A Word on the Amish in Indiana

In the United States, there may be 250,000 Amish and Old Order Mennonites, in states such as Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. When I drive to Grabill, Indiana, where their farms begin and continue over to the Ohio line and beyond, I pass these farms lacking the normal strings of power lines staked to their houses. For work, some may have generators or electricity in their barns. Many of the farms near me have miniature horses and buggy-driving trotters, but this photo is of some of my favorite draft horses used for farming.

Drive through Indiana and you will see teams harnessed and pulling machinery through the fields, driven by an Amish person standing on the equipment behind. Some of the bigger teams may be six or even eight horses wide. It's quite a site, and it's not uncommon to pass one field with a million-dollar, computer-rigged John Deere cultivating or combining, while a Amish man is hand-reining a large team in the next acre plot.

Local church rules apply to the members, who follow a religious commitment and a 'simple life.' These ethnic groups, descended from Anabaptists fleeing persecution in Germany and Switzerland, settled in the U.S. in the 1700s. They follow their church (ordnung) government and fly under the radar sweeping over the rest of us 'regular' - English, to them - folks.

They don't often attend formal schooling past the eighth grade, they take no 'graven images' or photographs of themselves, and no posing for pictures. Yes, they are Christians.

Whether or not their horse-propelled farming is more 'green' is debatable - The New York Times ran an article in June, '10, that Amish country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania produced 61 million pounds of manure in 2007 - causing widespread problems in the Chesapeake Bay. The Amish are also resistant about participating in government programs, such as EPA grants and studies. This may be improving, but it's a concern because we also live on watersheds in Indiana as well.

I enjoy driving past the draft horses, some as much as 17 or even 18 hands tall - several feet taller than your average riding horse. I don't feel bad about talking the horses' pictures, but I respect the Amish and don't photograph them. Although they aren't really surfing on the Internet, anyway, to see. The draft horses may be Percherons, or Belgians, or Haflingers - but more about the horses in my next post. That's all for now.