Rumspringa

Following our look at a $9,681 Amish buggy, we’ve got an excerpt from Richard Stevick’s Growing Up Amish: The Rumspringa Years which explores the topic of Amish youth and their horsepowered vehicles. In this selection taken from Chapter Seven (“Singings: The First Step to Independence”), we learn about the many ways the Youngie adorn their buggies (including […]

Continue Reading Growing Up Amish Excerpt: Youngie, Buggies & Horses

Rita asks: I’ve seen the comments about teens, during Rumspringa, driving cars. How do they get a permit, practice time, license and money to buy a car without the parent’s assistance? We’ve discussed Amish youth getting their first buggies, but what about cars?  First off, some Amish youth do in fact drive, and some Amish […]

Continue Reading How do Amish youth get driver’s licenses?

Today, an interview with Ira Wagler on his new memoir, Growing Up Amish. Ira was born in the Aylmer, Ontario Amish community and grew up in Bloomfield, Iowa. During his youth and young adulthood he spent time on a Nebraska cattle ranch, Canadian wheat fields, and in Amish communities across the country. Ira struggled with […]

Continue Reading Ira Wagler on Growing Up Amish: 6-book giveaway

If you dig around enough on Facebook, you’ll come across profiles of adolescents with Amish names and profile pics taken in Plain clothing.   These were the catalyst for an interesting piece–“Amish youth hitchin’ up to Facebook“–in yesterday’s Lancaster Sunday News. As the article makes clear, Amish youth+Facebook is far from a universal phenomenon.  I […]

Continue Reading Amish youth on Facebook

On the AOE entry “What do Amish do for fun?“, one reader asked if Amish like to dance.  Well, good question.  I guess do they like to dance, versus do they actually dance are two different things.  We’d have to do a poll, I suppose.  If anyone saw that classic study of Amish life, the […]

Continue Reading Tuesday brain dump: Amish dancing, lobbying for votes, and forgiveness in the Holy Land?

It’s become something of a habit to share a few thoughts, comments, and links every couple weeks in what I call a “brain dump”.  It’s not as scary as it sounds: Reader Steve recently asked “Where are the Texas Amish?”  We don’t have a Texas Amish State Guide entry yet, but I can point you […]

Continue Reading Friday brain dump: Lone Star Amish, getting hitched, and an Illinois buggy “brew-thru”

Sunday is the day Amish youth groups gather, and when dating couples traditionally meet.  So I thought it would be a good day to share this. National Geographic is airing a new show called “Amish at the Altar”. They describe the show as: Three couples–two Amish and one ex-Amish–reveal courtship, engagement, and marriage among the […]

Continue Reading Amish Dating

The New Order Amish in Amish society What distinguishes New Order Amish from Old Order Amish? New Order Amish make up only a small percentage of the total Amish population–roughly 3%. New Order Amish live in a number of states, with the largest group found in the Holmes County, Ohio settlement (around 18 church districts, […]

Continue Reading New Order Amish

We never actually got to the brown eggs, but did cover a lot of other ground during my interview with Ira Wagler yesterday. That includes Ira’s takes on buggy speakers bigger than the driver, Ira’s experience leaving the Amish, and why the “all things Amish” wave may be cresting.  Listen to the podcast here (link […]

Continue Reading First Farm——> Ira Wagler

At a talk I gave in Holmes County, at one point one of the Amish entrepreneurs on the 5-man panel expressed concerns over technology.  Paraphrasing, he spoke of worries over “kids having the PSP and the Game Boy and half of the boys having cars”.   Having been to a few Amish homes, I can say […]

Continue Reading Feeling queasy over technology