No Kidding Ron.

For the last couple of days there has been no wi-fi, as we've been deep down in Amish land, near Berlin Ohio.

Now we thought that the Amish only had a presence in Pennsylvania, but we were very wrong.

But how did we get here?

We had a problem with the brakes, and after making the safety of a McDonalds car park, phoned a local truck repair man for help.

Ours was a small inconvenience.

 He turned up and with little effort lifted the front wheels and towed us to his yard. It was a pleasure to watch him casually placing the towing gear under the front springs and manoeuvre his tow truck to within millimeters.

The modern chariot.

At his depot we had new front brakes fitted, tyres checked and were ready to go by six in the evening. All for not much more than it would cost to have the work done on a car at home.




As it happened, during our forced stay we met a charming local family with whom we had two delightful evening meals. Conversation flowed freely, and we had a fantastic time. Up until then we'd been experiencing the differences in culture between our nations. Over those meals we experienced the similarities - the fears and joys of family life.

If we hadn't broken down non of this would have happened. Life never seems to run as we expect, does it?

And that's the thing. We seem to spend hours every day talking to folk, and the things they tell us lead us onward to the next experience - and so on.

So here we are deep in Amish country, thinking that we'd passed all their communities by.

(There's a PDF of the early Amish settlers' destinations here: 
www.mcusa-archives.org/library/omh/pdf/1.3.pdf )

As we drove to Kidron, their buggies were out in force, slowing the traffic to a crawl at times. No one seemed to be bad tempered about it though.

For making ice cream.

We learnt of a wonderful hardware store of all things, and were told not to miss it - Lehmans. So we ended up in Kidron, wandering around an Aladdins cave of man's ingenuity.

Amish...

 I've never seen such an eclectic collection of goods. Milk churns, barbecues, oil lamps, stoves, augers, traditional ice cream makers all had a specific corner in the store.

...washday.

It was a handyman's Christmas round every corner. A lot of the stock is for the Amish community, such as the oil lamps as they're electricity free.

Lost in Lehmans.

Outside was the most incongruous juxtaposition I've ever snapped.

This is not photoshopped.

 Opposite Lehrmans is the Kidron Sonnenburg Heritage Centre which just happened to be open on the day we were there, in front of the market which just happened to be held on the day we were there. (There were only a few every year.)

This is not a junkyard. This is an auction site.

 Inside we chatted for hours, learning about the Amish and Mennonite story.

No zips.

Because of their distinctive garb which is normally all home sewn, the Amish are easy to identify, whereas the Mennonites (another local religious group) dress in contemporary American style. The Amish also talk in their own German dialect amongst themselves, which has roots going back to the 16th century. The bible they use is from the original translation made in the 16th century, although apparently, parts of the English King James translation is used. Over the years it's got rather complicated.

A hat for every occasion.

In the little museum in Kidson there is an original 16th century bible on display, brought over when the first settlers came here.

They give a very smooth ride.

And they came for the not unusual reason of escaping persecution and poverty. They believe that a child's baptism is not valid, and baptism should be undertaken with the full understanding of adulthood. Apparently for this they were persecuted by Protestants and Catholics alike, and in 1816 there was a famine in Switzerland which was the last straw. A small band of 28 Amish pioneers took the long voyage across the Atlantic from Le Havre, arrived at New York and then trekked to this part of the world. They bought land, cleared it, built dwellings and started to make a life for themselves in America.

Most of these are retired racehorses.

We later visited an Amish house, opened as a museum. There we learnt that they have no churches, but pray in their homes - much as the persecuted Catholics did in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. All services are in their German dialect - as their bible is, and generally last about three hours with a meal afterwards. We learnt of their dress rules, and of the many variations on the Amish theme. It seems that different groups have different ideas as to what is the correct way to live. Also, the reason they don't drive cars isn't so much the driving, it's more the ownership that they have a problem with...

Some have hydraulic brakes and LEDs.

Their lifestyle is certainly healthier than the average American's. When not in their buggies, they walk and bicycle miles, as well as tending their gardens and livestock.

No buttons - pinned on.

Having spent a day and a half learning about these folk, a lot has been de-mystified for us. We may not believe what they believe and their lifestyles may appear odd and anachronistic, but once understood, as with most folk, they seem to be very much like the rest of us.

One conversation I had at the auction was with an Amish gentleman of seventy.

"The price of hay's gone through the roof this year, cos of the drought, horses are getting more expensive."
"So it's your equivalent of the price of gas going up with the oil shortages."
"Exactly, you got it. You use gas, we use hay…"

Flea market US style.

Something for the weekend sir?