This is my Amish neighbor's barn. There isn't much color in the barn siding so I decided to make it a b/w to bring out the texture in the siding. With warmer weather settling in he had both lower doors open. The animals in the upper part and the manure spreader in the bottom.
@maggiemae - The Amish live in what they call settlements. There are more Amish on our road than English. Each settlement has their own Bishop who is their spiritual leader. I don't know who determines the size of each settlement. Where my wife and I live was once a farm owned by the family we bought our house from. The father divided up the frontage up between his two sons where they built their homes. We learned later from another man that once owned the farm that it was once stated in the deed to the farm that it was never to be sold to the Amish. I found that to be disturbing. But, the man I talked to did sell it to the Amish. It is now a small farm, 70 acres and the young man that farms it now is the third Amish family that has lived there. His parents bought it off of John Kurtz, who I learned got into trouble with the Bishop for doing things that the Bishop didn't care for. John was very open about the Amish lifestyle and beliefs. He was a real business man, in that he was always looking for ways to make money outside of the "normal" ways Amish men earn a living. And so the Kurtzs moved to New York state and sold the farm to the Byler family. About 5 years ago Henry Byler, the patriarch of the family had a disagreement with the way the Bishop was leading the settlement. One day Henry's youngest daughter came down and told me that she had bad news. She said that her father was moving the family, 3 unmarried daughters, him and his wife, to Chautauqua, NY. The other 7 children had married and remanded here. Their youngest son John took over the farm and is paying his father back. We have been blessed to have them as neighbors. We let them use our phone and sometimes they ask if we can keep something in our freezer for them and they pays us back with produce in the summer months and Mary Ann is a tremendous baker who often makes us pies when she is baking for her family.
So, as you can see, the Amish live lives much different than we English, as they call non-Amish. Their use of horses for transportation and farming. No electricity. But they have have their issues too with what is going on in their lives.
So, as you can see, the Amish live lives much different than we English, as they call non-Amish. Their use of horses for transportation and farming. No electricity. But they have have their issues too with what is going on in their lives.