27. Amish school policies vary in part because they developed at different times in various regions without national coordination and because state regulations vary.
28. See Johnson-Weiner, “Reinforcing Amish Identity” and Train Up a Child.
29. In Swartzentruber schools, children do not join in the morning singing until the third grade, when they begin to study German and can recognize the script.
30. Caroline Schwartz, writing from Berne, IN, Budget, May 2, 2007, 8.
31. Levi Borntragers, writing from Macomb, IL, Budget, May 2, 2007, 8.
32. Johnson-Weiner, Train Up a Child, 131.
33. For additional evidence of the same trends, see Dewalt, Amish Education, 90, and Hostetler and Huntington, Amish Children, 93–97. For a critique of the test scores used as evidence in Wisconsin v. Yoder, see Fischel, “Do Amish Schools Make the Grade?”
34. Northern Indiana Subcommittee on Testing, in a memorandum to schools, March 12, 2002, in Donald Kraybill’s files.
35. Indiana Amish Directory, 13.
36. Based on their fieldwork in various settlements, the authors estimate that fewer than 10 percent of Amish children attend public schools.
37. Hurst and McConnell, Amish Paradox, 153–61; Nolt and Meyers, Plain Diversity, 92.
38. Johnson-Weiner, Train Up a Child, 164.
39. Nolt and Meyers, Plain Diversity, 92.
40. Johnson-Weiner, Train Up a Child, 164.
41. Nolt and Meyers, Plain Diversity, 92.
42. Johnson-Weiner, Train Up a Child, 164.
43. “From the Desk of Teacher Dave.” Responses to Teacher Dave’s essay on homeschooling appear in letters to the editor, Blackboard Bulletin, May 2011.
44. Hurst and McConnell found that the few Amish in the Holmes County, Ohio, area who do homeschool are New Order or New Order Fellowship. See Amish Paradox, 161–62, 171–72.
45. For an exception, see Hostetler and Huntington, Amish Children, 114–15.
46. Correspondence to Donald Kraybill, Nov. 10, 2011.
47. Guengerich, Deutsche Gemeinde Schulen, quoted in J. Stoll, “Who Shall Educate Our Children?,” 24–25.
48. J. Stoll, “Who Shall Educate Our Children?,” 28.
49. Reich, Bridging Liberalism, 12, 39–40, 46.
50. Johnson-Weiner, Train Up a Child, 239–40.
CHAPTER 15. AGRICULTURE
Epigraph: R. Schlabach, “Inroads of Industrialism,” 1.
1. A. Beiler, Vocation on the Farm, 3. See also Ericksen, Ericksen, and Hostetler, “Cultivation of the Soil.” The European practices are described by Jean Séguy in “Religion and Agricultural Success” and “Bernese Anabaptists.”
2. Both quotes are from 1001 Questions, 139.
3. For abundant examples in Amish publications, see Family Life, Plain Interests, Truck Patch News, and Farming, as well as many memoirs, published and unpublished. Additional evidence is the fourteen entries (written by non-Amish people) in Unit Eight, “Home on the Farm,” in Stoll, Luthy, and Stoll, Our Heritage, a textbook widely used in Amish schools.
4. Reschly and Jellison, “Production Patterns.”
5. See Fisher, Farm Life and Its Changes; Glick, Fortunate Years; John K. Lapp, Remarks of By-Gone Days; Reschly, Amish on the Iowa Prairie; R. Schlabach, “Amish Farming.” Not every community embraced everything that was new, as evidenced by a dispute around 1900 in the Nappanee, Indiana, settlement when a group of members protested the use of hay loaders, manure spreaders, grain binders, and windmills; see Nappanee Amish Directory, 20.
6. Fisher, Farm Life and Its Changes, 9–49; Pratt, Shipshewana, 12–18; and Reschly, Amish on the Iowa Prairie, 47.
7. See R. Kline, Consumers in the Country; Shover, First Majority, Last Minority.
8. Fisher, Farm Life and Its Changes, 5.
9. Lancaster County Amish farm practices in the mid-twentieth century are described in Fisher, Farm Life and Its Changes; Glick, Fortunate Years; and Kollmorgen, Culture of a Contemporary Rural Community and “Agricultural Stability.”
10. About 3 percent of Amish church districts permit the use of tractors for field work in the twenty-first century. In Kansas and Oklahoma the Amish rationale for tractor farming was that summer’s intense heat was inhumane for work horses.
11. Cross, in “Restructuring America’s Dairy Farms,” 8, and “Expanding Role of the Amish,” 12–13, describes the importance of cheese plants for Amish farmers. Deutsch Kase Haus in Middlebury, Indiana, opened in 1979, led by an Amish entrepreneur and local Mennonite investors. In 2002 it was purchased by the Canadian dairy cooperative Agropur.
12. In at least one instance, the dumping station was built on Amish land, but members of the community were quick to point out that the station itself was not Amish owned and built, so it was not the Amish who were responsible for the electricity, which would go to the building and not the land (Johnson-Weiner, New York Amish, 75–76, 199n28).
13. “Lasset Uns Miteinander Rechnen” (Come Let Us Reason Together), letter from Lancaster County dairy farmers to their bishops, March 6, 2002. Copy in Donald Kraybill’s files. Emphasis in the original.
14. V. Stoltzfus, “Amish Agriculture.”
15. James and James, Changing Agricultural Community, 19. The Grade B milk producers were mostly Amish, according to the local Ohio State University extension office.
16. R. Schlabach, “Amish Farming,” 33.
17. Emma Harris, “A Horse, Two Mules and a Plough. … Vernon’s First Year Garden Produces the Produce,” Salem (AK) News, Sept. 3, 2009.
18. Cross, “Restructuring America’s Dairy Farms,” 9–11, and “Expanding Role of the Amish,” 9. See also Cross’s research of Amish dairy farms in Wisconsin and other states in “Change in America’s Dairyland,” and “Expansion of Amish Dairy Farming.”
19. For a persuasive essay, see “Back to the Future.”
20. Truck Patch News is published and distributed nationally by produce growers in Mt. Hope, Ohio.
21. “Growing Grape Tomatoes,” 2005, flier in Donald Kraybill’s files.
22. “Workshops Teach Amish and Mennonite Growers Ways to Improve Yields,” High Plains Journal (Dodge City, KS), June 3, 2008.
23. Truck Patch News, July 15, 2008, 6. See also J. Byler, “Our Experience Growing Vegetables.”
24. “Poisoning the Earth,” pt. 2, 29.
25. Caroline Brock’s dissertation, “Integrated Household Economics Approach,” studied organic practices in two Wisconsin Amish communities.
26. Jerry L. Miller, “Change to Organic Farming,” 34. Amish farmer Jerry E. Miller explains the virtues of organic farming in “Farming Practically.”
27. R. Schlabach, “Organic Dairy Farming,” 28–32.
28. R. Yoder, “Greenfield Farms,” 28; Mariola and McConnell, “Shifting Landscape of Amish Agriculture.”
29. www.lancasterfarmfresh.com.
30. Grass-Based Dairy Farming, v–vi.
31. See Hurst and McConnell, Amish Paradox, 200–204, for a discussion of new agricultural enterprises in Holmes County, Ohio.
32. See three studies of energy use and ecological impact of Amish farming: G. Foster, “Amish and the Ethos of Ecology”; Hockman-Wert, “Role of Religion in Motivating Sustainability”; and Johnson, Stoltzfus, and Craumer, “Energy Conservation.”
33. Vonk, Sustainability and Quality of Life, 81, 96–100.
34. Farming, Spring 2001, 3.
35. For a sample of David Kline’s writings, see Scratching the Woodchuck, Great Possessions, and “God’s Spirit and a Theology for Living.” For an academic appraisal of his approach, see the conclusion of S. Stoll, Larding the Lean Earth.
36. Kraybill, Nolt, and Weaver-Zercher, Amish Way, 150.
37. S. Stoll, Larding the Lean Earth, 217–18.
38. “Not Everyone Can Be a Farmer,” pt. 1, 8.
39. “Not Everyone Can Be a Farmer,” pt. 2, 32–34.
40. Chad Umble, “Charging Forward,” Lancaster (PA) Sunday News, Oct. 17, 2
010.
CHAPTER 16. BUSINESS
1. Sections of this chapter are adapted from Kraybill and Nolt, Amish Enterprise, and Kraybill, Riddle of Amish Culture, chap. 10.
2. Based on our interviews and review of church directories from various settlements, church districts typically have five to seven enterprises on average. With about 2,000 Amish districts, this yields a range of 10,000 to 14,000 enterprises, so 12,000 is a conservative mid-range estimate.
3. Meyers and Nolt, Amish Patchwork, 114; Meyers, “Lunch Pails and Factories.”
4. David Dinell, “Taking Work to the Labor Pool: Precision Opens Yoder Center,” Wichita Business Journal, April 30, 1999, 4; Greksa and Korbin, “Key Decisions.”
5. Nolt and Meyers, Plain Diversity, 85–90.
6. Rick Farrant, “Plain Ingenuity,” Greater Fort Wayne (IN) Business Weekly, April 22, 2011.
7. Dana, “Humility-Based Enterprising Community”; Kraybill and Kanagy, “Rise of Entrepreneurship”; Kraybill and Nolt, Amish Enterprise; and Olshan, “Amish Cottage Industries.”
8. Kraybill, Nolt, and Wesner, “Sources of Enterprise Success,” 113.
9. Kraybill and Nolt, Amish Enterprise; Wesner, Success Made Simple.
10. Of 785 men under age 65 who listed an occupation, 512 were engaged in construction and related trades; see Adams and Jay Counties Directory.
11. Raymond S. Lapp, Millersburg, Pennsylvania, is the publisher of Plain Communities Business Exchange.
12. Lancaster County Business Directory is published by DavCo Advertising, Kinzers, Pennsylvania. Most, but not all the businesses appearing in the directory are Amish.
13. Ola Richard Yoder, Nappanee, Indiana, is the publisher of Amish Woodworkers of America.
14. Gumpert, “Amish Entrepreneur’s Approach.”
15. Hallie Busta. “Amish Bakery Takes Root in the Loop,” Gapers Block, Aug. 13, 2010. http://gapersblock.com/drivethru/2010/08/13/.
16. Meghan Barr, “Consumers Flock to Amish-Run Stores Selling Expired Items.” Phoenix Arizona Republic, May 9, 2008. www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0509biz-amishstores0509.html.
17. Members of the most traditional Amish groups seldom participate in the gatherings.
18. Kraybill, Nolt, and Wesner, “Amish Enterprise,” 9–10; Kraybill and Nolt, Amish Enterprise, 13–15.
19. U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, “Frequently Asked Questions,” Sept. 2009. www.sba.gov/advo/stats/sbfaq.pdf.
20. Kraybill, Riddle of Amish Culture, 84, 261.
21. See Timothy Aeppel, “Amish Women Reap Profit in Field of Business,” Wall Street Journal, Feb. 8, 1996. For an example in Missouri, see Hawley, “Maintaining Business While Maintaining Boundaries.”
22. Kraybill and Nolt, Amish Enterprise, 208–10.
23. Johnson-Weiner, “Role of Women,” 244. See also Bloch, “Untangling the Roots of Modern Sex Roles.” For more on Anabaptist women and work, see Pederson, “She May Be Amish Now.”
24. See Johnson-Weiner, “Role of Women.”
25. Greksa and Korbin, “Key Decisions”; Meyers, “Old Order Amish” and “Population Growth.”
26. “[Ohio] Shop Support Committee Meeting,” minutes, Oct. 6, 1999, citing Steering Committee correspondence.
CHAPTER 17. TECHNOLOGY
1. “Weird” Al Yankovic, “Amish Paradise,” YouTube music video, 3.25, posted by alyankovic VEVO on Oct. 9, 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOfZLb33uCg&ob=av3e.
2. Binfield, Writings of the Luddites.
3. The sparse research on the topic includes Kelly, What Technology Wants, chap. 11; Kraybill, Riddle of Amish Culture, chap. 8; Kraybill and Nolt, Amish Enterprise, chap. 7; Scott and Pellman, Living Without Electricity; and Wetmore, “Building Amish Community with Technology.”
4. Leroy Beachy, Unser Leit, 2:395.
5. For discussions of this complicated issue, see Smith and Marx, Does Technology Drive History?
6. Kelly, What Technology Wants, 239.
7. [E. Stoll], Strangers and Pilgrims, 19, 14, 16–17.
8. An excellent account of the spread of technology in rural America and its detractors is R. Kline, Consumers in the Country.
9. [E. Stoll], Strangers and Pilgrims, 18.
10. Bijker, Hughes, and Pinch, Social Construction of Technological Systems, laid early groundwork for understanding the social and cultural influences on inventions and adaptations of technology.
11. Kevin Kelly’s observation during a visit to Amish shops with Donald Kraybill on March 4, 2004.
12. John B. Swarey’s letter in the Diary, March 2007, tells the story of the “self feeders” for threshing machines that were invented and manufactured by Amish man John Ebersol (1874–1950), who was born in Pennsylvania but migrated to Milverton, Ontario, where he built a factory to produce them.
13. This gas lamp and several improved models were designed and manufactured by the Mid-state Lamp Co., in Arthur, Illinois.
14. A subgroup with about twenty congregations within the New Order affiliation permits its members to use public grid electrical service.
15. Harold Brubaker, “A Culture Clash in Roofing,” Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 29, 2010, reports conflict between progressive Amish and English contractors.
16. See D. Umble, Holding the Line.
17. [D. Wagler], Are All Things Lawful?
18. 1001 Questions, 141–43.
19. This occurred in these settlements: Arthur, Illinois; Nappanee, Indiana; Garnett, Kansas; and the Clinton section of the Elkhart–LaGrange, Indiana, settlement. Anecdotal evidence points to employment related to stone quarries, factories, feed mills, and even delivery trucks. See Yoder and Yoder, Echoes of the Past.
20. 1001 Questions, 141.
21. [E. Stoll], Strangers and Pilgrims, 20.
22. Ibid.
23. Scott and Pellman, Living Without Electricity, 48–49.
24. 1001 Questions, 141.
25. For more on embedded bias, see Rushkoff, Program or Be Programmed.
CHAPTER 18. HEALTH AND HEALING
Epigraph: Adapted from Die Botschaft, March 10, 2008, 6. Parts of Allgyer’s letter seem like boilerplate text she reproduced, but with obvious Amish assumptions. For example, she never gives her address, assuming that any Botschaft reader in the Gap area would know how to find her.
1. Miller et al., “Health Status,” using evidence from representative samples of Amish (N=288) and non-Amish women (N=2,002) in Central Pennsylvania, provide detailed comparisons of reproductive issues and women’s health in general.
2. Wenger’s work, “Cultural Context, Health and Health Care Decision Making,” influenced some aspects of this chapter. See also Banks and Benchot, “Unique Aspects of Nursing Care.”
3. Die Botschaft, Jan. 26, 2009, 28.
4. Jon Rutter, “Amish Unaffected by New Health Law: ‘Religious Conscience’ Covered in Legislation,” Lancaster (PA) Sunday News, March 28, 2010; Mullen, “Religion and the PPACA.”
5. Johnson-Weiner was one of those called to transport the boy to the hospital.
6. For a debate on what kinds of formalized mutual aid, if any, Amish churches should use, see “Hospital Aid Plans” and “Special Section on Hospital Aid and Insurance.”
7. See, for example, E. Byler, Plain and Happy Living and Home Remedies II; Quillin, Wisdom of Amish Folk Medicine; and Wickey Sisters, Amish Home Remedies.
8. “Drawing pain,” also called “pain pulling” (shmates tsia [or Schmatza Zieha] in Pennsylvania Dutch), is widely accepted among the ultraconservative Swartzentruber Amish, but they do not ascribe a magical component to it. See Johnson-Weiner, New York Amish, 69–70.
9. J. Hostetler, Amish Society, 335–42; Kriebel, Powwowing; L. Miller, “Role of a Braucher-Chiropractor”; and Wenger, “Phenomenon of Care.”
10. Kriebel, Powwowing, 181.
11. Ibid., 177.
12. Wenger, “Phenomenon of Care,” 69, 154.
13. Huntington, “Health Care,
” 170–71. See also Ron Shawgo, “Healer in DeKalb Keeps the Faith at 74,” Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, Sept. 9, 2012. For a self-published book by one of Wick-ey’s supporters, see Naugle, Solomon’s Touch.
14. Huntington, “Health Care,” 171–72.
15. J. Keim, Burn Aid and Comfort for the Burned; D. Wagler, New Concept in Treating Burns. (The latter is a booklet containing reprints of burn articles originally published in Plain Interests from March 2005 to December 2006.) For a descriptive study, see Rieman et al., “Increased Risk of Burns.”
16. Die Botschaft, May 24, 2010, 73.
17. Reiter et al., “Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use.”
18. The Ohio study, conducted in 2004, involved interviews with a representative sample of Amish men (N=62) and women (N=72) living in Holmes and Tuscarawas Counties. The Amish response rate was 67 percent. The methods and results are discussed in Reiter et al., “Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use.” The Pennsylvania data were gathered from a non-representative availability sample of Amish men (N=44) and women (N=68) in the Lancaster, Pa., settlement in 2011–12. Participants in various health and safety gatherings completed a questionnaire. See King and Kraybill, “Exploratory Study of Amish Health Care.”
19. Graham and Cates, “Health Care and Sequestered Cultures.” See also Cates and Graham, “Amish.”
20. Die Botschaft, April 26, 2010, 68. For a lively Amish debate on the value of nutritional supplements, see “Problem Corner.”
21. Examples are from Die Botschaft correspondents’ letters between September 2009 and June 2010.
22. 1001 Questions, 55–57.
23. See Donatelli, “Goodbye Sister,” 57.
24. Currently Mississippi and West Virginia are the only states without religious exemptions from mandatory immunization. See www.childrenshealthcare.org/legal.htm.
25. Letters to the editor, Family Life, May 1981, 32. See also “The Choice Is Yours.”
26. A writer from Union Grove, North Carolina, responding to a questionnaire circulated to Budget correspondents by David Wagler in 1991. The responses informed the articles on vaccination (“The Choice is Yours,” pts. 1 and 2) that appeared in the November and December 1992 issues of Family Life. The questionnaires are in the files of Heritage Historical Library, Aylmer, Ontario.
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