Thanks again for another nice year. As we usually do this time of year, here are some favorite posts of the past 365 days – most commented, most viewed, or just ones that stood out for other reasons. In more or less chronological order. On another note, The Amish State Guide pages are getting long-overdue updates. These were some of the first pages I created…
Jim Halverson shares another batch of photos from an Amish auction – this one in Gladwin County, Michigan. Gladwin County has two distinct Amish communities. This is a Swartzentruber group. We saw this community in the recent Amish barn-raising series. Jim shares some beautiful shots of an event that took place this autumn. In the foreground of this photo, we see a farm implement by…
While in Pennsylvania last week, my friend Ben and I managed to return to the Mennonite bakery I loved last year. This is a bakery run by “Piker” Mennonites (basically the plainest horse-and-buggy Mennonite group), right off the main highway in Snyder County. I saw a lot of the same favorites from last year, like fruitcake and pecan pie squares (I’ll do another post with…
Did you know that Amish celebrate three separate Christmases? By this I mean three separate days called by some variation of the name “Christmas”. Two of them occur in December, and one in January. Christmas (December 25) First of course, there is the Christmas we all know, on December 25th. This is the official Christmas, the traditional commemoration of Jesus’ birth, and is celebrated in…
Some of you might know Amish bishop David Kline from his books about nature, farming and life, such as Great Possessions or Scratching the Woodchuck. But you wouldn’t expect someone who is a church leader, preacher and public speaker to have dealt with a stutter. However, that’s what David has had to overcome in life. His story is recounted in a nice article/radio piece from…
I’m visiting Lancaster County and the big news since yesterday is the explosion at a Lancaster County hotel popular with tourists to the area. The incident happened in the wee hours yesterday morning in Bird-in-Hand. From PennLive: A loud “boom” early Monday morning in Lancaster County startled Tom Dobbs, nearly knocking him out of bed. The Leacock Township resident lives near the Bird-in-Hand Family Inn…
“I don’t recall ever feeling they were rude. But I definitely thought they didn’t like small talk. I assumed it was because I was English – or if I was speaking to a man, it was that I was a woman.” That’s a comment from one observer on the question “Are the Amish rude?” Some of you might recall this topic from back in March…
This Amish home comes from one of Pennsylvania’s largest and most distinct Amish communities, that of New Wilmington on the western end of the state. We’ve actually seen a pair of homes from this settlement up for sale before, suggesting that “online” is a common-enough way to move your property if you’re Amish in this area. So the color I want to emphasize as we…
If you caught the “Is Amish Life Hard?” post of a couple weeks ago, that was an excerpt of a longer conversation with John Esh. Today I’m sharing the full video of our talk. John is an Amishman living in the Nittany Valley community of Centre County, Pennsylvania. Goot Essa is John’s company. For about the first half of this 27-minute conversation, we discuss Amish…
When you see a crime report about an Amish roadside stand, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking it was someone stealing money from the honor system cash deposits that a lot of these stands use. Not in this case, though. From WBKO: BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – The Simpson County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an armed robbery that occurred Thursday, Nov. 30. According to a press…