I promised I would follow up if I got more information on the Go Fund Me for Millie, described as a 27-year-old woman who left her Amish community, in what looks to be Delaware. A number of you were skeptical that this was real, which I can understand. While I reached out via two different channels to the fundraiser organizer for more information, I have…
My friend, country and folk musician John Schmid, is a favorite among the Amish. John’s story, at least in part, can be found here. John is the founder of Common Ground Ministries, and has been long active in prison ministry and other mission outreach via his music. If you’ve ever wondered if Amish like music beyond strictly religious songs, some – even many – do….
A while back a reader asked if Amish obituaries are made public. I responded with a post on the topic. I see them appear in news feeds nearly daily. They are published in newspapers and find their way online. With that in mind this recent obituary caught my eye for two reasons. One is that it is from the Somerset County, Pennsylvania community. I typically…
Over 200 calves died following an explosion and fire which ravaged an Amish farmer’s barn yesterday. From WNDU: ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. (WNDU) – An Amish calf barn caught on fire this afternoon, killing the majority of the family’s calves. The call came in around 4:30 p.m. Crews responded to the 59000 block of State Road 13 in Middlebury. Neighboring fire departments assisted. Crews said they…
Amish Cook columnist Gloria Yoder just had a baby boy and is off for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, editor Kevin Williams chose a nice old column of Gloria’s to run while she’s on break – on how she and her husband Daniel began dating. First, Gloria describes the dating norms in her Illinois New Order Amish community: I’ll first give you a…
This video is titled “Amish Singing On Amtrak”. The quality is passable though not great. But I couldn’t pass up sharing it. This video combines two themes seen here in recent months – Amish singing and Amish on trains. The men singing do appear to be Amish. I count at least three of them. The only detail the uploader put in the video description is…
I put “Amish tourism” in quotes in the title because those two words usually mean non-Amish tourists visiting Amish areas. But this is the other, less-common meaning – Amish as tourists themselves. It turns out a good number of Amish people are rather fond of a Colorado hot springs resort town named Glenwood Springs, which happens to lie on an Amtrak train route. It’s not…
On the whole, the Amish are avid hunters. In Nature & The Environment in Amish Life, one Amishman puts plainly how much hunting mattered in his community: “When I was growing up, if you didn’t hunt, it was almost as if you didn’t belong.” (p. 148). Why does hunting appeal to the Amish? For one, hunting is an outdoor activity that can be done with…
York College professor Charles A. Kauffman has a nice article just out in the York Daily Record on the Pennsylvania Dutch language. I pulled five excerpts answering questions on the language – including examples of Pennsylvania Dutch phrases, and what exactly is meant by “Dutchified” English. I’ve also included three videos, giving examples of Pennsylvania Dutch and Dutchified English by native speakers. 1. Why “Dutch”?…
Here’s another Amish musical performance. This one stands out for two reasons – instruments, and a big audience. The scene is the Mt. Hope Kidney Fund Auction in Mt. Hope, Ohio. You can see by the backs of heads that this crowd is filled with Amish people. On stage are three Amish girls. Recently we heard the songs of two Amish sisters, one of whom…