I’ve been fortunate to spend up to two months at a time living in Amish homes. In my “regular life”, I don’t live anything like an Amish lifestyle. So that comes with both its challenges and blessings. Last week I wrote about the hardest things about living with the Amish. This week, as promised, let’s have a look at the five best things. The Five Best…
Jim Cates follows up last week’s post on income and material differences in Amish communities with part 2–on the challenges of making money, including the attraction of marketing schemes, and what happens when business deals go bad. Money…Is a Terrible Master The full quote actually goes “Money is in some respects life’s fire: it is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master.” No less an expert than…
Indiana Amishman Merlyn Yoder, who has contributed articles for us on the Ausbund, beekeeping, and being an example, has offered to answer questions you might have about Amish life. Here’s Merlyn’s bio again: Merlyn, his wife, and six children live in northern Indiana. He has a job in the RV industry and his hobbies include woodworking, working on engines, beekeeping, orcharding, and history. So feel free…
Driving the Amish has come up here on a couple of occasions recently. Earlier this year we read about Debbie, an Amish taxi driver whose story appeared in the Amish monthly Family Life. I also listed it as one of my happier challenges of living with the Amish. So I thought you’d enjoy this Lancaster Online story on a County resident who’s done Amish taxi duty for four decades and…
One of the great kindnesses I’ve received from Amish friends has been regular hospitality when I visit. I don’t have to worry about a place to stay, which I know I can do in a number of homes. Usually it’s a shorter time of around a week, though the longest I’ve lived with Amish friends is about a two-month stretch. Obviously, as an English person you…
If you’ve visited more than one or two Amish settlements, you’ve probably at some point been struck by contrasts–sometimes stark differences. The most immediately obvious signs are material. Homes, buggies, clothing and other items tell stories about how the area’s residents choose to be Amish. Today Jim Cates looks at those differences in Indiana’s two largest Amish communities–the Elkhart-Lagrange County area, whose best-known place is Shipshewana,…
What are some characteristic Amish church practices? Amish do a number of things which make them different from most other Christian churches. Here are five religious customs common to the Amish, which you won’t see much of elsewhere. Five Common Amish Church Practices (Uncommon Elsewhere) 1. Home Worship With the exception of a very small minority (here is one example), Old Order Amish do not build churches…
Dr. Holmes Morton, of the Clinic for Special Children located in Strasburg, PA is planning to open a new clinic in Pennsylvania’s second-largest Amish community, known as Big Valley. The modest Lancaster County medical center specializes in treating rare genetic diseases which disproportionately affect Amish and Mennonite communities. It garners wide support from the Plain community, seen financially in donations and auctions which help provide it funding. The new…
I didn’t realize the story of the little stitches that hold Amish quilts together could be so interesting. Thanks to Janneken Smucker’s post today, I now do. I hope you enjoy her concise look at quilt stitching including the importance of consistency, the 1980s “Quilters War”, and how much it costs to hire an Amish person to do these stitches. — Quilting by the Yard In…
Do the Amish care about the environment? How do they respond to challenges like pollution, the impact of pesticides, and habitat loss? College of Wooster professors David McConnell and Lyn Loveless wrote about Amish views of nature in their last post. They return today with a look at the Amish and environmental problems in their communities and beyond. Do these issues concern Amish people? Is the Amish lifestyle “ecological” as…