The Amish Cook from Oasis Newsfeatures

This story isn't really an "Amish story."  The media has used the fact that there are so many Amish in the area as a "hook", but the Amish angle really is incidental.  Still, the story is...interesting.  Lancaster, Pennsylvania is pretty much like any other small-sized city in the East.   The Amish population that makes the area so unique is largely outside the city in Lancaster COUNTY.  The city of Lancaster is fighting unemployment, crime, and illegal immigration just like any other.   That said, they have come up with a novel approach of blanketing the city with cameras in an effort to deter crime.  My wife's attitude toward such things is "if you aren't doing anything wrong, then you shouldn't be worried."   For instance, our city has "red light cameras" to catch people who run traffic signals.  My wife feels if you are running a red-light you SHOULD be caught.  I can generally go along with that, although I get suspiscious when too much revenue is generated from tickets.   Anyway, back to Lancaster.... Click here to read about Lancaster's cameras.   Myself I am not a huge fan of all these cameras. I don't think I mind them in traditionally public venues, but there is something a little unnerving about the pervasiveness of Lancaster's experiment........

The Lancaster newspapers always do a dynamite job of covering the local Amish community.  This is a neat article from last week about how area Old Order Mennonite and Amish farmers are banding together to put some marketing muscle behind their produce.  The article is especially illustrative of just how saavy many Amish are as entrepreneurs.  They don't have much formal education, usually only to the eighth grade, so I think the Amish are just marvelous examples of how practical day-to-day business experience can be learned and grown even without formal schooling. Click here to read about this yummy-sounding produce.

An interesting article appeared in an Idaho newspaper this morning and it's interesting on several levels.  First of all, the Amish church is very "organic".    The average outsider may think the Amish appear to be one unified monolithic entity but in reality the church is constantly changing, cleaving, splitting, and growing....Splits and tension may occur over seemingly minor technological technicalities or just personality conflicts.  More and more, though, I am seeing divisions within the Amish church over evangelicalism.  The Old Order Amish church does not actively seek new church members (in other words, they do not evangelize).  Most go about their business and if an outsider shows interest and wants to join, that is great, but you aren't going to see the Old Order Amish at O'Hare Airport handing out pamphlets.   Some Amish, however, get the "evangelical itch" and wish to start "spreading the Word", which often leads to a church divison.  For instance, evangelicalism have injected itself in Lancaster County's Amish community over the past few years with great controversy.  On a smaller scale, in Adams County, Ohio, a small group of Amish recently split and moved to the neighboring county to start a rural evangelical Mennonite church.  But today's article in the Idaho paper is something totally new to me, a splinter group called the "Amish brotherhood."  It appears to be a church with many "Amish trappings", but with an evangelical twist.  Click here to read more.

We've talked before about the large Amish settlement near Arthur, Illinois.  It's not one of my favorite ones, for a variety of reasons.  One redeeming quality about Arthur, though, is the assortment of home-based businesses that the Amish operate in the area.   These businesses provide a respectful, insightful way to interact with Amish.  An article appeared in today's Chicago Sun-Times (probably my favorite newspaper in the whole USA) about Arthur, Illinois.  There's no real angle to the piece so I'm not sure why they chose to run it today, but, click here to read it.

Now here is a story series much more to my liking.  The Amish presence in Arkansas is gradually growing.  With a temperate climate, good growing season, relatively cheap land and rural setting, the state provides a hospitable place for the Amish.  There have been small settlements of Amish and Old Order Mennonites in the state for years.  And The Amish Cook column has run in the Conway paper for a decade.  But the Amish presence seems to be growing in Arkansas over the past two years.  Anyway, the newspaper in Salem, Arkansas is going to be visiting some of the Amish settlers in their area and providing their readers with a story series.  I just find that the smaller, more offbeat Amish settlements provide a more authentic experience than ones that cater to tourists.  Tourism complicates the Amish lifestyle.  The revenue is helpful but often it sends Amish settlements into a cyclical spiral where tourism dollars come in, the Amish accomodate this tourism which leads to more lifestyle compromises, which leads to more tourism.  Anyway, none of this is an issue in rural Arkansas.  I am going to enjoying reading this story series and I'll be sharing it with you all as it is rolled out. Click here to read the first installment.