Transcript of #607 - Young Amish Male

Bobby. We've added some merch from when Bobby wasn't helping me figure out how to talk to him or whatever. We have a Bobby collab that is loose now on theovanstore. Com. You can check it out. We sprinkled in some other new items and restocked some old classics. Again, it's theovanstore. Com. Thanks so much for your support. More there. Today's guest is our young friend from Lanesborough, Minnesota. He's Amish. He's an Amish person, and he's on Rum Springer right now. We're excited to learn about what it means to be Amish and what it's like and how things are going for him today. Today's guest is Amish, and his name is Timothy.

I love this stuff.

All right, sitting here with an Amish dude, basically. Yeah. You're 100% Amish?

100% Amish, born and raised. I can speak Pennsylvania Dutch, still Amish and still living at home.

Pennsylvania Dutch, it's called?

Yeah. Pennsylvania Dutch, it's like a dialect of German. It's quite a bit different from German, but- It's quite a bit different from German, you said? Yeah, but it's a dialect from it. If someone would be talking German, you can understand them, but most of the words you can.

Okay. Yeah. Do your parents speak German and Pennsylvania Dutch?

No, just Pennsylvania Dutch and English.

Would your grandparents possibly speak German or your great-grandparents?

No, they were all Pennsylvania Dutch.

Okay, understood. But it's a branch of... A lot of the people there have German lineage.

Yeah, they do. I think every Amish is Swiss German because most of them came from that area. And funny thing is, in school, on Fridays, we learn... So that's basically the day where we read German, spell German. And also every morning in school, we also sing three hymns out of... It'd be a little book with red pages where we sing German hymns out of. Now, the funny thing is I can read German and I can spell German, but I do not understand the German that I'm reading and spelling. Some of it I can, but most of it I can't.

So you can comprehend a little bit, but you couldn't really then recite it.

Yeah. Well, because sometimes for Christmas and stuff, we had to... There's also a green German book, which when you're in lower grades, like fifths and under, you read out of that, where there's bigger paragraphs in the back where it's all German, and sometimes Every time, actually. For Christmas and stuff, we had to memorize all of those. I wasn't the greatest because I, I lost interest for it if I didn't understand it, I guess. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, that's probably ADD or whatever. Do they have ADD in the Amish community?

I don't even... Do you know what is ADD? I'm not even quite sure. Oh, wow.

Add, it's like... Let me think. You You ever have that feeling like when somebody's tickling you or whatever?

Yeah.

And you're like, you just can't even handle it? Yeah. It's like that feeling, but it's in your brain when you're trying to pay attention. So it's like you're paying attention doesn't work.

No, I don't think anyone has ADD that I know of. I hope not because that wouldn't be too fun to have. Oh, yeah.

I think it's like, yeah, you get to change your mind without even doing it.

If you drive a car, if you have ADD, so can you focus on the road or you're looking over to the ditch and then this car, and the passenger seat?

I think it gets a little bit testy for some people. It's too much. Yeah, pull that up. Do the Amish have ADD? Pull that up. Let's get a gander at that. That's a great question.

Yeah. I've never heard of ADD before.

Then you must not have it, brother. Yeah. The Amish do experience ADD, but reported rates are noticeably lower than in the general population, and diagnosis practices may differ significantly due to cultural and lifestyle factors. Wow, that's pretty fascinating. When you're born in Amish country, are you born at a hospital? Are you born at home? What's it like?

That varies a lot, too. Over the last probably 10, 15 years, a lot more I've been born in a hospital. I know there's some people in our community, all of them were born at home, half of them were born at home, and then also some were born in a hospital. Now me and all my brothers, we were all born in the hospital. It all varies. Varies from family to family most of the time.

Are you allowed to use municipalities like a hospital and a public park and those sorts of things? Where does the line differ between if you're Amish and you're just straight up supposed to be at the house using chalk and just eating butter out of each other's hats, and then the line where you're supposed to be able to go to public parks and go to non-amish events and stuff?

Me going to your concert, that would not be... Keep that on the down low. But some Amish, I know some Amish, they go to like Def Leopard concerts, and when they're around my age, like 80s rock. Amish that party and stuff, they like 80s rock country. They do? I'm not sure how you call them. You would think, but it really bumps when you turn it all the way up.

That '80s rock?

No, it's like some... I wonder if it's like boom, boom, boom.

Is it darker artist? Do the artist...

You mean Like the Suicide Boys?

Suicide Boys are great.

It's not the Suicide Boys. It's more like David Guetto. I think I said that. David Guetta? Guetta, yeah.

I see what you're saying. Like an EDM house, that stuff.

I don't ever know what you call it, but If you turn that stuff all the way up, it really shakes something up. If you have a big stereo system in a building, that building starts shaking. So that's pretty cool.

And the Amish, they really feel that. You can really feel your barn raise when you hear Oh, yeah.

But that stuff we only do in the weekends. That stuff is like, no. That's secret. Yeah.

Hell, yeah. Do the Amish listen to Morgan Wallen ever or no?

Yeah, dude. I have a buddy, actually, my coworker, Atlin. He lost Morgan Wallen, and he's in Rome Springa, too. He wants to go to his concert one time, so that would be fun. I thought your concert was pretty cool, too. The music that they played in the beginning. I've never really heard that music before, but I I was jamming out to it, and it was really, really fun.

Thank you, dude. We play a lot of times at our shows. There I am right there with your hat you brought to me. That was in Seattle. In the beginning of the shows, we play a band. It's called New Orleans Jazz Vipers. It's just some good jazz New Orleans music. I think it puts people in a mode of like, they're going to see some type of artistic brain space instead of just some music you hear all the time. Yeah.

That's I was surprised. Or not really surprised, but I never really heard that music before.

Yeah, it's great, man. That's a great band. I happened to find them in New Orleans a while back, and ever since then, I've just enjoyed listening to them. Yeah.

So that's their horns and stuff? Yeah. Wow. That's what makes all the great sounds.

Yeah, they do a great job. Do you guys have instruments in your Amish village? Is it called a village?

It'd be a Consider it a district. A district would be different parts of church because there can be one big community, but there can be four to twelve different districts of the church where the rules are a little bit different here and there, but mostly be called a community.

A community? Yeah. So the areas you live in delineates where you go to church at?

Yeah.

Can you go to any church or if you live in a certain area, you go to a certain church because it's close?

In the area, you If damage move somewhere, it's usually for a certain church in a certain area. We don't have church houses and stuff. I've seen really big churches. They were like, they went almost up to the sky and stuff.

Yeah, We got some churches that are trying to do a lot. They're like, Do you need all that?

Yeah, those things are really high. All of our church happens at our homes. Oh. Yeah. We take turns taking church.

Different weekends, different families will take church?

Yeah. Another thing that Dalmish do is we have church every other weekend. So how it works is church here, and then that gives them enough time to move church to the next place, then you have to pick up all the books, pick up all the benches, and then move it over to your place. You also have to make all the food, and then people come and help you.

I see. So it's part of the culture It's exciting when you get to have church at your place because then everybody's coming there. Yeah.

Well, it can be, but also it's a bit like, Oh, man, church is at our place. We got to get ready. Oh, we got to clean up. Yeah, you got to clean up, get ready.

Be on our best behavior. Yeah. Trim the cat.

Well, our cats actually stay in the barn because the Amish don't really have cats in the house. Dude, our cats, they're self-sufficient. They're Amish, too. But we put dog food there. I think they might sneak a little bit of that.

I could see some of them sneak in a little.

But sometimes I see cats coming up the pasture. They got a chipmong or a bird. I don't think they're big enough or fast enough to catch a squirrel.

I am alarmed at how many regular people What do you call regular people, non-amish?

If we're talking English, we call regular people English people. But if you're talking in Pennsylvania Dutch, if you want a literal translation of it, we call them hohilat, which a literal translation is high people. But what it means, hohilat, what that means is-People that are allowed to get high. That are non-amish. But we have a neighbor, that guy's from Australia. I think it's called land down under. Basically, where all the kangaroos live.

Oh, yeah. There's kangaroos, sharks. There's definitely... There's just people that will drink beer. There's a couple of Down syndrome guys down there who drink beer out of the oven.

That's crazy. I even saw some guys, they take off their They have a shoe and they pour some stuff in their shoe and they can get right out of. It must have special feet or something.

Yeah, I think they must have... Look at these guys right here, and they're Australian.

Oh, wow. What are they doing?

Look at this. He pulls a hot beer right out of the oven.

Whoa, that's pretty cool.

He starts chugging it at one point. He doesn't care. But these guys are Australian. Oh, wow.

They're a bit shorter, too.

Yeah, a lot of rugby head-to-head. That'll keep your spine down.

Yeah, especially if you're like... I thought if you be upside down on the bottom side of the world, your spine will go.

Not these guys. I think they missed a column, dude. L5s none, dude. These guys missed something.

Yeah, something like that.

So non-amish people, you call them...

Ho-hi-ler. Ho-hi-ler. Ho-hi-ler.

Ho-hi-ler.

There you go. You're almost Amish now. Oh, welcome. You're welcome.

It's not offensive, though, Ho-hi-ler.

No, not at all. It's not... Like, Danish don't see it as offensive. It's just a term to describe something. Our horses, some are standard bred, and then some are brown, some are black. We even have some white horses with black spots on them. Oh, yeah.

We're getting a lot of that. Outside of Atlanta, we get a lot of that.

Yeah. Where's the land?

Atlanta. Have you heard of it?

Oh, Atlanta, Georgia? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I've heard of it. I've never been there. I heard that's close to where the Dukes of Hazzard were made, I think.

Yeah, I think it is actually. I love the Dukes of Hazzard.

I do, too. Yeah. I used to have the DVD player. I don't have it anymore. I used to have a little DVD player. Really? And then, yeah, I watched a little bit Dukes of Hazzard. But the only bad part was the DVD player. It was before I had a battery and stuff, I had to go charge it somewhere else. It was before I had all prepared, that way I don't run out of power. I used to watch some a lot because us, Amish, we have the ones that are in Room Springer. We have DVDs and stuff. Mike Coler-Gratley, he's pretty stacked when it comes to DVDs because he's got a drawer full of all kinds of movies.

Is he allowed to have it or not?

Not really. But his parents, I think they know, but they don't bother.

Got it. But he had some different things. He had Dukes of Hazard?

Yeah. Well, I don't know if he had Dukes of Hazzard, but he had lots of other different ones, like Smoking the Bandit, like Grumpy Old Man.

Oh, yeah.

Walter Matthau. Those are really funny. I think he wants to get or Fast and Furious, too.

Oh, he's trying to get wild, huh? Yeah.

He's pretty crazy.

It sounds like it if he's trying to do all that. That's a lot. What about Little House on the Prairie? Did you guys ever watch that?

I've seen a little bit on that.

A couple of hotties on there.

Yeah, the ones... You mean like Laura?

I mean, that's a child, but I mean, yeah, I don't even know. The mom. I'm talking about the mom.

Oh, the mom?

Yeah, Carole.

Oh, yeah. She's cute. Yeah, but she's really old now.

She's getting older, probably, but who knows what could happen. They're doing a lot of There's a lot of biohacking and stuff now, but I'm just seeing a lot of beautiful ladies on here.

Yeah, definitely.

Now, with this something in Amish culture, if you see these dames, these young ladies, is that something you're attracted to growing up? Because they almost have a little bit of an Amish feel to them.

What do you mean?

Like a settler? Would this be a girl? If you'd have seen this when you were 12 or something and you look at Mary Ingles right here, the older sister, you'd be like, Oh, she's cute.

Yeah, I would. And that's okay? Yeah, that's okay. Okay.

Yeah, I'm just curious because we grew up watching this, and it was great. They're remaking this right now. Oh, they are? They're making a new season. Oh, they are?

That's pretty cool. I know. Dude, the one guy is white hair on his beard. He must be getting old.

Yeah, that guy. Actually, I think that guy's deceased. You You mentioned being on Rum Springer, right? Yeah. So you're on Rum Springer right now?

Right now, yeah. Okay.

How does Rum Springer start? How long does it last? Who gets to go on it?

Okay, so pretty much everyone goes on it. Now, I've heard of where families didn't let their kids go on it, but that has happened. But sometimes when that happens, the kid just leaves and he becomes English.

Oh, because they feel they can't, they're not allowed to... That the family is not following the rules?

No. Everyone can go in like Roomspringer. Everyone does it. Every single... Now, every single community that does Roomspringer, they usually go on because What happens is around 16, 16 and a half, you join Rome Spring, which we call the Yunga. The Yunga? Yeah, which basically means... What was it? Young people. The youth? The youth? Yeah, youth. There you go. That'd be a better word for it. So you're picking up. The Yunga?

Yup, the Yunga.

Makes sense. So that's when you go to sing-ins after church. Now, I never really went to one because when I went on the Rome Spring, the church was already going down because our church, it's split up now. Actually, our bishop, he booked out, he decked out. No. Yeah. So right now, We still have church, but it's only an hour and a half. So there's a lot of Amish around us. They're still Amish, but they're not a member of church anymore because when it opens in the Swarton Troop of Amish-Wait, when what opens? When the church doesn't come to agreement for a while, and then it's a rule that they have to open the doors, and then whoever wants to go can get out of the... No longer be a member of a church and doesn't require to follow the rules. That's only when you're like, joined the church already.

Okay, so members of the church, if the church is, if for some reason there's some problem within that church where they're not able to... Maybe obviously there was a problem with the bishop you're saying?

Well, the people in the community and the bishop. There was- There was an argument? Yeah, they were not agreeing on the same things.

Okay, understood. So there was a disagreement, and so the bishop left.

Well, actually, this is a very rare thing to happen. The bishop just... It was probably over a year of this stuff happening, but it was usually the smallest thing, and I think it annoyed some of the people in there.

The congregation?

Yeah, some of the members. Because I know if a guy, they came to his house because he was certain because the curtains on his window were not the right shade of blue or even the reflectors on the Buckeys because our Buckeys don't have that many reflectors, not compared to like Buckeys in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, because they got like that big...

Big reflector plate?

Yeah, like that triangle thing. It's flashy, huh? Yeah, it is flashy. And yeah, we don't have that reflection. Actually, go to the left, that Buckey that's white horse.

One more right there.

That's yours. That's how our Buckeys look like. And there was, what was their reflector on the front or the back of a Buckey like that, and they didn't like that.

So the bishop had too many reflectors on his buggy?

No, the members had too many reflectors on their buggy, and they got after him for that.

Oh, the bishop got after him for it?

Yeah. The bishop doesn't even live in this community. He lives down there because Our bishop before, he actually died in a house fire. No. Yeah, the whole house burnt down.

How? What happened? A candle?

I don't know. I don't think it was a candle. I think it was something with a stove in the washhouse. This was a hot fire. It was 20 below. And this hot fire, I was told it was hot. And maybe it wasn't 20 below, but it was definitely 10 below or so.

The fire just kept burning?

Fire just kept burning. And when the people came out, the people in the red, the people like, what do you call it? The firemen? Yeah. They had to keep the water running so their holes wouldn't freeze. It was really cold. And his wife actually survived. Apparently, when she came out, it was so hot. She just laid on the snow, and she was fine for a little bit, but she had a little bit of burns and stuff like that.

Do they think she started it or no?

No, I don't think so. Because we don't have insurance. We don't have life insurance and stuff. I think it was an accident. But that wouldn't be too funny if she thought she had life insurance? Yeah. Wouldn't that be illegal?

Between the hojila, that happens all the time. The Hojila are always killing their spouses for insurance money.

That's not very nice. Isn't that murder?

Yeah. That sure is.

That's not very nice.

And, dude, not only is it murder.

What?

But it's murdering for money. But I guess if you don't have life insurance, you don't have to worry about it.

Yeah. It's nice. Yeah.

So go ahead, kill me, you won't get anything.

Yeah, that's the idea. So yeah, like damage, back in the wars, I think the government tried to force us to go to wars, but we're like pacifists and stuff. We're wrestling stuff when we were younger, and then also sometimes maybe argue. But other than that, we don't kill each other.

The Amas are pretty peaceful.

Yeah. Because back in the wars and stuff, We just did all the cooking and the cleaning and saving people, too.

Is that true? Let me read that right here. The Amish were subject to the military draft in US wars, but due to their religious beliefs as pacifists, they were usually classified as conscientious of subjectors and assigned to non-combatant or alternative service roles. World War I and II, Amishmen were drafted, but most received farm deferments or performed non-combatant services. Some were sent to army camps and suffered abuse when refusing military service entirely. And in rare cases, some were in prison for refusing all forms of service.

Yeah. Where the Amish came from, they went through a lot of stuff. There's a book, actually, Usually, where the Amish came from was from the Anabaptist. Those were the O'chees. They came all the way from the Catholic Church. Really?

Like the O'Chies you're saying? Yeah. Did the Amish have to fight to establish themselves in America?

That, I'm not actually very sure, but I know when... I think it was back in the '70s, I think, that they had to fight court and stuff. I think they went through a lot of court stuff. But for that I think they did. But also the government also agreed because this is a free country and stuff.

While not armed struggles, the Amish sometimes face legal and social battles, especially regarding education and their right to practice their faith freely. Notably in the 20th century, they opposed laws that would force their children in a public high school, sometimes resulting in imprisonment or property loss for Amish parents. Wow. So they've had to fight to maintain their way of life. Yeah. So there must be a lot of pride. Is You have a lot of pride in being Amish?

It varies from community to community, but yeah, there is pride in being Amish. We don't believe in being prideful, but that's something you feel good about.

Right. See, it's a little bit different than being egotistical about. I guess. And just having some confidence in your group. Hey, fellows, I know a lot of you all work hard out there. You out there working hard, sweating out there, and that stank is coming out of your body. Sometimes you don't even have to be doing much. You standing out there right on the job site and you start to stank. Well, thankfully, Mando is here to help. Mando stops odor before it starts. This ain't no cover up spray. Mando blocks order at the source. What I love about Mando, you put it on once, it works all day, and then some. Mando can last up to 70 Two hours of unstinkability, baby. They got to start a pack with everything you need to stay fresh or mix and match their best selling products with their online exclusive bundles. Right now, as a special offer for our listeners, new customers get 20% off site-wide with our exclusive code. Use code Theo at shopmando. Com for 20% off site-wide and free shipping. Go to shop, S-H-O-P, Mando, M-A-N-D-O. Com. That's shopmando. Com. Support the show, support your pits, and stop smelling like yesterday's lunch.

Do Amish people have to go to public school or do you go to your own school?

We go to our own school.

Do you have a schoolhouse?

Yeah, we have a schoolhouse. I sent a picture of the schoolhouse to that white building. So the building in the In the run, that's where all the horses kept. Now, since there are more kids, we had to build another little shelter for horses. So that was down there.

For the horses?

Yeah, for the horses.

Don't you mean the cheerleaders or something?

No, we don't have cheerleaders because that would be like... They barely wear clothes and stuff. It looks like they're in their underwear.

It's too much. I've never loved a basketball game so much that I got in my underwear for it.

Yeah, that's right. That's a bit odd. Even when they go to the beach and stuff, they're just in their underwear.

Some of them get dressed up more for the beach, even.

It's crazy. Yeah, they get more dressed down.

But so you go to school there, you put your horses in the front building? Yeah. Okay. Does everybody have their own horse or sometimes people come in groups?

Yeah. One family usually has one horse. Then we have a building. Then one through eighth grade, we all sit in there. Then so that's all in one room. And then there's usually one teacher. So one year, we actually had 25 kids in one building. That was the most we ever had. And it varied from year to year. We started out with 10 Then as it went up, 14, 16, 20, and then 25. And then it came down from there. But yeah, that's where I went to school, first through eighth grade, and everyone's sitting in the same room. And then we have classes, too.

Is it pretty cool?

It can be if you make it, but I didn't really like school when I went to school.

When does the school day start?

That's usually, if I remember right, it was 8: 30, I think. 8: 30, school starts. And then we sing three, four hums. Then that usually lasts 15, 20 minutes. And then we start reading classes. And then it depends on the teacher. Some like to go from eighth grade down and others like to go from first grade up. And then after that, it's recess, like 15 minutes, and then usually, arithmetic classes. And then we will do arithmetic until lunch, which is like around 11: 30. And then school goes out, only for a little bit, for like an hour.

Do you go home for lunch or no?

No. We pack our lunch. We eat at school. We sit at our desk and eat. And then usually that takes around 20 minutes, 15, 20 minutes. And then we go out and play different games. And we play like... What was it? We played a game that we call RAPID. It's like the animal RAPID.

Rabbit?

Yeah, like RAPID. And then So what you do is there's a person in the middle as a ball.

Like Easter? Like an Easter?

Yeah, like a bunny. We call it hawasa.

Hawasa?

Yeah, hawasa. That's the Amish word for rapids. Rapids. So we used to throw the ball up and if someone threw it... So it's like that. I got to get better explaining this, but it's-You're doing good. It's like dodgeball. You have two bases on each side, and then there's a person in the middle. He's got a ball. Sometimes we use a basketball. Sometimes we used to basketball, sometimes we used to tennis ball. Tennis ball was my favorite because you could throw it better and it wouldn't hurt as much if it hit you. Okay. So you're supposed to throw it up five times, and if you throw it up five times and no one runs through to the other base, then you can go on one base and count to basically do a countdown. Then if no one goes off of that base and goes through before you're done, you can just... Even though they're on base, you can go touch them and get them out.

They can actually physically catch them?

Yeah, we catch them and take them down.

But would this be a game boys would play with boys?

Everyone would play. The teacher would even help, too. Really? Yeah. It depends how rough The harder you tried to get away, I guess, you accepted the roughness and you run through and try not to get caught. Then someone takes you down on the ground, you crawl for the base. It's almost like Vietnam and stuff. I've never been there.

No, we've seen pictures. We all understand exactly what it was like. That's unbelievable, dude. That was a popular game, Rapa?

Rapa. Rapa. Like the Easter Bunny.

Yeah, Rapa? Yeah. And then what did girls do? Do they play this game? Or what did girls who were definitely girls? Some girls played this game, but what did the real girls do?

The real girls always... We always were together. We always helped each other play everything.

Oh, everybody played the same stuff?

Yeah. But when it was a rainy day or something, sometimes we played board games, and then not as much. But most times, we all play with each other because we didn't know stuff yet. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because we don't get taught that stuff in school or anything.

What do you mean?

About girls, and we don't really know too much about each other, I guess.

Oh, so everybody's just all the same?

Yeah, we're all kids.

Oh, you're all kids? Yeah. Are you allowed to flirt at school? At some point, do people feel some attraction? Do you think Yeah, maybe.

So the school I went to, I couldn't really do that because pretty much everyone I went to school was either first or second cousin.

I feel that, brother.

Yeah. So, yeah, it's a tough It is, brother.

And that's why we got to do some of this redistricting and rezoning.

Yeah, we got to rezone, like move out, move in. That's what a lot of Amish has been doing around us, moving out to different communities. I guess it's a good thing then you can spread the family tree because sometimes the tree becomes a bush.

Yeah, for sure.

They intertwine with each other.

The Amish population experience is a strong founder effect, meaning that their gene pool originates from a small number of original settlers. Most Amish people are distantly related because nearly all Amish in America descended from a small group of about 200 to 500 founders who immigrated from Germany and Switzerland in the 18th century. The genetic closest increases the likelihood of certain inherited conditions with some rare genetic disorders, much more common among Amish than in the general US population. Do you guys have... Oh, this says cousin marriage. Marriages between cousins do occur.

Not first cousin, second cousin does. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

For sure, buddy.

But it's not really forward. Hey, you can marry your second cousin. But it does happen. But if it happens, it happens. Yeah, it happens.

You're already close. You might as well be closer.

Yeah, that's right. I don't know how... Because we don't have any family tree and stuff.

You don't?

No. But we do have a big book that tells us all Amish communities in certain states, basically a dictionary for for Amish people who's related to who. Oh, you have that? Yeah. It's basically like Google for the Amish when it comes to finding, Oh, yeah, this person is related to this, or how old is this person? It even got their addresses and stuff. Oh, nice. Yeah.

It's like a book where you can go look and see who's who and how old.

Yeah, and how many kids they have and when the kids were born. So that's pretty cool. Oh, yeah. That's how it is. But it's a little bit different than that.

Okay.

Because they They put two different names on the front, whoever put it together and stuff. Because some Amish, they know who's related to everyone. It's almost like they're happy, I guess you could say.

Like they're happy?

No, they're happy. Happy? It's their...

Oh, it's their hobby?

Like H-O-B-B-Y.

Like rapid?

No. Hobby. Yeah, like happy.

It's something they like to do in their spare time.

Yeah, that's what it is.

Genealogy, put it together. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Somebody's got to know who's related, or you got to be able to ask somebody. Could there be people in your school that are your cousin, you don't even know it?

No, because everyone in the school, they drive there with a horse and Bucky, so it's fairly close because we have... Let me think. I think it's at least a half a dozen schools in our community. Okay. Yeah.

How do you decide which school you go to?

Whichever you live closest to. That's it? Yeah.

Do they have... They were talking about, obviously, when cousins get together, things can get crazy, and you might get one of the Lord's remixes out there, or disabled, they call out here in America, mentally disabled, autism, Amish-tism. I'm sure you guys are seeing it. Somebody will just raise a barn with their eyes, just put a nail through a four by four with their... With the sheer... With just a blink of an eye.

I don't know if we have autism, but we have some with down syndrome. Yeah, because my great uncle, he has Down syndrome and stuff. Fuck, yeah. Yeah, he's like 57 years old.

And he's awesome, huh?

Yeah, he's pretty awesome because me and him, I just remember that I carried wood with him. Me and him carry wood into the wood box for a stove. And I don't know why, but apparently, I used to tease him a little bit, too. I feel bad for him now. I think it was six or seven years old. I was really young. Oh, it's okay.

You were just a kid, You were just joking around.

Yeah, because I thought I was having fun.

But he could carry a lot of wood?

Oh, yeah. He could carry a lot of wood. He was pretty cool.

And he passed away?

No, he hasn't passed away yet. But I heard recently, he's not doing too good anymore. But he's still surviving and stuff. But isn't that old for a person with down syndrome and stuff?

That's a great question, actually, Timothy. Let me look at that up. How old do the down syndrome get, if you don't mind pulling it up there?

It might be because he's Amish, that he's like...

That he's clocking more time.

Yeah.

Because it's probably harder, probably a down syndrome being out under the bright lights of regular life than it is out there just slurping in the sunlight. Yeah. The average life expectancy for individuals with Down syndrome is now about 60 years, with many living in their 60s and 70s, thanks to advances in medical care and social inclusion. That's awesome, dude.

Mcdonald's was not be getting to them anymore.

That McDonald's, huh?

Yeah.

It was really hampering them. Well, there was a time when McDonald's, a lot of their employees had Down syndrome.

Oh, really?

Bring that up. It caused a lot of people to take people there with Down syndrome. Then they were eating all this McDonald's, and it was not good for them.

No, it was backing them up.

Yeah. But McDonald's was hiring a hell of down. They had the whole...

I never knew a place like that hired.

Oh, Yeah, especially now. Now there's coffee shops in America, and everybody that works there has down syndrome. Shane Gillis owns one. He's a comedian.

Wow. I heard Shane Gillis was around the Amish, too, when he was younger.

Yeah, he grew up around the Amish. He's famous. Some people said he has down syndrome. Some people said he doesn't. I don't know. We had a guy on who completed the Ironman, which was one of the biggest physical challenges in the world, and he has down syndrome, Chris Nikkich. Bring him up.

What's an Ironman?

It's like the toughest competition There he is right there.

Wow.

What are the conditions of an Ironman, just so we're clear on it? Is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation, consisting of a 2. 4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride, and 26-mile run completed in that order. Wow. Do you think you could do it?

No, I'd have to build three barns a day and run up and down to the house a couple of times.

Oh, you'd have to jack and jail a million gallons of water, dude. Yeah. Even if I had down syndrome, I don't think I could do it.

No. It'd be really hard to do. I think it even It's going to be hard for the Amish people because first we need to learn how to bike. Yeah. Because we can swim because the rivers and stuff.

Are you allowed to have bikes or no?

We can sneak them.

Oh, you sneak them, huh? Yeah.

But the Amish over in Indiana and Ohio and in Pennsylvania, they They got scooters and stuff. Yeah, they do. But they got the low riders, the ones that are really close to the ground. Oh, yeah.

The Amish. Yeah, the Amish.

Yeah, that you stand on and stuff. Not the ones that you sit on.

Oh, I see what you're saying. So not the motorized ones.

No, not the motorized or the ones with like, pedals and stuff.

Yeah, they had one Amish, they had oral farming on one of these, I think.

Was he doing it on the horse or the scooter?

I think the scooter. Oh. And they have a lot of Mexican Amish, too. Now, the Amish, they call them.

Yeah, I saw. There were a couple Mexican Amish. Because a couple of years ago, there was this Mexican Amish guy. He popped up. He looked fully Mexican. He looked like he came from Mexico. I think someone must have adopted him. It sounded like that. He could speak the Mexican language. And then he also speak Pennsylvania Dutch, too. Hell, yeah. Yeah.

I love that, man. Yeah, dude. And That must be the craziest if you're Mexican because then you're like, holy shit, I still have to do all this construction myself. If you're Amish-Mexican, people expect you to build stuff faster than anybody.

Yeah, because Mexicans and Amish, we go back and forth. We look who can build the fastest.

If you have both?

Yeah. Now, when it comes to sheetrocking, I have to say Mexicans are definitely faster because they got them long, like those metal things that I think they're called stilt.

Oh, really? So they're good at sheetrocking?

Yeah. I saw a video of They helped their tape measure and then walked over. And the one guy, real tall-looking guy, if he had long legs, he was on stilt and stuff. He had to almost touched the ceiling.

Tell me about this. When you go to Rumspringer, how do you go? Is there a day that you go, what happens? You hit what age and how does it start?

It's spontaneous when it happens. You're roughly 16 and a half when it happens, and your parents are like, You can go. And then you just go one day.

Do they sit you down at dinner and tell you? Is it like an announcement at school? Is it at church? How does it happen that they say, We're going to allow you to go to Rome Springer?

It's not really an announcement. It's just like, Hey, you can go there, and then you'll probably have a couple of rules. Don't do this, don't do that, but you're probably going to do it anyway.

Really? Yeah. Is there a moment, an actual day that you leave? Do you say goodbye?

No. When Rome Springer happens and you go to the Yuma, you still live at home and stuff. You You're still Amish, and then you just do stuff on the weekends that you're not supposed to.

When do you go back to your Amish country, though? When do you go back to your district, to your home?

When you're in Rome Springer, you're always at home. What happens if you're in Rome Spring for... It's usually around 4-5 years. It always depends. Then when you get baptized, it's usually when you have a girlfriend, and then you want to get married. That's the reason you get baptized is to get married. Then at the same time, you're also becoming a member of the church.

Okay, so you hit about 16 or something, and your parents say that you can go now. Yeah. That means on the weekends, you can go do what you want?

Yeah, kind day. If they don't hear too much about it, you're fine. Then you're doing fine. Yeah, because sometimes you can be like, Hey, you can't go this time.

Okay. Now, do some people choose to stay out in Rome Spring or not come back to the church? Do you have that option or that's not an option?

Yeah, where people leave and become exxonmed. Amish, yeah.

That can happen? Yeah.

Then when Rome Spring ends, it's roughly around 20 to 21. That's usually when people get married. Or sometimes, all of a sudden, they realize they have a kid. That's not really a good idea. To have a kid before you're married. They either get quickly married or my cousin, my cousin Frank, he-He was Amish? No, he His parents, they realized they had them when they were still on Rome Spring and Amish, so they just left.

Wow. Yeah. So your cousin, his parents were both on Rome Springer. Yep. Both Amish. Yep. One of them got pregnant, the woman.

The woman, yeah.

Then they realized at that point that they had to leave. Would they have been walking back into the church or no?

What happens if that happens, either you leave or you almost come married right away because that has I went a couple of times. That actually happened for my parents, so they had to quickly get married.

Okay, so you have to make that quick choice. Yeah. Now, if you decide to leave, are you shunned? Are you allowed to come back? What is it like once you decide to leave?

If you leave and you're already a If you're a member of the church, you get shunned from it. Then if you're not a member, like in Rome Spring, if you leave, it varies on the parents a lot. On my dad's side, for the longest time, they wouldn't really be happy Or we wouldn't really talk to their kids when they came and visit. They once had an ex-amish. On my mom's side, they were like that for a little bit, too, in the first. But on my mom's side now, when the ex-amish kids come back, they're now 40 and stuff, 30, 40, and maybe even older. They come back, they're welcome, all that stuff. But on my dad's side, they're still a little bit iffy, but they're way better than they were.

I see. So they're coming around a little bit more than they used to. But probably in your grandfather's generation, if somebody was shunned, they might not talk to them?

Yeah, that's how it is. When you get shunned, you're not supposed to... You can talk to them, but you're not supposed to help them out in any way. You can't accept money from them, and you're not supposed to get it right from them, too.

A ride?

Let's say they were driving, the ones that left, they were driving and stuff, you're not supposed to ride with them.

Oh, yeah. If they can't even stay on the path to heaven, how are they going to keep you on a path when they're trying to take you somewhere?

Yeah, they're going to takeI'm going to take you off the road or something. Sure are.

Yeah, they're literally do. They're literally going to take you off the road. I never expected to be a business owner. At first, we just were podcasting, and then things just evolved. One of the toughest points for us was when we started offering merch. We had to get the shipping done, and it was just, I'm up in the middle of the night printing shipping labels. It became too much. Thankfully, Ship station showed up to help. Ship station centralizes your shipping tasks into one easy platform, and their rate browser automatically finds you the best rates across more than 200 carriers at discounts of up to 90%. Yep, there's a reason why so many successful businesses use Ship station. Users report scaling three times faster than average. Upgrade to shipping software that does more than just keep up with your business. Ship station propels it forward. Start your 60-day free trial at shipstation. Com/theo. That's shipstation. Com/theo. First, actually, you know what? I'm going to have a little sip of Celsius because I need to pick me up. Have you ever had this before?

No, not this. No. Is it good? Yeah. Yeah. It's great. I thought it was great, so it's really good. I'm going to have to try this stuff.

Can you have a little bit? Yeah. No alcohol.

Okay. So what does it have? It's Is it water?

Oh, mine's cherry cola-flaved. It's like spicy stuff. It's like a little bit of ADD.

This stuff actually tastes like the grapes that you squeeze out of the... Not the grapes that you eat from the store, but the Amish grapes that you can buy, the ones that you squeeze out of the... How do you call that? The skin. Have you ever had those grapes where you just squeeze them out and you swallow them? Uh-uh. Yeah, it tastes just like this.

Really? Yeah. Let's get a look at those Amish purple grapes.

Yeah, that's how they look. You know how the stores, they have no seeds in them? These have a seed in them. You just squeeze them out and then you swallow them because if you try to eat them, chew on them, You just bite into the seat and stuff.

Oh, you just squeeze them out and swalom them.

This actually tastes exactly like that. So it must be very natural.

Yes, sir. It's the best, man.

It's very good. That'll definitely...

That'll get you home, brother.

That'll get you home. Yeah. I saw that this has caffeine in it.

Yeah, it has a little bit of caffeine.

So I'll be moving around.

Yeah, you'll be feeling something. What has your Rum Springer experience been like?

It's been crazy. I've done the first year and a half. I didn't do too much because I wasn't 18 yet. But this summer, I've done so many crazy things. Actually, last summer, I got to drive a Corvette. That was crazy. These two girls, they They let me drive their Corvette. It was a lot of fun.

Where'd you meet them?

Through my uncle, my ex-Samish uncle, Simon. I met them through them. I actually was at their wedding, the one with the black hair. I was at her and her husband's wedding. It was pretty cool. I got to drive a Corvette. That thing was really fast, too. You step on the pedal a little bit. It was like a horse with some special or something. Oh, yeah. Or put some Celsius in their water.

Oh, yeah. That thing has been eating diesel-dipped carrots right there. How many of that horses got it?

Oh, that's a deal. They were like, well, I think it was overcrowded because there's only two seats, and then she's sitting in the middle and stuff.

Hey, that's fine, though, dude. You got to have at least one chick hanging out of a Corvette, dude. That's Rum Springer.

Yeah, that is Rum Springer. And then they wanted to get a couple of because they thought that was pretty cool.

Oh, it's amazing, bro. It's great to see you out there just trying some different things. What other things did you try that you found that you liked and didn't like out there?

Oh, yeah. I also got the other week and I went to It was Eau Claire, Wisconsin. There was an air show where they had the Blue Angel airplanes, had all kinds of airplanes. Nice. Then they also get to pay a little bit. Well, it was actually quite a bit. It was $200 for one helicopter. And I was like, this might be a week or two of wait just of me working, but I don't want to go on a helicopter. So I was scared to hold my phone out because the helicopter is open and stuff. What happens if you drop it and stuff? But it was really smooth, too. And when we took off and stuff, it was really crazy. It felt like I felt like I was on a piece of plywood and I just started going up. It was crazy. And it felt really crazy. That's actually Atly right there. Oh, nice brother. Yeah, he's still Amish at home. He bust his head, cut his hair and stuff.

Wow, that's exceptional, bro. You got out there. You just felt like a bird, huh?

I did feel like a bird. And this guy, I think he gave a little bit of longer ride because we're Amish and stuff. And we went sideways on the above the lake and stuff because if you hit water really far off, it's pretty much concrete, I think. We went sideways. It almost felt like I was falling off, but I had my trusty seat, and stuff. So we were pretty good. So that was a crazy ride. But it was actually smooth. I was actually more scared when I was a couple of weeks later, I was probably a month later. It was right after I went to your concert. Your concert was really crazy.

Did you have fun? Could you Did you understand a lot of the material?

I did, yeah. Some of it I didn't understand. The ball guy was there, the guy that his parents are from the Middle East was there. They were pretty cool. Then you came out, and then I thought it was really funny. This was actually before the show. I was chamming out. I was with my cousin Frank, and I was just chamming out through the music.

Yeah, because people don't understand this is where we met. We met after a show. Yeah. I was like, Dude, we've been trying to have an Amish person on, and then here God just put us right together, brother.

God is great. He works in mysterious ways, it seems like.

He's the magician, man.

Yeah. I thought, Theo Vaughn would probably... I wanted to wear an Amish hat.

Oh, yeah? Yeah. Did you give me that hat or not?

No, I It was my head. It didn't really fit. I wanted to put it on. Actually, I have a little bit of a surprise for you. Hey, Frank, you want to bring that over? What I did over last week, me and your Me and you, some of your strong connections were talking. They didn't quite know what size your hat was. It's a bit of an odd thing to know and stuff.

Yeah, it's just an odd thing to ask a man.

Yeah, it is. But I wanted to We got an estimate size, and I wanted to give you this hat. So now you can be part of the Amish Mafia.

Oh, that's cool, dude.

Yeah.

Thank you so much. A hat size, that's just the waste for your head. Yeah, it is. You don't want to admit your little fat above the ears. Yeah, right. This has a band in it. Was this the front of the bag?

That's the front, yeah. All right. So that way, you always wear the hat right. Does it fit? Oh, it's a bit loose. Is it a bit loose? Perfect. Dude, perfect. I'm glad I got you the right size.

Danke.

You're welcome. That means You're welcome.

Does Danke mean thank you?

No, Dange. Dange. Yeah, it's the same thing in German. Thank you in German and Pennsylvania Dutch is the same thing. Dange. Yeah.

Heck, yeah, dude.

Now you're part of Amish. You just need the rest of the clothes.

I feel great, Do you think I would make a good Amish person or not? Be honest with me.

Do you break a lot of rules and stuff?

I don't know, really. I don't think so.

If you don't really break any of the rules, you make a pretty good Amish. I could get my mom to get you some Amish clothes for you.

Maybe for Christmas, I'll exchange something with them. I could send you something that would be that your community would accept as well. Are you allowed to accept gifts from people that are not Amish?

Yeah, I accept gifts from people that are not Amish.

Do your parents allow you, too? Is that okay?

Yeah, because they sometimes... We had sometimes a guy around Christmas time, sometimes a guy brings some stuff. And then he's done it for a couple of years, and he gifts all the younger kids some presents and stuff. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, it's very nice.

I know you had mentioned before that your parents said, Is some stuff not to do during spring? What was some of that?

They didn't really say too much, but they tell me when I do something that they didn't think was... How do I say? It was probably not the best thing to do. Appropriate? Yeah. Probably because sometimes I do wild stuff, go on the Walmart, riding a scooter. But that came around.

But did they have advice against sex, drugs, things like that?

No, not any sex stuff. That doesn't get talked about. You have to do like, door to explore. You just have to I'll go out on the jungle and see what bites.

Damn.

So, yeah, we went to Walmart.

Something will bite at Walmart, dude. Yeah.

I was looking at the TVs. They're like $1,000. Crazy. That's like a third of a Bucky. And a TV doesn't even go anywhere. It just sits somewhere.

I'd rather just play charades with my buddy like you guys probably do a lot. You all play charades a lot?

I'm not even quite sure what that is.

It's where someone, you write down some movies or TV. Oh, shoot. You don't know a lot of movies and TV shows. Charade is like somebody acts something out and you have to guess what they're acting out. Like they impersonate something?

Oh, you pretend. Let's say I was pretending to be the bishop, I'd be like, go down here and then big angry look.

Maybe scratching your beard, maybe going like this or something.

Yeah, like this. Yeah, like something like that. No, I've never played that, but I know what you mean. Yeah.

But you guys don't talk about sex within the Amish community much. At school and stuff, there's not a class that teaches you about it?

Not in school, no.

Will a dad take his son and have a birds and the bees talk? In.... It's the birds and the bees. The dad will take you and talk to you about how things work.

No. All of that stuff, you actually have to figure it out and stuff. But since you got phones and stuff, you can... You can figure it out.

But there's some stuff... But you're not allowed to look at pornography on your phone and stuff.

No, you're not supposed to. No. I stay away from that stuff. Yeah, it's bad. It is very bad.

Since you got in the room for me, can you get a girlfriend and stuff like that? Or what are you allowed to do?

Yeah, I can get a girlfriend, all that stuff.

But does she need to be Amish?

Preferably, yeah. But if I were to get a girlfriend that was not Amish, she would either have to become Amish or I would have to leave Like the Amish.

Do you think that there are a lot of women out there who are willing to become Amish? Does that happen a lot?

I know of one case where that is happening, and I don't know how often it happens, but it's rare where it actually goes through. I know a lot of people want to become Amish, but they're not ready to make the final step towards it.

But yeah. What's the thing that keeps them away from that? It makes people afraid to take that What's the final step, do you think?

I think it's the loss of your phone, the lights on the ceiling, the fans on the ceiling, the vents and holes in the ceiling, all that stuff, I think. And then the couch, the TV, and then whatever else, whatever else hohele use.

If you have an Amish wife, does a wife have to provide food and sexuals and stuff for the husband, or is it always negotiable, or does the wife have a responsibility for food and sexuals and stuff.

Yeah. So the way everyone accepts their... It's just... How do I say this? It's normal, and it's Everyone has a mutual understanding of what they have to do. Because the woman cooks, cleans, takes care of things around the house. And then if she needs help, she'll ask the husband for help. And then usually the husband's gone most of the day working, either building houses, plowing the fields, or cutting lumber, or making cabinets, or even polishing cabinets, stuff like that. They help each other when they're at home, if it needs. But yeah, the wife does cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids. Got it. And then stuff in the garden, too.

Right here, it says, Amish women mainly focus on housekeeping, child rearing, gardening, and food preparation. Many manage home finances, have their names on property deeds, and control the family checkbook. Women nurture the spiritual life of the children and are active in maintaining Amish cultural practices.

Yeah.

So women have a pretty strong voice in the Amish community.

Yeah. Well, I'd say so, yeah.

Are Amish women good cooks? Do they make some cool stuff? Or what are some good Amish meals?

Oh, yeah. The Amish, I'd say, make some of the best food, especially grandma. She had a lot of experience in the field stuff. She has a lot of experience in the field of cooking and stuff. Her breadsticks, they're out of this world. Are they? They're really good. And then my mom's-What do you put on them? I'm not even quite sure.

Can you put butter on them or not?

Yeah, butter. It looks exactly like that.

Can you put a little bit of salt on them? Do you have salt?

No, we don't put salt on them. They're garlic breadsticks.

They already have garlic on them.

Yeah, and they're really good. And my favorite meal, let's say we're doing a lot of stuff, building something or a frolic where the whole community comes together. A frolic, it's called? Yeah, that's when the whole community comes together and built something like a barn.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah. And then they'll make either some chicken or some burgers with mashed potatoes, corn. And I think you would call... It's like mac and cheese. Oh, yeah. And then you put some... So what we do if our food is hot, we put some applesauce on it, mix it up. Really? Yeah. And then it's nice and cool. And then pork and beans too.

If the food is hot, you'll put applesauce on it?

Yeah, to cool it down and stuff. That's one of my favorite meals. And then even better, if you have steak and stuff, if you have steak, that's really good. Yeah.

And do you have dessert, too?

We have pretty good dessert, too. Like pies.

Oh, I bet Amish pie is good. Yeah, they are. Do you have sugar, or don't Yeah, they put sugar in them.

I'm not sure what they all put in them because I know how to make scrambled eggs, and that's about it. Same. Yeah. They put... What is it?

What's a popular pie that you have or a popular dessert?

A popular pie is a shoefly pie is one of them, and then peanut butter pie.

Shoefly pie, what is it?

I've not had it. We don't have it very often, but another pie that's really good is mince pie, like pumpkin pie. That's really good. Like apple pie. That's really good.

God, that's a good one.

I want that. That stuff is pretty good. Yeah, that's my cousin right there.

Oh, really? I've seen this woman before. She's Amish.

Yeah. No, she's ex-Amish.

Oh, she's ex-amish?

She used to be Amish, yeah. She's my cousin, actually. Oh, wow. Yeah. I got, I guess, famous cousins, too.

What are the fears of having a girlfriend that's not Amish? Just that they won't understand the religion and the culture?

The biggest fear would be the church or the parents would find out. That's definitely the biggest fear.

But is it okay if she decides to join the church? It's okay?

Yeah, it is okay. But for that, that rarely ever happens. It's almost as rare as the bishop leaving the community. Got it.

Would she be welcome if that happened?

Yeah. If she was fully Amish, yeah, she would be welcome. Now, she might get a little bit of looks in the beginning, but yeah, as long as she's fully Amish, that would be good.

Dude, she deserves the looks, probably. You know what I'm saying? You can handle a little bit of looks out of the gate. Can Amish people tickle each other or not? Is that allowed or not?

When we were little kids, we used to tickle each other. But I don't really tickle anyone.

I don't think people should keep doing it, but I'm just making sure it's allowed when you're kids. Do they play hide and go seek? What stuff do people do to pass the time?

Like either ride horses, the ponies, like pony cars, and then also hide and seek. That's pretty fun. And then we play board games or just play with cars, play with blocks. I used to play underneath the porch or in the garden. I used to... We used to have a lot of cars and stuff, and I used to pretend that was a whole world there in the garden. Mom didn't really like when I played in the garden, when it was all the corn was up, the potatoes. I actually like playing when it was corn. Corn was up and then the potatoes because it was way more possibilities for imagination. You're going to have a place here, a place there.

Yeah, just more creativity going on.

Yeah. But if it was The garden didn't work out or either that or just play under the porch. The porch was like three feet high. So the older I got, the more I hit my head up on the porch.

That's when it's time to get out.

Yeah. That's when I decided, if I do play, when I do play with cars and stuff and out in the dirt, the garden is the place to be. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

And do people start dating within the Amish culture at a certain age, or is it taboo? Or how does it work? Is there a dance at school where you can invite a girl to a dance? How does dating and that adolescent attraction stuff like that, where you're trying to meet a girl or if you have a first kiss, how's that whole universe in the Amish culture?

Our school only goes until eighth grade, so we're out of school in 13 or 14. You're done with school completely? Yeah, completely done. And then you go to work. I don't even know what high school is or public school. I've never been there. Never, ever. I want to go one day.

High school is just doing drugs and try not to die of driving while intoxicated.

Yeah. If that ever happens for us, our horse will just take us home.

Right. Yeah. That's a You basically have an origin... You have one of the self-driving cars.

Yeah, because if you fall asleep on your horse, it might not be the safest way because you might go a little bit over on the road. But as long as the people with steering wheels and stuff, as long as they're okay and stuff, the horse will go home. So the way it works for dating, if you're like, what is it? So like, 16 and a half, it depends on the parents. My mom and dad, they weren't really allowed to become official boyfriend, girlfriend until they were 18. But in our community, right now, it basically happens whenever now. Oh, heck, yeah. As soon as you join, you can. Usually, the way you meet and hang out is through singings after church or at weekend parties. That's usually how it is.

So weekend parties, do those happen in your district or those happen off of property?

It all It varies where the Amish party is. Sometimes it happens when the parents aren't home, we go to their place and party there.

So at Amish parties, are people drinking and stuff like that? It's a little bit more free wheeling?

Yeah, drinking. Then even the vapes, things popped up, too.

Do Amish like to vape or not?

Some do, yeah.

Yeah, I knew it.

Yeah, some do. I knew it, too. But also cigarettes, and then Sometimes we go like...

A pipe, too. A lot of Amish look like they would smoke a pipe.

The older ones, too. But the ones that are the younger ones, usually don't. They usually stick to cigarettes and stuff like that. But sometimes we'll go to an ex-Amish person's house and party up there. It's a lot of fun.

It is. If you're doing rumspring, when do you have to be back home? Do you leave on Friday? Do you have to be back on Sunday night? Or what is the rules?

No, it varies from family to family. Let's say you have church tomorrow, you probably want to be home before the morning, so you get a little bit of sleep. Or there's not church. You can come home or you can't. It just depends. But usually, when I do it, I usually don't come home until later Sunday. Okay.

Yeah. Do they drug test you or whatever, if you're honest? Do you have to get drug testing?

No, we don't have to do any drug tests. Really? Yeah, no tests and stuff.

Damn. Because you all got you all on a year long Halloween going on out there in the fields.

I'm like-Yeah. Sometimes the woods, the field. It just depends where the spot is. But now, all Amish that party and stuff, our number one way of talking to each other is through Snapchat.

They've really taken over Snapchat?

Yeah. If they've been Amish, a young Amish person that is roughly my age, if they have a phone, a smartphone, they have Snapchat. When was the first time you saw a phone or a screen?

Do you remember?

I think it was one time It was not the first time, but I remember this one time when one of my ex-amish uncles was at our place with his girlfriend, and she let me look on her phone, and I was sitting right beside her, and she grabbed out her phone. She started texting someone, and she was flying through the keyboard and stuff. You were swiping the lines, and all of a sudden, words popped up. It was like the words, almost as fast as you can talk. I was really surprised. So that's I'd say some of the first memories of seeing a phone.

What things are forbidden in you guys's culture?

A lot of things are, like electricity, having a smartphone. We're allowed to have phones for our businesses, like phone checks and stuff. And then TVs. What else? Pretty much anything that requires electricity and stuff. And also, certain color of like, shirts, dresses. If it's too bright, it can also be like... The bishop or deacon will talk to you about it. Oh, yeah. About it being the wrong color. Too flashy? Too flashy, yeah. And also if your haircut's way short. So my haircut's okay because my mom gives me a haircut every time. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I've never actually had a different haircut.

Oh, yeah. Beautiful.

Yeah. So I almost have a mullet. You're going to probably have an Amish haircut, too.

Oh, yeah. I think I have a little bit.

Yeah. You just like the hair in front of the ear, girl. No.

I could have been Amish.

Block a little bit of the sound to the ear. Yeah.

I would have enjoyed being Amish, I think, man. How are regular people and Amish people different from each other? Have you gathered? How do they seem different from each other?

The main thing I've noticed is a lot of Amish, when they're in public, it seems like they're a bit more respectful, I guess. Another thing that's big, I guess. If we did something that was big and wrong, like a long time, my little brother, he stomped lots of corn down in our corner field, and he got a spanking from that. I guess that's the difference because I see a lot of kids, I guess they don't get spankings anymore.

Yeah, they don't do it anymore. Yeah. They should. I mean, I don't think kids should get abused, but sometimes a spanking is okay, I think.

Yeah, because this is like getting beat up. Because we never got beat up or anything. But if we did something bad, we got three cracks with a bell or something. But we never got abused and stuff. Just, I guess, discipline.

Discipline is something that seems stronger in the Amish community?

Yeah.

What are some crimes that they have? Are there any crimes that are popular in Amish land?

I'm not quite sure. Maybe taxes sometimes because some people don't file taxes and stuff because the only tax that we get that we free from that Amish don't get tax, it's like Social Security tax. When we get old, the government doesn't pay us and stuff.

Oh, they don't see you don't want it to pay into that? No. Wow. I wonder why not.

When you join the church, you get the bishop and the government, I guess, work together to where you're exempt from the Social Security tax. But that's the only tax that I know of that you're exempt from. Other than that, but if you don't file taxes, because I know some don't. But other than that, we have to pay all the other taxes.

The Amish are exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes, FICA, if they formally reject benefits and file for exemption due to their belief in mutual community support. Wow. So you guys feel like you don't need that. You support each other, huh?

Yeah. A lot of Amish don't have insurance for stuff, too.

Well, hell, no. I don't think you could insure them.

But for business, I think for businesses, they somehow do what I think. But let's say you fall off a roof or something, you hurt yourself. And then let's say you go to a hospital because I know the hospital, they charge quite a bit. Oh, yeah. I don't know where they come up with the crazy numbers.

They'll take you through the rum spring.

They will. They will drag you. They will drag you, dude. Yeah, it's like dragging behind the buggy. Or a horse runs away and you're trying to hang on, you're scraping off gravel and stuff. But yeah, But all the community helps pay for that. If that would help. I got it.

So there's a lot of community support at any point in somebody's life. So you guys might have a day where you're like, Mr. So-and-so needs help, or Mr. So-and-so needs help, let's go help them.

Yep, that's how it works.

That's a big part of your life. Yeah. For example, what are things you would go help a neighbor do?

Really with anything, putting away hay, we've done that lots of times, or building a barn, we've done that, too. Or even a house, too. If they need help, a day or so, we'll come together and help each other. I know back in the day, we used to help each other. Someone does hay, and then everyone helps this person do hay, then that person also... It's just a group effort. This person, this person, this person, all around the community. But that doesn't really happen anymore. Most Amish, they still farm a little bit, but most of them do construct production or building cabinets.

Oh, it's changed? Yeah. So the Amish are farming less than they used to?

Yeah, because it's not as sustainable anymore. When my dad was growing up, all they do is farm and milk cows. They milk a lot of cows.

So what are some popular products? You said cabinets and stuff. You see a lot of those. You see cabinets, you see furnaces sometimes. I don't know if that's a real thing or that's just something that is made up and they claim that Amish do it.

You mean like, wild up furnaces? Now, I'm not sure quite where those come from. Like the furnaces because there's wilding to it. Now, they might get it from a person that's not Amish. Got it. They might get them from there.

The biggest shift in Amish economic life in the last Carpentry has been from agriculture to non-farm businesses. In the early 1900s, nearly all Amish families depended on farming for their livelihood. Today, only about 10% do, with the majority now involved in various trades, crafts, retail. Then four, what are some I'm not sure what's the word for those. Construction and woodworking, carpentry, cabinet making, and now famous Amish furniture shops. That is a big thing now, huh? Quilt making, sewing-related trades.

Yeah, selling Amish food, too, and quilts, and a lot of stuff like that.

It's a big part of the culture up there. Yeah, it is. And will you guys have places on your property where people come and buy them, or do you take them off property and people buy them there?

Usually, if you have a greenhouse or a A place where you can buy food and stuff, that's usually a little building on the property.

Like a market?

Yeah, like a market. Or there's a farmer's market where Amish go to a town for a day and they bring all the bait goods and stuff like that. And there's also a lot of Amish places, a lot of places where Amish are. Was like tours, they offer tours and then they bring them around. And then it's like the Amish Mall, but it's like the stores are really far apart from each other, a couple of miles. But they bring them around and they get to see an Amish farm. I think they're called Amish tours, like tourist stuff like that. Okay. And then you can stop at the Amish place and buy something from the store and stuff.

Got it. Yeah. We've been up there before and stopped at some places that I think we're having cheese and ice cream, maybe even. Yeah. I'm not sure.

But usually, we only make ice cream through the winter because you just grab the snow out of the and put it in a bucket.

Could you make ice cream if you needed to?

Yeah. If we had ice or something cold, you put it around the thing where you make ice cream because you got to crank the ice cream. You crank and then the thing in the middle spins around the ice. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So Amish ice cream is pretty good.

What music do you guys listen to? I know you said in the beginning, there's some different... Sometimes people sneak in some Def Leopard. But if not, do you guys just sing a lot? Is there a lot of Amish songs in dancing as well or In our community, there's not really any dancing.

The only music, the songs that are really a louder would be like chairman hums. But then sometimes we sneak out on the weekends and stuff, Listen to some Soulja Boy or something? Yeah. What is it? Like Def Leopard, Bon Chauvi. A lot of Amish rock and roll, and then I guess house EDM music. Then also a lot of country, Garth Brooks, Mark-N-Wallen, people like that. But I also listen to a little bit of rap stuff. Amish Paradise, that's a pretty good song. Amish Paradise? Yeah.

Keepsman. Who sang that?

We're at LL, I did. Oh, did he?

That makes perfect sense.

That's Groovy. Yeah. Amish Paradise, I love that song.

That's a banger, huh?

It is a banger. Yeah. He looks a little bit mad there, but it was a pretty good song.

He probably pissed his horse ran off or whatever.

Yeah, something like that because his horse is pretty good at backing all the way at the end. Yeah. Then also, I like to listen a little bit of rap stuff, too. Oh, yeah? Yeah, like Ghana, a little bit of Ghana.

Oh, you listen to some Ghana?

Yeah. I don't really listen to what he says. I looked at the lyrics a couple of times. The lyrics aren't the best, but I like the way it sounds. It sounds like wind chimes, and then it sounds very melodic.

He's a vibe. Yeah, he's got it. What else was I thinking about? Where else can we go from here? We're almost done. Let me think about what else we can talk about. You know what I'm going to do, Tim? I'm going to take that down and keep this up here.

That's pretty cool.

I'm just going to make sure that you're always here in spirit, dude.

I appreciate that.

You bet, man. I want to ask you something. With the risk of people leaving the community and stuff, are families still very close or do they only get closer after where people join the church? Does that make any sense to you?

I think it does. Most of the time, the family is very close unless when the kids and the parents, they don't agree on stuff and then they leave, that's the time when they're not as close anymore. It depends on the person, I guess, and the parents, too.

Is it pretty heartbreaking when that happens in the community?

Yeah. When I was younger, when someone left, it's almost like someone Not quite, but it almost felt like that. But since I got older, I understand it a bit more, and it's not as bad as it used to be. Yeah.

Wow, that's you right there?

Yeah. I was really skinny when I was younger. I'm still skinny.

You look like that guy in Kingpin a little. You've seen Kingpin?

No idea what that is.

It's like an Amish movie. It's like a historical Amish film or whatever.

Oh, I almost look like that dude.

When he's younger?

Yeah.

Not now. When he's younger, but he's a classic guy. He's a great guy.

Yeah, he looks like a great guy, too. Oh, yeah.

Randy Quaid.

He's got a big beard now.

Yeah, he's doing okay. Yeah. I'm a fan of his. What have you decided about Rum Springer and what you're going to do with your family and the church and stuff? Have you made any decisions yet?

Not yet. The final decision will probably be within two years or so. Okay. And then it depends if I leave or join the church. Well, right now, you actually can't join the church because there's no bishop. You can join other churches that are a little bit away in a different district. But yeah, it'll probably be two years until I make my final decision because it's a big decision.

What would be the thing you think that would draw you out of the faith that would draw you out of the church and out of the district?

I would think if I wanted to do something, something I'm doing right now, this podcast, like something worldly, and they'd probably come down on me for doing something. That, I guess, would drive me away a little bit because I don't know, it feels a little bit restrictive, but I guess that's the only thing I would think.

But you don't feel like doing this podcast will mess up your opportunity to go back or leave, huh?

No, I don't think it will.

Okay, good. I don't want that to happen, man. I want you to be able to make the best choice for yourself, no matter what. It sounds like a really beautiful community, is it?

Yeah, it's very beautiful, I'd say.

It sounds like you have a lot of community, a lot of sense of togetherness. Do you feel a strong sense of purpose being Amish?

Yeah. I'll pull the honor. Work hard. The harder you work, the better because you stay in shape. And then you More you can help out is always better because I love helping out people and making people stay. That's one of my favorite things to do. I like doing that. It's a lot of fun.

I think it's important. I think that's one way we really fill ourselves up is doing something for somebody else. It feels good.

Yeah.

It's like-It seems like you get to do a lot of that in your community. There's probably a strong sense of feeling of doing good. Yeah, there is. If you guys are helping each other out a lot. Are siblings really close in your community, or is that not-You mean the siblings?

Yeah. Yeah, usually the siblings are usually close. Not like weird close, just like brother and brother.

Legally close or whatever.

Yeah, legally close. Usually, the brothers and the sisters, They're used to keep the... The sisters are closer to themselves and their brothers are closer to themselves. For sure. Yeah. For sure. Here's my little brother.

Oh, that's him right there, eh?

Yeah. He doesn't He probably wouldn't care if I put his face up on social media and stuff. But I blurt it out. I put a thing over his eyes. Out of respect. Yeah.

That's fun, though, you guys. A lot of times when you're on this, you just driving around, hanging out, telling stories and stuff, making each other laugh a lot? Yeah. Are you allowed to laugh?

Yeah, you're allowed to laugh. We drink coffee and laugh. At work, we're laughing a lot of time. We talk. When you're I don't know if not Amish people, I don't know what they do when they work. Do they talk to each other and laugh and stuff?

Yeah, they do, I think, a decent amount at a lot of jobs. Probably jobs that are more like if you're doing construction, things like that, contracting, things where you're building stuff, working together, where there's team opportunity. There's a lot of laughter, dude. But if you're just sitting at a desk by yourself, you're probably just losing your mind.

Yeah, that would be sad. Being inside all day and under the lights and stuff.

Oh, yeah. I think there's something that's like it doesn't feel very human about it. No. Are there a lot of people on antidepressants and stuff that are Amish or no?

Not that I know of. There might be maybe everyone here, here, and maybe way over there, but not that I know of. No.

Do people seem depressed a lot or not really?

Most of them don't. But then you also have sometimes people that are like... What do you call those people that are super depressed? Sometimes Sometimes they're super depressed.

They're almost like the water when it gets rough, they're up and down a lot. Bipolar?

Yeah, bipolar. I don't know if a person that has that. It's crazy.

Some studies have found Ammon's depression rates to be one-fifth to one-tenth of mainstream society with strong family ties and community support side as protective factors. That's unbelievable. One-fifth to one-tenth is insane, brother. I I mean, that's a huge difference. Strong family ties, robust social networks, work ethic, and especially religious faith are seen as major mental health protective factors. Will you guys pray together a lot just with friends? If you see them somewhere, is that a common practice?

No, we only do at the table. Got it. But I know some families do pray more than we do. We should probably do it more.

I think that's how we all feel. Do you have Valentine's Day?

Oh, yeah. We have Valentine's at school. What happens in Valentine's Day is at school, so when that happens, it would basically we put things on a paper and we put it into a hat and then we mix it all up. Then someone walks around and then you reach in and you pick out a name. And if you got that name, then that's your Valentine. You got to switch Lunge Pails. And then you also have to send a Valentine in with them.

And can it be a boy or a girl?

Yeah, it can be either way. Got Yeah. So it's like nothing... It's probably way different from non-Omish and public schools, because I'm guessing non-Omish and public schools, it would have to be like a boy and a girl, right? Yeah.

But in your culture, it's just whatever.

Yeah, it's crazy. The way we do it is just the reason we do it is mainly your friends. You give your friends a Valentine, and then you also switch like lunch pails. And then the moms will usually put something special in there, like NX or Candy Bar. My mom used to buy those things from Walmart, those big red hearts, and then send that with to her.

Oh, yeah, that's nice. Yeah. Moms do that. Yeah. That's a nice thing. What other holidays? Do you have Halloween?

No, we don't have Halloween, but I've had... Before I went to Roomspring, the neighbors, our non-Almish neighbors, they picked me up and then Then they put me in a prison costume thing, I had black and white stripes all over me, and we went out and gathering candy. You just walk up to these people's houses and they have candy for you. I know. Yeah, it's crazy. Halloween is really crazy. But a lot of them, a lot of Amish don't celebrate because apparently that's the occasion of Halloween. It's something to do with the devil. I'm not quite sure.

Yeah, I know what you're talking about. It's a pagan holiday. Yeah.

Because some people have real scary stuff in the yard. They got snakes and then these dead people with skulls and stuff.

Yeah, stuff hanging from trees, deceased adults and children.

Yeah, they're like bone stuff. I don't know where they get the bones. So they dick them out or something.

It's probably something. They probably have insider trading with some dog or something. What is something that you want people to know about how much people are a view of them, or you think that's something that's incorrect before we get out of here?

Like a misconception? Yeah. One of the biggest I see all the time with me being online and stuff, it's crazy. All the stuff. People say, I'm not Amish. I don't do this way. There's actually two misconception I can say. Number one is a lot of Amish kids my age have phones. They hide it from their parents and stuff. Where it's like they have some electronics and stuff, but they have to keep it on the low and stuff.

And what will they do? Bury it in a field somewhere? Were they hide it behind a hog or something?

How do you guys even-Yeah, hide it in the barn, the back of the Bucky, sometimes in a culvert and hope it doesn't rain. Yeah. So that's one thing. A lot of Amish have phones, and pretty much every Amish that has a phone that's my age, that's not for business and stuff, they have Snapchat. That's how we communicate. That's our new messenger pitch.

It's your underground railroad.

Yeah, it's underground railroad. I was thinking about starting underground Bucky races, but I first got to dig the and stuff. But another misconception about the Amish is... What was it? Oh, yeah. About me not being Amish because I have a phone. Because another thing that's huge, really big, because there's Amish in movies, and they always turn on the butter. Basically, they're living without electricity. Now, there's so many different Amish. Because what you hear from me, from where I came from, it will not be the same from an Amish in Indiana, Ohio, or Pennsylvania. There's so many different ones, little different ways.

Different branches of it.

Yeah, lots of different branches. I would say there's not a single community that's exactly the same. There's always a little bit of rules, and there's so many different branches of it where they wear a bit different clothes, a bit different hats, do things a bit differently. Because I've had people say, This is not Amish, and then they write a detailed description. But I guess they probably don't know better that there's lots of different ones because there's lots. There's speechies, Schwartz and Trooper, New Order, Old Order. There's so many different branches.

Oh my gosh, it sounds like a bunch of people on the Warp tour. Yeah.

So when the Anabaptus became a thing, they were a minority for a little bit.

Have you ever seen Back to the Future?

No. Dang, boy. What? What's I think you would like it.

I think it's something that is Amish-appropriate. I don't think it's too crazy.

Okay.

I think you could handle it. Have you ever seen Family Man with Nicolas Cage? No. Do you know who Nicolas Cage is?

Not even quite sure. Wow. Wow. So these are movies and stuff?

Yeah. Oh, wow. Family Man is one of my favorites, dude.

So what's that about?

It's about this guy, and he's very rich and fancy and stuff. And then one day, Something happens where he goes back into his life 20 years earlier, and he makes a different decision to stay with a girl that he was in love with instead of leaving.

He goes back in time?

Yeah, he goes back in time. He doesn't realize that he falls asleep. It's on Christmas, he falls asleep on Christmas Eve, and he wakes up, and he's back in a different life he would have had if he had made a different choice to stay in love instead of to go for the big job in the fancy apartment.

He went for the money over people.

He went for the money over people, and he had a choice. And he goes back in time, and now suddenly, he wakes up, and he's in a house with this lady that he was in love with. But now they have two kids, and they don't live in... He was living in this fancy downtown place with a butler and somebody that would chew your gum for you and just tell you what it would taste like. You don't even have to chew it. That rich.

That's super rich. It's too much.

I'll chew my own gum. You know what I'm saying?

I want to chew my own gum, drink my own water. Yeah, stuff like that.

Yeah, for sure. I want to at least do that. Let me do at least the low-hanging fruit. But anyway, so then he gets that experience, and then one day he wakes back up and he's back in his original life, and he hates it. And so he drives off from his original life to go find the girl and see what's going on, and then you figure out what happens from there.

Wow, that's crazy. Almost sounds like when he went back in time and stuff, or like, what would have happened if he would have stayed with that girl? That's almost like me deciding if I want to stay Amish or leave the Amish.

Yeah, it's like a rum springer.

Yeah, it's a really hard decision.

What factors do you think will go into you choosing? What do you think are good factors to help you decide, or do you think about that?

I think it's what I will all see from the outside world, and I'll probably compare it to and see which one I like. I like the Amish lifestyle of food, and all that stuff is good. The only thing right now that I don't like too much at a rules a little bit. Oh, yeah? Yeah, but that's what Rome Spring is for you to break them.

Get out there and break them. But do you have any plans to go to any special events coming up by your own, Rome Spring? Any football games, anything like that?

The only special event The skydive coming up is actually this weekend. I'm going to go on a plane for the first time. Wow. Yeah, and jump out of it. No, really?

Yeah.

I'm going to... Because let's say something goes wrong when you're landing. So I want to be off the plane when it's up in the air. Yeah, for sure. And go skydiving.

Dude, that's going to be sick. Are you geet?

I'm really excited. So this week is... I think this is a week I'll never forget. Wow. It's really, really crazy. So, yeah, no one knows this. I haven't told anyone.

I won't say anything.

It's crazy. Let's go skydiving for the first time. But I think, don't they put... They strap a person on the back of you.

They put a guy on you, yeah. I just tell them you're not interested before you guys jump. Yeah. Just say, look.

I'm not interested.

I'm here for the jump.

I'm here for a jump only. I don't want him getting any ideas.

He had no ideas at all. When we land, it's over.

Yeah, right. That's what the plan is. Because I was thinking, I was talking to my co-autor at the alley. I was thinking, that would be a really crazy story. The first airplane ride you ever go into, you just decided, I don't want to... I just got to jump out. I'm out of here. I'm out of here.

So it'll be the first plane you've ever been in, and then you're I'm out of it.

I'm out of it, yeah. Wow. And then same way with a podcast, I decided, the first podcast I ever be on would be Theo Ron's because you're a pretty cool dude.

Well, thank you, dude. I think you are, too, man. I'm really intrigued by you guys's lifestyle. I think I learned a decent amount about it today. There probably could have been some other avenues about it that I could have asked about. But I appreciate you coming, bro. I really do.

I appreciate you inviting me.

I admire you guys having a unique culture. I think there's a lot of people in the world that are trying to get back to the roots of their culture and things that matter and mean something. So I almost feel like you guys are already there in some ways.

Yeah, in some ways, yeah. Some people, it feels like It's not grounded anymore to family and stuff. They're just doing really crazy stuff. But if you touch grass every day, you're outside every day. I'm outside all the time. That's why I'm so dark, almost like Mexican, but I'm not. But yeah, it's really crazy. Well-i appreciate it a lot for you inviting me. This is a really crazy experience coming out here to town and then me sleep in 10 stories, up 10 stories. I know. That's the first time I've ever slept that high.

Oh, you're in a hotel that's really high? Yeah. You never done that?

No, I haven't. Wow. It's my first time ever staying in a big city like this. It's like, I'll never forget it. That's awesome. Yeah.

Well, good, man. Timothée, I appreciate it, man. Thank you so much, dude, for your time. Thanks for coming out to my show. Yeah, just thanks for being here with us and helping us learn, brother.

I appreciate it, dude. All right, man.

I appreciate it. Thanks for my hat, too, dude.

Dude, that's the least I could do.

It was nice. When I get close, dude, I'm coming by for some coffee soup, all right?

Yes, sir. With me. Yes. You got it. All right. Now, I'm just floating on the breeze, and I feel I'm falling like these leaves I must be cornerstone. Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind I found I can feel it in my bones. But it's going to take.