Randy James - Why Cows Need Names: And More Secrets of Amish Farms

The Geauga Amish settlement is a real community centered in Geauga County in northeast Ohio. The stories in this book are true, though most of the names, farm locations, and some other details have been changed to preserve the anonymity of the Amish farm families. Much of the dialogue is verbatim. However, the dialogue is reconstructed from notes since any recording device would be a major impediment to a free-flowing conversation with Amish people. Some of the conversations and a few of the characters are composites of various conversations and individuals in the settlement. Some of the dialogue and sentence structure may seem somewhat formal, or even a little archaic. Without a constant barrage of TVs, radios, computers, and cell phones, the syntax of Amish conversation often varies slightly from the larger non-Amish community. In addition, nearly everyone in the community is bilingual, with Pennsylvania Dutch being the language of the home and family.

While the Amish faith traces its origins to central Europe, all of the approximately 300 Amish settlements existing today are in the United States and Canada. Both the number of Amish people and the number of settlements are rapidly increasing, and the Geauga settlementwith over 2,500 householdsis the fourth largest of all Amish settlements.

The farming practices and other customs discussed in this book are specific to the Geauga settlement and do not reflect all Amish settlements. Specific customs and practices between, and even within, settlements vary widely and change over time. For example, farmers in some settlements use tractors for fieldwork; in other settlements, tractors can only be used as stationary engines in the barnyard; and still other settlements forbid tractors altogether. In a compendium of settlements arranged from liberal to conservative by the number of modern farm technologies allowed, the Geauga settlement would be placed near the conservative end.

This book simply would not have been possible without the support of my wife and cheerleader, Barbara. She has read and reread every word and helped to shape the work by listening to my ideas and challenges and occasionally nudging me gently back to the computer. A big thank-you goes out to my dear friend Linda Jones for taking the time to rein in my wayward commas, run-on sentences, and overly creative punctuation. Much appreciation goes to Bill Pappas for using his considerable expertise and equipment to produce the authors photo and to Claude Clayton Smith, author of Ohio Outback: Learning to Love the Great Black Swamp, for his immensely helpful review of the manuscript. Thanks also to Joyce Harrison and all of the other wonderful folks at the Kent State University Press who have somehow managed once again to make publishing a warm, friendly, and exciting process. And a special thank-you to my copy editor, Rebekah Cotton, for her thoughtful review and many suggestions that helped to craft the final manuscript.

It is beyond my ability to explain how deeply indebted I am to the hundreds of Amish people in the Geauga settlement, who for over 30 years have opened their farms and homes to patiently teach a Yankee about the plain life. Their openness and friendship is a privilege I cherish each day. Finally, I need to especially thank the Gingerich family (name changed) for inviting me along on their five-year journey to start a new farm.