We haven’t looked at a home like this before. When starting out in a new place, Amish families sometimes will build a shop building first, and live in a section of that, until they are able to complete a home. In a similar vein, this structure is a two-in-one deal – both the living area and workshop under one roof. The workshop is a woodworking…
In her latest column “Being Amish during a pandemic“, Amish Cook Gloria Yoder addresses the contention that “many Amish” are not wearing masks: I gaze out the window of our little office, wondering what tidbits to share with you all. My mind turns to the letters and notes I received from those of you who kindly alerted me that, sadly, many Amish seem to be…
Back in April, we learned that the ever-popular Wednesday donuts at Unity, Maine’s Community Market had been canceled due to COVID. Here’s a photo making the sad announcement (via Bangor Daily News): But the popular treats in this Amish-run destination are back: UNITY — A man driving a horse and buggy makes a sharp right turn into a long, snow-blanketed drive that runs along the…
From the White House to the Amish is the new book from Katrina Hoover Lee telling the story of Thomas E. Kirkman, who lived a remarkable life which took him from the highest corridors of power to becoming a convert to the Amish. The book is a real page-turner. Katrina wrote Kirkman’s story as a biographical fiction, which she explains in the Q-and-A below. Katrina…
This article in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune attempts to examine if there are any connections between the behavior of the Amish and Mennonite population of the Pinecraft community, and the area’s high rates relatively high rates of infection. In a nutshell, the conclusion here is: it’s tough to say. You kind of get the feel that the writer wouldn’t mind making that connection, but the hard…
You probably know by now that if you see “zero” bathrooms, that means this is going to be a plainer Amish abode. And that’s the case with this New York Amish home, which has a quite rustic look to it but appears cozy inside. It also comes with a rather low price tag, which we’ll get to at the end. The community is in western…
Eggs are disappearing in a major way in one Missouri Amish community. From a letter-to-the-editor in the Webster County Citizen: There is something the community needs to be aware of … someone is stealing eggs, chickens, along Highway C and some of the side roads. That may sound minor to most people, but when you make a living off your eggs as the Amish do,…
We’re not told where this singing video takes place, but the dress is Midwestern Amish. We see numerous Amish young people sitting around the table at what looks to be a youth gathering. This is a relatively new video, posted this past November. You can see a wringer washer – are we in a basement, or some kind of utility room? I see some board…
The Young Center at Elizabethtown College provides annual Amish population numbers, with totals for each state, province and so on. But they also have figures for the Old Order Mennonite population, a group similar to Amish in many ways (and in some cases living next door to them as neighbors). According to their latest tallies, the horse-and-buggy Old Order Mennonites number over 38,000 across their…
We finish out the Rediscovering the Ausbund series with part 4 of 4 today. Thanks to Elam Stoltzfus for sharing with us. This series was originally published in Plain Values magazine. If you missed them, here are parts one, two, and three. Music, hymns and words are ingrained at an early age; indeed there is abundant evidence that babies can hear music before birth. Music…