Loren and Dorcas Yoder are the owners of Silver Star Leather, located near Shipshewana in the northern Indiana Amish community. I first met Loren in 2006 while selling books in his area, and bumped into him again last summer through a mutual friend. It was a nice chance to visit with Loren again and see his growing business–like many Amish-owned companies housed in a small workshop sitting…
Reader Mike Atnip shares a panorama shot of the Meadow View Mill School Auction, which took place this past Saturday in Holmes County. Since panoramas don’t show up well here, I asked Mike to send me a large version that I could crop bits out of. First I split it into 3 chunks: Next, I zoomed in more, which gives you a better look at the…
2017 UPDATE: This year’s two editions of the Honeyville Quilt Auction will be held Saturday, April 8, and Saturday, September 16. The first Honeyville Quilt Auction of 2014 takes place tomorrow (Saturday April 12th) in the Elkhart-Lagrange, Indiana Amish settlement. We usually post auction photos taken during the event. Today is a little different, with a pile of pre-auction pictures showing all the neat things…
The Coshocton Tribune and Indianapolis Star recently published a series of stories on the deer farming industries in Ohio and Indiana. Amish people figure prominently in a number of the articles. The first is about an Amish craftsman putting deer antlers to a creative use. Amish-Made Deer Antler Pens Some have wondered what Amish deer farmers do with the animals they raise. The answer: a variety…
Two Saturdays ago the Airville Volunteer Fire Company held their annual mud sale. Airville is a small community lying in southeastern York County. Due east across the Susquehanna River you’ll find the southern Lancaster County Amish population including communities around Holtwood and Quarryville. The Airvile Fire Company has posted a fun batch of photos via its Facebook page. You can see some of them here, but…
You may ask me, “Is this a typical Amish shop?” Good question. Let me explain why. Another shop ten miles from here might be run totally with a generator, and contain a computerized CNC machine to work with cutsheets drawn up on a word processor. And a third shop, the same distance away, might not have one bit of electrical equipment anywhere, down to the…
Back in January we shared news of a planned Amish-backed bank in Lancaster County. Financial Times reports that the Bank of Bird-in-Hand has gotten FDIC approval to open. The bank has raised $17 million in capital. Here’s what caught my eye: In doing so, the bank will become the first new, or de novo, lender to be created in the US since late 2010, bucking a…
We’ve gradually been building this out over the past couple of years, and though it is not yet complete, I think it’s complete enough to launch. Look up and you’ll see the “Amish Business Directory” link which is now a part of the top menu. In it you’ll find listings of both Amish-owned businesses and companies selling Amish products, including: Amish restaurants Construction companies Quilt…
Amish carriage shops are not all alike. One of the more delightful things I discovered when first visiting these shops was that some work on vehicles from beyond their culture. This means non-Amish carriages and even early versions of cars (from an era when a car was closer to a “horseless carriage” than an “automobile”). One such visit revealed work being done on an early-1900s…
Why are people drawn to Amish markets? Kevin Shelly examines the question in a recent article about Amish markets in southern New Jersey. Shelly counts seven in south Jersey alone, despite there not being any Amish in the state. A few points to consider: “The quality is a lot higher here and I’m willing to spend a premium,” says one shopper. Amish-sold goods are commonly…