Wild youth behavior is a reality for some English adolescents, and for a segment of Amish youth as well. Jim Cates returns with a look at those youth–some of whom soon find themselves in quite different circumstances. Not Your Mama’s Amish Long before Wal-Mart discovered that “Back in Black” was a catchy musical backdrop for its television ads, the youngie in Topeka, Indiana were regularly blasting…
We received dozens of questions in our recent “Ask an Amish Person” post, covering everything from gardening to child discipline to challenges and rewards of being Amish. Indiana Amishman Merlyn Yoder has responded to a good chunk–about 17 of them–below. We’re calling this “part 1” as I’m hoping we’ll receive further responses, if Merlyn’s schedule allows. But either way, a big thanks to Merlyn for his efforts here….
Driving the Amish has come up here on a couple of occasions recently. Earlier this year we read about Debbie, an Amish taxi driver whose story appeared in the Amish monthly Family Life. I also listed it as one of my happier challenges of living with the Amish. So I thought you’d enjoy this Lancaster Online story on a County resident who’s done Amish taxi duty for four decades and…
If you’ve visited more than one or two Amish settlements, you’ve probably at some point been struck by contrasts–sometimes stark differences. The most immediately obvious signs are material. Homes, buggies, clothing and other items tell stories about how the area’s residents choose to be Amish. Today Jim Cates looks at those differences in Indiana’s two largest Amish communities–the Elkhart-Lagrange County area, whose best-known place is Shipshewana,…
Dr. Holmes Morton, of the Clinic for Special Children located in Strasburg, PA is planning to open a new clinic in Pennsylvania’s second-largest Amish community, known as Big Valley. The modest Lancaster County medical center specializes in treating rare genetic diseases which disproportionately affect Amish and Mennonite communities. It garners wide support from the Plain community, seen financially in donations and auctions which help provide it funding. The new…
In the photos below, you can see the unusual sight of Lancaster-style clothing in the northern Indiana (Elkhart-Lagrange) Amish settlement. These Pennsylvania visitors were apparently in town for a wedding. First, you see some local families arriving, in Indiana-style clothing (with women in Lancaster-style clothing on the far right). Next, a mixed group: You can see that both men and women have different head coverings,…
I’ve zoomed in below on a few chunks of this superb panorama photo shared by reader Mike Atnip (you might recall his previous panorama of the Meadow Mill School Auction). Mike describes this photo as “Lining up for the pony parade at New Bedford, Ohio.” The 15-minute parade, which you can see includes many Amish children as well as adults helping out, is part of the area’s…
Michigan Live reports that an Amish toddler was killed on the road Wednesday in Hillsdale County. According to the Sheriff’s Office: a 56-year-old Pittsford, Mich. man was driving his 1999 Chevy S-10 pickup truck northbound on S. Bird Lake Road south of Tamarack Road when the child walked across the road at the crest of a hill. The 56-year old man stated he tried to swerve to…
As we’ve seen in his previous posts, Indiana Amishman Merlyn Yoder is an enthusiast of the Ausbund, the centuries-old hymnal Amish sing from in church. Merlyn also has a love for beekeeping. In today’s post, Merlyn describes an ideal visit to the hive, and imagines what it would be like if the bees he keeps had voices of their own. I love Merlyn’s creativity and sense of…
What would you do if the family pet started behaving badly–at the worst possible moment–at dinner in an Amish home? Jim Cates shares some humorous–and revealing–mealtime stories in today’s post on the importance of the Amish family. Are Amish and English families as different as we might think? Family: The Building Block of Amish Life Writer Nancy Mitford once said “The great advantage of living in a…