The Riddle of Amish Culture

by Donald B. Kraybill

  Farmers often retire at a young age to allow a son to take over the farm. After retirement, a grandfather or grandmother may set up a small shop on the farm for supplemental income. Whenever possible, a father “gets out of the way” so a son can raise his family on the farm, until the process repeats itself in the next generation.

  Perhaps even more important than location is the context of work. Amishmen who work away from home carry lunchpails, but not to factory jobs—70 percent are self-employed, and 23 percent work for an Amish employer. Thus, more than 93 percent of the men work in an Amish environment, as shown in Table 10.1. “Where,” asked an Amish businessman rhetorically, “is the best place for these Amish boys to work if they can’t all farm? In a big factory or tobacco warehouse in Lancaster City, or in a small shop with an Amish boss and other Amish employees?”

  TABLE 10.2

  Primary Work of Adult Men by Age (in percentages)

  Those who are not self-employed or working for fellow Amish may be part of an Amish work crew employed by a Mennonite or other Plain-dressing employer. Still others, employed by non-Amish employers, typically work side-by-side with fellow Amish. The Amish rarely work outside of ethnic networks.23 In the final analysis, although 40 percent of Amish married men work away from home, they usually toil in an ethnic cocoon, which defuses the lunchpail threat. A few work outside the cocoon, but the number is minuscule.24 Even non-Amish employers are usually local people who are sympathetic to Amish values and willing to adjust to community concerns in exchange for conscientious work.

  Given the crescendo of nonfarm jobs in recent years, it is surprising to find so few differences between age groups in Table 10.2. Men under age thirty are more likely to work away from home in nonfarm jobs and less likely to be self-employed than older men. Thus, while nonfarm jobs have increased dramatically in some church districts, the Amish have not relinquished control over the conditions of their work. They were willing to dicker with modernity over the type of work, but they were not about to negotiate its location, control, or ethnic setting.

  THE BEST AND WORST OF TIMES

  In some ways the turn of the twenty-first century brought the best of times and the worst of times. Tobacco prices were in the cellar, and milk prices hit the dump of a thirty-year low, strangling the income of farmers. Searching for new ways to squeeze an income out of their land, more farmers began raising vegetables, flowers, organically grown chickens, exotic wild animals, and puppies for pet stores. Others were experimenting with yogurt and cheese products. Near Quarryville, about two dozen Amish farmers formed a milk cooperative. They bought milk processing equipment from Israel with hopes of making kosher milk products—yogurt and cheese—for Orthodox Jews in New York City.

  Meanwhile, businesses were pulsing with profits, enticing more and more farm boys to abandon their cows and plows. In the heart of the settlement, one observer counted ten dairy barns with empty stables. The Amish were still farming the land, but they had turned to their shops for their primary income. In another township, a farmer sold his cows and rented his land to a non-Amish farmer so he could build storage sheds. A non-Amish neighbor worried about these ominous trends that “might destroy the Amish way of life.” The economic woes of farming made the good fortunes of business even more attractive to aspiring young lads. Farming required an enormous investment for land, animals, and equipment. It was simply easier, cheaper, and more profitable to set up a shop than to go into farming.

  An ironic turn followed the sagging fortunes of farmers. The wealthier businessmen were beginning to amass enough capital to buy more farms. One business owner was pleased that he could buy a farm for each of his four daughters. Between 1984 and 1996 the Amish bought nearly 180 farms totaling some 15,000 acres. By the mid-1990s they were buying about 20 farms a year. At the turn of the century, they owned some 1,400 farms—about 40 percent of the farms in Lancaster County.25

  And so in an ironic twist of fate, the Amish who had entered business because of dwindling acres were now able to buy more land with their newly earned dollars. But twenty new farms a year were hardly enough to turn the tide with 170 couples pledging wedding vows each fall. Nevertheless, Amish purchases helped the countywide effort to preserve farm land. Public officials are quick to point out that the Amish are a powerful force for farmland preservation because they rarely sell their land for development.

  For new sources of income, this farmer began building storage sheds and rented land for a cellular telephone tower.

  Two agencies in Lancaster County actively seek to preserve farmland: the Agricultural Preserve Board, a government agency; and Lancaster Farmland Trust, a private agency. Reluctant to accept government funds, the Amish have been more willing to cooperate with the Trust because of its private status. The first Amish farm was preserved in 1990, and by 2000, the Trust held easements protecting forty-seven Amish farms. Although skittish about receiving $2,100 per acre in government funds from the Agriculture Preserve Board, three Amish farmers stepped across the line and preserved their farms in 2000. Others were reportedly filing applications with the Agricultural Preserve Board, signaling a new openness among a few Amish to accept government funds to save their land.26 Thus, on top of their rising fortunes in business, the Amish are also holding a growing portion of Lancaster County soil.

  BUSINESS ENTERPRISES

  When asked what you cannot buy these days from an Amish shop, an old sage wryly remarked: “About the only thing we don’t have is an undertaker.” While not quite true, his quip symbolizes the mushrooming infrastructure of Amish-owned services. The Amish own shops that sell shoes, dry goods, furniture, hardware, and wholesale foods. Amishmen work as masons, plumbers, painters, and self-trained accountants. The explosion of nonagricultural jobs has ushered in a new era of Amish history. Instead of depending on outsiders for the bulk of their services, they have developed their own capacity to supply many of the services and products needed within their community.27 A streak of modernity lies beneath this ethnic umbrella, for some functions that were previously done at home are now performed by a specialist, albeit an Amish one. This extensive web of shops built on networks of social capital provides jobs and financial revenues, and also creates a buffer zone with the larger culture.

  Amish enterprises vary in size, location, and function. The three major types are small cottage industries, larger manufacturing establishments, and mobile work crews. Home-based operations, often located on farms, are housed in tobacco sheds, retrofitted farm buildings, or new facilities. Bakeshops, craft shops, machine shops, cabinet shops, hardware stores, health food shops, and flower shops are a few of the hundreds that are adjacent or annexed to a barn or house. Many home-based retail shops cater to tourists, Amish, and non-Amish neighbors alike. These shops, like the old mom-and-pop grocery stores of bygone America, are largely family operations. A sampler of the shops appears in Table 10.3.

  TABLE 10.3

  A Sampler of Amish-operated Shops and Businesses

  One young father, for example, operates a washing machine shop in an oversized garage on his farm. He buys used washing machines and replaces their electric motors with solid-state ignition gasoline engines from Japan. The refurbished washing machines are sold to Amish customers. A cabinet maker works with four of his sons making quality kitchen cabinets that are distributed out of the county. Several adults—an uncle, a cousin, or a sister—may assist the nuclear family as part- or full-time employees in the cottage industries. Children help or hinder the operation, as the case may be. These microenterprises, lodged at home, range in size from one to a half-dozen employees. One thing is certain: work in these settings is securely under the family’s control. “What we’re trying to do, really,” said one proprietor, “is keep the family together.”28

  Larger shops or manufacturing concerns are established in newly erected buildings on the edge of a farm or on a plot with a house. Some manufacturing plants are beginning to locate in small industrial parks to avoid zonin
g hassles. This trend will likely lead work farther away from home. The sizeable shops, with a dozen or so employees, function as established entities in the larger business community. On the other hand, blacksmith shops and welding shops that manufacture horse-drawn equipment cater primarily to the Amish. But the bulk of the new businesses, such as cabinet shops and hydraulic shops, serve both Amish and non-Amish customers alike. Many retail outlets—hardware, paint, furniture, and food stores—also sell to both groups. Woodworking shops produce fine furniture as well as portable storage barns, doghouses, lawn furniture, and mailboxes, all of which are sold across the eastern seaboard to non-Amish customers. Some businesses sell their products to large national chains such as Wal-Mart and K-Mart.

  An Amishwoman owns and operates this shop. She makes dried flower arrangements that are shipped out of state. A horse barn is on the left. Her adjacent home is not shown.

  The larger manufacturing shops are efficient and modern. At first glance, hanging gas lanterns provide the only clue to their Amish ownership. Air and hydraulic power operate modern machinery. Diesel engines power the air and hydraulic pumps. Even burglar alarms are powered by air. One Amishman argued that air pressure is superior to electricity and that “some shops have electric systems beat hand over fist. That’s all there is to it. They even have their doors rigged up to an alarm. You know, if someone breaks in at night, they have air alarms all over the place that will blow a horn loud enough to scare a thief half to death.”

  Mobile work crews are the third type of Amish enterprise. Amish construction crews travel to building sites in Lancaster County and other counties as well. Carpentry and construction work have always been acceptable alternatives to farming. Today, woodworking of one sort or another scores second only to farming as the most preferred occupation. Amish construction crews, using the latest power tools operated by portable electric generators or onsite electricity, engage in subcontract and general construction of both residential and commercial buildings. Trucks and vans provided by employees or regularly hired drivers transport Amish work crews on a daily basis. Amish cabinet shops produce high-quality furniture, which is distributed out of state.

  As the Amish have struggled to keep their work at home and their families together, they have encountered another modern obstacle: zoning. Ironically, the zoning laws that once protected their farms from outside developers now prevent some of them from building shops on their own farms. The proliferation of cottage industries and small manufacturing operations, often built in agricultural zones, have caused some tension with public officials. In the 1980s and 1990s several townships negotiated with the Amish, hoping to adapt zoning codes that would control the size of on-farm businesses in rural areas. Under pressure from the Amish, one township amended its agricultural zoning ordinance to permit home industries that did not exceed 2,500 square feet or employ more than four workers, including the owner. Another township has a limit of two nonfamily employees.29 It was an interesting twist, because modern law and government were being used to enforce Amish values of small-scale operations and family involvement. Because of zoning restrictions and their booming size, some businesses are moving into industrial parks.

  Hundreds of gazebos are made by this and other woodworking shops. They are shipped out of state by tractor trailer trucks. The panels near the roof lines help to illuminate the interior of the shop, which has no electric lights.

  THE TEXTURE OF AMISH BUSINESS

  Amish industries bear the imprint of Amish culture in several ways. They are typically small. Although there is not an exact cap on size, it is rare for them to have more than fifteen employees. Church leaders caution owners about the dangers that accompany large-scale operations—pride, worldliness, excessive power, publicity, and status. Many Amish industries have annual sales exceeding $1 million; the largest ones likely reach $8–$12 million. Discreet expansion is more acceptable than a large complex of buildings, which gives the appearance of too much success. Installing cabinets or building silos around the county is less conspicuous and thus more palatable than operating a large manufacturing complex on one site with a hundred employees. Stories are told of Amish business owners who, refusing to bend to the limits of size, became proud and eventually left the church or were excommunicated. Describing one of these casualties, a businessman said: “You just have to be careful not to get proud wings and spread them like Ike Smoker did. That just won’t fit. You need to keep your humility and keep your head down under the covers.”

  Even the largest businesses employ primarily fellow Amish. The non-Amish employees are frequently members of other Plain churches with similar cultural values. Sometimes outsiders are hired for the use of their vehicles or for particular technical skills. One businessman regretted hiring a non-Amish employee who created problems with his Amish employees, and since then he has hired within the fold.

  Table 10.3 lists typical Amish businesses. Products ranging from mushrooms to plastic toys can be bought in Amish stores. Hundreds of Amish-made products—from finely sculptured cornhusk dolls to clumsy manure spreaders—are available for sale. In general, the products and services fit with Amish values. Selling and repairing radios, for instance, would be off limits, as would car, computer, or video sales. Selling new chain saws and barbecue grills is acceptable because these are used by the Amish themselves. Farm equipment is sometimes manufactured by Amish shops in two versions—a steel-wheeled edition for the Amish and a rubber-tired one for their neighbors. The taboo on electricity makes it difficult to sell refrigerated or frozen food products. Various trades, crafts, woodworking, construction, and manufacturing jobs as well as retailing provide the majority of nonfarm jobs. Few Amish work in service or information roles that require formal education and extensive interaction with the outside world.

  An inventive streak runs through Amish culture. A tinkering attitude, the taboo on electricity, and a bent for self-sufficiency have stimulated dozens of inventions. For example, a manufacturer developed a hay turner that flips hay upside down and speeds its drying time in the field.30 Other inventions include a horse-drawn plow with a wheel-driven hydraulic pump that presses the blade into the soil; a frost-free outdoor watering trough for cattle that uses the earth’s natural heat to prevent freezing in the winter; a high-pressure sprayer to clean buildings; a golf course cupper to drill holes on the green; and a machine that wraps large hay bales in plastic. An Amish shop developed and manufactures its own 12-volt Pequea battery. The list goes on and on.

  One thing is clear: the feeble repair shops of yesteryear have been superseded by manufacturing facilities that enable the Amish to manufacture most of their horse-drawn equipment and to supply other products to non-Amish around the world. One snag worries a leading manufacturer. He fears that newer manufacturing equipment, increasingly dependent on computerized controls, may be difficult to convert to air and hydraulic power and thus may limit Amish productivity.

  The bishops, who had stubbornly insisted on horse-drawn equipment in the early 1960s, inadvertently seeded a host of new jobs in the Amish shops that build and refabricate farm machinery. In the same manner, Amish clothing, horse and buggy transportation, and the rejection of electricity have fostered innumerable jobs that serve the special needs of Amish society. These new jobs have diminished the lure of working in modern factories. The technological riddles that baffle outsiders not only defer to tradition but also create a panoply of jobs for Amish families. Although many nonfarm jobs produce products for the larger society, agricultural support and ethnic specialty jobs still undergird the economy of Amish society.

  BUSINESS SUCCESS

  A remarkable thing had happened by the turn of the twenty-first century: barefoot Amish farmers had become successful businessmen. Even more astonishing, they had done it in one generation without the help of high school, let alone college, and without computers, electricity, or courses in accounting, marketing, and management. Moreover, their failure rate for new business starts was less t
han 5 percent compared to a national rate of 60 percent. How did these backwoods farmers manage to turn their plows into profits?

  Within one generation Lancaster County had witnessed, in the words of one observer, “a mini-industrial revolution.” The Amish were no longer selling homemade root beer, brooms, and dolls in roadside stands. The fledgling shops of the 1970s had abruptly come of age. One Amishman compared the old with the new this way: “[The old cabinet makers] would start with a pile of 1 × 12 white pine boards, a small gas powered table saw, a box of cigars and lots of muscle. Nowadays over twenty large shops produce 800 storage sheds and thirty gazebos a week.”31 This yields some 40,000 items a year in only one of many product lines. About fifty Amish cabinet shops each produce fifteen to a hundred new kitchens every year. No longer restricted to the corner of an old tobacco shed, the larger businesses occupy 20,000- to 30,000-square-foot areas in spanking new facilities.

  The number of establishments offers another measure of success. On average there are about twelve businesses in each church district, totaling some 1,600 enterprises across the settlement.32 Indeed, one in five adults (aged 25–65) owns a business. With more and more youth entering business, the number rises every year. In addition to their negligible failure rate, all signals suggest financial success. A bank official, knowledgeable of Amish finances, said, “The huge wealth created by Amish businesses in recent years is simply staggering.” A credit officer concurred: “The wealth generated in the Amish community in the last ten years is just fantastic, it’s phenomenal.” According to one financial observer, the top ten Amish businesses likely have annual sales of $8–$12 million and most of those net 10 percent, or about $1 million in profit.33 The bulk of Amish enterprises have lower annual sales, but gross receipts of a million are not unusual.