January 23, 2009
In which I meet the Amish for the first time.
Posted by mortonmalaise under Uncategorized[9] Comments
I spent most of my late Friday morning in Amish country. Arthur, Illinois is about 40 minutes outside of Decatur. As you travel down two-lane highway towards Arthur, you start to see bonnets and dungarees on clotheslines outside of farmhouses. Shortly thereafter, you see workhorses out on pasture, and very shortly after that, you see this.
After that, you meet the Amish. They are unassuming, humble, kind people. Much like the rest of us, they have their problems. Their youth get caught drinking in barns, their husbands and wives cheat, they skirt the rules to make their money. A few things I learned about the Amish today:
- They can buy a house, but within a year, they have to remove all wiring.
- They can rent a house with electrical wiring, but they can only live there for a year.
- They can use kerosene and propane to heat and light their property.
- They can use generators to control the climate of their dog kennels, but they can’t use it to control the climate of their homes.
- They have an accent. It’s a mix of high Southern US and Dutch.
- If they lease the building in which their business is run, they can use the machines we’re all used to, i.e. CNC’s, pumps, etc. However, if they OWN the building, they are forbidden to use electricity.
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:50 pm
I came very close to taking a job as editor of a start-up weekly in northern Indiana with a large Amish population. I went for two interviews before deciding I’d rather kill myself than live in northern Indiana. It was a little disconcerting to see kids dressed like Torah scholars riding around on inline roller skates, waiting in line to use the telephone at the 7-11.
January 24th, 2009 at 12:15 am
You now I have lived in Peoria all my life and have never been to Arther. They always kind of fasinated me.
January 24th, 2009 at 8:24 am
I used to do a lot of travel to Decatur for work. I wanted to visit Arthur, but I never got around to it. I was too afraid to drive a Postal Car anywhere but to and from work, so I walked everywhere else. I couldn’t drive to Arthur!
January 25th, 2009 at 8:10 am
A summer weekend trip to Arthur and Rockome Gardens is well worth it. And besides, you can always stop at the big outlet mall in Tuscola to re-enter 2009.
January 25th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I am not a biblical scholar, but I can’t imagine there being any fine print in there saying electricity is evil when used in a building you own, but kosher when you lease the building. I would love to hear the rationale for that distinction.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:49 am
I’m torn between “Deport the elders and modernize these people ASAP!” and “As long as they aren’t harming anyone, live and let live.” I’m leaning towards the latter. My “bludgeon and civilize” impulses run stronger with situations like that tribe in Brazil which practices infanticide as a part of their culture.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Here’s another. You know all that fine Amish furniture. Bet you imagine Joseph sawing and sanding away, toiling to make that fine piece of furniture. Wrong. The Amish are quite savvy and are leading users and purchasers of CNC machinery. These machines take a digital model of what you want and cut/carve it out of a chunk of wood. Wonderful devices. The Amish guys still assemble and finish the stuff but the hard precision work is all done with automated computer driven hardware. The power for that comes from generators and other off the grid power sources.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Mahkno,
That’s why I mentioned the loophole for leasing their buildings. If the building is leased and used for a business, they can even use power from the grid for the CNC’s. I can’t get very specific because I don’t want to blog about work, but to put it mildly, I know plenty about machining and production.
March 13th, 2009 at 11:28 am
We love going to Arthur in the fall. They have a great pumpkin patch out there that the kids love running around in.