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…
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 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….
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…
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…
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…
Ever come across a website selling Amish products (like furniture) and wonder how much the Amish are involved? Are they running these websites somehow, or is someone helping make it happen? Ryan Kralik helps Amish get their goods online. In today’s guest post he explains how that works. — Today I am the President of an internet marketing company called WebsiteNEO, Inc. We specialize in web…
Did you know that Amish in one community are heavily involved in building luxury recreational vehicles? According to one source, “more than 80 percent of global RV production is based throughout the region”, the region being northern Indiana. This includes the 3rd-largest Amish community, at Elkhart and Lagrange Counties, along with the sizeable next-door Nappanee settlement. While that 80%-plus feels like it could be a bit…
Farm co-ops connect Amish growers with urban markets they’d otherwise have challenges reaching by themselves. The Washington Post has a story on a co-op located in Franklin County, Pennsylvania called Path Valley Farms. The operation’s 20 Amish farmers provide produce for over 50 Washington, D.C. restaurants – items like heirloom tomatoes, horseradish, squash, and watercress. So how do low-tech Amish farmers coordinate, market and deliver…
In the market for a nice handmade basket? It you’re visiting a Swartzentruber Amish community, there’s a good chance you’ll find one. Basket businesses are pretty common among this very plain Amish group. For instance you’ll find one listed among this sample of companies from Ethridge, TN (home to a sizeable Swartzentruber settlement) or some more visual evidence among these photos from the same community. As you…