Energy companies are apparently losing enthusiasm for oil drilling in Ohio’s Utica Shale. Â Oil in the Utica has proven more difficult than expected to extract, according to this article from Bloomberg: U.S. drillers that set up rigs amid the rolling farmland of eastern Ohio on projections underground shale held $500 billion of oil are packing up. Four of the biggest stakeholders in untapped deposits known…
Is cursive doomed to become a relic of history?  New national teaching standards, to be implemented by 45 states next year, are pointing away from cursive in favor of technology.  From the Goshen News (hat-tip to Linda): Those standards include proficiency in computer keyboarding by the fourth grade, but make no mention of the need for cursive writing ability, even though it has been integral to…
I think (or maybe just hope) this is the hardest quiz yet. The last one was solved pretty quickly. Â Hopefully this will stump you for a little longer. Â Either way I’d recommend making your guesses before you check the comments section. Special thanks to Linda for suggesting some of these terms. Â We did the best we could spelling the PA Dutch words. What do these…
This photo was taken in February in northern Indiana.  Can you tell what’s in the back there, under the plastic? The reader who shares this writes that it’s from “a company called Lambright Comfort Chairs. They make the Amish version of the LazyBoy recliner. They have small versions that they sell to the RV market.”  Another example of Amish seating. Closer-up: I know there have…
How do Amish deal with special needs children? Â We’ve often had questions here about how Amish approach individuals with disabilities, and children in particular. I confess the meaning of “special needs” has never been totally clear to me. From what I understand it can cover a broad variety of situations, from moderate learning issues to much more severe handicaps. Â English society attaches a stigma to…
“Are they accurate?” In Thrill of the Chaste, Valerie Weaver-Zercher observes that the question of factual accuracy was the most frequently asked of her during her research. Â It’s one which, she explains in a late chapter of the book, she was reluctant, for various reasons, to address. She does cover the issue in much depth, though. Â One quote in support of Amish fiction authors: Many…
You might have heard something about the Amish that made you wonder, “now where did that come from?” Myths are typically the child of a grain of truth…and a lot of imagination. We want explanations for things that puzzle us. When they’re not forthcoming, people fill in the blanks. And sometimes the things they come up with are, frankly, bizarre. Below, three Amish myths I’ve…
In a previous post on Amish wall decor, reader Kate had this to say on visiting an Amish friend’s home: I realized that I could see six picture calendars from where I was sitting in the kitchen [featuring] horses, barns, lighthouses, bluebirds, and wildflowers. It’s true, as Kate’s example suggests, that Amish are partial to calendars. Â Amish generally don’t display art for its own sake….
Family Life, in print since 1968, is one of the most widely-read Amish publications (circulation for 2010 was a reported 31,000).  You won’t find Family Life in all Amish homes, but you will in many, if not a majority of Amish households. One of the most interesting  parts of the periodical is a regular feature called “The Problem Corner”.  It’s essentially an advice column where…
If you were looking for Amish fiction in, say 2002 or 2004, your choice would have been limited to a handful of selections, most by Beverly Lewis or Wanda Brunstetter. Today, you can have your pick of over 60 authors, and well over 250 titles. In the opening pages of Thrill of the Chaste: The Allure of Amish Romance Novels, Valerie Weaver-Zercher describes the rapid…