Recession Forcing Amish To Be More Amish
Shipshewana, Indiana, isn't your usual Amish settlement. Most of the Amish in this part of northern Indiana don't till the land and sell home-made jams and quilts, they work in a huge RV factory in a nearby town, earn $40 an hour, and take vacations in Florida. At least, that's how it used to be until almost everyone got laid off. Now they're having to take a step back and re-evaluate their Amishness.
Forced back into living off the land and crafting wooden trinkets, many Amish find they appreciate the self-reliance and family-centered existence they had given up in order to work a factory job.
"The factories can make a robot out of you," says one Amish former factory laborer, who now sells home-grown flowers and vegetables. Another Amish man, who started selling home-made wooden furniture, notes, "It's a better life to be home with your own business and to be around your family. The children learn from watching you work."
Yet others freely admit they would give it all up in a heartbeat if it meant a steady wage and not having to get up at 3am to stock jam jars.
Economy takes its toll on Amish [USA Today]
(Photo: Brave New Films)
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Amish robots??? That would simultaneously put the Barn-raising and beard-growing industries out of business!
But in all seriousness, $40 an hour working at a factory??? I'd be happy to make half that, 5 years out of college now...
I'm no expert on the Amish, but I thought living off the land and self-sufficiency was one of the main tenets of their belief/lifestyle? Isn't that one of the main things that make them Amish? I don't get how the factory work and vacations on the coast fit into that.
So thanks to the slowdown, it's Rumspringa every day? RUMSPRINGA!!
@downwithmonstercable: It sounds like they are only Amish when the IRS comes around.
Similar to Native American Casinos and Duty Free Stores.
Now I feel bad that Amish people made 2x more per hour than I do, with 2 college degrees.
No, no, trust me, as someone who grew up not too far from there, Shipshewana IS all of that crap (jams, quilts, etc). And also a huge flea market that sells "Egyptian cotton sheets" and Faux-ch purses.
@saralegal21
not to mention restaurants! I live just south of Shipshewana.
@SeniorPonzologist_GitEmSteveDave: @lotussix: Yes, those are Mennonites. They are kind of like the Amish, but they use electricity and drive. Among other religious things.
@SeniorPonzologist_GitEmSteveDave:
These gents will help you sort out the Amish-Mennonite differences:
Seriously $40 an hour for factory work? Plus, I assume, benefits. That's more money than some people I know with law degrees and other graduate degrees.
@saralegal21: I grew up nearby, too, and can attest to the amish crap and regular crap markets.
We had one group in our extended family who went there all the time and were always raving about it. One of my sisters (the one who didn't move away) went recently and reported to being shocked at how awful it was.
The Amish just ain't who they used to be.
@lpranal:
$40 is a lot only depending on where you live. Up north where there are more unions you're more likely to get paid that much, but everything costs more. In the south where Unions aren't as wide spread the wages are lower, but so's the cost of living. As a programmer in Texas, I make $42,000 a year, and the same job in California would bring me $80-100k. But everything is so expensive there you don't gain much. So what I need to do is get a California job, and telecommute from Texas :-)
Amish people talking about robots? They've become self-aware!
@downwithmonstercable: I believe it's actually more about connection to the World than it is about self-sufficiency, etc. There's an article about Amish moving into the business world that discusses it here: [www.nytimes.com]
@lotussix: Amish can ride in vans (just can't drive 'em) and can eat at KFC. And they can buy their produce at the supermarket and use a computer at work. I'm in central Ohio, and a bunch of Amish work at a big lumber yard and building supply store near Millersburg. They use the computer, and the phone, and the printer ... hell, a bunch of Amish are building an office building near me, and they use power tools and bulldozers.
The Amish aren't what Witness tried to tell you they are.
'Tis a good story, English.
Probably the factory moved to Mexico or the Phillipines, and now they're paying $1.50 an hour instead of $40.
@captadam: Though it does vary--some Amish orders do forbid riding in motorized vehicles, while others allow it.
@lpranal: I agree.... I find it simply ridiculous that they make that much an hour... I'm a union fan, but they need to reset the clock... It seems that there are only two modes... overpaid and underpaid... Why can't both sides be reasonable????!!!
Being from Indiana, and having been around the Amish, when those kids turn 16 and go on Rumspringe they throw some kick ass parties.
@downwithmonstercable: Having lived near the Shipshewana community, I think this article is conflating Old-Order Amish and less-strict Amish groups, as well as more and less conservative versions of Mennonites, who are ALL in large numbers in that area (partly because Goshen College, a major Mennonite college, is right there).
Anyway, "the Plain People," including the Amish, the Mennonites, and often Apostolic Christian churches, comprise a wide variety of groups that interpret the same basic set of beliefs in different ways.
When I was at Notre Dame, we'd very frequently see the Amish (and more conservative Mennonites) at Meijer in South Bend. They even let them park the buggies on the front sidewalk area (someone would stay with the horses). But more often they came in the hired vans. When we'd go at 4 a.m. it'd be drunk students looking for something to do while drunk and Amish people starting their day. Very amusing culture clash.
factory jobs? what happened to the good ol' days when the amish made portable fireplaces for sale on late-night tv?
I come from Amish country and a lot of people don't realize there are Amish and there are Mennonite folks. Mennonite still do the conservative fundamentalist thing BUT are a little more tech friendly.
Now that I live out west we have something similar with various degrees of LDSness
The Amish over there do quite well for themselves. I am about an hour or so West of them, but we head over to the land of "Amish Acres" every once in awhile and always see them out and about. Many of them have made a mint by selling furniture to rich Chicagoans in our area who own "country houses". No, this aint the country, they just THINK it is and are willing to pay a fortune for some Amish person to make them a table or some lawn furniture.
@Harry Pothead: No, people aren't BUYING. That's why it shut down (it's the economy, stupid). If it did move overseas, morons like you would still buy the products just you do now when you go to Wal Mart and Target. Don't blame the foreigner, blame your lazy self. By the way, I make over 20 an hour with excellent benefits, no college degree.
@Porcelina: 12 years ago, an Amish or Mennonite crew did the wood framing of our 2-story house here in Ohio. I later asked one of the non-religous construction crew about the Amish or Mennonite's use of power tools. He replied that "they can not OWN power tools, but they can sure use the HE_L out of borrowed tools." I still laugh, when I remember his words. I think they must have worn out his stuff in the past.
@Saboth: College was just a waste of money, eh? the only things you truly learn are how to party and just how expensive 4-6 years of networking is.
@rellog321: It's an unfortunate downside to the "free market principles" which are supposed to be the best for everyone. In most other countries, there are income standards for various occupations and experience level, but in this country we've decided that people who have a vested interest in paying workers as little as possible while paying themselves as much as possible, are much more fair. Which normally isn't such a horrible thing, except that in microcosm economies, it ends up working more like in the days of wage slavery we should've moved past.
@lotussix:
Mennonites make AWESOME cinnabuns & smoked meats for sale.
At least in Orville, AL area they do.
Wow, the Amish have sure stepped into the future. Next thing we know they'll be using airbrush guns to paint the giant hex-marks on their barns :P
Can't Harrison Ford step in here somehow and help?
$40? wow....! looks like washing RV's pays better than serving time in Iraq or serving in the military. screw college... learn to churn butter and dont shave. you'll be working at RV places sipping mojitos in Miami!
not a bad deal....! kinda reminds of AIG. people getting way overpaid for not doing much.
-dave
@diasdiem:
Depends on where in California you mean, but I've lived nearly 20 years in Los Angeles County and $80,000 would still be a good income here.
If you ever have a chance to visit the region, visit Das Dutchman Essenhaus. [www.essenhaus.com] It's a delightful tourist trap...with an epic all you can eat family dining. Not a buffet-like setting...but actual Amish and Mennonites serving you plateloads of fried chicken, swiss steak and ham. And tasty pie.
@captadam: it really depends on the particular amish community in question. As I understand it, they have a sort of board of elders that can decide whether a technology or action is acceptable or not. That's why some allow the use of modern technologies and others don't. It really depends on just how conservative that particular community is. The one you're describing actually sounds like a fairly liberal amish community.
@colorisnteverything:
Their arts&crafts oak chairs are comfy and sturdy.
I just want to know how I'm going to avoid novice Amish jams.
@FrugalFreak: They do here, too.
Amish can use modern things if the elders decide that it's the best choice for the whole town. No one can be jealous of Jedidiah's electric mill, for example, b/c that breeds deviciveness. If they feel jealousy then they have to pray it out.
Not to blame the OP or anything, but it's their own fault. The Amish ruined the economy. They go and make all this money, but they don't invest it in the economy. They don't buy cars or purchase 80" LCD TVs with that bank. Computers are sitting dusty because of them. Why if the amish started to stimulate the economy then they'd be back in the job.
/sarcasm
@ToddMU03: In Lancaster, every year some kid gets busted for growing pot between the rows in the cornfield.
@Carol Rutz: Like Shady Maple! Near Allentown in PA. They have all these crazy breads with like, fruit and jalapenos baked in.
Does this mean they won't be making any more fireplaces?
i was in eastern ohio once and saw some amish people eating at the kfc i was at.
they rolled up in a van.
some amish had buggies though.