If you’re near Hicksville, Ohio, tomorrow, you might want to drop in on the Defiance County fair for one of America’s rarest sporting events: I picked this flyer up at the Topeka auction house here in Indiana. Â I found the terms of the race pretty interesting–“a limit of five horses per race”; Â “all drivers must wear a helmet”; Â “any type of cart or buggy may…
Branch County, Michigan is home to 5 Amish settlements. Â I visited two of them a couple of days ago. Â Some photos: On a little red potato treasure hunt. My favorite kind of sky. Tetherball! Can you say sunny. Healthy stuff. While farming is still important to many Amish, others have started small enterprises. Michigan Amish businesses include small stores, carpentry crews, and woodworking shops (read…
SMV triangle, streamlined top, mini-door.  What is this thing? A road-ready chicken coop? I took this photo yesterday in the Allen County (Grabill) Indiana Amish settlement. Today I’m off to Michigan. Will have more on this photo tomorrow, but til then, what do you think? Update: Mystery shack explained? We got a lot of interesting guesses on the Allen County mystery shack.  Everything from a portable…
I’m off to Indiana this morning. Â A few highlights of the past week in Ohio: Sitting with an Amish friend one afternoon, we made plans to take my truck up the road to visit his father. Â “Do you want me to drive?” asked my friend. Â I turned around and checked with his wife. Â “Can he drive?” Â “Well, he can” came her response. Â “I wasn’t asking…
A little while back I gave an interview for a newspaper column on Amish frugality. One example which I think captures the mindset (and which I wish I’d shared) was what happens at Amish schools in the summer time. Â What happens? Â Well, this: All that green stuff you see, that’s normally the schoolyard 8-9 months of the year. Â But rather than let the land lie…
It was a wonderful day in Holmes County yesterday. Â Early rain, which meant a lot of laundry under porches. Â But that went away in a hurry after noon. Â Here’s the proof:
Here’s a video of a singing taken in the Guthrie, Kentucky Amish community (thanks to Mike for passing it along). From the video commentary, the occasion was a funeral visitation – for an Amish man hit while driving a tractor. From the video description by Simon Kinsinger: 4/8/2010 At my uncle Sam Swareys funeral vistitation in Guthrie, Kentucky the Amish girls and youth sang this…
So I’m about to leave on a 10-day trip to Ohio and Indiana. I mentioned I’ll be attending Sunday School with friends. Sunday School is rare among Amish, seen mostly in New Order churches (and not even all of them). It is shorter than church service, about 90 minutes. While I appreciate Sunday School, I also enjoy what comes after – the fellowship meal. The…
Reader Stella shared some thoughts on the “Joining the Amish after 50” post: Perhaps I’m an unusual atheist but I’ve always admired the Amish philosophy and lifestyle, despite lacking the necessary Faith Trigger to join them. However, I was brought up by atheist parents and taught to respect all genuine engagements with life’s questions, religious or not. While I’m content with my atheism, as well…
Continuing our “Signs of an Amish Home” series, let’s have a look at milk cans. Â Milk cans seem to be another one of those quintessential symbols of the Amish–who else uses them nowadays? A few other Plain groups perhaps, but not many others. Â If you see them stacked up by the road or by the barn, that’s a sign of a likely Amish place, and…