The way they described it to me (this was in the mid 80s) was that their bishops decide what is acceptable or not as far as modern conveniences. From what I could gather as long as it was something that was a necessity and provided a direct benefit to the community in some way it could be allowed. A good example would be electric lights versus oil lamps. They can get light from oil lamps, so electricity is not necessary, and it brings a whole host of other issues with it.
I will say that the lighting setups I saw in some of these workshops were pretty amazing. They would build light "pipes" or tubes from the roof which would direct light into a work area. Some really creative thinking was going on there. I'll never forget that the bishop for one of the communities I worked with had a telephone. Granted, it was mounted in a wooden box on a telephone pole in the yard in front of his barn, so it wasn't terribly convenient. Only he was allows to use it, and you could hear the bell from all over the farm. I can remember calling my office from it in the dead of winter, standing out in the middle of his barn yard freezing my butt off (this was before cellular phones.) If you had any interior trim or cabinet work being done in that part of the state it was almost always a crew of Amish guys doing it. Amazing craftsmanship and very, very good work. FWIW, there is a community of Amish in the Sarasota area, which is not far from here. From what I have been told it's a popular vacation spot for them if they want to get away from up North. I have seen pictures of them walking on the beach in their plain clothes. Can't imagine that's terribly comfortable in the summer around here.... Dan On Mar 12, 2013, at 9:59 AM, Rich Thomas wrote: > My Amish buds have a similar set-up for their shop. They built a big metal > shed and poured a solid concrete floor with trenches in it to run the shafts > off a diesel engine. They have a bunch of really old big stationary > woodworking equipment, all driven off the shaft with belts. They are big on > diesel engines to drive things -- they also have one running their sorghum > mill, and a huge old steam boiler (wood fired) running the evaporator. I > have no idea where they find all this stuff but they are quite inventive. > One of the families (of a guy who died when a load of railroad ties he had > cut shifted off the truck and crushed him, leaving 13 children and another on > the way -- I got a lot of cherry and oak from him) has an old milk tanker for > their water supply, parked up hill of the house. I guess they fill it from a > well or something. He had an old table saw with a motorcycle engine running > it, that thing was loud AND dangerous. > > I understand their issue with phones and electricity is that the devil gets > in through the wires, so using a stationary engine is OK, and some allow a > cell phone too. I guess the devil can't travel through the ether. They have > some hot rod tractors too. > > --R > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
