From the Decatur, Illinois Herald & Review: SULLIVAN — If something is worth inventing, it’s worth inventing again. Armed with that kind of reassurance, Sullivan entrepreneur Larry Yoder has gone ahead and reinvented the horseless carriage “because I had a ball doing it.” And it really is a carriage: He’s taken a former Amish buggy and built solar panels into the roof to feed batteries…
When we hit the dog days of summer, there are times I just feel like crawling into the freezer, closing the door and hanging out in there awhile (I guess I’d need a bigger freezer to make this dream happen). Home freezers are another one of those once-luxuries, now-conveniences which we use, really 24/7, but tend to take for granted. Not all Amish have such easy…
At last month’s Amish technology conference, I had a chance to meet Cory Anderson, one of the founders of a new publication called the Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies (JAPAS). I asked Cory a few questions about JAPAS, which you’ll find below. I have been enjoying the articles in the inaugural issue, which you can access online, for free, here. Amish America: How would…
On my latest visit to Indiana, a friend gave me an interesting document–an old booklet for Rockome Gardens, a long-running tourist destination featuring rock gardens, intricate stonework and other attractions, located in the Arthur, Illinois Amish settlement (2023 update – unfortunately, Rockome Gardens closed several years ago – but I still hope you’ll enjoy this look back in time!). The booklet is entitled “Your Visit…
Today we have another excerpt from an Amish father’s talk to a youth group and parents in Lancaster County. We last looked at this talk about a month ago, with a segment on cell phones and the internet (the first segment addressed popular music). In this excerpt the Amishman suggests how one might fight temptation and bad habits by developing character. As a whole, this talk…
A few months ago we looked at three, frankly, off-the-wall Amish myths I’d come across in various places online. Donald Kraybill has a new article out on six other, I would say more widely-held, myths about the Amish. They are: 1. The Amish Are Slowly Dying Out 2. The Amish Are Technophobes 3. The Amish Don’t Pay Taxes or Vote 4. Amish Elders Arrange Marriages 5. Because…
Today we have some photos courtesy of Bob Rosier, taken in the sole Amish community in Texas (in Bee County, about 90 miles southeast of San Antonio). We’ve featured posts on this community before (see Bee County, Texas Amish), as well as on now-defunct Texas Amish settlements (see Amish in Texas), if you’d like to catch up on the story of the Amish in the Lone…
It seems Amish will milk just about anything there is a market for. Lately I’ve even been hearing whisperings of Amish milking camels. Well, why not. So I wasn’t at all surprised yesterday to find an article on a Lancaster Amish camel dairy: LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — Let’s get the obvious questions about camel’s milk out of the way first. It tastes like skim milk, just…
Reader Ed C has shared some photos of Lancaster County firefighters putting out a blaze in the Strasburg area in winter 2012. You can read this post for more background on Amish serving on fire companies in the Lancaster community. Amish are involved in more than a token way on fire companies in Lancaster County, with one official estimating up to 300 Plain firefighters serving…
Since getting back from northern Indiana Monday night, I’ve been thinking about ways to share my trip with you. I usually return from these Amish journeys with a jumble of thoughts and photos…some of them become posts and some just sort of evaporate. In the interest of capturing as much of that as possible, I thought I’d just share a bunch of photos I took,…