We’ve got a winner in the Goot Essa Cheese Assortment Giveaway. Before I share that, I just want to say a big thank you from both me and John, for all the wonderful comments that you left about the cheese, cheese cave post, and this site/email newsletter. We got about 200 comments on that post, and I tried to respond to as many as I…
We’re doing a cheese basket giveaway for Goot Essa. You can enter to win simply by leaving a comment on this post. I’ll post the winner here Friday. The assortment that owner John Esh and co. are giving away is called “Amish Tastes” (see below): From the description: This medium-bodied cheese trio features a palate-pleasing array of flavors. From our buttery Old German Weissa Kase…
“It’s amazing what our labels do,” says Ben Riehl. In this video, Ben explains why Amish men wear beards and suspenders. He also describes the difference between a bonnet and kapp (prayer covering). This was an illuminating and fun discussion. If you prefer to read, you’ll find the full transcript of our conversation just below this video. Amish Men & The Beard Erik Wesner:…
The Columbus Dispatch reports that Amish in Ohio are suing over a law requiring flashing lights on buggies: The Swartzentruber Amish are suing to overturn Ohio’s new traffic law that requires animal-drawn buggies to have yellow flashing lights, saying the law conflicts with the First Amendment protecting their religious expression. The Swartzentruber order, which enlisted legal help from Harvard University Law School’s Religious Freedom Clinic,…
“Austere” was the adjective that struck me on my first look at these photos. We’ve looked at plenty of plainer Amish homes here before. This one definitely belongs in that group. The home is in the area of Reading in Hillsdale County, Michigan. This is the southern bit, the state’s sole county which borders both Ohio and Indiana. The Reading settlement has been around for…
No, you’re not reading an old post from 2020 or 2021. I’m surprised to be sharing another COVID-related story with you, as we’re nearly into 2025. But this is a current story – and a big problem for Amish in one Ontario community. The root of the problem? The Amish in question didn’t use an obligatory Canadian smartphone app when crossing the border. From The…
The buggy was empty at the time, thankfully (especially after recent stories of runaway buggies with Amish children inside). However the driver of the truck was seriously injured when it struck the buggy. From WNEM: CLARE CO., Mich. (WNEM) – A man was injured and a horse died in a crash involving a vehicle and an Amish horse and buggy in Clare County on Friday….
This one was fun. Here are some photos from my trip to Amish cheese maker Goot Essa last year. Together with my friend Ben Riehl, we made the 2.5-hour drive up from Lancaster County last December. I’ve been saving these photos for a post. To get there, we traveled through several central PA valleys which have Amish populations. This is a shot taken on the…
Trend Alert: People are buying Amish sheds and converting them into living spaces, studios, and stores. That’s the report from the Bangor Daily News. They share the story of Jason and Jennifer Remillard, a Chicago couple who moved to Maine several years ago to “homestead”. This fits in nicely with the tiny home movement that’s been mainstream for about a decade now. Here’s the couple…
That’s the clear message from Steven Nolt of Elizabethtown College. He has analyzed the numbers and shares why with us today. This comes in contrast to one recent headline (“It’s too early to know whether Amish voters ‘delivered’ Pennsylvania for Trump, researchers say“). Rather, Nolt says that “It IS too early to know how many Amish voted, but it’s not too early to know that…