The Amish Cook from Oasis Newsfeatures

An Iowa county continues to grapple with the issue of steel wheels on roads, but to me it sounds more like vendetta politics.  The esteemed professor, Donald Kraybill, submitted a statement on behalf of the area's "plain people" explaining that steel wheels are part of a long church tradition by the Amish and Mennonites.  This, according to some, would give the Amish and Mennonites protection under the first amendment's religous freedom laws.  Not good enough for Mitchell County supervisor Joe Voaklander who is quoted as saying:

"As far as the First Amendment: Is it religion or tradition? There is some inconsistency there. We have the Mennonites themselves on tape saying it was a tradition."

Tradition, in my view, is right up there with religion in importance.  The guy is splitting hairs, in my view. Without traditions, long-held core beliefs lose some of their meaning.   This politician sounds like he's just trying to trap the Mennonites.  And did he get permission to tape them?   Sounds like some shady politics there in Iowa. Click here to read.

Wow, look at the haul brought home by our site regular, Wesleyba!  On Friday she went to the Amish-owned Country Lane Bakery near Middlebury, Indiana and brought home some chocolate whoopie pies, chocolate crinkle cookies, and wheat bread.  Truly authentic Amish bakeries like this really do use the best of the best ingredients and elevate baking into an art.  I'll be visiting some Amish bakeries myself in the weeks ahead and collecting some "art", which I will share with all of you here (in photos).

An article in an Alberta, Canada newspaper describes a theft that occurred on the Lajord Hutterite Colony the other day.   Someone made off with one of the colony's prized tractors and it ended up severely damaged and submerged in a creek.  The damage could be irreprable.   This is purely speculation on my part, but it sounds like an "inside job" to me.  First of all, not just anyone can drive a $300,000 tractor.  I know I couldn't, I doubt it's like a car where you turn a key and just start the ignition.   Second of all, Hutterite colonies are pretty impenatrable.  I doubt some "Joe--Schmoe" could just walk onto a Hutterite colony and steal this tractor....Of course, I may be wrong...I also had to roll my eyes a little bit when the colony manager compared losing the tractor to "losing a life."  That, I think, is a bit of a stretch. Still, a $300,000 tractor...WOW..that is quite a loss..Hutterite colonies are very business-minded, so this must have been a huge, but worthwhile, investment for them.  Let's hope they had it insured....Amish and Mennonites tend to shy away from insurance, but I am not sure about the Hutterites.  Click here to read the article.

Okay, this entry relies on observations relayed to me by my mother, so I can't vouch for any of this myself.  I still, though, thought it sounded interesting.  

Ohio's Amish settlements were long found concentrated in four or five main clusters.  That, however, has been changing.  Southeastern Ohio seems very different from the rest of the flat state.  SE Ohio is more Appalachian than corn belt, with rugged hills, deep ravines, and a rural mountain atmosphere.  The Amish have gradually been making inroads into this part of the state. Which brings me to my mother:

She and some co-workers recently went for a "girls weekend away" at the original Bob Evans farmstead (I know, wild bunch) in Rio Grande, Ohio.   While in the area, Mom and some friends discovered what she says was a Mennonite-run store (I launched a barrage of questions at her:  Are you sure they were Mennonite? What did the women's dresses look like? Did the men have beards?  Did you see any buggies).  Mom did say that there were Amish in the area as well as Mennonites and she even brought me a brochure from this store she visited.  The brochure says "Trickling Spring Country Store."  An internet search brings up a store of the same name in Northeast Ohio, but little about this area.    The brochure advertises cheese, lunchmeats, spices, chocolates, and a ton of dry mixes.  A map on the brochure shows the store to be near the town of Cadmus, Ohio and Mother says the Amish lived around a small town called Patriot.  I know next to nothing about the "plain people" in this area....sounds interesting, though.  If anyone knows anything about the Amish or Mennonites in this area, let us know!