Amish Livelihood and Employment

For the Amish in this traditional community, the preferred occupation is farming or raising livestock. Most of the Amish do not have large farms, however, and have to "work out". Working out might result in building a pole barn or doing some carpentry, roofing, painting. Most have several occupations: making furniture, farming, ministry, milking cows. Some have their own businesses that cater almost exclusively to the Amish. One man makes old-fashioned windows. Another makes harnesses and other leather items. Some are teachers for the small Amish schools. The family that works for me building furniture works about 2 days a week at my farm shop in order to use the power tools. Then they work the rest of the time in their own shop on their own farm. That is where they build and finish the furniture and that's where the hand tools come into play. They also milk cows. Fortunately, my farm is just around the corner so it is convenient when they have to travel back and forth.

Most women do not work after they are married. They can do sewing and quilting out of their home for some extra money. One Amish friend of mine who does not have children is a mid-wife. Another owns a small store that caters to the Amish. It is very tiny and has items that they tend to run out of quickly like bread, sacks of flour, 50 # bags of potatoes, butter, sugar, vitamins, cereal, and so forth. This is because if you run out of something, it is a long way to go -- you have to harness up your horse and travel 5-10 miles to get to a "real" store. Unmarried girls also do house cleaning for neighbors and even babysitting or helping English neighbors with their gardens.