The "Down on the Amish Farm" Story

It was an ordinary day. Just heading to pickup a printing job that I had taken to a bindery to have holes punched for plastic binders. The company is located in Amish Country. Now, that can be just about anywhere in Lancaster County. For those of you who don't live with the Amish, it is like a tourist thing for you, isn't it? A novelty! They are my neighbors and you get used to seeing buggies and long black pants and straw hats. As I passed the many farms without electricity, I could see the farmers harvesting their crops they had planted in the spring. All the wagons and farm equipment is being pulled by horses or mules. No tractors are allowed. They are too worldly. Wash hangs from lines across the property. They wear very plain clothing styles, thus the name "Plain People". There are about 20,000 Amish living in Lancaster County. 51 church districts accommodate all those people. Church is held every other Sunday at one of the farms in the district. The minister is usually chosen by lot from among the members of the parish. Pretty neat to see a farm on a Sunday with 40 or 50 buggies in the yard. The Amish are very devout in their faith.They believe in the literal interpretation and application of Scripture as the Word of God. They take seriously the Biblical commands to separate themselves from the things of the world. They believe worldliness can keep them from being close to God, and can introduce influences that could be destructive to their communities and to their way of life. By the way, the buggies cost about $5,000 each and have options like our cars, only in a non-worldly manner. There are 10 carriage shops in Lancaster and they used to make the buggies entirely out of wood. Today they use fiberglass for quite a bit of the buggy. The horses that pull them are mostly thoroughbreds that are bought at auction in New Holland, PA. Two events in the past few years brought the Amish of Lancaster County to the forefront in the evening news. The murder of the Amish school children at the Nickle Mines School and the release of the movie "Witness". Contrary to popular belief, the Amish do not live the same way they did 300 years ago. They have adopted many things to make life easier, but are careful not to accept new technology without considering its effects on their community lifestyle. At the end of quite a few farm lanes will be a shed that houses a phone. Their connection to the rest of the world. As far as taking a photo of the Amish, it's not against their religion to be photographed, but it is against their religion to be asked to pose for a photograph. Today I have my camera with me since I was taking photos for the middle school

yearbook and have it in the car as I travel to the bindery. Great chance to share some of the daily events of the farming community with you. The scenes shown here are commonplace for me living in Lancaster County. Hope you enjoy a few of the photos. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photos from the tops are: country road in Lancaster Co., traditional Amish farm with no power lines in sight, scooters in front of a one room schoolhouse, farmer harvesting, Amish farm I stopped at to purchase some tomatoes and a jar of homemade pickles from a little Amish girl who looked to be about 7 or 8, and a selection of goods at the farm.