Sometimes I envy the Amish.

[shareneh]

Quail, you keep being proud of yourself. You are self sufficient and that is all that matters. I know people who don't have water piped into their houses and they actually keep their houses cleaner than mine or some other people I know.

Chin up girlie.

 

[pioneergirl]

Holy cow don't be embarrased!! Remember the people you are talking to..LOL Lets see, you are conserving water, recycling rain water/dish water, etc, you are saving on electricity.....my goodness, you are doing great!! I see no reason to be ashamed!! YOU GO GIRL!!!

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Oh thank you! I am going to cry just from all the positive responses I have had on here! No one has ever responsded so positively to my water situation

 

[chiknmama]

There are a lot of Amish near me. You can even buy Amish Houses (that they have moved away from) - without any amenities (we looked at one before we bought this place, beautiful farm - the house was WAY too big, though <g>.)

If you buy an Amish home around here, that does not have the amenities - then you do not have to upgrade.
On the other hand (around here at least) if an Amish family moves into a home that has the amenities, they are allowed to use them.

There was another house we looked at, not Amish, just way back in the sticks - 2 miles off the road, no well, no electric, nothing - and not even a road or "driveway" - you had to take a two track through a creek bed and up through the woods. It was appealing in a way, but then I thought - naw, I can't go THAT far yet, LOL. It had 70+ acres, though, and was reasonably priced - for just those reasons, LOL.

There are also Old Order Mennonite, too - so they do not drive, use electric, etc... Casey County (a couple of counties over from me) has a HUGE Old Order Mennonite community. I have family who are New Order Mennonite - they use all the amenities - just not to a frivolous extent.

The thing to remember, also, is that people are people - and there are good and bad in any religion/community - even among the Amish. There are Amish who will gladly make a buck off of your ignorance, and they justify it because you are not one of them. Granted, they are the exception to the rule. I only put that out there, to say that just because they are of a strict religious order does not mean they are ethical all the time. Most of the Amish I have met around here are very nice folks.

I think that I would miss having my amenities - toilets are WAY better than outhouses - been there, done my business in that, and finding a nest of wasps in an outhouse at 7 AM on a warm spring morning aint no fun at all - especially if ya can't just get up and run away

I think I would do much better without electricity than without running water - although I am sure I could cut back. We've had to use bottled water, here, for cooking and drinking, lately, because our county water tastes like mold (something about "the lake turned over" whatever that means ) But for washing, laundry, showers etc... it would be hard, and Kudos to anyone who is doing it and making it work. Personally, I would probably feel sorry for myself, LOL not proud of that, but it is true.

I could live without TV, even Internet - as long as I had some good books to read. I like my radio/cd player, but could live without that also, if necesary. Our big stereo is still not hooked up (and hubby has a huge system, we've been here a year, haven't had time to bother with it). I use a little Walmart cd player to play music on when I do housework - it works for me. When I have no cd player, I just hum or sing to myself, so it isn't a necesity at all - although it does help to keep me on tune and therefore makes my humming and singing more pleasurable for the others who occupy my space

There are a lot of things I envy about the Amish way of life - and some things I would never do, unless I was forced to through disaster of some sort.

Peace -
Meriah