Podcast #6 in Donald Kraybill’s series “What I Learned From The Amish” covers the idea of “smallness”. Via the show notes: “Professor Kraybill explains why the Amish think bigness ruins things and shows how small-scale life, including small schools, preserve the dignity of individuals.” In the podcast he explains that “smallness” is seen across Amish society – in everything from small egos to small congregations,…
Though this home has a Pennsylvania address, I would hazard to guess it is actually part of the community in Ashtabula County, Ohio, lying in the vicinity of Conneaut and Pierpont. The address happens to be a mere stone’s throw from the Ohio border. Here’s the Zillow description from which I got the title of this post: Large Amish built home with huge front porch!…
A few updates to last week’s news of an Amishman in the Ethridge, Tennessee community being caught with 25 pounds of marijuana. I also made a video on the story (below) which includes a number of the following points: The Amishman in question, Chris Appleby, was a convert to the group. According to this WKRN story, he arrived about seven years ago and joined the…
Some years ago I did posts on Amish children & spanking, as well as discipline in general (including in Amish schools), both of which, not unexpectedly, got a lot of comments. It’s a topic which elicits strong responses and I doubt much has changed since then. In her recent column, Amish Cook Gloria Yoder takes up the question of children’s behavior. She shares some ideas…
This is another one of those Amish “novelty” videos that pops up from time to time, like those showing Amish buggy skiing or time-lapse barn-raising. This one is a bit different in that it had a pretty good chance of ending badly. Someone was apparently driving through Lancaster County late at night when a buggy came out of nowhere and entered the roadway in a…
Elam Stoltzfus shares Part 1 of a four-part series on Amish Parochial schools in Pennsylvania. Elam grew up Amish, and we’ve previously seen his work here in his 4-part “Rediscovering the Ausbund” series on the Amish hymn book. This will be published in full at the Plain Values magazine Substack (linked below). In this part, Elam shares his first day of school as an Amish…
It’s usually the other way around, of course. This happened in the New York North Country in the area of De Kalb (this is the large St. Lawrence County Swartzentruber Amish settlement). It appears a woman driving an SUV struck an Amish buggy, lost control, and flipped over on the side of the road, according to the WWNYTV report. This makes me wonder if she…
Here’s episode number 5 of Donald Kraybill’s “What I Learned From The Amish” podcast. This week he focuses on “Amish hackers” – Amish who “work around certain church regulations without breaking them”. These workarounds represent a form of progress but still respect church rules. Their hacking “boost[s] efficiency, production, and convenience in certain areas of Amish life.” These are the innovators of Amish society. He…
This is a bizarre story out of the Ethridge, Tennessee Amish settlement. A 33-year-old Amishman has been arrested for possession of 25 pounds of marijuana. Lawrence County police also seized firearms and an undetermined amount of cash. The report from News 4 Nashville (removed): LAWERENCE COUNTY, TN (WSMV) – Lawrence County police officers located 25 pounds of marijuana in the residence of an Amish Lawrence…
This is a neat video showing volunteers putting together pre-built homes right in the heart of Holmes County, Ohio – Charm, to be precise – but destined for families struck by disaster hours away, in West Virginia and Dayton, Ohio. Amish have traveled to the sites of disasters to help clean up and reconstruct for decades now. But this effort via Mennonite Disaster Service expands…