As we consider what’s wrong with our economy today, I think it makes sense to examine a sub-culture that shares few of the issues we deal with in today’s society….the Amish.
I have long been a fan of the Amish. Over 15 years ago, I discovered the ways of the Amish as we live about 3 hours away from Holmes County, one of the largest Amish communities in the US.
Fascinated with the Amish’s ability to self-sustain, I studied them for many years, reading everything I could get my hands on and “grilling” any Amish folk who would indulge me when we visited.
Let me tell you something, folks, once you get past the buggies and bonnets, you realize that the Amish are nothing short of brilliant people.
The Amish do not experience issues with poverty and unemployment the way we “English” do (as anyone not Amish is referred to as). The Amish economy understands it’s social issues and deals with them internally, asking for little/no government assistance. Let’s take a look.
The Amish Exemplify Work Ethic
You will find no harder working people than the Amish. These folks live by 16th century traditions in a modern world. They use no electricity (we’ll cover “why” later in this post) and use the horse and buggy to get around.
There is certainly no whining tolerated among this culture. Everyone is expected to do their part as they are able.
An Amish crew has been working on our barn for a number of months now and I cannot tell you how precise and amazing their workmanship is. However “archaic” it may seem when the Amish contractor draws, literally draws, out on a piece of paper what he intends to do, the product and quality of work is unmatched.
Our crew has been contracted for over 5 other jobs in the area, just due to people driving by our barn. THAT’s quality workmanship and capitalism at it’s best. I am so happy for them!
The Amish name is synonymous with quality and honesty.
The Amish Skip “Adolescence”
The “perpetual adolescence” that far too many American teenagers indulge in is not an option in the Amish community, and thank God for it.
Finishing their school experience after 8th grade, Amish kids enter an internship, either with their father or another relative, and begin training for what will be their lifelong career.
Whether you agree with this philosophy or not isn’t as important as the outcome of the Amish youth. There are very few, if any, juvenile delinquents among the Amish. The expectations are laid out early in their lives and they know what’s expected of them.
Adolescence is a “season” of life invented by the modern American culture, and is also the cause of many of our social issues today.
Unless great care and training is taken during the teenage years, parents can inadvertently create adults who are lacking vision, character, work ethic and aspiration. I would just assume skip it, myself.
Here’s a little something about “Peter Pan Syndrome“, which plagues many adult males in the country:
Humbelina Robles Ortega, professor of the Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment of the University of Granada and an expert in emotional disorders, warns that the overprotection of parents can lead children to develop the Peter Pan Syndrome, given “it usually affects dependent people who have been overprotected by their families and haven’t developed the necessary skills to confront life.” The ‘Peter Pans’ of present society “see the adult world as very problematic and glorify adolescence, which is why they want to stay in that state of privilege.” Source
The Amish Grow and Preserve Much of Their Own Food
The Amish grow much of their own food, however, not all of it. Since most Amish are not able to make a living solely from farming these days, many have embraced tourism as a source of income.
Therefore, you will find the Amish in grocery stores, primarily stores owned and operated by other Amish.
However, the Amish are big into canning and preserving their own food. They do not freeze food as they do not allow electricity into their homes.
Every Amish home has a huge garden and vineyard, often times right next to their clothes lines. Amish children can often be seen working in the garden, along side their mothers and other siblings and therefore, understand how food is grown.
The Amish also understand the value of bartering, primarily among their own community.
The Amish Take Care of Their Elderly
It is very common to see multiple generations living on one farm in Amish country. Spread among the many acres of farmland is the larger family home, then a smaller “grandparents” home close by.
Elderly are rarely, if ever, put into care facilities. If they are, they are typically Amish run. Grandma and Grandpa are a valued part of the family and needed to care for children while parents are working the land and/or the business.
Traditions and family values are passed down from the older generation. What family couldn’t benefit from this kind of support?
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Kelly, I love this post! I honestly could live the Amish life. I think a benefit to a lot of the youth of these days could be made by sending them to live/work with and like the Amish for a few summers. Maybe they could appreciate the luxuries they are given and learn a few things along the way.
We have an Amish community very nearby (around 25 miles away). They come to our county farmers market and sell their produce and flowers, etc. I have always been fascinated by the culture. The reason it works is because they have all things in common. Community! Things we no longer have. I also admire their way of being different from the rest of the world with out caring what the rest of us English think about it.
Thank you for your post! This has been on my to-do list, learn about the Amish Culture, so it was great to see your post!!
Yes, yes, yes! Love this! Can’t wait to read part 2!
Great article. I also love the Amish. We dealt with them when we owned our Amish Furniture Store. They are fantastic people. The kids are great. I so loved to connect with them. Our store is now closed and I miss going out to Lancaster County PA to visit them. I am going to plan a trip now soon since you wrote this fabulous article. Thank you!
Great post! Off to read Part 2.
Yes, we can learn a lot! I grew up quite near Holmes Co and still have fond memories of the Amish neighbors we had.
I live in the middle of an Amish community – all our neighbors (and most of theirs!) are all Amish. Most of this is true, but not all of it. Please keep in mind everything varies from community to community. Some Amish DO have freezers, washers, toilets, ect… They use generators a have many gas powered appliances – these items though do not make them reliant on ‘the world’ and then therefor are looked at as ‘okay’.
Lindsey,
Yes, the Amish, depending upon the “order”, do use gas powered appliances and motors. That was a surprise to me when I first learned it.
luv this post – found u via new nostalgia. i have to say my best book investment is the book “money secrets of the Amish” by lorilee craker. it goes into alot of detail of the same things you stated. i’ve always been very intereted in the Amish and their way of life. it was a highlight of our visit to Indiana, i wish i had been able to talk with some of them.
Michelle,
From my experience, the Amish aren’t real keen on sharing with the English. However, I have found that those who have left the faith are quite willing to share.
I live in Indiana and I haul for the Amish. I have quite a few Amish friends. Unfortunately the world is starting to influence the kids in a major way. Your article says that there are very few problems but the reality is that almost all Amish teenagers have drinking issues…or more. They start going to “crowd” at age 16 and they PARTY every weekend. You will occasionally find ones that consider playing cards or other games as their party but most are into loud music, dancing and MAJOR drinking. Even 7 years ago when I started hauling for them, most weddings were because they chose to get married. Now at least 75 % of the weddings are because the girl is pregnant and they HAVE to get married. The group I live near has almost nothing to do with the ones that live north of us because drugs are very prominent in that community and Amish teens are even allowed to get a driver’s license, own a car, and dress English until they get to the point where they choose to be baptized into the church. I am not trying to be overly negative but I think people need to realize that the world is infecting ALL communities, even sheltered ones. It really depends less on where you live and more on HOW you live. There are families here that stress the work and the respect and the way of life and those families have the kids who are not as involved in the partying, etc. I have heard other people say they wish they could raise their kids the way the Amish do, etc…well, you can! Teach them respect, give them responsibilities, start young. Don’t assume you can’t achieve that just because you aren’t Amish. They are people just like us! No difference!
It’s always easy to romanticize a community who is closed/separated from society. I agree with you Suze, we should value and teach the principles of work and responsibilities to our kids, truly parenting, mentoring, teaching them about life. We also need to remember that the Amish lifestyle is a choice for their children at a certain age. So if a child of age decides not to join the church then they are not in the Amish Community. So, it may seem like the community takes care of their own, but those who have left the community are not cared for by the community. In a sense this is no different than our English ways….the homeless, the drug addicts, those with mental illness are often cast out, thus becoming dependent on our government systems rather than cared for by family or local community. Life is complicated sometimes. Easy to just look at our own little slice of life, or admire another slice from afar without really understanding all the ins and outs.
Great post. Though I’m not keen on some aspects of Amish culture (ie shunning), their simple lifestyle and hard work ethic would do most Americans a lot of good to emulate. The Amish do not have the sense of entitlement that has ruined us ‘Englishers’. We could learn a lot from them and go back to our roots and back to working hard to make America great again.
I’ve been reading about the Amish and have fallen in love with their ways. I look forward to following your blog. Thanks for sharing so we can learn.
I really enjoyed this post! I love the Amish views on so many things and you’re right we could learn a lot from them. Off to read part 2!
I too love and admire the Amish! I’m so excited to learn more about them through these posts!
I agree, there is a lot to be learned from the Amish about farming and making do with what you have. However the side of the Amish I don’t like is that they are the largest group to have puppy mills. As a lover of all 2 and 4 legged beasts, those with wings and fins, I can’t tolerate keeping a dog in cage for breeding purposes.
The Amish have always amazed me! As a frequent visitor to Lancaster County, PA regularly, I’ve always wished I could spend just one week living among the Amish. Their simple values and traditions are so refreshing from today’s world. I really think this post speaks the truth and it’s something I’ve been thinking about lately. Thanks for sharing this article!
Great post! Thanks for sharing. Just wanted to point out where it says “next” on the bottom of the post linking the next in the series it says “11 things…” Might be a typo just wanted to point it out! Love your site I end up back here at least a few times a week.
I too found the Amish lifestyle intriguing years ago and read all I could get my hands on; and finally visited a community in Arthur, Illinois in the 80′s. That was a reality check, and the romanticizing of their lifestyle just amazes me. There’s nothing romantic about hard work and then having a business in your living room on top of that. They wanted to sell things to the English, but had no desire to chat with us as we made our purchases. Furthermore, without electricity, they are inclined to wear their clothing multiple times before washing, and I promise you they smelled like deodorant was also against their religion. You make some great points about their lifestyle, but let’s keep the actual living of that lifestyle “real” while we ponder the positive philosophies behind it.
I am very much interested in the Amish as well. Their self sustaining ways amaze me.
I have always thought it would be neat to have an Amish pen pal.
I would love to see more written about them
Interesting perspectives. I, too, live in Ohio and about 1 1/2 hours from Holmes county, but I do live about 20 minutes from an Amish community near me (around Martinsburg). I have made friends with a few of the families, though ‘friend’ may be a bit of a stretch. They are all very kind and nice, but they mostly still keep you at arm’s length.One older lady (in her mid-50′s) is more friendly than most.
I buy my eggs, some produce, and other items from these people, which is how I’ve gotten to know them.
It is important to remember that the Amish are human and much like anyone else in many ways. Some keep their homes cleaner than others, some keep their children cleaner and are more careful with them than others, and some work harder than others. It is just human nature. I’ve seen the gamut even in the Amish community.
My husband has also worked much with the Amish (many of the Amish must work off the farms and most go into construction), and not all of them are as good at building as others. The hubby has worked with Amish who do fantastic work, and others whose work is questionable. My husband (a contractor) said he probably would not have most Amish build anything for him, just certain ones he’s learned to trust. Word of mouth is the best way to find a good Amish craftsman.
I am not trying to denigrate all the Amish people or to deride your article. I am trying to keep things in perspective since my husband and I have both had a lot of contact and personal interaction with the Amish. They are truly (as a community) all you’ve written and I so love many of them, but it is also important to remember that the Amish are human, just as we are, therefore they, too, are subject to erring in life. They are not perfect people, but they do work hard! Their life depends on it.
The lady whom I buy my eggs from is a lovely young girl (mid-20′s) with 2 small children, and she is always happy, always working in her garden, hanging clothes. or doing other chores. She is a friendly and shy woman whom I really like. Another woman whom I’ve dealt with is also industrious, not even close to having the same joy, is over-worked, has snotty-nosed kids, and allows her house to become quite messy. I think perhaps she is just overwhelmed with life as she has had 5 kids within a 6 year time period. Very nice, but very reticent.
If you have Amish living near you, then get to know them as they can be the nicest people in the world! The one older couple I’ve gotten to know are kind, honest, intelligent people who would be more politically active, if allowed by their church (they resent the land taxes and other taxes that harm their pockets just like ours), and I think they would have electricity so they could have a fridge and perhaps a radio. Because they have so many ‘English’ friends, they often drive places with them and get to listen to talk radio, which they enjoy.
It can take a bit of work to get to know the Amish (they are often leary of outsiders), but many of them are a joy to know and such interesting folks! And though their life may seem ‘hard’ to us, they’ve lived it their entire lives and so it does not seem so ‘hard’ to them. If you’ve been raised your whole life without electricity you don’t miss what you’ve never had.
They grow most all of their own food (they all have a vegetable garden and fruit trees/bushes), and they can or dry all the food they grow. They often grow extra to sell from their farms directly, or from a local farmer’s market. They can fruits into jams, jellies, syrups, and as whole fruit. Apples, peaches, and some other fruits are sometimes dried. Most all have chickens (eggs and meat), either a milk cow or goat, and if able, they also raise pigs and cows for meat.
Every family owns at least one team of horses as they need to have them to pull their buggies and to work their fields. They grow field corn for feed for their animals, oats for the horses, and hay for winter feeding. The men often work sun up to sun down, and if they must go out of the community to work (they hire the ‘English’ to drive them, and they often go as a group), they still must maintain their crops at home as their livelihood depends on it. And the men often hunt for food, especially deer, for added meat for the family (in season, just as the ‘English’ do). The women can this meat for use in the winter. Most all food is canned or salted away or packed in lard in crocks, just as the pioneers used to do to preserve meat.
The Amish are also hurt by home prices, land taxes, and inflation, just as we are. They are not immune to these things. Land prices really affect them as they must provide farms for their sons.
Looking forward to reading your second ‘series’.
I find them a bit hypocritical when they supposedly renounce modern technology yet will ask you to drive them somewhere in your car and ask to use your phone. If they were truly against technology they would not use such things and would not use generators and refrigerators either. I will admit they are good carpenters.
I enjoyed your article about learning from the Amish. I live in South Philadelphia so I am not anywhere close to Lancaster County, PA. But I have learned alot from fiction and research enough to work harder and change the way that we do somethings in my urban enviroment. By having a garden in the backyard full of fruit and vegetables that I canned for the winter months. Changed our clothing habits and expenses. Of course we are not dressing plain, but my husband wears Dickie workwear to his office job. The twill washes and coodinates well for the office and goes from short sleeve to long sleeve for the winter. He has had these clothes for at least 8 years now with no sign of wear, and I wash them every week like clockwise in Tide. As I am a homemaker my wardrobe is for working are the house or going to the store for supplies. No closet full of fancy shoes and clothes. We use our electricity of course but I figured that I should be able to get a lot more done in a day with the love of the Almight God, those modern appliances and extended education that are a blessing to me everyday. And the able to know when to use them and how to do without. God’s Word instructs us to do all these things and to be good stewards of what we have and how to use them wisely. They are only a reminder that God’s word should be first in our lives, we should live and work to honor Him and we can live with the things that He provides us on the earth.