Thanks for the info. I don’t live near a community like that and my perception of them of course is distorted thru the media and other venues. My idea of some austere lifestyle with sprinkles of luddism is clearly wrong.
Anyway, yes, the older Amish women are fat but also the younger women in their 30's and 40's are starting to be as well. I've noticed Amish women tend to have large, fat, flabby arms...even more so than the "English" ...must be genetic.
The younger men still are in fairly good hwp but have noticed them getting some gut's as well.
Something else about the Amish..they are just like you and I. There are honest ones and dishonest ones, some who are great craftsman and some whose work just plain sucks and I would not have them build me a doghouse.
In our area that was some sexual abuse with young Amish kids 5-6 years back that was hushed up for a while but got so bad (repeat offenders) even the elders finally called in the police and hauled off the perps. There is physical domestic violence abuse you also don't normally hear about as well. The Elders/Church tries to take care of this stuff in house so you don't hear about it. The perps either change their ways, get shunned or they move to a different Amish community in another state.
All in all great people though.
Well, no cars, but some really spiffy buggies. Propane refrigerators. Flush toilets with holding tanks instead of septics. The tanks need pumping, of course. The businesses can have phones and faxes, but no computers. They ship UPS because UPS will give them a dedicated unit that doesn’t need to go online.
It isn’t Luddism, IMO. The car thing is about staying in touch with family, although they travel a lot by bus or train and one couple we know rented an RV and hired an English driver to go on vacation to a Amish resort in Sarasota. No phones, but one farmer will have one in a booth in a field. I have heard stories of Amish men w/cell phones in the sales barns. No vacuum cleaners, but they love Swiffers.
They complain of digestive problems and most of the women will admit their diet is low in fruits and vegetables, which I do not see them buying when I see them in the store, although they will buy canned ones.
They have their own mail order catalogs and are really big consumers of herbal and *patent* medications.
I’d say they are legalistic and if they can find a way around an Elder’s injunction, they will. Most of their machinery runs on diesel and uses belts and pulleys instead of electricity.
I gather it all varies by community and depends on individual Bishops. Our local Amish are Old Order, aka:Barefoot Amish, but that is only the kids and younger women, from what I see and they are barefoot Memorial Day to Labor Day, regardless of temperature.