Amish Culture

An Amish Barn Raising: 12 Hours In 1 Minute (Time-Lapse Video)

An Amish Barn Raising: 12 Hours In 1 Minute (Time-Lapse Video)

Cool video. Amish in Vernon County, Wisconsin put up a barn over the course of twelve hours – condensed into a one-minute video (note: I believe they’ve edited the vid down further as it was originally about two minutes long). This time-lapse clip from 2016 shows the whole thing go up, interspersed with some still photos. Video at the bottom (credit Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). This…

Three Songs From The Singing Amish Sisters

Three Songs From The Singing Amish Sisters

Last week we heard two Amish sisters singing Amazing Grace, accompanied by one sister’s guitar playing. There were actually several more songs from that same after-dinner session that I wanted to share with you. It sounds like these lucky diners got a nice little concert. These songs are all a bit peppier than the slower Amazing Grace classic. First up is “Bigger Than Any Mountain“:…

4 Kinds Of Amish Gardens

4 Kinds Of Amish Gardens

With Spring upon us, new life is springing up everywhere we look – perhaps nowhere more apparent than in our gardens. And in Amish communities, it’s a rare home without a garden of some sort. But Amish homes are not all the same, and the typical garden you see in one community may be different or absent in another. Let’s have a look today at…

Amish Sisters Sing “Amazing Grace” – With Guitar

Amish Sisters Sing “Amazing Grace” – With Guitar

This is a neat video. Two Amish sisters from Charm, Ohio sing perhaps the best-known of all Christian hymns, “Amazing Grace“. This was filmed after a meal in an Amish home – probably a home business which welcomes in English guests. Why is one of the girls playing guitar? You might have thought that Amish don’t play musical instruments. Well, Amish don’t play them to…

Amish Grandpa Funeral Singing (Video…& 3 Myths Debunked)

Amish Grandpa Funeral Singing (Video…& 3 Myths Debunked)

I’ve got another singing video for you today – this one is titled “Amish Grandchildren singing for their Grandpa’s Funeral.” I share it for two reasons. One – it’s another nice example of singing I hope you’ll enjoy. Two – a comment attached to the video caught my eye (more below 🙂 ). First, the video. We are in a large open space, but I’m…

Amish Minister: Why We Prefer A Short School Year (1966)

Amish Minister: Why We Prefer A Short School Year (1966)

So it looks like a lot of children will be having a short school year this time around, both English and Amish (at least their time physically present in the classroom). But did you know that Amish children traditionally finish school earlier than their English counterparts? In the Lancaster County example, they finish about 3 weeks to a month earlier (mid-to-late May vs. mid-June for…

New Order Amish Youth Group Singing (4 Songs)

New Order Amish Youth Group Singing (4 Songs)

This is a third Amish singing clip recorded by Phil Sarlo, following three Amish teens singing “The Whippoorwill Song” and Amish schoolchildren singing “The Ninety-Nine”. We have a much larger collection of singers this time – a New Order Amish youth group in the Walnut Creek area of Ohio. There are four songs in this clip, with some really beautiful harmonizing. These are the songs:…

The End Of An Amish Auction: Ethridge, Tennessee (18 Photos)

The End Of An Amish Auction: Ethridge, Tennessee (18 Photos)

I made it to the auction in Ethridge, Tennessee, several weeks ago – really just the tail end of it. When we arrived at the farm (having driven back up from Mississippi), the final sales were happening, people were loading up their buys onto trucks and horse-drawn transport, and things were generally wrapping up. There was still a good bit of activity happening though, and…

How Do Amish Choose Baby Names?

How Do Amish Choose Baby Names?

Amish Cook Gloria Yoder is expecting, and she is thinking about a name for her boy or girl. How do Amish parents decide on a baby name? Gloria shares her family’s approach – and some common Amish naming conventions – in her latest column: While some Amish communities stick with using only one name, in our community most of us go by two names besides…

Community’s Mothers Help Amish Baby After Accident (Updated)

Community’s Mothers Help Amish Baby After Accident (Updated)

I hadn’t seen a story like this before. On Saturday night, a likely-impaired driver struck an Amish buggy in Ethridge, Tennessee. The crash sent a baby and her parents to the hospital. The baby was treated and released. But the parents remain in Nashville. This has left the little girl in a difficult situation. And the community has stepped up. I’m not sure if these…