Living Like the Amish: A Primer

As you’ll recall, we closed on our farm in late August, which was formerly Amish. In case you aren’t familiar with how the Amish live, this equates to no electricity, no modern plumbing, no standard heating system, no kitchen, and no Internet. This was our worst case situation — having to move in right away with no buffer time to get some of these amenities installed. We had hoped to work on the house and come back every evening to our fully equipped rental house for a flushable toilet, stocked kitchen, well-lit house, and warm showers. Unfortunately the rental house was up for sale and closing at the end of August so we needed to be out.

Of course, Brett really had no qualms about this scenario. He couldn’t wait to get on the land and start our future, and he’s a boy, a former military boy, so he kept saying that it will be an adventure and just like indoor camping. I’ve never been a fan of camping.

Here we are six weeks later and we JUST got electricity installed. Everything is just taking longer than expected. And, yet overall, we are pretty darn happy. We are home. Kaylee is running around, Dora the dog is running around — everyone’s spirit is just so much higher surrounded by all of this beautiful space. Don’t get me wrong — I would kill for regular toilet and a little wi-fi — but it definitely could be worse.

Not too shabby of a front porch view

I’ve had many questions about our day-to-day lives so I thought I’d do a little write up about how we’re managing to live relatively comfortably without many of the modern conveniences that we all take for granted.

The main factor that helps make things a lot easier is that both of my parents live about 45 minutes away. At least twice a week, we head in to shower, do laundry, charge batteries, get ice, use wi-fi, and hit some of the bigger stores. This helps tremendously. Here’s a little breakdown of how we handle some of the other issues.
No Electricity

• A system comprised of a marine battery and 750 watt inverter kept our computers and iphones easily charged. We kept the battery charged with a 2,000 watt Honda generator. Having these items continuously charged made life a lot easier. 
• A propane camping lantern, head lamp, oil lamps, and flashlights lit the way at night. But the most common way we deal with the dark is by going to bed early. And then we get up early and get as much stuff done as we can during daylight hours. It’s hard to be motivated to do things by lantern.
• We refrigerated our food with two large coolers that we kept filled with ice and stored in the basement. It worked pretty well and we didn’t lose any food due to spoilage. We recently purchased a chest freezer which currently lives in my Dad’s garage. We fill up big jugs (old vinegar bottles, milk containers, juice containers) of water, freeze it, and then use it in the coolers. The freezer also allows us to store meat we’ve bought in bulk and produce we had put up for the winter. 
• It seemed important enough to mention coffee here. In lieu of a coffee maker, we’ve been using our French press. We fire up the generator to grind the coffee and make enough to fill a quart mason jar. Although we actually like the taste of French press coffee better, I do miss the convenience (and continued warmth) of a coffee maker.

No Modern Plumbing

• We are lucky that this house was built by the Amish because they implemented a lot of systems to make their life easier within the constraints of their beliefs. For example, they used a gas pump to draw water into a 500 gallon stainless steel tank that sits high up in the barn. The water is then gravity fed through pipes that are buried in the ground and head into the house. This allows them to have running water. Although they drank it, we’re a little suspect so we filter it through our Berkey water filter. Having running water in the house makes life a lot easier.
• As for the facilities, or potty as we tend to say as parents of a toddler, the previous owners built a privy located off of the mud room. It contains two holes (one for kids, one for adults) with a concrete base and a wood top. We added toilet seats to make it a little more hygienic. In terms of an alternative to a modern bathroom, it could be a whole lot worse. But as a pregnant lady who pees a lot, I’m looking forward to good old-fashioned indoor plumbing.

Our fine accommodations

• I think Brett and I would agree that one of the worst parts of this entire experience is washing the dishes. We both hate to hand wash dishes in a normal house with a regular kitchen sink and hot water (we dream of the day we have a dishwasher again). Now we have to heat up the water on the stove, take it into the mudroom where the sink is, and wash the dishes in a very cramped space usually by head lamp. Due to this, we’ve been using a lot of disposable dishes and silverware, as much as we hate the environmental impact. We are using uncoated paper plates (with a metal camp plate for support) so we can at least compost those. 

No Kitchen

• Unbeknownst to most people (including us before we started this undertaking), the Amish take their kitchens with them when they move. They use freestanding cabinets and cupboards, some with stainless steel tops. So when we moved in, there was absolutely nothing in the kitchen. They even negotiated taking the sink that was somewhat built in (in exchange they left one of their awesome clothing line pullies that stretches from the house to the barn). Since the actual kitchen was filled with boxes from the move, we set up in a small room they used for their pantry, which will be our future bathroom. The room has wall cabinets that we’re able to store high rotation food and dishes and then we placed a folding table underneath for prep. We do most of our cooking on a propane two-burner camp stove. For the most part, this system has served us pretty well and kept us eating healthy and fresh. As the weather cools, I really miss having an oven, but I try to compensate by making soups, chilli, and a big ol’ pot of beans. 

No Heat

• It’s not technically accurate to say that we have no heat, because we do have a wood stove in our living room. It produces quite a bit of warmth, although we will definitely need supplemental heat to keep the kitchen and other rooms warm. For now, we are grateful the weather has been warm and it hasn’t been much of an issue.

No Wi-Fi

• This one has been a biggie for me since I had a large freelance project start the week that we moved. Thankfully our iPhones work like a dream with good 4G coverage the majority of the time. This helps us keep up on emails, Facebook, and Pinterest (crucial!), and allows us to do some Internet searches. But obviously the iPhone is limited so I drive 15 minutes to the closest Tim Horton’s coffee shop to access free, unlimited wi-fi. This is obviously not ideal and definitely getting old, but it gets the job done. We hope to have Internet up and running at home in the next week or so. 

As it now mid-October, we are definitely racing against the weather. We need to get all of the major outdoor work done (finalizing the new water supply lines and installing the septic system) before winter comes. And every time it rains, the project gets pushed back a little further.

I’d like to give a shout out to my cousin, owner of Ben-Dar Electric, who has been instrumental in helping us get our electricity running. And to my incredibly handy husband who has been tackling these projects like a boss, teaching himself the majority of this work through books and videos. He will have quite the skill set when this is all complete and I couldn’t be prouder of him.