Here’s Elam Stoltzfus with part 2 of 4 of his Rediscovering the Ausbund series, originally published in Plain Values magazine. If you missed part 1, find that here. All photos here are by Elam. My father Elmer was an Ausbund song leader. When we met for church, he would lead the Amish congregation in song, starting slowly, rolling out the syllables written in German gothic script….
From Cleveland.com: COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio House on Tuesday passed a bill that would require flashing lights on the backs of Amish buggies, a move meant to cut down on dangerous crashes. House Bill 501 is now headed to the Ohio Senate for approval after clearing the House with a 74-10 vote. It would toughen existing law that requires animal-drawn vehicles to have two…
From the Spooner, Wisconsin Advocate: Five children were injured when an allegedly drunk driver crashed into their horse and buggy on Monday afternoon, Dec. 7. The accident occurred on Cty. Hwy. M near Church Road, west of Birchwood. The horse and buggy was northbound on Hwy. M and was rear ended by a pick-up truck. All five children were injured, and two of them were…
This summer we learned about Goot Essa, an Amish cheese maker in central Pennsylvania. The business had adapted to the recent disruption and started selling their foods online (with non-Amish help to run the website). Last week I spoke with Goot Essa’s founder, John Esh Jr. John has kindly answered some questions – about his business, personal favorite cheeses, his family’s Christmas Day activities, and…
This is a neat story and a response to the idea that Amish don’t contribute to road upkeep. Amish in Monroe County, Wisconsin (Cashton settlement) recently made a donation to the local highway department. From the Monroe County Herald: The five most northern districts of the Cashton Amish community donated $6,275 to the Monroe County Highway Department. Monroe County Highway Commissioner David Ohnstad said a…
Two Amish people in Tennessee are lucky to be alive after a bad accident with a runaway horse. From the Tennessee River Valley News Facebook page, posted Saturday morning: HENRYVILLE, TN- A local couple is lucky to be alive after a runaway horse belonging to an Amish family ended up in the cab of the truck after a crash. A local couple struck a horse…
Today we have a video “slice of life”. This one comes from Daniel Stoltzfus, whose wife Lydia shared her scrap quilts in a recent clip. In this video, Daniel is filming and talking with a lady who I assume is one of his Amish relatives (a sister?) as she rolls and weaves pretzels on the kitchen counter. At one point Daniel hams it up a…
Last year seems to have been a particularly bad one for children in buggy accidents. For example, we saw two separate accidents in Michigan which took the lives of three children in each case. It’s now been decided that the driver in one of the accidents will not be charged: DETROIT (AP) — An elderly motorist whose SUV slammed into the back of a horse-drawn…
Jim Halverson, whose photos we’ve seen here before (LaGrange County, IN and Amish women’s clothing differences), attended an Amish auction in Isabella County, Michigan. Here’s Jim with what he saw and learned at the event, which took place this summer. Following up on a summer post on Amish America about Yoder’s Auctions in Clare, Michigan, I learned that an auction was to be held on…
We usually see photos of fully-furnished Amish homes and farmhouses on the market. This one is a little different – the place has been emptied out already. We can see what it would look like for a buyer moving in. While it might be a little less interesting from the perspective of not seeing Amish furnishings, on the other hand you don’t often get the…