An Amish friend, whom we’ll call “Aaron Miller”, recently discussed aspects of Amish society with a college class. Aaron later wrote a follow-up letter to the class, in which he addressed a few issues raised during the discussion. Aaron has kindly shared the letter, from which we’ll post a few excerpts on the blog. You may remember Aaron, aka “Anonymous Amish Person” or “Mr. X”,…
The skill of slaughtering animals is one now beyond the capacity of most modern folks, though it was once quite common. Many Amish still do kill chickens and other farm animals for food. A running joke among Amish farmers has something to do with a visitor from the city thinking milk “comes” from a grocery store. Wish I could remember the punchline but the point…
Most Amish and some Mennonite farmers use steel wheels on their tractors, an aspect of church rules that encourages slower and less driving. It’s hard to get a fast (or at least a comfortable) ride when you feel every pebble in the road thanks to the unforgiving metal. Thus steel wheels deter unnecessary trips (in contrast, in a few Amish communities, rubber-tired tractors have meant…
An Amish businessman in Lancaster County has turned the camera in the other direction in an attempt to catch a thief. Apparently the culprit in question, likely assuming the Amish-owned businesses would be lightly protected, was brazen enough to break into the same four shops multiple times over a period of a few months. One unlucky store was robbed on six separate occasions. Knowing that…
Richard Stevick, Messiah college professor and author of Growing Up Amish: The Teenage Years, has kindly shared an interesting report on an unusual new Amish publication (excerpts to come) based in the Sunshine State: Sunny Pinecraft, Florida, may not be replacing frozen Alymer, Ontario, as the creative and intellectual center of Amish thought and writing, but at the least, Pinecraft seems to be experiencing a…
A reader in Canada has shared some photos and background on the small settlement located near the village of Springford in Ontario. The community consists of 4 church districts and was founded in 1954. It is apparently quite conservative, using outhouses and open-front buggies and oil lamps for lighting, and blankets used to keep warm in winter. One particular point of interest in this community,…
Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia is a century-old institution in the heart of the city. There has been an Amish presence in the market for nearly three decades. I write about Reading Terminal in my book, as well as in a post last year on Amish markets. In a recent article, Summer Beckley of The Temple News gives a brief but interesting history of the…
Bruce Stambaugh describes peak season at the vacation/retirement community at Amish Pinecraft, in Sarasota, Florida: The atmosphere was part family reunion, part auction crowd. Some came to meet and greet. Most were there to watch. Men with white beards and denim pants with suspenders and women in pastel dresses and lacy white coverings predominated the scene. A few children in straw hats and long, plain…
The Bloomfield Amish community is one of the largest in Iowa The Amish community lying north and west of Bloomfield, Iowa is one of the three largest in the state. Like the nearby settlement at Kalona, and the more conservative group found in Buchanan County in the northeast part of the state, Bloomfield is home to roughly 8 church districts, comprising about 175 households. Yet…
It’s nearly 15 years old, but this New York Times article (http://www.cora.org/amish-skate-art.html) remains an interesting look at a “modern” form of transportation used by Amish (and which some may find surprising). In-line skates, aka “rollerblades”, are popular in the Lancaster County settlement. Amish historian Sam Stoltzfus estimates that (at the time of writing) they may be “tacitly” accepted in one third of settlements. In the article,…