Amish Culture

I don’t know if it was just coincidence, but two stories on the Amish and e-bikes came out last week on the same day – one on Amish in Ohio, and the other on Iowa (that can’t be coincidence, I’m thinking). If you’re not familiar, e-bikes are bicycles fitted with an electric motor which provide […]

Continue Reading The Amish & E-bikes

A non-Amish farmer in Morrow County, Ohio lost his barn in a fire in July. Soon after, a local Amish friend offered help (via Morrow County Sentinel): One of the first to come after the fire was their Amish friend, David Raber. The Robinsons have sold hay to the Amish and transported them many times for […]

Continue Reading Amish Raise Barn For English Neighbors After Fire

Lovina Eicher shares some happy news in her latest Lovina’s Amish Kitchen column: After church services the bishop announced the wedding dates of two girls in our church. Mary and Danny chose September 24 for their wedding date, and daughter Loretta and Dustin chose October 1st for their wedding. Congratulations to both couples! “Announcing” a […]

Continue Reading The Amish Wedding Announcement

Here’s my video look at a question that often comes up: Why do some Amish use bicycles, while others only ride scooters? In some communities you’ll mainly, or only, see the classic kick scooter. Lancaster County is the first that comes to mind. But this is also the case in places like Geauga County, Ohio, […]

Continue Reading Bikes or Scooters? [Video]

Here’s one I hadn’t seen before: an Amish farmer in Lancaster County is selling his baseball card collection via online auction. Amish play baseball and softball, and there is certainly interest in the sport in some quarters. Amish have hobbies and pastimes of course, but we tend to hear about ones like hunting. So I’d […]

Continue Reading Amish Farmer Selling His Baseball Card Collection

It’s nothing new to observe that people feel overwhelmed by technology nowadays. The Amish fascinate many for a related reason. They’re a society of people who live with restricted technology, yet by many measures appear to be thriving. Here’s a new article on the Amish and technology where writer Alex Mayyasi looks to the Amish […]

Continue Reading Overwhelmed By Technology? Here Are 3 Ideas Inspired By The Amish

In the latest edition of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC) we find an article by Henry Troyer titled “Change and Continuity in Amish Wedding Dates in the Holmes County, Ohio, Settlement“. I found several interesting facts in Troyer’s piece I’d like to share with you, concerning Holmes County wedding customs. Let’s start with the […]

Continue Reading 3 Interesting Facts About Holmes County Amish Weddings

David Marvitz, who took the ice harvest photos we saw here last month, recently shared how he got permission to photograph Amish in Hazleton, Iowa. More on that below. I was also in touch with David after that post went up. He passed along another nice set of photos, this time of a young Amish […]

Continue Reading David Marvitz: How I Got Permission To Photograph The Amish

We learned the sad news of Lovina Eicher’s daughter Susan’s husband being killed in a car accident in December, along with his driver. Mose Bontrager was only 30 and married just three years. In this week’s Amish Kitchen column, Lovina turns it over to Susan to share an update three months after her loss. Here’s […]

Continue Reading Lovina Eicher’s Daughter Shares Update 3 Months After Losing Her Husband

These near-perfect photos by David Marvitz almost look like something staged or taken from a film. Actually, the scenes remind me of some of Bill Coleman’s masterpiece photos taken in the Big Valley of central PA, which have a similar quality. But these are real Amish at work – cutting and collecting ice in the […]

Continue Reading A Dozen Amishmen Collect Ice From A Frozen Pond (14 Photos)