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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Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites and Mennonites: 5-book giveaway and interview with Donald Kraybill

ByErik Wesner
95 Comments

Donald Kraybill just had a busy month. Most people would consider releasing one book an event, but in October Kraybill released two–The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World, co-authored with Steven Nolt and David Weaver-Zercher, and the Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites. Timing of the release was something of a coincidence; while The Amish Way was a more recent project,…

Amish Dating

ByErik Wesner
26 Comments

Sunday is the day Amish youth groups gather, and when dating couples traditionally meet.  So I thought it would be a good day to share this. National Geographic is airing a new show called “Amish at the Altar”. They describe the show as: Three couples–two Amish and one ex-Amish–reveal courtship, engagement, and marriage among the Amish. Interviews with the couples, family members, and current and…

Amish children and spanking

ByErik Wesner
107 Comments

I just read an article by Donald Kraybill which examines Amish and obedience (http://goo.gl/Sb7e7).  In the piece, Kraybill explains why Amish use physical punishment to discipline children, citing an Amish mother named Hannah: Hannah explained that, when children are about two years old, their wills need to be broken. If it’s not done at that stage, she said, they will likely become disobedient, rebellious adults. The…

Taste of Pinecraft: Sherry Gore interview and 5-book giveaway

Taste of Pinecraft: Sherry Gore interview and 5-book giveaway

ByErik Wesner
263 Comments

Sherry Gore is a national scribe for The Budget, editor of The Pinecraft Pauper, and columnist for the Amish magazine Ladies Journal. Sherry is also a mother of three residing in Sarasota, Florida, home to Pinecraft, a well-known community of Amish and Mennonites. Sherry has written an especially neat cookbook called Taste of Pinecraft: Glimpses of Sarasota, Florida’s Amish Culture and Kitchens, a tribute to…

The Amish and Halloween

The Amish and Halloween

ByErik Wesner
15 Comments

Do Amish celebrate Halloween? While Amish do grow a lot of the pumpkins that become the Jack-o-Lanterns adorning homes across the nation today, the Amish themselves do not have a tradition of carving or displaying their own. The most you might see are some uncarved pumpkins and gourds festively arranged at some homes (though I suppose that could just as easily fall under the category…

Amish Wedding Pens

ByErik Wesner
11 Comments

I was just digging through my things and came across the pen above, picked up while visiting Amish communities earlier this year. This pen commemorates the wedding of Steven and Lydia, married this past spring in Ohio.  Keepsakes and souvenirs such as this memorialize Amish weddings in many communities. Remembrance items can range from pens with the couple’s name and date of marriage, to painted…

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Abner the Bookbinder

ByErik Wesner
15 Comments

Last week, an excerpt from The Amish Way mentioned a gentleman named Abner, a deceased Amish historian whose trade was bookbinding. Abner was apparently quite a remarkable person who touched a lot of people in his community.  Brad Igou (The Amish in Their Own Words) knew Abner well and has shared some remembrances which he recorded after Abner’s death in 2002: A good friend has…

Amish Peanut Butter: Resistance is Futile

Amish Peanut Butter: Resistance is Futile

ByErik Wesner
49 Comments

As I write this I’m sitting at home late Sunday morning, happily munching on bread slathered with Amish peanut butter, trying to keep it from sticking my laptop’s keys together.  Amish across America will soon be doing the same at the after-church fellowship meal (the peanut butter, not the laptop part), at which the Amish interpretation of the venerable nut spread features prominently. What makes…

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The Amish Way: 10 contest winners and book excerpt

ByErik Wesner
17 Comments

I’m happy to share the Amish Way winners with you today.  It was a lot of fun to run this contest and I much enjoyed the interview with authors Donald Kraybill, Steven Nolt, and David Weaver-Zercher (if you missed it: Part 1 and Part 2). I particularly appreciated the point they make about shunning–that it is the “flip side to the community barn raising that…

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Part 2 of The Amish Way interview and 10-book giveaway

ByErik Wesner
52 Comments

“Brimming with many children,” write the authors of The Amish Way, “most Amish homes produce eight or more sets of dirty dishes three times a day.  That means at least twenty-four glasses, dozens of plates, and countless pieces of silverware, not to mention pots, pans, mixing bowls, platters, and serving utensils.” Yet you won’t find an automatic dishwasher in any Amish home. For the Amish,…