- Thread starter JOCCO
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ray hofstetter
Well-known Member
Never seen an Amishman yet that didn't carry a wad of cash that'd choke a mule....
Children start working at 15 and the father keeps all their money until they turn 18 or 21 depending on how strict the father is with the household rule.
Add to that questionable labor practices such as no over time pay, skirting Federal Tax laws, and hiring non-legal hispanics.
Add to that questionable labor practices such as no over time pay, skirting Federal Tax laws, and hiring non-legal hispanics.
Now let us see if we can answer your question. First, they do not have very great living expenses. They do not drive cars hence no insurance costs or fuel or maintenance costs. They do not carry property insurance and they do not use gadgets such as computers and cell phones. In fact they do not buy any consumer goods and do with the cheapest food they can find.
In each of these cult groups is one who handles the finance and acts like a banker and makes loans to those who need some extra money to make a real estate purchase.
I talked to a bigger farmer a while ago who told me of a case where he had an Amish man working for him for a few years. He was a good worker and the farmer paid him well. Now this farmer had been dealing with anther retired farmer on purchasing the land he had been renting. When he thought that it was time to make the deal he found out that his hired Amish man had gone to the owner and offered more for the land and the owner sold the land to him. Because the Amish man had few expense he was able to save most of the wages the farmer had paid him and was able to buy the land away from his employer.
Ironic isn't it? It was his own good paying job that cost him the land. Needless to say, he does not deal with any Amish now!
In each of these cult groups is one who handles the finance and acts like a banker and makes loans to those who need some extra money to make a real estate purchase.
I talked to a bigger farmer a while ago who told me of a case where he had an Amish man working for him for a few years. He was a good worker and the farmer paid him well. Now this farmer had been dealing with anther retired farmer on purchasing the land he had been renting. When he thought that it was time to make the deal he found out that his hired Amish man had gone to the owner and offered more for the land and the owner sold the land to him. Because the Amish man had few expense he was able to save most of the wages the farmer had paid him and was able to buy the land away from his employer.
Ironic isn't it? It was his own good paying job that cost him the land. Needless to say, he does not deal with any Amish now!
tomstractorsandtoys
Well-known Member
No single Amish family farms 200 acres most are less than 100.With produce many are 40 or less. They do not pay any insurance but do help each other with large medical bills. They spend very little on extras and live cheaper than any of the rest of us. Many of those farms are financed for two or three generations(especialy the high priced ones in PA) so the payments are not huge but a little more than rent and they have control of the land. I would rather have Amish neighbors than the BTO farmers who bulldoze the building and farm everything fence row to fence row with no thoughts for the land other than profit. Tom
wilson ind
Well-known Member
i AM ON THE SIDE OF THE HIRED MAN. Why kick a man of any type for saving his money and buying a farm. Most I know have cell phones. I would rather have an Amish neighbor than someone living over their means. They are no more likely to not pay taxes (federal) than anybody.
I don't know how much truth there is to it,but I've been told that for the ones here at least,all of the income from the farm goes to the church and is distributed out equally. It doesn't matter of you're milking 4 cows or 16,everybody gets the same. All the money from side jobs,carpentry,baked goods,quilts,etc,is theirs to keep. No idea if that's true or not.
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
I agree.
Both the Mennonite and Amish churches finance land purchases at very low interest rates (one percent around here) for 50 or more years. These are for what are considered home farms with neighboring acreage having to go through a commercial bank. Around here my understanding is that a lot of each are financed to the breaking point. While a lot of the Mennonites are frugal I don't know that they are much different from the average farmer who operated around 1940 and forgone a radio. Quite a number have refrigerators and central heat. The multi-generation land financing is the biggest advantage by far.
Bruce from Can.
Well-known Member
- Location
- Woodville, Ontario, Canada
We have many Amish families moving in a few miles to the north of us.The farms there are Just a bit more hilly, with smaller fields and not great for cash cropping. These folks are selling one farm in south westeren Ontario for one million or so and buying two or three farms for the value of the one they sold.Seems like most of them now have a cell phone, but will not have a hard wired phone, as they cannot connect to the government regulated grid . Same goes for electricity, they can and due have solar power panels on their roofs to make power for light, but once again cannot hook to the grid.While they can hire you to drive them some where, they cannot have a car, because car owners must carry insurance, another government regulated business. And that is all fine with me, they also will not take old age pension, welfare or unemployment insur. They do pay the same taxes as everyone else. Don't beg for hand outs, or demand special rights. They work hard, and look after each other, so what is wrong with that. Some folks don't like them because they are thrifty ,hard working and very devoted to their faith, and philosophy of being in the world and not of the world. Seems too baf to me more people don't share some of the Amish virtues of a plain and simple life, and the blessings of a close faimly.
Traditional Farmer
Well-known Member
- Location
- Virginia
Real simple they live like my Grandmother did,she didn't waste anything,never spent a nickel that wasn't totally necessary,didn't buy fancy overpriced clothes etc etc.
Funny thing is she was one of the overall happiest people I've ever known.
Funny thing is she was one of the overall happiest people I've ever known.
I know quite a few Amish and Mennonite around here, and quite truthfully, would more often deal with them tan the 'English'. I read above where someone said they're a 'cult', but they are a sect would be a better word. They watch their own, and are careful with money. They eat well, but they do not go out and spend much on 'TV' dinners and junk. An Amishwoman can make a mean stew or some of the best chicken and dumplins I have ever eaten. The church approves most stuff, and the men have many of the modern equipment they need, and are slowly acquiring more- within church guidelines, of course. But as the deacons grow younger, the equipment gets fancier. I saw one with a NH bale wagon picking up hay one day last week, behind a team of mules and powered forecart. I have never known one to lie, and have been able to trust their advice.
Personnally, I think most are good farmers and am happy to call a few friends....
Personnally, I think most are good farmers and am happy to call a few friends....
Yes Bruce I really do think that their way is the way things USED to be when WE had some back bone. OUR government is WAY TOO BIG. It is also got its nose up everyones patoot. Maybe not everything they do but a lot of it I would love to see!!! At our local flea market on SATURDAY and not SUNDAY a menanite family does BBQ ribs and BBQ chicken. WOOOOOOWWWWWW is it good!!!!!! Very nice big chunk of ribs and as much sauce as you want! It is a shame that a lot of them think the ENGLASH are out for them and they need to learn who they can trust even a little.
farmer boy
Well-known Member
There's a large back bone in the Mennonite/Amish communities. #1- They finance over a LONG time. They just keep handing the debt down. #2 They take risks that most of us are afraid to take. If they fail, they have a community that can help them get back on their feet. This is probably the most important thing. As far as my opinion of them, I've dealt with both good and bad ones. Mostly bad. Some started moving into our area about a year after we did. Not a fan. Other's made the comment that they would rather the Amish as neighbours, then BTO's, but in our case, the Amish are the BTO's. Keep to themselves, which, while being an extremely arrogant thing to do, is probably a good thing. Life is simpler without them bothering you. Others sects deal with the 'english' on a regular basis. They are a lot better to deal with, because they keep the arrogance in check while dealing with you. They may or may not be arrogant, regardless though, they don't show it.
I don't know what Amish you know but it must be a small portion. There are plenty of large Amish operations around here that run over 200 acres and milk over 100 cows. Most could care less about the land, that is a myth they like to let continue. Sure they use a lot of manure but it only goes on the closest fields. The rest of the farm can suck wind...
They are no better for the land than anyone else, and in some circles are cursed more than ginseng farmers for the way they treat their land...
buickanddeere
Well-known Member
Local Amish Bishop near Tiverton made his son-in law shut down his small engine, chainsaw , general repair etc shop. The son-in law was making too much money.
They use the regular home town banks. And for ability to get loans on things with buildings they do have to have insurance so the Amish developed their own insurance company to take care of that proble. Most will use any phone, cell or land line but just cannot own them. Also when you think of no electricity bills think what they have to spend on kerosine for the lights instead of the electric bill for the lights, that kerosine will actually be higher in cost plus the gasoline to run the well pump for water and it will then be higher than an electric bill. And they will pay what is proper for things. And hiring the drivers costs more than a car and car insurance. I deal with them on a regular base. I have a bunch of machinery setting here that belongs to them for rebuilding, more work than I can get done. 3 of the ones I know and work with hired a driver to bring them to the funeral home for visitation for my wife the middle of March. And I have taken them to viewings for their family-neighbors.
First off there are about as many variations of "Amish" as Carters had liver pills. What a group in Kentucky or Nebraska does may be entirely different than what a group on the NY/Ontario border does. We have the Schwartzentruber Amish here, the old style strictest type. Guess what? It turns out they are all, every last one of them, just people with all the same faults and merits of every other person. "Cult"?!! If the Amish are a "cult" then what is the Catholic Church or any other church that has rules and moral/ethical guidelines? For that matter, what are we with our worship of consumerism?
Anyway, the Amish around me come on good and bad and they buy farms the BTO's would never look at- the small, rocky, brushed over little places that supported a family 50-75 years ago but that haven't been farmed in 40 years. They bust their backs and make it pay. They get financing from their form of a credit union- the local church they belong to. If they fail, and fail horribly, the "credit union" will put someone else on the land. It's just about like we do it, minus the lawyers and bankers taking their cut.
I'd much rather have Amish for neighbors than more meth heads and welfare trash.
I've got plenty of close amish friends.
The amish don't live outside of our economy, or print their own money. Like us, they have jobs, make money, and save money. There's no secret to it.
They live exactly like we do, just more simply. They don't consume the way we do.
When you're not plugged into a television telling you to buy buy buy, a funny thing happens - you save save save.
The amish don't live outside of our economy, or print their own money. Like us, they have jobs, make money, and save money. There's no secret to it.
They live exactly like we do, just more simply. They don't consume the way we do.
When you're not plugged into a television telling you to buy buy buy, a funny thing happens - you save save save.
ditchwitch
Well-known Member
So yours saying they have a little Jew in them also LOL. Sounds like the rest of us here you want to sell it for 1000 we want to buy it for 500 LOL.
1948CaseVAI
Well-known Member
I am also on the side of the hired man. You snooze you lose, and the hired man saved well and bought the land. Good for him!
Same here,but most of my experience is with the old order Mennonite community. They've brought back some of the ag infrastructure that had dried up and gone away because of the larger farms.
I get my seed corn from one of them. They have a welding and fabrication shop that carries a complete line of bearings,chain,baler twine,bunker cover plastic etc. One has a tractor and machinery repair shop that does mechanical work instead of welding and fabrication. They have a small specialty grocery store where my wife shops a lot for different spices and flour that the big stores don't carry. They still shop at the local hardware store for a lot of items. When I was president of the local of the milk co-op,they were members and attended the meetings. Awful nice folks,most with a great sense of humor,smart,informed and just fun to talk to.
The one that I get seed corn from collects crawler tractors. I had to laugh when he said "When you buy something because you want it,not because you need it,I guess that makes you a collector".
Don't ever let anybody tell you they don't know what's going on in the world either. I remember we had a milk meeting in January 2001. That was right after the Supreme Court had to put an end to recounts in an election you'll recall. When the ballots were being picked up after the vote for delegates,one of them said "It'd better not take a month to count these".
They're just all super nice folks and I'm more than glad to have them in the neighborhood.
I get my seed corn from one of them. They have a welding and fabrication shop that carries a complete line of bearings,chain,baler twine,bunker cover plastic etc. One has a tractor and machinery repair shop that does mechanical work instead of welding and fabrication. They have a small specialty grocery store where my wife shops a lot for different spices and flour that the big stores don't carry. They still shop at the local hardware store for a lot of items. When I was president of the local of the milk co-op,they were members and attended the meetings. Awful nice folks,most with a great sense of humor,smart,informed and just fun to talk to.
The one that I get seed corn from collects crawler tractors. I had to laugh when he said "When you buy something because you want it,not because you need it,I guess that makes you a collector".
Don't ever let anybody tell you they don't know what's going on in the world either. I remember we had a milk meeting in January 2001. That was right after the Supreme Court had to put an end to recounts in an election you'll recall. When the ballots were being picked up after the vote for delegates,one of them said "It'd better not take a month to count these".
They're just all super nice folks and I'm more than glad to have them in the neighborhood.
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