Here’s a nice time-lapse video showing the restoration – really rebuilding – of an old barn which was destroyed in a wind storm. The barn, described as a “100 Year Old Collapsed Barn”, had been bought by a non-Amish family (Vignette Farms) who were attempting to restore it (this is in Indiana). The family explains the back story: We bought a beautiful 1860s home which…
Two weeks have gone by, and it’s time for another Ben & Rose song. They seem to be putting them out at a bit faster pace now – and I’ve got no complaints here 🙂 This time around – something a bit different. While they’ve mostly done Country tunes, this time around it’s a Gospel genre song – “just in time for Easter.” Checking around,…
The Amish are making news for how quickly they’ve repaired damage, following tornadoes in Indiana and Michigan. From wral.com: The report below is from twin tornadoes in Indiana, one of which was rated an EF-1. Before the local National Weather Service could survey some of the damage, an Amish community already made repairs to several roofs that were damaged. In another report, the same National…
There’s a wonderful new Ben & Rose studio song out now (released about two weeks ago, in fact) called “Would You Like To Buy Some Flowers”. I missed it until now, because it was released on a different YouTube channel (more on that below). If you’ve missed previous posts, Ben & Rose are the young Lancaster Amish couple who have quite the talent for country…
I asked Marlene Lehman about the Amish custom of circle letters. If you haven’t heard of the circle letter, it’s a delightfully old-fashioned way for Amish people (with some sort of connection – sometimes “deep”, sometimes based on coincidence) to stay connected across communities. A viewer on YouTube jokingly referred to the circle letter as “Amish group chat”. Marlene explains more in our talk,…
So here’s a different spin on the words “Amish Country”. Making the news right now is this country music song “Slowly But Surely”, performed by a young Amish couple known simply as “Ben & Rose” (video at bottom). Now we’ve seen many Amish singing videos before – and even videos of Amish young people performing with instruments. But this is the first “music video” I’ve…
“It’s amazing what our labels do,” says Ben Riehl. In this video, Ben explains why Amish men wear beards and suspenders. He also describes the difference between a bonnet and kapp (prayer covering). This was an illuminating and fun discussion. If you prefer to read, you’ll find the full transcript of our conversation just below this video. Amish Men & The Beard Erik Wesner:…
That’s the clear message from Steven Nolt of Elizabethtown College. He has analyzed the numbers and shares why with us today. This comes in contrast to one recent headline (“It’s too early to know whether Amish voters ‘delivered’ Pennsylvania for Trump, researchers say“). Rather, Nolt says that “It IS too early to know how many Amish voted, but it’s not too early to know that…
JPAC Highlights Amish Attitudes and Identity in Relation to Pennsylvania Dutch, by Rose Fisher, Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities, volume 4, issue 1, 2023 Rose Fisher is a Ph.D. candidate in German Linguistics and Language Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University. Her dissertation is about the use of Pennsylvania Dutch (PD) by current members of the Old Order Amish and Old Order Groffdale Conference Mennonites…
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:…