While playing Amish taxi a few days ago, I found myself behind a buggy on one of Lancaster County’s countless curvy backroads, unsure whether it was safe to pass or not. Â Lancaster is hilly, and the roads go this way and that, with buggies everywhere, so you do this a good bit. I decided to wait, with a couple of vehicles behind me, until the…
Just back from Lancaster County. Â We had a good discussion the other evening at a cookout with some English and Amish friends. Youth issues, clothing, and church standards were among the Amish-related topics on the table. Â All accompanied by fire-grilled hot dogs, heirloom tomatoes, and S’mores and fresh berries for dessert. Â Hard to beat that. Talk at one point turned to the question of why…
Last week we had Amish friends down in NC for a few days. Â They took the train down, and we drove them back up, and of course decided to stay a few days in PA. Below you’ll see a common sight here in Lancaster County. Â This was shot last year on an autumn day sometime shortly after sunrise. I have mixed feelings on hot air…
Today, the second part of an Amishman’s talk to an Amish youth group.  The first part adressed popular music.  This installment covers cell phones and the internet. The speaker is a father of children of running-around age.  This talk was given a few weeks ago to a group of around 150 people in his community, both youth and adults. — I would like to move to cell…
Reader Ed C sent in the following photo, taken a few years ago in Lancaster County. Â What’s happening here? In an unrelated note, apologies if you could not access yesterday’s post (about Amish and child labor violations) via the email subscriber or Facebook links. Â The post is available under a new url here. Update: Nothing tricky about this photo. Â Lattice was the first to guess…
Last month a 15-year-old Amish girl lost an arm in a saw accident in a pallet shop in Allen County, Indiana. Local news outlet WANE has done a story about child labor violations in the business where the accident took place. You can view the clip here (no longer online). Child labor restrictions were lessened for Amish in 2004, allowing greater scope for 14 to…
We’ve had a good bit of discussion on Amish youth lately. Â Two weeks ago, a story on Amish youth on Facebook went viral across the internet. Â Amish adolescents were directly or indirectly a subject of numerous talks at the recent Amish conference. If you ask Amish people, youth issues are among the main concerns in many settlements–so much so that families may move halfway across…
From the Watertown Daily Times: CANTON — An Amish couple is waiting to find out if child neglect charges against them will be dropped following a closed-door conference Thursday in Family Court. The couple, Annie L. and Levi M. Shetler, were charged last year after they refused open-heart surgery for their newborn daughter, Sarah, because they said the operation goes against the tenets of their…
From the New Republic, on Amish signing leases with energy companies: Miller is physically imposing—stout and broad-shouldered—but also painfully timid. When pressed on what his neighbors had earned, he gazed for a long time at Edna, who, with one of their daughters, was chalking the outline of a man’s pantleg onto a bolt of wool rolled out on the table. “My wife and I took…
A reader shares: It is not uncommon to see buggies in the NE Indiana community with stickers on their SMV triangles. Â I have seen Jayco stickers, KZ RV stickers, logos of fish, deer, horses, and a few religious bumper stickers. Â And it’s not just the youth either. Â I have seen several married people with stickers on their buggies. The youth are more likely to have…