Courtesy, manners and tradition

[pomtzu]

I don't believe they make friends outside of their own society, but they do have to partner at times with non-Amish out of necessity, just as the ones that built my garage - they needed transportation for their construction supplies, and to get to and from here to do the actual construction.

When I bought this parcel of land almost 40 years ago - it was old farm land that had been divided in parcels for sale. Rudy Byler was the old Amish man who drove the well, and he actually used a divining rod to find the best spot. And I had always thought that was a bunch of bunk!

[Medusa]

Perhaps as a general rule they don't make friends outside of their community but the Amish that I know do. They hunt together w/the "English", as they call them, and some of them even stayed for a week's visit in my friend's home. The women don't socialize much but the men sure do. The very first time I met them, they took me to target practice. There I was in the woods w/my boyfriend and several Amish guys. I was the only woman. Afterwards, they came to my boyfriend's camper and spent the evening w/us.

[Twisterdog]

One word.....

Amish

My point exactly. They are a very small "society". And they exist, quite honestly, because of the grace of the modern American people. Traditionally, all throughout history, the more progressive soceities have swallowed the change-resistant ones. Native American, Mayan, untold African tribes ... the list is very long. Is it right? No. Is it human nature? Obviously.

Oh, and the Amish change - don't think for one minute that they are not reaping the benefits of this modern society. Did the Amish of a hundred years ago get a ride to Walmart in their neighbors car? Did they use the pay phone? Did they buy yards of fabric for their clothes? Did they make a small fortune selling puppies to pet stores? Did they market their furniture and hand crafts on the internet? Sounds like change to me ...

[smokey the elder]

I hate to pop everyone's utopian view of the Amish; they are suspected of running puppy mills.

Having said that, they as a whole seem like good folks, wanting to be left alone. I remember how uncomfortable they were with all the publicity surrounding that massacre in the school house.

[phesina]

They're not just suspected of running puppy mills: I think it's been thoroughly and clearly documented. Oprah even did a whole show about it!

[Cataholic]

They're not just suspected of running puppy mills: I think it's been thoroughly and clearly documented. Oprah even did a whole show about it!

I have/had heard that the Amish treat their animals horribly. I realize that not ALL Amish do this, but, nonetheless, with what I have read/heard, I do not buy Amish.

[shepgirl]

Weird that the converstion has turned to Amish people. I was just given a "beginner's bag" of some kind of bread that is started by them and they give people a starter bag so you can make the bread but you always have starter bags that you pass on and the next person passes on, and on, etc. Never heard of this before but the bread is delicious and I have a list of ingredients to add to the starter kit so I might just give it a try. I can't remember what the person called it now...I think it was the "Friendship Bread".
Anyone else ever hear of this?

[JenBKR]

Weird that the converstion has turned to Amish people. I was just given a "beginner's bag" of some kind of bread that is started by them and they give people a starter bag so you can make the bread but you always have starter bags that you pass on and the next person passes on, and on, etc. Never heard of this before but the bread is delicious and I have a list of ingredients to add to the starter kit so I might just give it a try. I can't remember what the person called it now...I think it was the "Friendship Bread".
Anyone else ever hear of this?

Oh yes I love friendship bread! Yummy

[Catlady711]

Yes it's good stuff. Only our circle of friends used to call it Herman (as if it was a person lol). So we had Herman bread. Haven't had it in years since no one has any starters anymore around here.

[blue]

Is that like sourdough bread? If it is use the starter and make pancakes with it.

[shepgirl]

I have no idea what it is really. I do know that is was quite good and that you end up with 4 started bags . You can freeze it but it's always pliable, doesn't freeze really hard and it's not supposed to go bad . I'm going to give a bag to one of my friends today to see what happens - she should end up with 4 bags also. It has yeast in it so I don't think it's sourdough, that doesn't have yeast does it?

[blue]

Friendship and Herman starters seem to be variations of sourdough starter. The only difference is the amount of sugar in the starter recipes.

[Twisterdog]

That type of bread stems from the days before you could buy dry yeast in packages. If you didn't have your own yeast culture growing at all times, you didn't have bread. Women kept a "starter" of yeast growing all week, and usually once or twice a week they baked bread, being sure to set another starter back. My grandma called it "everlasting yeast" and she did it from the day she was married in 1924 until the day she died, a few years ago. My mom has the little crock that she kept her yeast starter in.