Amish Questions

Do the Amish care about the environment? How do they respond to challenges like pollution, the impact of pesticides, and habitat loss? College of Wooster professors David McConnell and Lyn Loveless wrote about Amish views of nature in their last post. They return today with a look at the Amish and environmental problems in their communities and […]

Continue Reading Are the Amish Environmentally Minded?

Amish people are no longer just the subjects of television programs–now they’re beginning to fill in the commercial breaks. A Colorado-based bank is running a series of three 15-second ads featuring an “Amish” spokesman promoting a smartphone app. The point of the spots is that banking-by-phone is so easy, even the technology-fearing Amish could do it. As you […]

Continue Reading Amish Bank Ads: Funny or Offensive?

Over the past few months, one of our readers in the Midwest has gotten to know an Amish family dealing with a trying circumstance.  He shares an interesting observation/question: I know that the father… told me that the Amish he is with believe they are supposed to be the light of the world but that […]

Continue Reading Why don’t Amish talk about God more often?

This is a question that comes up from time to time, most recently asked by reader Treva.  The sense I get is that people want to buy something culturally appropriate that the receiver will appreciate, and above all to not offend anyone with their gift. Getting a gift for an Amish person is not as […]

Continue Reading What’s a good gift for an Amish person?

Reader Michele purchased an Amish home and converted it to “English”, a process which took about half a year to begin.  She had this to say about “living Amish” in the meantime: I don’t know why they are called “simple”…we lived just like Amish for 6 months before our contractor could start our construction.  There […]

Continue Reading Is Amish life really so “simple”?

Usually right around this time each year, I notice at uptick in visits to the Amish State Guide. I attribute it to people looking for info on Amish communities with the coming of spring and summer. Are you visiting an Amish community this year?  Or have you already?  Here’s a list of Amish settlements I […]

Continue Reading Are you visiting an Amish community this year?

Valerie Weaver-Zercher delves into that question in her new book Thrill of the Chaste: The Allure of Amish Romance Novels.  Romance is a genre traditionally popular with women, as is Christian inspirational fiction. So it’s no surprise to learn that most readers of Amish fiction books are female.  But what about the men? In Thrill of […]

Continue Reading Who reads Amish fiction?

I got an email yesterday from Bill Coleman’s archivist asking about an unusual photo found in his collection. He described it as “one of Bill’s earliest Amish photographs” and that he had not seen anything similar in any of Bill’s other photos. This photo “was taken in the early 1980’s…”[women in] scoop hats” is the […]

Continue Reading What do these Amish women have on their heads?

I had a massive craving for pie the other day, one which struck like lightning.  In North Carolina I am over 2 hours from any Amish communities, so I headed posthaste to my local Kroger for the store-baked variety. The black raspberry pie I selected came in an attractive matte box which had encouraging things […]

Continue Reading Is Amish Food Really Better?

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 […]

Continue Reading Does anyone still write letters?