12 More Jobs Done By Amish Women

We recently looked again at Amish women’s occupations in the post 5 Jobs Done By Amish Women. In that post, commenter “Along 340” shared a personal list of 12 further examples of Amish women’s occupations which I felt deserved a post of its own.

Photo: Kelsey Hochstetler/Keim Lumber

By the way, some of you may recognize “340” as the most famous road in Lancaster County Amish Country, also known as the Old Philadelphia Pike. It passes through a heavily-Amish area, including the towns of Intercourse and Bird-in-Hand. That gives you an idea where this commenter is from.

Along 340 writes: “I’ve spent a lot of time living in Amish Country in the PA 340 Area. Amish ladies hold many different kinds of jobs. Some common and some quite unique. These are some I came across.”

12 More Jobs Done By Amish Women

And here’s the list. Some of these repeat or overlap. At the same time #12 actually lists several jobs:

  1. Working in Amish fabric shops.
  2. Wait staff in local restaurants.
  3. Making pretzels.
  4. Making baked goods to sell from home.
  5. Making homemade cheese to sell at market.
  6. An elderly Amish lady makes big Amish clothesline wheels and distribution was PA, OH and Indiana!
  7. A young Amish mom makes homemade baby formula for fussy babies or moms who can’t breast feed.
  8. An Amish couple makes and sells wooden game boards for a popular Amish game.
  9. Another young Amish mom makes and sells Gluten Free baked goods in her home bakery.
  10. A young Amish mom makes custom sized coverings from her home sewing shop and young Amish women line up early in the morning for her beautiful coverings boxed up in a white bakery box.
  11. There is always plenty of food to be made for auctions and markets and Amish ladies fill these orders.
  12. Let’s not forget that Amish ladies really enjoy getting together to sew, have Tupperware parties, sell Essential Oils and other gatherings where they can market their wares.

This list further illustrates the range of money-making occupations Amish women have. You may know of others not on this list.

I’m pretty sure options are more varied in a large and entrepreneurial community like Lancaster County, than they would be in a small isolated settlement.

Along 340 adds: “Come to think of it, of the many Amish ladies I know of various ages and stages in life… they all work in one way or another.”

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25 Comments

  1. Richard Traunero

    340

    Ah, Route 340. Know it well.

  2. Maureen Salinas

    Clothesline wheel

    I need a clothesline wheel please!
    Where can I get one ?
    Thanks

    1. C.J.

      Laundry/Clothesline Wheel

      Erik…
      Can you help us out on this question, or any of your readers?
      I too, would be interested in knowing where a wheel could be purchased and if they come in varying sizes. Do any hardware stores carry them, and could they be ordered online?
      On another note, have you heard any updates on Ira Wagler’s health?
      I so enjoyed reading 2 of his books this past year.
      Thank you ~

      1. Along 340

        Amish Clothesline & Wheels

        While there are a number of Amish Houseware resources online, Two of my favorites are Goods Store in East Earl PA. and Lehman’s online Catalog. I’m sure you’ll find lots more handy & practical items in both places.

      2. Maureen

        Thank you

        Thanks for the information on the clothesline.
        Love the catalog !

        Yes true a woman’s work is never done. Inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs but I sure wouldn’t want to work like a man cause I just wouldn’t be able to handle it!

        God bless the men!

        Thanks again!

      3. CJ I have not heard anything on Ira’s health. I check on his Facebook from time to time and I do notice he’s pretty active, so hope that’s a good thing.

        On your other question I’ll be putting up a post shortly with some photos from one of the stores Along 340 mentioned.

  3. JIm Reed

    Lady sewing

    The lady pictured sewing does NOT have a Lancaster settlement covering on !

    1. Correct. We know the difference here 😉

      Check out the post title. It is about Amish women’s jobs in general.

      The examples are simply taken from Lancaster County in this case.

      The sewing photo is from an article on Holmes County Amish making masks.

      It illustrates an Amish woman sewing. Many Amish women sew, not just in Lancaster County.

  4. Pat Monti

    Amish women have numerous responsibilities

    In addition to any “jobs” they have they also:

    *take care of their home

    *take care of their children

    *take care of their husband

    *do the gardening

    *oftentimes do the mowing and associated tasks

    *Etc., Etc., and Etc.

    I’m probably going to ruffle some of you fellas’ feathers with my next comment, but Amish women seem to work much harder and longer than Amish men do. Of course there’s always exceptions.

    1. "much harder and longer"...bold claim :)

      The Amish farmer who is out in the barn at 4 am, every morning, subzero temps in winter, no days off, milking.

      The RV worker who has to be in the factory by 5 am for a non-stop grinding shift in loud hectic conditions.

      Furniture shop overtime to get an order out in time.

      Spreading manure on the fields.

      Making hay til 9pm in summer to get it in before the weather.

      1. Pat Monti

        bold, but IMO seems true

        Erik, as I stated “seem,” and “there’s always exceptions.” It certainly seems true in our area (central, Illinois), and I’m confident in many other areas also.

        What time do you think Amish women arise to do all of the work involved to make breakfast, etc. for their husbands and children? Of course the female children; especially older ones, also assist them. Also, they’re generally the last to go to bed at night.

        “A woman’s work is never done.” Perhaps we should simply agree to disagree.

        1. Well see I get the point that I think you want to make – that women’s work is underappreciated (correct me if that’s far off of what you were conveying).

          I just don’t know why it needs to be described as “much” harder and longer. That’s the bold part. Is that intentionally overselling the point, to make sure it comes across?

          Also, the examples I listed were not really exceptions, but mostly common or fairly frequent situations 🙂

  5. Pat Monti

    12 more jobs done by Amish women

    No, that wasn’t the point; and there are no hidden meanings whatsoever. I was simply stating what appears to be fact IMO; at least in our area of central, Illinois.

    “There’s always exceptions” refers to “Amish women seem to work much harder and longer than Amish men do.” I well know that the examples you listed regarding the men are not exceptions.

    1. Well I have no doubt the women there are hard workers. I just would have a hard time comparing the two to say with confidence one way or the other. I also guess what seems hard for one person might not be so much for another person (even leaving gender out of it). For instance I rather enjoy physical work like digging or cutting branches, mowing etc., the moreso since I do most of my work now in front of a laptop…on the other hand I would have a tough time keeping an eye on 5 kids while preparing a big dinner and whatever other tasks might be ongoing at the time…I probably wouldn’t last long at that. An aside, Arthur as it happens is where I first really met the Amish, I was fortunate enough to spend 3 weeks there (would have been about 17 years ago).

      1. Pat Monti

        12 more jobs done by Amish women

        Erik, thanks for sharing that you first really met the Amish in Arthur. That’s interesting.

        During your 3 week stay I’m confident you experienced quite a bit and met many. I (and no doubt many others) would welcome learning about some of your most interesting experiences in Arthur and elsewhere.

        Hmmmm, perhaps a new story line? 🙂

        1. Gladly Pat, I have fond memories of Arthur! I remember several names of people that stood out to me for different reasons, and I think I still have my customer list from way back then somewhere:)

          Your suggestion is coming at a nice time – it’s funny but I actually started making some Amish videos for Youtube a couple of weeks ago, and I talk about Arthur in at least one of them (the one on the largest communities). I thought about maybe doing a video telling the story of how I met the Amish that summer at some point.

          1. Pat Monti

            12 more jobs done by Amish women

            Erik, as you know there are good and not so good Amish as with we English; that includes the Arthur area. If you’d be interested in sharing, I’d enjoy knowing the names of those you dealt with. Please feel free to email me.

            The videos are a super idea! A video of how you met the Amish would be exceptional!!! Please post all on this site so we’ll all have a chance to view and appreciate them.

            1. Hi Pat sure thing, and thanks, glad for your interest:) On the videos I am slowly rolling them out though haven’t yet done a post dedicated to them. I’ll probably get a few more out before I do that (have posted 5 so far). Right now some should be viewable at the end of the posts. Haven’t recorded the “how I met the Amish” one yet but I will do that once I get a better-quality camera setup 🙂

              I just emailed you about Arthur.

  6. I've never seen #5.

    Where do I find the cheese mentioned in item #5?

    You would expect to find many more kinds of cheese in a culture that is so dependent on dairy and grazing. I’d like to hear more about Amish farmhouse cheeses.

  7. Maureen

    #5 cheese

    Oh the cheeses !
    The best is from the AMISH
    GOOT ESSA is so good
    The smoked cheese
    The garlic cheese
    The oregano flavored cheese
    The .. we’ll just all of em !

    1. Brian Yarvin

      Is That In Centre County?

      Thanks for the tip!

      1. Goot Essa cheese

        Brian that is in Centre County. They actually advertise with us now, but previous to that, I did a couple of posts on them after seeing an article online on them. Here’s one of the posts:

        https://amishamerica.com/buy-amish-cheese-online/

        And here’s a later Q-and-A with owner John Esh that we ran over Christmas:

        https://amishamerica.com/goot-essa-cheese/

        Those might give you some more useful info. I ordered a Christmas gift basket myself this year, was quite tasty.

  8. Maureen

    Cheese

    Not sure, I buy direct from them. They have a real nice website .
    Just google GOOT ESSA. So many delicious products too other than cheeses, though I’m partial to cheese. Love it!
    Don’t want to impose going to the communities. I am familiar with Mulberry, Indiana but the cheese is from Pennsylvania; I think.

  9. Brian Yarvin

    Thank you everybody! I hope to get up to Centre County again soon and will visit their shop when I do.

    1. Sounds good Brian! If you happen to see John, please tell him Erik from the Amish site says hi:)