Five years ago, the Pennsylvania environmental media highlighted the path-breaking efforts of a Lancaster County Amish farmer to protect his soils and the streams near his property from erosion and pollution. The efforts of farmer Raymond King to retard soil erosion, plant in contours, and, more than that, to adopt… Continue reading…
Ever since the 1920s, thousands of Mennonite and Amish people have escaped the rigors of northern U.S. winters each year by flocking to Sarasota, Florida. The plainly dressed men and women, who travel on packed buses from their homes in such northern U.S. settlements as Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Holmes… Continue reading…
According to Patrick Donmoyer, Pennsylvania Dutch, which is spoken by the Amish, is “considered the fastest-growing small-minority language in the United States.” Donmoyer is Director of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University; he shared a lot of information about his favorite subject with Jason Nark, who published… Continue reading…
An anti-Amish ordinance failed to pass in Wisconsin last Tuesday, in large part due to the vociferous, pro-Amish objections raised by local voters. The daily newspaper for the town of Wisconsin Rapids explained the controversial proposal several days before it was due to be brought up for a vote by… Continue reading…
Rick Gray, Mayor of the city of Lancaster in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, said that welcoming refugees is a way of supporting religious diversity and toleration. That attitude is “in [the city’s] genes,” according to Mr. Gray. Last week he explained to a reporter from Deutsche Welle, the prominent international German… Continue reading…
Young Amish people are increasingly being drawn into the use of smartphones and computers, yet they are still trying to maintain their traditional horse-drawn culture. An article credited to the New York Times but published on the CNBC website on September 15th explored the efforts of many of the traditional… Continue reading…
Young Amish people are increasingly being drawn into the use of smartphones and computers, yet they are still trying to maintain their traditional horse-drawn culture. An article credited to the New York Times but published on the CNBC website on September 15th explored the efforts of many of the traditional… Continue reading…
Almost every week a familiar story pops up while searching for news about peaceful societies: an Amish buggy was hit by a motor vehicle and several people were injured—or worse. On Wednesday last week, a motorist in Wayne County, Ohio, hit a buggy, seriously injured a child and, the unique… Continue reading…
Over a dozen Amish men are scheduled to appear in a Logan County, Kentucky, court on August 2, 2017, for ignoring a local ordinance requiring diapers on their horses. An article last week in the News-Democrat & Leader of Russellville, the county seat of Logan County, described the refusal of… Continue reading…
Some Ohio Swartzentrubers, probably the most conservative of the Amish groups, have decided to make changes in their buggies to improve their safety on the public roads. The Akron Beacon Journal last week published an interesting report on how the Swartzentrubers (also sometimes spelled Schwartzentrubers) in three northeastern Ohio counties… Continue reading…
