“Gardening is a way of showing that you believe in tomorrow.” Amish proverb

(C) Bill Coleman/amishphoto.com

Whenever I visit my Amish friends, I always make a point of wandering out to their vegetable gardens to see what’s growing. Their gardens, usually not far from the kitchen, are bigger than most people’s backyards. Gardens, for the Amish, are a family affair. Husbands help their wives ready the soil and add the homebrewed fertilizer (ahem, manure), children help their moms plant, weed, and harvest.

Like so many parts of the Plain life, their value of the home garden—for the sake of nutrition, for sustenance, for well-being—is a wonderful example to those of us who weren’t farm-raised. They’ve been living a sustainable life filled with fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables for over four hundred years. The rest of us are just catching on.

One Amish mom told me a story about her daughter, the youngest of seven. “This girl was a born worrier. Whenever she started on her worry loop, I would send her out to weed in the garden. When she came back in, her worries were gone. There’s just something about weeding that helps a soul settle down.” FULL POST

By perseverance the snail reached the ark.

Amish Proverb

(C) Bill Coleman/amishphoto.com

Early on the morning of September 12, 2009, Emery Yoder headed out of his house in Holmes County, Ohio, not far from Berlin, to dig some potatoes but got distracted by the sight of a noteworthy bird in his barnyard—a remarkable, rare bird that few might have noticed. Unless, of course, you’re an Amish farmer.

The Amish of Holmes County are known as sharp birders. They’ve spotted many rare birds that stray onto their farmland. It makes sense that the Amish have a sixth sense for birding: the bulk of their day is spent outdoors, familiar with the nature that surrounds them, and they manage their farms in a wildlife-friendly manner.

This particular bird, a northern wheatear, was making its way to spend the winter in a warmer climate: Africa.

The northern wheatear is a smallish thrush with rather long legs that breeds on the tundra along the northernmost part of North America, above the Arctic Circle. It makes one of the longest journeys of any small bird, crossing desert, ice, and oceans. Every autumn, the birds return to Africa. Only three wheatears have ever been spotted in Ohio. FULL POST

"The more a child is valued, the better his values will be." Amish Proverb

The kitchen timer on the teacher's large wooden desk in the center of the classroom is ticking away. It's 9:25 on a warm, sunny April morning. Twenty-seven Amish children are quietly cleaning the tops of their desks, putting their books inside. A few are whipping off their socks and shoes, trying to beat the buzzer.

(C) Bill Coleman/amishphoto.com

The buzzer finally goes off. Recess! The children waste no time hurrying to the storage room to get lunch snacks out of their small igloo containers, plus a ball, bat, and a few gloves. All but two boys with mournful looks on their faces. Their names are written on the chalkboard under the label "Do Over." These two are stuck inside for recess.

Anna, the nineteen-year-old schoolteacher, explains that these two boys often put off their work, and it is time they learn to correct the habit of procrastination. "They're smart boys," Anna whispers. She points to the tall one. "He's the smartest one in the class. But he can be lazy." Anna is wearing a traditional Amish collarless dress, lavender colored, with a cape covering her shoulders, and black socks. No shoes! FULL POST

"We pass on our convictions to our children by the things we tolerate."

Amish Proverb

"The biggest reward to teaching is forming the bonds with the pupils," says William Byler, a teacher of twenty-four children in a one-room schoolhouse in Millersburg, Ohio. "I live in the same neighborhood as my pupils. I keep track of former pupils. We stay in contact."

(C) Bill Coleman/amishphoto.com

William is a career teacher—a little unusual for the Amish. "Year after year after year," he says, "we're seeing more and more career teachers, rather than those who teach for a year or two." More men, too. Twenty-five years ago, mostly women went into teaching in Holmes County, Ohio. Today, William says, there are 38 male teachers out of 409 (200 schools). He explains that the school boards are offering better wages so that teachers, like William—who loves to teach—can make a living and support a family. FULL POST

"People convinced against their will are of the same opinion still." Amish proverb

(C) Bill Coleman/amishphoto.com

Like all other seventeen-year-old Amish boys, Joni (pronounced Johnny) Weaver was finished with school. He'd completed the eighth grade and was now caught in that strange uncertain time between being a child and being old enough to be baptized into the Amish faith.

At least, that's where his parents hoped he'd end up. Joni wasn't so sure. Scooping manure from behind the cow stanchions, he knew he didn't want to be doing this job forever. He put down the shovel and reached down deep into the tack box for the package of cigarettes that he kept hidden from his father. He changed the cigarettes' hiding place every day, just to be sure. As he lit the cigarette, he leaned against the wall to take a break.

(C) Bill Coleman/amishphoto.com

The barn door slid open and someone ambled in. Joni quickly stamped out his cigarette and waved the smoke away. He relaxed when he saw his little brother, Marty, silhouetted against a beam of sun. Joni shook out another cigarette and lit it. The end of it quivered, brightening as he inhaled long and deep. FULL POST

"Fortune knocks once but misfortune has more patience." Amish proverb

If you want to know a people, know their proverbs.

(C) Bill Coleman/amishphoto.com

Most every culture has proverbs that are unique to it. Whether called maxims, bromides, truisms, idioms, expressions, sayings, or just an old saw, proverbs are small, concentrated packages that let us peek into the window of a peoples' values and beliefs. They give us insight into a culture, its faith, folklore, history, language, mentality, psychology, worldview, and values. These pithy sayings are not meant to be universal truths. They contain general observations and experiences of humankind, including life's multifaceted contradictions.

"Proverbs," once said radio Bible teacher J. Vernon McGee, "are short sentences drawn from long experience."

The ancient Eastern world—Egypt, Greece, China, and India—is thought to be the home of proverbs, dating back to collections from as early as 2500 BC. King Solomon, who reigned in the tenth century BC, gathered many of them from other sources as well as editing and authoring others. Over five hundred were compiled into the book of Proverbs in the Bible. Proverbs were used in monasteries to teach novices Latin. Often colorfully phrased, at times even musical in pronunciation, proverbs served as teaching tools for illiterate populations that relied on oral tradition. FULL POST

This is a story I wrote a few years ago about my dear dad. He passed away on January 1st, just as the sun rose on 2012.   

"Before we can pray 'Thy Kingdom come,' we must pray 'My kingdom go'."

Amish Proverb

It is a blistering hot June evening and I am stuck in a traffic jam, retrieving my dad from his latest escapade after receiving a call from the police with his whereabouts. My dad is in the mid-stages of Alzheimer's disease. He has a knack of finding ways to sneak out of his board and care facility, hitchhike with strangers, and end up in unusual places. Today, it is a Wal-Mart, thirty minutes away.

(C) Bill Coleman/amishphoto.com

I feel enormously relieved that Dad is safe. These escapes have been frightening. For me, not for Dad. He is unconcerned about the panic he creates. He has already forgotten it. He doesn't know my name, but he does like to point out which road I should take and when to turn, often encouraging me to sail through red lights. Dad's directions are dangerous. He's always wrong but never in doubt. FULL POST

"No winter lasts forever. No spring skips its turn."

Amish Proverb

A few years ago, I met the Simon Yoders while doing research for a book. The following story is what I've learned and observed about them from visits with the family and through letters I've exchanged with Edna Yoder.

Life and work on the Yoders' Ohio farm revolves around seasonal rhythms. The four seasons order the flow of daily work that involves every member of the family—with help from the oldest (Simon's dad, Ivan, age seventy-seven) and the youngest (Simon's daughter, Rose, age six). Amish families garden together. Simon and his wife, Edna, prepare and plant the plot together. During summer harvest, the entire family—nine children (five boys and four girls) plus widower Ivan—pitch in to get the field crops in.

(C) Bill Coleman/amishphoto.com

Working together to benefit the family has been the backbone of Amish tradition. Day by day, month by month, the layers of hours nurture the family's sense of belonging. The passing of time, governed by a yearly cycle, spins along, sweet and rich with meaning. On December 31, Simon prays this prayer just as his father and grandfather had prayed it: "Lord, all this year you have tenderly watched over my friends, my loved ones, and me. You have truly blessed us. Now, may we live each day of the New Year protected and surrounded by your love." FULL POST

by Suzanne Woods Fisher

"The dearest things of life are mostly near at hand." Amish Proverb

(C) Bill Coleman/amishphoto.com

On a farm, Christmas morning is like any other day. The cows must be milked. The animals must be fed and tended to. But when the chores are finally done, Christmas begins like any other home. On the Stoltzfus farm, the five children gather in the kitchen, eager to see what their parents had prepared while they were choring in the barn. These children aren't looking for a decorated Christmas tree because that's not what the Amish do. But in front of each child's place at the table rests a small pile of presents, covered with a pretty dish towel. This is how Amish families exchange gifts: in the spirit of the three wise men who brought gifts to the Christ child.

But the gifts aren't ready for opening, not yet. First, the family sits down to a special breakfast tradition: sizzling bacon, savory egg casserole, hot muffins and cold cereal. FULL POST

"Patience is a quality most needed when it is exhausted." Amish Proverb

An Old Order Amish family in Salem, Indiana found out that crows are very smart birds, even though they seem so ordinary, often annoying. One October afternoon in 2006, a woman's sons found a crow's nest and brought home a baby crow. The boys clipped the crow's wings so he couldn't fly too far and planned to raise it as a pet, maybe even teach it a few words. They named the baby crow "Charlie." It wasn't long, though, before Charlie was running the household ragged, especially the poor dog. This is the mother's story of "Charlie the Crow," written over nine months, used with permission, taken from her scribe letters to The Budget:

(C) Bill Coleman/amishphoto.com

I've had an occupant on my porch swing for the last few weeks. He appears around dusk, sleeps there all night, and what a mess he has created by the next morning. He's always awake as soon as it's daylight and is soon asking for his breakfast. His caw-caw-caw can be quite annoying. He follows us around the yard and is a unique pet as of now. The boys have hopes of getting him to say a few words, but we'll see. Our dog isn't too sure about this blackbird that wants to be his friend. The crow walks up to him and puts his beak against his nose as if to say, "I'm your friend." The dog quickly leaves and finds another spot to take his nap, only to be followed again and again. Just this morning I saw him tugging at the vines hanging down from my hanging pots on the porch. Our unique pet might end up being a unique pest! FULL POST