Dreemit's World: "Amish Paradise"
Walk, hike, bike, take a motorcycle ride and a road trip, go wine trailing, hit a brewery, come kayaking, jet skiing, walk through woods and cemeteries. Visit the house of Harriet Tubman, see one of the oldest state run asylums, or marvel at the many waterfalls and gorges. Through my words and a lens, see the beauty of the Finger Lakes and other fascinating places in New York and beyond!
From The Window of my Secret Childhood Fort-Episode One of Dreemit's World
The region in which I live is home to one of the oldest Amish communities in the country.
In a world where having your electricity shut off is akin to having your legs broken for most, there are still people who live like they did in the days of Little House On The Prairie. Horse and Buggy for travel, lanterns for light-basically nothing that would require use of the poles, lines, and towers the rest of the world relies on.
The following two pictures are from my town, featuring buggies that I generally get stuck behind in no passing zones on an every other day basis. But today, a day when I needed to find buggies for this post, it's as if every last one of them took off for a wedding in Pennsylvania. There wasn't even any parked at their shops I visited! So I had to borrow these photos. The rest of the pics are mine.
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This is the most common type of buggy, though considering the amount of black buggies I see in ratio to silver, I wonder if this family is a bit more progressive...(rebels!).
The black flap you see hanging from the side of the door, and the rolled up silver tarp at the back is what they use to protect from the elements such as wind, rain...blizzards. Yes indeed, they travel all through the winter, generally with heavy wool blankets draped around them.
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This is what's known as a 'Courting Buggy'. It's open so that young couples can't get up to any shenanigans. It appears this young man is on his way to pick up a date- oh, la la. He's also dressed in his Sunday best, literally.
The funniest thing I've seen in a long time occurred in buggies like this one-My mother and I were sitting on her porch swing when we heard the sound of hooves thundering down the road toward us. Two open carriages driven by four boys were racing to the dead end, whooping and hollering--it's our guess that those boys found a bottle of liquor somewhere, and we speculate on what kind of trouble they were in later that day. (Drinking is a big no-no for them)
The buggies are a common sight to see in my town and have been for eons. The stores that are popping up are a new thing. They used to limit themselves to roadside stands, but have more recently upgraded to buildings.
In today's feature I'll be taking you to the first couple of these indoor markets in this area that appeared over the past five to ten years.
This first store, simply called Country Side Market, began as a stand that sold many plants and herbs and was known to the locals as Munson's (which is the name of the road it's located on)
NOTE:
Many of the Amish appear to be a bit camera shy. While they gave me the nod when I asked if it was okay to take pictures, they were not exactly keen on posing.
Along with a small store it also has several greenhouses which I LOVE browsing through.
The Amish are also well-known for their wood-working. It's common to see furniture for sale even at the places that still operate as road side stands.
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This little fella is how a couple of teenage girls who man the register get to and from home to the store- he pulls them on a tiny, low to the ground, version of the courting buggy. (I happened to see them coming in and leaving on a few different occasions- the next time I get an opportunity, I'll snap a picture.)
The Waynard family owns this next little store. Years ago when we kept honey bees on a larger scale I used to buy food grade buckets from them to store the honey in.
Amidst the flowers on the left hand side is Andy Waynard, patriarch of the family, and to my knowledge the wealthiest Amishman in the entire area.
I do as much of my produce shopping here as possible, the prices are significantly lower than any supermarket out there.
Two of Andy's grandchildren.(Both of whom turned their heads when I went to take the pic) The girl is the oldest child of ten, and the only female among them. Lucky her!
All discounted items, and though you have to be wary of the expiration dates, you can come away from here with better deals than Aldi's.
My selection for today, and a grand total of $7.10.
Well that concludes my episode for today :)
The next on my agenda is about the Willard asylum for the Insane-it's burial ground is located less than half a mile from my parent's house, and the buildings that still stand are just up the road from that...don't miss it!
Generously created for me by @son-of-satire
Interesting to see their stores. I was expecting it to be entirely their own produce and labour. The manufactured foods/goods - presumably they don't eat/use those themselves, but understand that they need to supply them for the stores to work???
The Amish are awesome at making money, despite how frugally they live. In this case they buy discounted items, stuff that is getting close to its expiration dates, and re-sell for a profit. Still cheap for us, but definitely not charity lol :)
Holy shit on a stick Batman, dreemit has been kidnapped by an army of Amish people. We must save her!
I went to a Mennonite summer school for bible studies. I loved their teachers, they were so kind. I grew up with Mennonites and have lovely memories.
I would actually like to visit an Amish community one day, but then again I want to see and visit everything and everywhere so that's nothing new.
I spent time in bible college communities too, when I found Jesus. I put in a week or 2 alongside several colleges/seminaries for quite awhile looking at schools, some of them were out in the Prairies of Canadastan here, and had some of those prairie-mennonite ties.
I love their coumminity structure and their faith. I may be a Buddhist now but I was raised Christian and loved God and Jesus. But wolves hunt in churches and I stopped attending. I still love the message Jesus preaches. Imitation Of Christ by Thomas Campus, is my favorite book 🙏
You would maybe believe some of the horror stories that have happened to me in church, honestly, I try not to discuss it really but some are really really ....not good.
So I relate.
Hahaha!! We used to tease our niece when she was a kid that we were dropping her off at the Amish for the weekend so she would learn some responsibility and character--she claims she had nightmares, LOL!
This song still cracks me up. I think it's funnier when you actually see Amish on a daily basis.
I could only imagine... (no pun in ten did)
Love Wierd Al
Heya awesome @dreemit!
Thanks for the next instalment, delving deeper into the history behind the one and only @dreemit. I particularly love those horse-driven buggies providing transportation around town. I tell you, sometimes I myself wish I was away from the concrete jungle I've grown so accustomed to and just kinda... Reignite that bond with nature once more.
Beautiful photos and writing to boot. It's no wonder where such inspiration comes from for your incredible books. Great insight, thanks again for sharing it with us.
Though I must admit, I don't know much about Amish people. Excuse my naivety but is it true that they literally have their own brand of computer?
Thank you darling @ezzy! I am trying to get the hang of this blogging thing ;)
It is nice to spend time in nature, and I know if I were too long in a city I would definitely crave it.
The Amish in my area are fairly strict with their rules, though recently they have relented and begun using solar panels to run their stores. As far as I know they do not use any other form of electricity.
It is possible that in other areas it's different, so I can't give you a definite no on the computer issue, but it's not something I'm aware of :)
You live in such a cool place!! Annette you can hear the thundering of hooves on the road from a buggy is top notch in my book!! So much inspiration there!!
Most of the time it's more like "clop clop" than thunder hahaha, only when some of the boys get up to mischief do you hear them thundering :) It is pretty cool, I love their straw hats and suspenders. We have some Amish families who work for us in the winter with the grapevines, so we're actually pretty well known to that community.
The best part is that we only have to drive twenty five-forty miles to be in urban areas like Ithaca and Rochester, so we have the best of both worlds.
Having the best of both is also great. It's partly why I moved into the far flung burbs of Glasgow. We are dead near the country and dead near the town. It's splendid!
I want to see your pizza eating pictures dood.
What pizza pictures!!!
Oh, I want to see your mug with a face full of pizza man, I know you can do it!
In AER-verse my reset is a solar flare that knocks out all electricity and electronics that aren't Faraday caged somehow. The world plunges back into the pre-Industrial age or so. I reckon the Amish would be one of the few that come out of that all right XD
You reckon correctly! My hubby and I like to discuss what would happen if certain events were to occur--we are friendly with some Amish families and that would be immensely helpful :)
Thanks for the article. These are very familiar sights to me as I live central PA and can hear Amish buggies all the time clip clop along the street. I get fresh raw milk, cream and butter from them regularly. Interesting people :)
So your area is where they go when they head off to weddings...lol! I also get those things from them, and they definitely are :)
Marvelous post, thanks. Such a different and fascinating world than what most of us live in. It's so cool they can still live as they want, in the middle of the hustle bustle world. Plus, love the courting buggy idea. That would make 'parking' when young a bit difficult. Thanks for another interesting story from 'Dreemit's World', a fascinating place to visit. (Nice of you to ask to take pics....I can see why they might be camera shy, with folks chasing them about with a camera as they go about their normal life. That could get old in a hurry.)
Haha! I imagine it would get old if they had folks chasing them with cameras!! I doubt very much that people do that around here, unless they're tourists. But most tourists come for the wine trail or the lakes and aren't likely to know about or even hear about the Amish markets unless they have friends or family in the area. They will see the buggies out on the road, maybe snag a picture out the window ;)
So interesting. Often forget that some people have such a radically different way of life in a place virtually in our backyard. Great photos!
Very true, they really live like it's still the early nineteen hundreds for the most part. Thank you!
I spent time in bible college communities too, when I found Jesus. I put in a week or 2 alongside several colleges/seminaries for quite awhile looking at schools, some of them were out in the Prairies of Canadastan here, and had some of those prairie-mennonite ties.
Sorry I missed this, my friend. I had no internet for the past days because my router clonked out. Had to shell out real-world money to have it replaced. Too bad I wasn't able to use STEEM to pay for it. It's not because there wasn't any facility for it, it's just that I have none haha!
I've always been fascinated by their culture. There's just something so alluring about living the simple life, free of technology and the hustle bustle of.. Wait, what? There's an electronic register? Holy Rumspringa! How is that even possible?