Amish America

Where Amish scooters come from

'Sylvan', one of my Amish friends in Lancaster County, runs a scooter workshop in addition to milking cows.

In Lancaster County and related settlements, you rarely see bicycles--in Lancaster, for instance, there are only a few church districts I'm aware of that seem to allow them.

I've also seen scooters in use among the Amish of Allen County, Indiana, and I'd imagine they'd be found in other areas that adhere to a somewhat stricter Ordnung.

At least part of the reasoning is that the scooter, with it's foot-on-ground system of propulsion, is a bit closer to walking than a bike would be.

 

Sylvan says that his pink line has never really taken off.  Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen a pink one on the road.  Green, red, and blue are the most popular colors.

Midwestern Amish in contrast to their Lancaster counterparts tend to be a lot more open to using bikes--the Amish around Arthur, Illinois and those in Lagrange/Elkhart counties come to mind right away.  The men there often use them to ride to jobs in the local garage door and RV plants.

I'm also acquainted with an Amishman in northern Indiana who manufactures the recumbent bike--the one that looks like a cross between a bicycle and a recliner.  This particular ride is a hit in a number of the more progressive settlements.  Sort of a luxury comfort ride on the spectrum of two-wheeled non-motorized transport.

Interview Excerpt: An Amish builder on working moms, mortgages, and making car payments

One thing that I admire about the Amish is the value they place in maintaining a spirit of humility. 

When the idea comes up in conversation that the Amish are getting something right—for example, by the way that they live or the values they profess and adhere to--they are usually quick to deflect attention, reminding that ‘human nature is universal’, or that ‘we’re human too.’  They have their own problems and many seem to realize it. 

Yet at the same time, many Amish have strong convictions and ideas and don’t hesitate to express them.

In the following interview excerpt, an experienced Amish homebuilder shares a few ideas on home life, family, and money matters.

Workin' Out

‘For the most part amongst the Amish here, the women do not work out.,’ 'Marcus' explains.   ‘It’s frowned upon, and I agree with that idea.’

‘I build houses…all over the area.  And a lot of people, both husband and wife work outside the home.  And if they were satisfied with [it], they could really build themselves a house where they wouldn’t have to.’

‘You have both of them working, and they build a $350,000 house.  If combined they have enough income to build a $350,000 house, they would probably be just as happy with a $175,000 house, and keep Mom at home taking care of the kids.’

‘You know, no doubt in my mind that would solve a lot of the problems.  These kids come home, and I’ve been out there, I’ve seen ‘em.  These kids come home from school, there’s nobody there, they have too much idle time, and there’s nothing to do, and they get in trouble…’

‘Not all the people out there, because we build some small houses, you know, where people are scrambling to make ends meet...but then again, if people were more willing to sacrifice, instead of having two expensive vehicles out there, if they had the minimum they could get, and drive it ‘til it falls apart, instead of ‘til they find the next…’

‘And it’s a dead-end street, because you go out there and you buy a vehicle and you finance it and by the time you have it paid off it’s wore out, or people think it’s wore out.  And they trade it in, and refinance, and they always have vehicle payments.’

‘I think if people lived a little more conservatively, we’d all be better off…as a society,' Marcus summarizes.  'If Mom stayed at home, took care of the kids—less stress because they don’t have the big house payments to make, and lived in a little smaller house, but people tend to build a house as big as they absolutely can handle, and both of them have to work to make the payments.’

Stretched and strapped

‘Why do people build big houses?’  I ask.

‘I’ve built houses that were over half a million dollars, for people that borrowed every penny…yeah, they have the capital and they have the income to do it—the bank wouldn’t have given them the money if they didn’t.  But—two kids, three dogs.  They could have built a house, a real nice house, that cost $250,000.’

‘Why have all the stress of making the big house payment, when you could just as well maybe have, let’s say for example if you build a $250,000 house instead of a $550,000 house, and if you can make those payments, then make the same size payments—have that house paid off in five or six years.’

‘And then, instead of being strapped out for the next 30 years with these huge house payments—it just makes no sense.’

Feeling healthy, happy, and terrific

People often assume that the Amish, whom we think of as a people 'in tune with nature' and 'close to the earth' (which to some degree may be true, whatever those phrases actually mean) are strictly all-natural when it comes to the food they raise. 

In fact, on most Amish farms pesticides are put to use. Organic farming is something that is catching on in certain areas, but it's definitely a minority share of the Amish-produced milk on the market.  However, those that do take the trouble to go organic are rewarded with higher prices for their milk.  The supposedly healthier-for-you produce finds a slightly different market as well.  This sign is from the Amish community around Geauga County, Ohio.

To say that the Amish are into health supplements and alternative treatments would be something of an understatement.  Last time I was in Ohio, one couple I know fairly well was subtly promoting a new one for me, some sort of a pill which I believe contained an entire dried fruit, or at least all the vitamins and good things you'd find in one. 

I guess it was a time-saver thing, just pop one and avoid all hassle of eating a run-down-your-chin juicy peach or whatever it might be.  Actually these guys are still into eating regular fruits, I think the idea was more about upping the fruit intake without having to go through two bushels a day (which could potentially wreak major havoc on one's internals, so to speak).

Whenever I'm around, I usually pick up some sort of health supplements from a furniture maker friend in the same community, who sells them on the side.  Last time it was a Chondroitin-Glucosamine concoction that was supposed to fix up my bum knee.  Well, the bum knee went away as I used it over the summer.  Causality or coincidence, I cannot say.

In the Nappanee, Indiana community, as well as the Daviess County, Indiana community, a couple of Amish acquaintances run prospering health-goods and dietary supplements stores.  The new thing I've been seeing in Amish areas lately is Xango juice, a special brew made from the mangosteen fruit, and supposed to contain xanthones--'next-generation phytonutrients', with all sorts of intestinal, immune, and anti-oxidant benefits.  The stuff is potent, slickly-marketed, and expensive, at close to 40 bucks a bottle.

This photo, of an Amish Xango dealer's road-side sign, is also from Geauga County.

Why are the Amish so into the so-called alternative health market?  There seems to be some truth to the idea that the Amish go for things that tend towards the natural side.  I have detected a belief among some Amish that a lot of what modern medicine has given us to make us better actually may do the opposite.   Not a backwards-thinking mentality--the  typical Amishman when faced with a serious health issue is going to get in the taxi and get to the doctor--but perhaps more a healthy skepticism.  And I'm not one to knock that idea.

The Amish and computer issues

Have finally gotten my laptop fixed after a week of it being on the fritz, I've really begun to appreciate the convenience of having wireless internet access in one's own home.  How did we ever live without this stuff?    

Schlepping between internet cafes in Krakow over the past week had started to get old and definitely cut down on computer time.  The inconvenience got me thinking about the Amish and their relationship to computers. 

photo:  dutchcrafters.com

Amish I talk to may have anything from a vague to fairly extensive knowledge of computers and the internet.  I've met a handful that have surfed the web, often in a work environment.  An Amish father friend of mine in Ohio has his own email account at his non-Amish employer--strictly for work purposes, which apparently is kosher in his particular district.  But I'm not so sure the church would look at email usage the same way if he and I were to send non-business messages back and forth to one another.

Amish business manufacturers build luxurious office sets with spots for computer equipment. Many of these same businesses take advantage of the internet as a sales portal, having their own sites or ones owned and managed by a third party, a setup seen in certain congregations which allows individuals to avoid conflict with the church over the more-or-less taboo technology.

Some Amish districts will tolerate businesses having their own computers in the shop, however.  Stopping in at one of the larger Ohio Amish furniture manufacturers recently, Amish employees in the sales department were plugging away in front of laptops.  Some will draw the line at simple word processors--80's-era castaway-type machines--but in this somewhat more liberal Old Order district full-on computers are allowed.  For that matter, a number of Amish businesses in Holmes County, including an Amish-owned accounting firm, a finishing shop, and furniture maker, even use air conditioning in the office.

One of the most common misconceptions about the Amish is that they reject modern technology outright.  As a number of scholars have pointed out, the Amish relationship to any particular piece of technology often involves examination and discussion and perhaps a trial period, before a final decision on it is reached.  Some technologies sneak in the back door in a way, as in the case of cell phones in Lancaster County.

The computer is just another example of a technology that has become more and more prominent, as Amish society adapts to the realities of an increasingly entrepreneurial existence and the resulting closer ties with the non-Amish world.

Credit cards, nuclear power, and funny cigars

Okay, just a bit lazy today on the Amish blog and trying to get my act together to go run however many miles in the freezing Polish weather (snowed yesterday!), so I am going to do a little roll call of some of my favorite posts from the past year:

Do the Amish use credit cards?

Settlements that failed:  an evangelistic Amish group in Ohio gets 'nuked'.

Selling the Amish:  from upscale furniture to Amish cigars.

Hope you like 'em, thanks to all for reading!

A woman's place

...is where exactly?

In Amish America, the primary role of the woman as homemaker has held steady for generations.  But there have been signs in recent years and decades that that may be changing, if ever so slightly.

Typically, young Amish girls and women work until marriage.  They are schoolteachers, waitresses, or hired hands in English and Amish homes.  In recent years, however, they have increasingly been stepping into 'male' roles.

A significant portion of single women hold factory jobs in the large settlements of northern Indiana, laboring on RV assembly lines next to male counterparts.  Furniture shops employ young women, and not just in secretarial or bookkeeping roles--a number of finishing shop owners recently shared with me that they prefer young girls for the job of applying the final coating to finished pieces, citing an eye for detail and methodical nature as two benefits of female help.

 

But female employment can be tricky when it comes to turnover.  An Ohio wholesale business owner friend joked: 'one thing I've learned, you can't get 'em to sign a contract not to marry, not to have children, okay?'  Funny, but that is the reality.  Marriage and home duties usually end employment for most girls.

But it is not unheard of for Amish women to hold jobs even after marriage and kids.  One of my waitresses at the local diner in Goshen, Indiana was mother to two toddlers, picking up part time shifts once or twice a week.  Others, especially those with smaller families, will take on part-time or even full-time jobs.

Lancaster County, especially, has seen a number of women in the business-owner's role, either partnering with husbands or running their own--even employing a husband as help, as Kraybill and Nolt reveal in Amish Enterprise.  Pretzel shops, produce stands, and quilt stores are all businesses that Amish women run successfully today.

In The Truth in Word and Work, subtitled A Statement of Faith By Ministers and Brethren of Amish Churches of Holmes Co., Ohio, and Related Areas, the male/female issue is addressed.  'The husband has the major responsibility of directing the home for the glory of Christ.  He needs to have the proper relationship with Christ in submission and self-denial to glorify his Head.  He is the God-delegated authority over the woman and is responsible for her actions in the home and in society.'

Modern readers may scream 'sexist' at this sort of stuff, but after all, the Amish are Biblical fundamentalists in the purest sense of the term, and keeping that in mind, this shouldn't surprise.

In practice, however, the woman takes a very active role in the Amish home, and men will often consult with and even defer to their wives' wishes in many decisions concerning purchases and the home.  A good wife who runs a home well is highly respected.  Though the Amish woman cannot hold church office, she has equal voting rights in selecting new ministry and is able to voice her concerns before the church just as any man can.

The man as the head of the home--that idea makes feminists' skin crawl.  But let's be real about it.  In a number of Middle Eastern nations, the law sees the woman's worth as half that of a man's, after all.  Now that is something to be up in arms over.

Let's frolic

Last night there was a frolic at 'Ivan's'.  Ivan is a jolly father of six and one of my favorite people to spend time with here in Ohio.  If he were southern, we might call Ivan a 'good ole boy'.  Always a blast to hang out with.  When he flashes his trademark grin at you, you know he's up to something.  So I knew he was up to something this past Sunday when he grinned and invited me for last night's get-together.


'Frolic' describes a social/work event that takes place from time to time in Amish communities.  Neighbor men and boys get together to pitch in for a few hours on a work project.  The job at hand was a new shop that Ivan's 17-year-old son was building to house his woodworking operation, which has outgrown its current quarters. 


It was set to start at around 6.  A few minutes beforehand I swung by and scooped up a couple of the neighbor boys that were joining in.  Saved them a bike ride and and I got a surprise sandwich dinner to boot, complete with just-picked grapes.  (Delicious!  Taste a lot like the Muscadine my uncle grows in NC, only smaller and a different color).


Once at Ivan's, men trickled in until we had a crew of around 15, with some younger boys poking around, playing with tools, and trying not to cause too much mischief.  The frame and roof of the shop were already in place;  our job was putting in the insulation and metal siding on both the interior and exterior. 



Ivan had blown out his back recently.  He'd taken some ribbing for that after church last Sunday.  But Ivan admits that carpentry and building are not his forte in the first place.  So he took on supervisor/morale booster duty, walking around, working the crowd, cracking jokes (Erik, you need some Amish pants) to keep everyone in a good mood.  He also had another important duty, which I found out about as I stood back by the wall, hammering nails.

'Hey, want some Amish candy?' a grinning Ivan interrupted me in mid-swing, holding out a plastic bag full of sweets.  'Well, actually it's just Hershey's!'

This was a bit of an in-joke.  As I do my interviews I end up talking with a lot of Amish business owners about the use of their name to sell everything from wines to buggy rides to bedroom sets that run into the thousands of dollars.                   

The formula, at its most crude: if you're not selling like you'd want to, just slap 'Amish' somewhere on the label, and presto.  Some Amish don't see a problem with it, some are strongly against it, most are a bit ambivalent--in any case the ones most blatantly using 'Amish' usually don't have much of a connection with the lifestyle.



The night finished around 9:30 with a snack of steaming black coffee, corn chips and raisin bars.  The job wasn't yet complete, though we'd gotten about halfway, so Ivan's boy has a good start. 

I'm pretty inept when it comes to building stuff.  For most of the evening I was a pack-mule, teaming up with Ivan's 70-something dad to haul metal paneling around.  I'm on the low-tech, low-skilled end of the labor force in Amish society.

I  did my best but don't think I contributed more than about .03% to the final product, and I think Ivan knew that's how it would be, but just wanted me to be there for the experience.  That was thoughtful of him.

It was worth being around, if for nothing else but to feel the family-like atmosphere, to observe the strength of community and integrity of the men, all those things you might read about in books, right there in front of you.

As I watched these guys work, I noticed how hard they went at it and the care they took in doing a good job.  It wasn't their own shop they were building, but they sure acted like it was. 

Not that Winesburg

 

WHEN I was in college, I read a book by Sherwood Anderson called Winesburg, Ohio.  I remember it as a mostly downbeat collection of vignettes of small town life.  As I recall it was firmly entrenched in the university Lit canon.  Inspired Hemingway or something like that.

This is not that Winesburg.  Anderson's town was fictional.

The real Winesburg, Ohio also happens to be a sleepy little spot on the map.  It's got some very nice old homes, a museum, family-style restaurant and a general store that dishes out free coffee.  Buggies pass by frequently.  The public school in town, like many in Eastern Holmes County, educates a number of Amish children along with the English ones.

It's one of my favorite spots in the settlement--a bit off the map but a lovely place to stroll through.

Auctions, sales, auctions

I dropped in on a local auction last week, set up to benefit a Winesburg-area school.  The attendance breakdown was about 90% Amish, 10% English and Mennonite.  I grabbed a paper bag full of salty-sweet kettle corn, an ice water and plopped down.  The auction was in full swing.  Bows, boots, lots of hunting stuff.  Two auctioneers, one Amish, one a youth who could have been Amish as well.  How do they speak that fast?

Auctions, or simply, 'sales', are a chance for Amish to socialize, grab some good food, and maybe get a good deal on something while raising money for a good cause.  They're often held for schools or families in need or even for international causes, as in the long-running Haiti auction, held in Ohio each year as well as in Pennsylvania and Indiana.  I had a chance to drop in on the Haiti event as well about two weeks ago in Mount Hope. 

Delicious Haitan rice and beans with fried plantains was among the food on offer, along with the standard rhubarb pies and barbecued chicken and so on.

A local Amish woman mentioned that she enjoys the Haiti Auction because it draws so many types of Anabaptist peoples--not only Amish from other states but many different Mennonite groups--from the Old Order to the more progressive affiliations.  There was certainly a diverse mix of garb on display that day.

Surviving, with help

I just sat down this evening with a beaming blacksmith, a new father of his first little boy after many girls.

I'm doing interviews for a research project/book on Amish businesses.  'Eli', my seventh stop of the day, graciously shared his wisdom with me.

After our short talk I flipped off the voice recorder and we continued chatting over a 9pm black coffee (I've noticed that many Amish prefer coffee black.  Between all the church services and interviews I'm acquiring a taste for it too).

Eli, a hulk of a man with meaty hands that swallow yours when you shake, casually mentioned that he'd survived lymphoma.

 

Chemo was 'a nightmare'.  Eli forced himself to work half his normal schedule the four months the treatment was going on.  He's on his third year of remission, shoeing 10 horses a day.

I asked Eli if he'd ever heard of Lance Armstrong.  He had a vague idea, but not really.  I wasn't surprised.  Eli is a bit of a Lance for his family.

'The man upstairs' as Eli put it, is why he got through.  I have no doubt about that.  Eli's great physical shape and keeping his mind busy with work probably helped enable that too.

Eli's an interesting guy.  He's got lots of stories.  He claims he can blank out the screen of a cheap digital watch by putting it near his body, among other things.  I have no idea on that one. 

In any case I think we'll keep in touch. 

A few highlights from the past week

I always seem to have neat things happen to me during the week as I'm working.  I try to make a note of them for posts like this one.

Last week I was treated to a rendition of the Noah's Ark song (sung to the tune of 'Mary Had a Little Lamb', by five sisters, ages fifteen to two.  I'd heard the Amish sing from the Ausbund before, but never the more playful tunes in English.  Very nice.

Later that evening I sat in a contractor's kitchen as his three daughters one-by-one hopped up on his lap and sang their prayers to him as they always do before bed.  The last one, the youngest, sort of hummed the tune as she didn't quite know the words yet.  Afterwards he tried to translate the words of the prayer for me.  Really a special thing.

I also ran into my first-ever salesperson Amish mom.  She sells kitchenware among the community.  She likes it and is apparently is doing quite well.  I can see why as she has a very gregarious personality and a natural enthusiasm.
   

A number of moms have their own source of income, some as business owners--craft shops, quiltmakers and bakeries are not unusual businesses for Amish women to have.  Typically Amish women will work before marriage, sometimes as teachers or waitresses, but usually give it up to be at home with the kids. 

Some will stay on though, like the laid-back waitress mom at the diner I ate at in Indiana last summer.  She managed work one or two days a week, a home and two little kids--no small feat.