Amish Business

Northern Indiana Amish Economy

The ‘RV Amish’ of Northern Indiana could be considered among the ‘fastest’ of all Amish.  There are a few reasons why. With a majority of household heads traditionally working in non-Amish RV factories, Amish in Elkhart/Lagrange Counties and around the town of Nappanee have been more exposed to the ‘world’ than in settlements with most Amish working the fields or holed up in Amish-owned shops….

Mud Sales: 2024 Schedule (Lancaster County & More)

Mud Sales: 2024 Schedule (Lancaster County & More)

When are the mud sales in Lancaster County? (Jump to full 2024 Mud Sale Schedule) 2024 Mud Sale Guide (22 Sales) The Lancaster County mud sale schedule for 2024 is now available, with the first event happening just over a week from now (February 23 & 24 at Strasburg Fire Company). These Amish-heavy events draw members of the community and outside visitors in support of the…

Amish business book

Kevin over at the informative and fun Amish Cook blog has beaten me to the punch here, but I thought I’d bring to your attention an article in the New York Times on Amish business. It’s a pretty meat-and-potatoes look at Amish entrepreneurship but nice to see in a high-profile spot.  Donald Kraybill contributes here, pointing out that in some settlements high majorities–even 90%–of households…

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Controversial Amish businesses – ‘Puppy mills’ and others

Amish businesses have thrived in recent years–though there has been some clashing with non-Amish society along the way.  ‘Puppy mills’, Amish construction firms, and woodworking shops have all rubbed people the wrong way at times. ‘Puppy mills’ is the term applied to breeding operations that are typically poorly run and with pups and parent dogs in ill health.  The term is meant to be a…

Marketing the Amish

photo: amishcigar.com ‘Amish’ sells. That fact is not lost on the numerous merchants of Amish-branded stuff.  Software, refrigerators, and organic cotton bedsheets are among the products that non-Amish dealers have sold under the Amish moniker or by association with Amish images. Often, the connection to bona fide ‘Amishness’ (whatever that term means) is dubious at best.  David Luthy wrote an article in the mid-90s in…

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Jebediah feeds the chickens and Jacob plows

Living on an Amish farm, I get a daily look at the Amish grind. The Amish work ethic is legendary.  It’s often one of the first things outsiders comment on.  Weird Al even sent it up, repeatedly, in his notorious parody of Amish life (recall the enthusiastic butter-churning, if you’ve seen the video). But do the Amish really love labor?  What makes them so earnest…

Indiana Amish occupations

Just what do the Amish do for a living nowadays?  The Amish have long been connected with farming.  But in reality, this association has become less and less accurate over the past few decades.  Published in 1995 (second edition 2004), Donald Kraybill and Steven Nolt’s Amish Enterprise documents one of the most significant changes in Amish society, the shift from agricultural to entrepreneurial pursuits. Today,…

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Credit cards, nuclear power, and funny cigars

Okay, just a bit lazy today on the Amish blog and trying to get my act together to go run however many miles in the freezing Polish weather (snowed yesterday!), so I am going to do a little roll call of some of my favorite posts from the past year: Do the Amish use credit cards? Settlements that failed:  an evangelistic Amish group in Ohio…