howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!
I have written posts about the Amish before and it's no secret that I
have a love and respect for their faith, family values, work ethic and
simple way of life. I believe they are great asset to America and also
to Canada.
And for that reason it's thrilling to see that their numbers are not just
increasing but exploding in growth! In fact they have doubled their
numbers in the last 20 years and now have settlements in 30 states.
The reason for this growth is because the young Amish are choosing
to stay with their settlements at the rate of 90 to 95% which is a
dramatic increase in numbers from historic norms. For some reason
when the youth are going out into the "English" world to explore, they
are deciding that they're rather stay with their settlement and forgo
the ways of the world.
So while they used to be found in just a few states they are now
forming new settlements in new territory, they even have one in
Wyoming up by Devils Tower which is a 1.5 hour buggy ride into the
nearest town! That'd be rough in the middle of the winter. There is
also a second one being built in Wyoming.
They're expanding because of the increase in their population due to
so many staying home, so they're buying land everywhere as farmers
leave their farms due to economic concerns. I know that in Kentucky
there are many tobacco farmers who have quit and many dairy farms
have gone under in Wisconsin and the Amish have come into both
states and buying those English farms.
I'm as excited as can be because they're excellent farmers and totally
organic growers and they sell to local markets which helps everyone
with organic products. When we were in Ohio our favorite store was
a health food market which sold Amish products almost exclusively
and they were the best quality that you could find, so many more
areas of the country are going to be experiencing that.
The biggest surprise is that New York state, upstate New York, is
the hotspot with 47 settlements, 18 of those are brand new and
next is Maine with 5 new settlements. To me, this is a total God
thing, His move. It can only strengthen this country in food supply,
morals, values, honor and integrity. Plus the Amish are as Green
as you can get!
Thank you folks, I hope you enjoyed the photos, they are all from
amishcountry.com
God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
ps- ya know, you might just be a redneck if:
Your mother has "ammo" on her Christmas list!
