I recently sat down for an hour-long conversation with Marlene Lehman, who is a member of an Old Order Amish church in the Shipshewana, Indiana area. I really enjoyed speaking with Marlene as we talked about life in northern Indiana, how things have changed, tourist visitors, things she misses about the farming life, and what Marlene does to help run Plain & Simple magazine, along…
Remember the two Amish children who were killed by one of the twin sisters in Minnesota? It turns out here was another car-buggy crash – this one a hit-and-run – on the exact same road (Fillmore County Road 1). Like the identity-swapping Petersen sisters, the driver here has an extensive record, and simply shouldn’t be behind the wheel of any vehicle. Here’s what happened via…
A rather bizarre story has been making the rounds, from all the way over in Greece. A family has been discovered living in very basic conditions, and subsequently compared to the Amish in the media. But is that a good comparison? From Greek Reporter: Police recently arrested the father of a family living an “early Christian” community lifestyle in a basic hut on the Peloponnese…
I know AI content is showing up everywhere now. I’ve seen it used for some Amish-related content already. But this is the first time I’ve seen artificial intelligence illustrating an Amish buggy crash. First, the more serious part of this story, the actual crash (via KTTN). Sadly, it is another bad-sounding buggy accident, this one in Missouri: The collision happened when the Ford Escape…
Here’s another video in my series with Ben (previous video – “Do Amish Believe They’re The Only True Christians?” here). In this one, he answers a question about Amish marriages. A viewer asked the following: You made a comment about Autumn being the wedding season for the Amish people. I’m not trying to be sarcastic or funny, but is it so they will have their…
On January 8, the first day of the so-called Spring Semester at The Ohio State University, the Department of Near Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures sponsored a very interesting and special presentation by Professor Rivka Neriya-Ben Shahar on “Old Order and Jewish Ultra-Orthodox Women’s Responses to the Media.” Her lecture was built from a comparison of two very distinctive groups by lifestyle and…
Formal charges now assert that the driver of the vehicle which killed two Amish children in Minnesota last autumn was not in fact the woman – Sarah Petersen – who claimed responsibility. According to new charges, the driver was her twin sister Samantha Petersen, as suspected at the time. Drug tests have also confirmed that Samantha had several drugs in her system at the time…
The current Amish population stands at around 385,000 people, based on estimates from the Young Center at Elizabethtown College (or perhaps a bit more than that, since they came out several months ago). Personally, it’s remarkable to look back and consider how much the Amish have grown in the time I’ve known them. In fact, I came across an old post the other day where…
I recently sat down with my friend Ben Riehl for a couple of extended conversations on a wide range of topics (more to come). Ben is Old Order Amish, living in Lancaster County. You might remember Ben from previous posts on Amish auctions and how he chooses a horse. So in this clip, a YouTube viewer asked: “Do you know if the Amish believe they…
This Amish home is found at Tionesta, Pennsylvania. I hadn’t heard of the town and really had no guess where in the state it might be. It turns out this community is in Forest County, in northwestern PA. And it is a well-established settlement – founded in 1972, with a total of three Amish churches today. Northwestern Pennsylvania is a region with numerous Amish settlements…