A New York State Police K-9 Handler is being hailed as a hero after he saved a four-year-old Amish girl in a runaway buggy. This actually happened back in May, but there was little-to-no coverage of it – at least none that came across my radar. Now, the trooper is in the news after being praised for his selfless actions. From the Sun Community News:…
In our latest video, Marlene Lehman of Plain & Simple shares a collection of homemade crafts. And, she explains how two of them are made. The first one, “seed bombs”, I had never heard of before. But what a neat, simple idea. I like the idea of sending these organic gifts in letters. I also ask Marlene to explain how long it takes to make…
Mike Kinsey’s garage was moved to its new location on Saturday – thanks to a volunteer team of Amish and non-Amish people. Nelson Troyer, the Amishman in charge of the move, gathered 70 Amish people, and put out the call for 70 more to join from the non-Amish community. And enough responded to get the job done. They ended up with “more than 100” people….
Another feel-good story for your Friday – at least “part one” of the story. An Amish man named Nelson Troyer is spearheading an effort to move the garage of a non-Amish neighbor. Mike Kinsey lost his home in flooding on the Yellowstone River in 2022. The move is happening tomorrow and Troyer is looking to have 150+ people to get the job done. Amish moving…
A viewer writes/asks: “My understanding is that the church bishop makes decisions on what is and isn’t allowed for their community.” I’ve found this is a common belief: the bishops are “in charge”, and in some cases wield heavy hands on their flocks. It fits with certain perceptions of the Amish as an insular, conservative religious community to have a dominant figure at the center,…
Amish vs. non-Amish in a competitive basketball game? In Geauga County, Ohio, home to the world’s fourth-largest Amish settlement, it happens every year in a charity event, pitting Amish against non-Amish teams. The purpose is to raise money for the local DDC Clinic, which helps children with rare genetic disorders. This is something I’d heard about, but hadn’t ever had a chance to share here…
In this video (at bottom), Ben Riehl shares some of his story with us. We talk about his job, past work, and family. Then he answers some more questions, including on telephones, pizza, and the difference between Amish in northern and southern Lancaster County. There are also a couple of brief cameo appearances, by Ben’s wife Mary and son Jay Lester. We end with Ben’s…
Here’s another video in my series with Ben (previous video – “Do Amish Believe They’re The Only True Christians?” here). In this one, he answers a question about Amish marriages. A viewer asked the following: You made a comment about Autumn being the wedding season for the Amish people. I’m not trying to be sarcastic or funny, but is it so they will have their…
The very first issue of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities was published in the Summer of 2020, and in that issue, the lead article was written by Mark Louden, who is the Alfred L. Shoemaker, J. William Frey, and Don Yoder Professor of Germanic Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His article focused on what is arguably the most distinctive difference between Plain people…
Did you know that Amish celebrate three separate Christmases? By this I mean three separate days called by some variation of the name “Christmas”. Two of them occur in December, and one in January. Christmas (December 25) First of course, there is the Christmas we all know, on December 25th. This is the official Christmas, the traditional commemoration of Jesus’ birth, and is celebrated in…