Ever noticed how Amish women in different places wear different head coverings? A good example is the heart-shaped Lancaster women’s covering, versus the straight-sided, pleated coverings worn by Amish women in the Midwest. Like other items of Amish clothing, there are quite a few different styles of women’s coverings, and some with rather subtle differences. I stopped in at the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center…
A look today at an Amish candle business I visited in Holmes County last month. Sunset View Candles & Such is a little shop sitting a stone’s throw from the Amish owner’s front door, typical of shops like this. There was a buggy parked outside when I pulled up, and one customer in the shop when I dropped in, speaking with who I assumed was…
Do Amish adopt? How does the process work? Do they adopt non-Amish children or just those from their own communities? Amish Cook Gloria Yoder recently shared her family’s story of fostering two children, Jesse and Rayni, in a 2-part series. She gives a window into the adoption process, not yet completed in this case but is moving along well.  Gloria and her husband Daniel…
In a nice story of sacrifice, some Amish and Mennonites recently spent holiday vacation time helping victims of an April 2018 tornado. About 200 homes and businesses were damaged last spring by a 115-mph-wind tornado in the area of Meridian, Mississippi. The volunteers are working through the Mennonite Disaster Service organization (MDS). You can see Amish men in this photo doing what looks like cleanup…
You might recall this image from the 5 Mystery Photos post: I explained in the follow-up that this unusual buggy was from the settlement at Enon Valley, Pennsylvania. I had been wanting to visit this settlement for some time and had a chance to do so in early December, but due to time constraints, weather and darkness it wasn’t quite what I had hoped it…
So another year wraps up. I hope yours was a blessed one. As the year winds down, the tradition here is to look back at favorite posts of the previous 12 months. I hope you enjoy these if you missed them the first time around. Wishing you and yours a fantastic 2019, and thanks to everyone who visited, commented, and shared what we do here…
What does it take to feed 1,000 wedding guests? Lovina Eicher shares just that in her recent column: Neighbor Laura and I were head cooks, so our job was to make sure we had all the ingredients there to feed about 1,000 people. Six hundred pounds of chicken were grilled by Menno’s uncle. They started at 3:30 a.m. Four hundred pounds of potatoes were bought….
When I stay at John and Rachel’s* home in Lancaster County, one of my morning tasks is to go on a milk run. This doesn’t mean running down to the store but rather to the closest source possible. And in this part of the world, that means another Amish farm. Here’s the jar I used one morning: Not “Strawberry Jelly” but organic cow milk in…
We’re officially into winter. And this is the time of year that families are cracking into those canned items they worked hard to prepare when the weather was warmer and fresh fruit and veggies were plentiful. On my recent Amish trip I had the good fortune to bring back a Christmas basket of canned goods as a present for the family. I thought I’d share…
A kerosene lamp explosion caused a fire which burned down the home of two families in the Path Valley settlement (Pennsylvania). Here’s how it happened and the fire team’s response, via the Chambersburg Public Opinion: One of the people in the house was handling a kerosene lamp when it exploded, Hall said. Flames spread. It took a while for someone to reach a neighbor’s house…