Amish Turkeys

This may be my favorite Amish in the News ever and it might not get better than this ever:) I have one story today featuring each of the main Anabaptist religions: Amish, Mennonites, Hutterites, and Brethren. And the stories and photos are all so, so interesting! You're going to have to clear at least 20 minutes in your schedule to go through all these. But, wow, it's worthwhile. So let's jump right in!

Organic Amish turkeys

AMISH TURKEYS: Turkey farming is becoming an increasingly lucrative enterprise among the Amish as the public clamors for more organic birds. Combine the public appetite with Amish entrepreneurial spirit and you get a story like the one in Munchies this week. I will say (and this was only a tiny part of the story) I have never heard of an Amish person not being able to own a cell phone or even "being able to hold one in their hand." So the Amish man has an assistant press one up to his ear so he can take a call. While I am aware of plenty of Amish settlements that don't permit cell phone usage, I've never heard of it being so taboo that they can't even touch one. Most Amish churches draw a clear distinction between owning a technology and using one, so the assistant could have just handed him the phone in 99 percent of the cases. Either the reporter is wrong or this is a very conservative Amish church. Click here to read a fascinating profile, very well-written, about an Amish turkey farmer just in time for Thanksgiving!

STRIKING HUTTERITE IMAGES: I have never been to a Hutterite colony but I sure hope to sometime soon. The Hutterites practice a religion very similar to the Amish except that they live communally. The Amish and the Hutterites - unlike the Mennonites and Amish - have very little interaction. Click here to view some striking images from Jill Brody, a documentarian who has chronicled Hutterite life in Montana.

MISSOURI MENNONITE MEMORIES: I LOVE this story because we all get so caught up in the buggies and no-electricity, but the reality is that Plain America features a wide, wide range of groups. The Mennonites especially have many, many "layers" and this is a profile of a very Plain couple but they aren't horse-and-buggy Plain, but very faith-filled, devoted to their church and an almost-Amish existence. Click here to read.

GERMAN BAPTIST GENES: Okay, rejoice Rosanna (our German Baptist columnist), you have some good genes:) Click here to read an incredible interview with a German Baptist Brethren woman who turned 111 in Virginia this month. And watch her "bench press" some cans of beans. Price. Click here for the article.