Yesterday, Don Burke left a comment on the “5 Favorite Amish Foods” post that comes close to capturing my own feelings: “you’re looking at a guy that thinks that Amish baked goods should be it’s own food-group — the foundational (and largest) group of the food pyramid.” Well-said, Don, well-said 🙂 Which of course gets me thinking on Monday morning (the logical time to think cookies and cake,…
Michigan Live reports that an Amish toddler was killed on the road Wednesday in Hillsdale County. According to the Sheriff’s Office: a 56-year-old Pittsford, Mich. man was driving his 1999 Chevy S-10 pickup truck northbound on S. Bird Lake Road south of Tamarack Road when the child walked across the road at the crest of a hill. The 56-year old man stated he tried to swerve to…
Amish mark many of the same religious and secular holidays that other Americans do. But they also observe holidays that are not as widely celebrated. You’ll find five of them below (note: observance may vary between communities). 1. Ascension Day (40th Day After Easter Sunday) This day marks Jesus’ bodily ascension into heaven. It’s a movable holiday, dependent on the date of Easter Sunday. According to various sources including firsthand input from our…
It’s been a while since we’ve checked in on the Amish auction scene. Reader Jerry, a regular sale-goer, shares photos from the Gratz Fire Company Sale. This one took place May 1st and 2nd in Gratz, Pennsylvania. This is not located in Lancaster County, but the Dauphin County community are Lancaster-origin people, as you can see by the buggies and dress in the photos below. The…
The photo you see below, of Iowa Amish schoolchildren fleeing into a cornfield, was taken in 1965 by Des Moines Register photographer Thomas DeFeo and republished nationwide. It’s credited with spurring national support for the Amish, leading to the landmark Wisconsin v. Yoder 1972 Supreme Court decision (effectively allowing Amish to limit schooling to eight grades). The accompanying video features a number of other fascinating images taken at the time of the…
Where do the Amish live? Places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Indiana probably come right to mind. But they’ve also lived in some rather unusual locations. Here are some of the more surprising places Amish once called home. Primary sources include David Luthy’s The Amish in America: Settlements that Failed 1840-1960, and Steven M. Nolt’s A History of the Amish. 1. Paradise Valley, Mexico How…
“Hard-working” is one of the positive stereotypes firmly attached to the Amish. We see barn-raisings, 4 AM milkings, and tending broods of half-a-dozen children or more, and it’s hard to suggest otherwise. But do the Amish actually work harder than the rest of us? Do they just work differently? Jim Cates explores these questions today with a look at how an Amish friend’s work differs…
In her previous post on the Amish dress code, Suzanne Woods Fisher described some interesting nuances of Plain clothing, and explored the tailor background of Amish founder Jakob Amman. Today, Suzanne tells the story of an unusual coat that crossed the ocean with one Amish immigrant to America. The story below is excerpted from her new book The Heart of the Amish: Life Lessons on Peacemaking and the Power of…
I must have been hungry when I decided to write about food here. Below you’ll find a list of my five favorite Amish foods, and why I enjoy them. Would any of these make your list? Favorite things I eat when visiting the Amish Now, we can debate what makes a food “Amish” or not. That’s not really the point of this post though. I’m using…
As we’ve seen in his previous posts, Indiana Amishman Merlyn Yoder is an enthusiast of the Ausbund, the centuries-old hymnal Amish sing from in church. Merlyn also has a love for beekeeping. In today’s post, Merlyn describes an ideal visit to the hive, and imagines what it would be like if the bees he keeps had voices of their own. I love Merlyn’s creativity and sense of…