A picture in need of a caption. Â Taken outside of Shartlesville, Berks County, Pennsylvania. I’m still not sure–would meeting this pair make me smile…or give me nightmares? Either way, one more reason to love America. Photo credit: Colin Grey
2010 was the 4th full year of this blog. Â I thought it’d be nice to look back at the year’s “best” posts. Â If you’re new here, it might also be a good way to catch up on what we’ve been up to. Here, “best” means posts that got lots of responses from you, or lots of visitors, plus some personal favorites. Thanks to every one…
I just cracked into my mail (I often get my US mail at my parents’ address, and collect it when I visit), and found a Christmas card from ‘Jake’ and ‘Suvilla’, Amish friends in Ohio. Jake included a two-page letter to get me up to date with what’s been going on since my last visit. In true Amish-letter fashion, he starts out with a fairly…
People often assume that the Amish, whom we think of as a people ‘in tune with nature’ and ‘close to the earth’ (which to some degree may be true, whatever those phrases actually mean) are strictly all-natural when it comes to the food they raise. In fact, on most Amish farms pesticides are put to use. Organic farming is something that is catching on in…
Many Amish families like to keep goats. Goats make nice pets. Some Amish raise goats to sell the meat. A few I met in northern Indiana sell them to Mexican and Arabic clientele, for example. Apparently goat’s meat is big in traditional Mexican and Arabic cooking. The Amish around Kalona, Iowa, like to milk them. A goat can make a great grass trimmer. Chain to…
Tractors are generally only used for fieldwork by New Order Amish. Typically, Amish of Old Order affiliations use horses (or, commonly, mules in settlements such as Lancaster, PA) to draw their field equipment. Where do the Amish continue to get their horse-drawn plows and balers, a true anachronism at a time of mega-farms, with modern farmers spending tens of thousands on hi-tech equipment? At one…
Chili (pronounced ‘CH-EYE-LIE’) is at the southern tip of the Holmes County settlement. The hamlet itself is actually located well inside Coshocton County. It’s not much more than a few ramshackle homes at the juncture of a couple of country byways. Leaving town, a partially-covered sign alerts drivers to the presence of horse-drawn traffic just ahead, marking the start of the world’s largest Amish community….
I’d actually planned to post this photo today anyway. As I drove to an appointment this morning I came upon a slowdown on Highway 39, the main thoroughfare through Holmes County. Turns out it was caused by a head-on car-buggy collision. The remnants were still in view by the roadside. As I arrived at my 9 am meeting at the home of an Amish business…
Day Two in Holmes County was a great one. I had a chance to catch up with a lot of Amish friends and acquaintances. I sat for an hour and a half having a nice chat with one friend, ‘Johnnie’, who just had his fifth child (all girls!). He gave me a bottle of homemade blackberry wine to take away. He, like many Amish, appreciates…
‘Be friendly to all and a burden to no one. Live holy before God; before yourself, moderately; before your neighbors, honestly. Let your life be modest and reserved, your manner courteous, your admonitions friendly, your forgiveness willing, your promises true, your speech wise, and share gladly the bounties you receive.’ Source: Rules of a Godly Life, cited in Amish Roots, John A. Hostetler