Amish Teen Buggy Driver Charged With DUI After Hitting SUV

An Amish teen in the New Wilmington, PA community has been charged with a DUI after registering a 0.47 blood alcohol level. His buggy got into a fender-bender with an SUV, leading to the charges. According to the report in New Castle News, the young man in question “faces one count each of driving under the influence, purchase of alcohol by a minor, a stop…

The Mission General Store (St. Ignatius, Montana Amish)

The St. Ignatius, Montana Amish community is far enough off the beaten path that I’d guess most of us will not make it there. But if you do, one place to visit is the Amish-run Mission General Store, run by Ruth Bontrager and her husband. From the Daily Inter Lake: Located at the center of a 125-member Amish community outside of St. Ignatius, the Mission…

40 Life-Sized Amish Wax Figures For Sale

40 Life-Sized Amish Wax Figures For Sale

Forty life-sized wax Amish figures, once residents of the Lancaster County Wax Museum, have been put up for sale, as reported at philly.com. They include adult and child figures, as well as a dog. The general impression is that these are some pretty unsettling effigies: Dana DiCicco, who’s selling them, said they didn’t seem “creepy at all” when she was a kid in Pennsylvania Dutch…

What is Amish Funeral Pie?

What is Amish Funeral Pie?

Atlas Obscura gives us a brief background of this dish, served by Amish in Pennsylvania at funerals: Death and raisins share one essential feature: neither belongs to any one season. Eighteenth-century Amish and old-order Mennonites of Pennsylvania were no strangers to the harsh realities of sudden loss, but amidst tragedy, raisins were there. The preserved grapes were a pantry staple—shelf-stable and ready-to-eat throughout the year….

Will Low Milk Prices Force Amish Out Of Dairying?

Will Low Milk Prices Force Amish Out Of Dairying?

I sat down Sunday with a Lancaster Amish dairy farmer friend. He soon handed me a copy of local paper LNP, containing this article. Low milk prices are making it tough to make a living on the farm. So some are selling their cows at auction. From the article: “The first cow is Pepper. She’s got a good udder and 85 pounds of milk and ready…

Mud Season in Lancaster County (15 Photos)

Mud Season in Lancaster County (15 Photos)

Just some photos today from my (ongoing) visit to Lancaster County, PA. We had a gray day or two but the sun poked out yesterday and it was a beautiful morning. I nearly called this post “Spring in Lancaster County”, but with no green on the trees yet it’s more that in-between season between winter and spring, which I am going to take the liberty…

Amish Women in Furniture Making (14 Photos)

Amish Women in Furniture Making (14 Photos)

Amish furniture making may seem on first look like a male-dominated trade–and it is. But Amish women do some important work in the industry, as Milca Rivera of DutchCrafters shares in today’s guest post. As Erik noted in his post 5 Jobs Done by Amish Women, one of the types of businesses where you can find Amish women working outside of the home are woodshops….

Marie Graber on Jamesport, Amish Tourism, and More

Marie Graber runs the Arbor House Country Inn in Jamesport, Missouri. You might remember Marie from last month’s post on Amish life in winter. Marie was raised Amish, and was a member of an Amish church for some time. Today Marie answers questions on the Jamesport Amish community, tourism in the area, growing up Amish, and other topics. I hope you enjoy this interview. Thanks…

A Day in the Life of an Amish Woman

A Day in the Life of an Amish Woman

An interesting piece just out from Lovina Eicher, an Amish mother of eight who writes the Lovina’s Amish Kitchen column. This week, Lovina shares an hour-by-hour account of a typical day: 3:00 a.m. Alarm rings—time to get up and pack husband Joe’s lunch, fill his water jug with ice and water, make a pot of coffee, etc. 3:45 a.m. Joe’s ride is here to go work in…

Is This “First Air-Conditioned Top Buggy” Real?

Is This “First Air-Conditioned Top Buggy” Real?

This is a story about Dinky’s Auction House in the Amish settlement in Daviess County, Indiana. It contains an intriguing detail which goes largely unexplained. There is a photo showing a buggy described as the “First Air Conditioned Top Buggy” (below). So this is something I’ve never heard of before. We’ve discussed heating in buggies. We have seen solar-powered buggies. But the air-conditioned buggy is…