Beth Oberholtzer

The true story of Amish romance. Enter into Amish courtship, weddings, and marriage in this richly researched and illustrated book about wedding traditions in a Plain community. Through stories, history, and evocative photographs, Amish Weddings offers an insider's look into the making of an Amish wedding. Author Beth Oberholtzer introduces real Amish couples in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, inviting readers into the broader courtship process as well as the inner workings of a daylong event like no other. ​ Personal stories from brides and grooms and a host of friends and family who contribute to the celebration provide a window into a one-of-a-kind gathering that honors the couple while enveloping them in their community of faith. In addition to photos from actual Amish weddings, menus and recipes enjoyed by generations of celebrants offer a front-row seat to a fascinating and unique ritual that is supported by a vast community.

A rare, intimate tour of more than 18 Amish vegetable gardens celebrates their eclectic mix of the utilitarian and decorative. Kitchen gardens are a long-standing Amish tradition, characterized by their eclectic mix of vegetables, fruit, herbs, and colorful flowers. Planned by the women of the household, they are used not only to feed their families but as an artistic outlet. This book explores the family gardens as a portrait of the women who design, tend, and harvest them. Color photographs of more than 18 gardens capture their trademark mix of orderliness and ornamentation: marigolds tucked among the melons, cockscombs with the cabbage, and a whimsically painted chair, iron gate, or old balustrade. Included are 32 family recipes straight from the garden: hot-pepper jam, fried green tomatoes, sweet dill pickles, sauerkraut for a crowd, corn fritters, and creamed celery. Like the resourceful women who tend them, each garden has its own personality and beauty.

Every day in Lancaster County, thousands of Plain-sect farm families hitch up draft horses to work their fields, and carriage horses to take them from place to place. These animals are foundational to a faith community that bans automobiles and tractors in a desire to live simple, agrarian-based lives. Stories and interviews accompany over 240 candid photos depicting the most common horses at work and play in Lancaster County—from foals frolicking at their mother's side to six Belgians hitched abreast to harrow a field. The book features six draft horse breeds and five carriage horse breeds—Belgian, Percheron, Mule, Suffolk, Spotted Draft, Haflinger, Standardbred, Morgan, American Saddlebred, Dutch Harness, and Friesian. The photos and stories show how they are trained and cared for, offering profound insight into the emotional connection that Plain people have with their horses.

Old Order Mennonites are deeply faithful, agrarian-rooted, Swiss-German Anabaptists who have called Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, home for 300 years. Their meetinghouses silently embody their religious traditions, and yet few outsiders have seen the startling utilitarian beauty of these rural structures up close. The author and photographer were allowed rare access to 22 austere houses of worship. The result is a one-of-a-kind book featuring over 300 photos and diagrams that document all aspects of the meetinghouses, from the design of their benches and buggy sheds to the arrangement of tables central to worship. As fast-growing Lancaster County encroaches on the Old Order way of life, their communities are changing. This book is a record of an extraordinary religious heritage.

False Graining Techniques introduces you to the unique craft of grain painting, the decorative technique of imitating wood grain on furniture, accessories and other objects. With this book, you can try your hand - literally - at making beautiful designs with such tools as corncobs, rubber combs, foam brushes and even your own fingers. The authors provide all of the information you need to get started, with handy tips on tools, materials and techniques. Six easy projects show how to transform plain surfaces into textured and stylised veneers. Step-by-step photos cover all the details necessary to achieve artistic painting effects. A colourful gallery of finished pieces will inspire you with expressive modern variations of this innovative technique.