Two weeks, 5 states, 15 communities. Five (plus) pounds. It was a whirlwind trip as I packed a month of visiting into 2 weeks of time. I spent the past weekend zonked out and resting up (3700 road miles will do that to you). But I’ve recovered enough to put together a collection of highlights from my recent Amish trip: Dessert at the home of…
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. I found the terms of the race pretty interesting–“a limit of five horses per race”; “all drivers must wear a helmet”; “any type of cart or buggy may…
I’m off to Indiana this morning. 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. “Do you want me to drive?” asked my friend. I turned around and checked with his wife. “Can he drive?” “Well, he can” came her response. “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. What happens? Well, this: All that green stuff you see, that’s normally the schoolyard 8-9 months of the year. But rather than let the land lie…
It was a wonderful day in Holmes County yesterday. Early rain, which meant a lot of laundry under porches. But that went away in a hurry after noon. Here’s the proof:
Mary Brandenburg shares photos of a basement and washing machine from an Ohio Old Order Amish home. Basements in Amish homes typically have cinder block walls and cement floors. You’ll have a sink and an area to process food. You’ll also have a stove of some sort piping heat throughout the house in winter. Card tables for summer lunches and games like ping pong are…
The Amish home is changing When you visit Amish communities, can you pick out the Amish homes? As a general rule, the more conservative the community, the easier it is to tell the Amish dwellings from the English. The lack of power lines is one giveaway. So is the style and design. A Swartzentruber Amish farm home has a distinct angular look to it. The (often…
I remember the first time I got a sense that Amish might approach medicine a bit differently than the rest of us. I was selling books in Indiana. An Amish woman whom I met at the door casually mentioned that her children were battling whooping cough. “You’ve had your shots, right?” she asked. “Yes…I think?” One of the hazards of the job, I suppose. Well,…
Mention “Ohio Amish”, and most people think of the large settlement at Holmes County, or perhaps Geauga County to its north. But just a short ways down the road from the large Holmes settlement lies an often-overlooked but sizeable Amish community. Amish have lived in Ashland and neighboring Medina County for nearly sixty years. Ashland and Medina County Amish About 2,000 Amish live here, in…
You might think that Amish people would ride horseback often. After all, they certainly have much familiarity and experience with horses. Horses pull Amish carriages, and provide brute force on the farm, powering a range of farming equipment. Yet Amish rarely saddle up. Simply put, Amish riding horseback is not common. I see it from time to time, but it’s usually youth, mostly girls. You…