How do Amish celebrate Thanksgiving? As anywhere, that can vary, but Gloria Yoder shares one special experience in her latest Amish Cook column – an annual supper held for widows in her community: This year Wanita took charge of coordinating the event. The meal consisted of ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and salad, as well as pumpkin, apple and peach pies served with ice cream….
How to prep food for 300+ wedding guests? The Amish, accustomed to frequent weddings with many attendees, have figured out a way to make the whole affair easier and more efficient. Enter the wedding wagon: For those who don’t know what a wedding wagon is, it is like an RV with a ramp added on, with six or seven propane gas stoves and ovens in…
We’ve looked at the 12 Southern, 5 Western, and 4 Northeastern states with Amish populations. Finally, today we review the 11 Midwestern states with Amish communities. The Midwest as a region has a higher percentage of its states with Amish populations (11 of 12) than any other. In some sense it is both the “US heartland” and “Amish heartland”. Three of the four most Amish-populous…
What does it feel like to auction off your loved ones’ possessions? Those special things that have accumulated over a lifetime and hold stores of precious memories? For the Amish, this is the way things work when the aged pass on. Amish Cook Gloria Yoder writes this week about auctioning off her grandparents’ estate, following her grandmother’s recent passing: Ever since Grandma’s death, I knew…
An Amish family has made news by forgiving a hit-and-run driver in Wisconsin. It’s far from the first example of this by the Amish – and we’ve often seen it in much more serious cases (see below). The financial burden is clearly in the family’s thoughts. But it’s also remarkable how warm their sentiments are towards the driver, who seriously injured at least two people….
What would be the 3 biggest “life lessons” the Amish could offer the rest of us? Lancaster County Mennonite pastor Joe Miller shares in a recent article what he feels non-Amish people can learn from the Amish example. “Amish life lessons” or “what we can learn from the Amish” pieces are not uncommon – see these on 4 Amish health habits, 23 ways to “live Amish”,…
With the air crisp and the calendar about to leave October behind, I thought it would be a nice time to look back at fall-related posts we’ve featured here over the years. Check out these beautiful photos by Bill Coleman and others, a look at the Amish and Halloween, and more below. I hope you’re enjoying this autumn season – it has been absolutely beautiful…
Continuing our series on regional Amish populations (if you missed them, read more on Amish in the South and West), today we look at the Northeast. In this region of nine states, we find two of the most significant “Amish states” – and two with quite small, but growing, populations. Is the Northeast, in general, an attractive area for the Amish to live? Going by…
The Amish community in Brownington, Vermont, remains the state’s only settlement, but VT might soon be seeing a second community. The Brownington settlement was started in 2015, though as this article at vtdigger.org reveals, Amish expressed interest in the area even ten years ago, writing to a local realtor about available land. More information on this settlement emerges in another piece at Valley News. They…
Do Amish live in Australia? One family is being described as such in a major profile in the Sydney Morning Herald. The McCallums live in the countryside of the Australian island of Tasmania. Gregory and Bethany, ages 41 and 42 respectively, have eight children, and live in a way that resembles the Amish – dressing plainly, using horse-drawn vehicles, and forgoing public electricity and much…