Amish in Smicksburg, PA Make Hay While the Sun Shines

Yesterday it was over 100 degrees in Smicksburg, a small town sixty miles NE of Pittsburgh. While I was comfortable in my air conditioned Jeep sipping a cold frappuccino, I passed by men out in the fields, making hay. There was a weather warning not to be outside. Should I stop the car and tell them?  I thought for half a second and drove on. I know by now what my Amish friends would do – laugh. These Amish men are the ones who put a new roof on my house, built our barn and addition, sometimes during a major heat wave.

While visiting a friend in Lancaster, we passed Amish who used John Deer tractors pulled by a team of horses. Their hay machines shot out cubes of hay. They were shocked when I told them my Amish friends in Smicksburg use the old-fashion hay rakes and stack their own hay by hand. When I told them they dam up a creek and make their own ice for their iceboxes, their mouths gaped. "They don't have refrigerators? You're joking." They have natural gas or propane refrigerators. They were Old Order Amish, but were constantly challenged by modern technology, what to allow and what to ban.  

I came home having more appreciation for my Amish friends. They’re similar to the Amish in Western New York where I used to live. They face the same challenges technology throws at them, but they stick to their old ways. I wish people didn't feel they need to drive to Lancaster to see the Amish. The Amish live in over 28 states now and their population is a quarter-million strong. If you do your research, you may find you have a in your own backyard.

Hope you enjoy these pictures I took, once the men looked the other way. Taking a photo of Amish faces will always be banned....I think.

Learning to Grieve the Amish Way

Writing words help me heal, so I’m writing today.   My Uncle Jim passed away yesterday. I’ll always remember him as that handsome man that looked like a Ken Doll. My aunt was his brown haired Barbie.  He wore Boss Cologne and I loved giving him a hug because he smelled good. A chiropractor by day and a good husband and father by night.

I didn’t know what to do when I got word of his death. A family member told me my aunt needed time alone with her immediate family to make plans. Numbly I went to see the new Winnie the Pooh movie with my husband and daughter.  I kept thinking, I need to be with my aunt. I want to be with my aunt. Then I thought of how the Amish grieve, and became clear to me what to do.

 We went and sat with my aunt while she reminisced about her high school sweetheart. How sad she was that two of her daughter and now her husband are gone. We didn’t say much. Just hugged and listened.  I was told today our visit helped so much. This is the Amish way, and they learned it from Jesus. Jesus wept with those who wept. He took time to be with people.

When someone in the Amish community dies, they come and sit with the person, much like Job’s friends in the Bible. They came and sat for seven days and didn’t speak. It comforted Job to know they were there. The presence of someone next to you that loves you has great healing power.

The Amish don’t have drive through grief either. They take their time. They have suffered a great loss. The immediate family wears black for a year and they make sure the widow isn’t alone. The community schedules weekly visitors who bring food. A notice will be put in the Die Botschaft, a national Amish newspaper. Cards are sent from across the country from complete strangers. 

Time and thought given to someone shows love, and love, in time, brings healing. Below is a picture of my Uncle Jim and my Aunt Virginia. I will miss this gentle man...Please pray for my aunt....

Amish as Busy as Bees in the Summer

     I'm taking knitting classes in the small town of Smicksburg, PA where many of my Amish friends live. My teacher owns the shop, SuzyBKnits, and we lazily put up our feet as she teaches me to knit and purl. What a different summer I'm having than my Amish friends.

     The men are out making hay when the sun shines. I love watching them pull their primitive hay rakes by one tired horse. They stop to take off their straw hats and wipe their brow. Then you see teams of men stacking the hay in tee pee formation for it to dry. It's 90 degrees out. They are working hard.

     Then I see women in huge gardens, bent over weeding or carrying bushels to their homes to "put up" the harvest.  This means hot water is boiling, ready to seal all the hot jars of fruits and vegetables. I think of my own garden. My husband and I do it together as a hobby, not a necessity. We have a rototiller that's self-propelled. It clears out all the weeds in between rows. No hoeing required. Then I think of my Food Saver and freezer. I don't have to can everything, only spaghetti sauce. Everything else gets put in the freezer.

     As I sit and knit, I don't know if I'm blessed or lazy. The Amish always make me reevaluate my life.

Amish Gardening and Preserving

     When I drive past most Amish gardens in early May, I see plastic milk jugs lined up in rows. With the bottoms cut out, they’re used for mini greenhouses, extending the planting season by a month. Most gardens in Pennsylvania aren’t planted until Memorial Day and in New York, July 4^th! So once again we see how dependent the Amish are on the land.

      I know an Amish family of nine who live primarily on what they “put up” from their garden. This amazes me still since my husband and I have four grown “kids” and remember those grocery bills when they were all in their teens, and we “put up” at least 500 quarts of food. Well, I know my Amish friends put up well over a thousand jars.

      The trick I’m learning is that they preserve only what they use, no fancy chutneys like I like to try. They don’t pour over glossy recipe books like me, confused as to what they should or should not plant. So this year I’m determined to can only what’s going to help our food bill. This will include jams, fruits and vegetables that go in recipes I actually use, not ones I see in magazines hoping to try “someday.”

I have two wonderful books as resources:

 Amish Cooking by Pathway Publishing. You can buy it online at: http://pathway-publishers.com/tag/amish-recipes/  Pathway is run by the Amish and are authentic Amish books.

Also, for inspiration I read Lovina Eicher books. She’s an Old Order Amish woman who’s written three coffee table quality books that are part memoir, cultural education, and recipes. I have the The Amish Cook's Anniversary Book: 20 Years of Food, Family, and Faith. I won’t be buying her baking book anytime soon…I use the Weight Watchers Cookbook for desserts ;)

Blessings to you!

Karen Anna Vogel

Simplicity Learned in the Ups and Downs of Life.

It’s been over a month since I’ve written anything on this blog, but am happy to report my son got married and my sister-in-law got her kidney transplant. A lot can happen in a month and simplicity had to really be a discipline for me. Cutting away anything that really wasn’t necessary and clearing my plate so I could help the people I love is really the Amish way of living. Relationships are more important than anything, period.

I also saw something that was heartwarming; many families, friends and church members coming together in community to serve one another. No wonder the Amish are the happiest people in the USA. When emotions are up with a wedding and down with a possible death, it’s nice to have people hold your hand and ask how you’re doing. I thought often of the famous line Clarence, the angel in It’s a Wonderful Life said. “No man is a failure who has friends.” It so true. I learned a lesson about what real success is in life; faith, family, friends!

A good read on Simplicity is Richard Foster’s Celebration of Simplicity. If I hadn’t been reading that book over the past month and stuck to the simple way of living my Amish friends adopt, I would have missed out on such blessings. Too much internal noise in life rob us of everyday joys.

Blessings to you!

Karen Anna Vogel

Amish Weddings verses American Weddings

     One of my daughters got married 7 months ago and my son is getting married in 5 weeks. As usual, the contrast in US culture verses the Amish culture has made me re-think everything. To know why I've contemplated, let me tell you how most Old Order Amish celebrate their weddings.

     Amish couples are “published” or their engagement is announced in church. There’s no diamond engagement ring or wedding rings at all. Weddings are held on Tuesday and Thursday in early spring, before the planting season or in late fall, after the harvest. The bride will sew a new simple dress using the same pattern she uses to make all her dresses. She does have bridesmaids but they wear their plain clothes at the wedding.  There’s a wedding feast, typically at the brides home or barn, made by Amish relatives, and the couple is set apart in a corner. This corner table is something special to them.  My Amish friend, Noah, told me about his wedding feast with a twinkle in his eyes. I asked why they sat in the corner, and in typical Amish fashion, he looked stumped and said, “It’s the way we’ve always done it.”  But it seems more like a rite of passage, something they’ve looked forward to their whole life. I think it’s charming.

    I look at the Amish and see a common theme; it’s not all about the bride and her making ten-thousand decisions. No one is yelling at her saying “You deserve the best. You only get married once. You’re the princess of the day and you can have what you want.” This constant clamor can make the sweetest bride turn self-centered and perhaps turn into a bridezilla. The Amish bride has few decisions. She doesn’t deal with her gown, fancy bridesmaid’s dresses, flowers, photography, DJ, or musician. It may sound severe, but the Amish I know look forward to weddings for the fun and fellowship and what’s really going on…vows before God. 

     It seems like with both of my kids getting married they start out going nuts about all the decisions, then realize a month or so later it’s about the vows…usually after they’re burnt out and have asked if they can just elope. ;)    

     Today, the average cost of an American wedding is 20K. I told Amish friends about this and they either laughed at the ridiculousness of it or were plain aghast.  They all agree it’s wasteful and foolish. "I can build a barn with that money!" one man said. From their influence, my husband and I give our kids $5.000.00 for their wedding. We give them professional pre-marriage counseling as their wedding gift, and  Dave Ramsey books so they can be debt free. We had lots of pressure to do more as other family and friends have financed their kids weddings on a thirty year payment plan, but being “Almost Amish” has made us stick to what we thinks important, the marriage vows and celebrating with community, plain and simple.  

Blessings,

Karen Anna Vogel

  

The Serenity Prayer used by the Amish

I’m taking my sister-in-law to the hospital today for things she needs to get done for her kidney transplant. I love Suzanne so much and am afraid of losing her. So I say the Serenity Prayer. It’s a longer prayer than people think. The Amish have adopted many prayers and saying they turn into proverbs, whether they’re written by the Amish or not. The Serenity Prayer was written by Pastor Reinhold Niebuhr 1934, during the Great Depression.

This prayer covers all areas of life and has been adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous and other Twelve Step programs. I'll be using it today...maybe you will too.

 Here’s the whole prayer:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him

Forever in the next.

Amen.

Blessings to you!

Karen Anna Vogel