By Kevin Williams
Wow, this is a compelling crop of articles in Amish in the News this week! Â So let's dive right in:
Amish Landlords: Â Sheesh, can you imagine calling your landlord at 2 a.m. about a clogged toilet or a broken waterline and having a horse-drawn buggy pull up and out jumps a bearded, suspended-clad man with a toolbox? Â Well, that is exactly what is happening more and more in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Â Apparently more and more Amish are jumping into the real estate market. Â This, in some ways, is a good fit for the average Amish. Â Any job that doesn't require sitting in a cubicle from 9 to 5 is a good fit. Â Most Amish men like to work at home or at least have the flexibility to be with family and real estate has elements of that. Â Click here to read about this latest trend.
Amish Atheist?  This is an interesting piece.  I've been to this Amish settlement and it is one of the more "forward-thinking/progressive" settlements out there, so if you are an outsider wanting to join the Amish, Unity, Maine is as good a place as any to start.  While I have read about spiritual conversions where someone from the outside wants to join the Amish and does, this story is about a "boomeranger", the man when on a spiritual sojourn and joined the Amish but then decided with faith wasn't for him and left and he now has atheist leanings, but he still  maintains much of the day-to-day Amish trappings of his life.  Quite interesting. Click here to read.
Amish Buggy Loans:  No high pressure  sales pitch about buying a car today same as cash, etc. But one Ohio credit union does have a product designed just for their Amish customers:  buggy loans.  A typical brand new buggy often comes with a $6000 - $7000 price-tag and while many Amish pay for those in cash sometimes a young person needs a boost from a bank and that is where a credit union in Geauga County comes in.  Click here to read.
Hutterite Losses:Â The avian flu has hit some Hutterite colonies hard, knocking out their economic underpinnings and causing a lot of emotional distress. Click here to read more.
Simply Amish: Â Check in with Arlene Schmidt, an Amish writer and homemaker in rural Indiana who writes a twice-monthly column for the New Castle, Indiana paper. Â Arlene and her husband Crist raise produce. Â Arelene is one of a growing number of Plain writers out there who are really good. Â As competition increases among Plain writers what will ultimately carry the day isn't the stories told but the writing itself and I do like Arlene's work. Click here to read.
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