R. Gingerich’s arrest and felony charges tied to running an unlicensed health facility, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported more on the story. Reporter Clark Kauffman provides more details on Gingerich’s clientele, and how his practice was outfitted. We also learn more on some individual patient cases – two that turned out poorly, and one with a positive outcome. Claims…
Here is an upbeat song for your day – Mike and Marty just released a new one called “Keep On The Sunny Side”. This tune was originally written in the late 1800s by Ada Blenkhorn, and later recorded by the Carter family. The story behind its writing is moving: In 1899 Ada Blenkhorn was inspired to write the Christian hymn by a phrase used by…
An Amish buggy – carrying at least five people and towing a boat – was struck from behind this morning, killing the horse and leaving five injured. This happened in Stark County, Ohio – part of the sprawling Holmes County Amish settlement. Here’s the report from the Canton Repository: LAWRENCE TWP. ‒ A horse died and five people were injured after a pickup truck hit…