At one point, I found myself driving on some backroads where I looked out the window and saw rolling hills, farmland, grape trellises, squash blossoms, and chickens running around. I saw kids and parents and grandparents in their simple Amish clothing spending time together in a beautiful outdoor setting. I saw these things there was no question in my mind, but that this is a wonderful thing. So that takes care of the 'is it worth it' question.
Nonetheless, it is interesting to ask the 'how do they do it' question. How do the Amish balance the separation of themselves from the larger economy with some yielding to the inevitable effects of living in the year 2011.
To separate themselves, they have separate schools for their children, and for their adults they allow only those jobs that existed during biblical times, such as farmer, carpenter and blacksmith. Also they remain literally 'off the grid' in that they are not connected to any electrical lines, and in addition do not watch TV or use the internet.
However, they still use technology. In fact they use a lot of appliances, the just power them using propane or compressed air. Also, they might eat at McDonalds or shop at Target, there are no rules about which stores or restaurants they may visit.
You can browse on the internet and find 100's of intentional communities starting or recently started, but so many of them fail after a few years. The Amish have been around for more than 400 years. It is impressive!
