Author: Erik Wesner

Erik Wesner is the creator of amishamerica.com, and author of Success Made Simple: An Inside Look At Why Amish Businesses Thrive. Erik began visiting Amish communities in 2004 – eventually meeting thousands of Amish families while selling books.

He began writing about the Amish on this website in 2006, and is often cited in national media, including USA Today, The New York Times, and others on a wide range of Amish topics. A native of North Carolina, Erik has visited dozens of Amish communities across the country, and loves spending time with Amish friends and discovering new Amish places.

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Old Order Insights at Kutztown University

The Kutztown University talk was a very well attended event last night, with an overflow crowd of around 200 coming out to hear James Weaver and Ben Riehl discuss Old Order Mennonites and Amish. There was much humor and a warm rapport between James, Ben and moderator Dr. Rob Reyolds. The program lasted nealy two hours, with both pre-submitted and live audience questions covering a…

Lancaster Amish Highlights

So far: Seeing the Christian Aid meatpacking operation in action. A mobile canning station in a converted tractor trailer travels across North America (13 states and 2 provinces, I was told) stopping in communities (often Plain) where volunteers contribute labor and supplies to prepare and can meat for humanitarian aid purposes. The program has heavy Amish involvement in places like Lancaster and Holmes Counties. Yesterday…

The Amish Scooter

The horse and buggy is the obvious transportation icon of the Amish but the scooter must be the runner up. Though not all Amish use them they are the classic horseless vehicle among the Amish in Lancaster County (where bikes are not really seen) and a number of other communities. Scooters were big a few years back when a scootering craze seemed to hit English…

BB’s Grocery Outlet (4 Pennsylvania Locations)

BB’s Grocery Outlet (4 Pennsylvania Locations)

Amish-Owned Discount Grocery Stores Some photos of BB’s, a PA Amish bent-n-dent grocery. These photos are from the store’s Lebanon County location (Myerstown area; addresses at end of post). BB’s in fact has 4 locations across southeastern PA, including in Lancaster County, Berks County, and Cumberland County (see below for addresses). The reader who took these photos says it reminds him of an “Amish Costco”, and that…

Does anyone still write letters?

Does anyone still write letters?

If you’ve been following the Kentucky Amish SMV case, you know that some people still do. Jacob Gingerich of Graves County, Kentucky recently wrote 138 letters to KY legislators explaining the Swartzentruber Amish position on the safety triangle. Thanks in part to Gingerich’s efforts, a compromise bill acceptable to his people has quickly passed the KY Senate and is now moving through the House with…

Emma Miller on the Amish Descendant Scholarship Fund

We have a guest post today from Emma Miller.  Though most people raised Amish end up joining an Amish church, a certain percentage for one reason or another do not.  Here’s Emma writing about a new organization she’s started for former Amish: I grew up Amish in a small town in Missouri, the 6th child out of 12. I have many fond memories of summer…

Amish Raw Milk

Amish Raw Milk

Over the weekend, it was reported Dan Allgyer had been formally blocked from selling raw milk outside PA: Judge Lawrence Stengel issued a permanent injunction Feb. 2 barring Amish dairyman Daniel Allgyer from sending the unpasteurized beverage across state lines to Grassfed on The Hill, a Washington, D.C.-area buying club. “Permanent injunction” sounds like they mean business.  Raw milk has been a raw issue, with…

Amish Birding

Amish are known to be avid birders.  As an outdoors activity you can do with family, I suppose that shouldn’t come as a surprise.  This might be the wrong analogy, but I’ve always imagined it as hunting without the guns. I don’t have any statistics but it seems like it is particularly popular among Amish in Ohio.  There is even an Amish Bird Symposium next…

Indiana Amish Markets

Indiana Amish Markets

Wrapping up a week in which it seems I can’t stop talking about Amish food (Amish bulk food stores, Amish canning, Amish maple syrup) I was happily surprised to find a new article on Indiana Amish food markets in the Chicago Tribune (see Indiana Amish food markets). When I hear “Amish markets” I tend to think of the PA Dutch farmers’ markets you see in…

Amish Maple Syrup

Tom continues his New York Amish coverage with some photos of an Amish maple syrup operation in the Randolph, NY area (Conewango Valley Amish community).   Says Tom: “I have been in the sugar shack when Eli’s kids and grands are watching and the women are making pancakes and drawing hot syrup out of the pan to pour on the pancakes.  The hard work does…