The Amish Christmas Candle – Starts with a Bang, Ends with a Whimper I was in the mood for something Amish and something Christmas. When I found The Amish Christmas Candle, a collection of novellas by Kelly Long, Jennifer Beckstrand, and Lisa Jones Baker, I thought perhaps I’d had my fix. Unfortunately it wasn’t all […]
The Amish Christmas Kitchen – Bittersweet It is always great to get a book that you know, just from the title, will be full of three things: Amish stories, Christmas spirit, and food! On those main points, this collection of novellas does not fail. However, as I dug deeper, I found that not all of […]
Huckleberry Hearts – Not as Amish, but just as Great! It’s been too long! I have longed to return to Huckleberry Hill and Jennifer Beckstrand has not satisfied me for a bit longer. Anna and Felty Helmuth are back in Beckstrand’s sixth installment of her Matchmaker’s of Huckleberry Hill series with Huckleberry Hearts! Huckleberry Hearts […]
I have an Amish friend in Pennsylvania whom I call from time to time when I need to check my facts about the Amish. Her name is Priscilla. She has three little girls and a husband who does housework, and she occasionally owns a cell phone. I say occasionally, because she gets a cell phone […]
The first time I had dinner in an Amish home, my Amish friend Susie Riehl served us an absolutely delectable meal of baked chicken, noodles, green salad, homemade bread, and buttered corn. Susie also made a layered Jell-O dessert in fluted glasses, one for each of us. The whole meal reminded me of my growing […]
As a writer, I feel a deep sense of responsibility to get my facts right when it comes to the Amish culture. On my last trip to Wisconsin Amish country, I paid special attention to some of the differences among Amish communities. In one community the women tie their kapp strings, in another, they leave […]
Did you know that Wisconsin has the fourth largest population of Amish in the country? I love Wisconsin Amish country so much that all of my books are set there. My three earliest books are set in Cashton on the southwest end of the state and my Huckleberry Hill series is set in Bonduel to […]
The Amish people have always been farmers. They’ve tirelessly worked the land since their ancestors came over to this continent in the 1700’s. But fewer and fewer of the Amish rely on farming as their primary source of income. Farming is becoming less economically feasible. Still almost every Amish family I know keeps an extensive […]
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, one of my favorite paintings, hangs in the Chicago Institute of Art. When I laid eyes on the original painting for the first time, I was stunned. Pictures do not do it justice. The painter, George Seurat, a Pointillism master, used thousands of tiny dots […]
I grew up in an orchard. Well, not literally in an orchard, but about ten giant steps from one. When I was little, my dad and mom grew six acres of cherries, peaches, and raspberries right behind our house. That’s why I love writing about orchards and berry picking in my Huckleberry Hill books. Anna […]