Amish Business

6 Amish Farms Where You Can Stay As A Guest (Lancaster County)

Aside from eating in an Amish home, people often want to know where they can find accommodation on actual Amish farms. A TribLive article points us to the website amishfarmstay.com, which lists six such properties – all run by Amish families. I’ve tried to answer this question over the years but never had a resource which gathered several such properties in one place. This site is the…

Things You See at an Amish Auction (22 Photos)

Things You See at an Amish Auction (22 Photos)

Reader Jerry frequently visits Amish communities and auctions. You might remember his posts on dandelion greens in Amish cuisine, a Nebraska Amish auction in Big Valley, the Amish in Burke’s Garden, VA, and photos of a $9,861 Amish buggy. Jerry is back today following a trip to an Amish sale in central Pennsylvania. What will you see at an Amish auction? Jerry gives us a nice…

A Visit to BB’s Grocery Outlet (Quarryville, PA)

A Visit to BB’s Grocery Outlet (Quarryville, PA)

Another of my business stops in Lancaster County was BB’s Grocery Outlet. This is a “plain chain”, with four five locations throughout southeastern PA. BB’s actually has a website which gives you the background: BB’s Grocery Outlet is a discount grocery chain that was started in 1986 on an Amish Farm in Lancaster County, PA.  It began with the simple idea of providing quality groceries…

A Visit to Gordonville Book Store (Lancaster County, PA)

A Visit to Gordonville Book Store (Lancaster County, PA)

Of all the different kinds of Amish businesses, places selling food and books are two of my favorites (with the classic variety store also in the mix – see 5 Amish Businesses You Should Visit). Recently while in Lancaster County I dropped by two spots that some of you might know – BB’s Grocery Outlet, and Gordonville Book Store. I’m sharing some photos from both…

The Mission General Store (St. Ignatius, Montana Amish)

The St. Ignatius, Montana Amish community is far enough off the beaten path that I’d guess most of us will not make it there. But if you do, one place to visit is the Amish-run Mission General Store, run by Ruth Bontrager and her husband. From the Daily Inter Lake: Located at the center of a 125-member Amish community outside of St. Ignatius, the Mission…

Will Low Milk Prices Force Amish Out Of Dairying?

Will Low Milk Prices Force Amish Out Of Dairying?

I sat down Sunday with a Lancaster Amish dairy farmer friend. He soon handed me a copy of local paper LNP, containing this article. Low milk prices are making it tough to make a living on the farm. So some are selling their cows at auction. From the article: “The first cow is Pepper. She’s got a good udder and 85 pounds of milk and ready…

Amish Women in Furniture Making (14 Photos)

Amish Women in Furniture Making (14 Photos)

Amish furniture making may seem on first look like a male-dominated trade–and it is. But Amish women do some important work in the industry, as Milca Rivera of DutchCrafters shares in today’s guest post. As Erik noted in his post 5 Jobs Done by Amish Women, one of the types of businesses where you can find Amish women working outside of the home are woodshops….

Is This “First Air-Conditioned Top Buggy” Real?

Is This “First Air-Conditioned Top Buggy” Real?

This is a story about Dinky’s Auction House in the Amish settlement in Daviess County, Indiana. It contains an intriguing detail which goes largely unexplained. There is a photo showing a buggy described as the “First Air Conditioned Top Buggy” (below). So this is something I’ve never heard of before. We’ve discussed heating in buggies. We have seen solar-powered buggies. But the air-conditioned buggy is…

An Inside Look At Amish Taxi Driving

An Inside Look At Amish Taxi Driving

How does Amish taxi driving work? From time to time we get this question from people interested in doing this job as a side business, or full-time gig. Generally speaking, an Amish taxi driver is simply anyone who is paid to drive the Amish. This typically means either local business trips, visits to family or community events, or on more distant journeys. Business Insider ran an…

NYT: “In Amish Country, The Future Is Calling”

NYT: “In Amish Country, The Future Is Calling”

From The New York Times (“In Amish Country, The Future Is Calling” by Kevin Granville & Ashley Gilbertson): “Amish life is about recognizing the value of agreed-upon limits,” said Erik Wesner, an author who runs a blog, Amish America, “and the spirit of the internet cuts against the idea of limits.” John, who works a computerized saw at Amish Country Gazebos near Lancaster, Pa., likened it…