An Amish Garden, Laura Anne Lapp

An Amish Garden: A Year in the Life of an Amish Garden, Laura Anne Lapp. 
ISBN: 978-1561487929

Read August 26

Oversized photo-journal of Amish gardening practices and thoughts on life.  Photos by Jeremy Hess.

 

I liked this, and was interested in how many of the photographs showed the children's faces - apparently the not-being-photographed stricture is more for adults?  I also liked that the author was straightforward about her personal likes and dislikes, although I thought it was interesting that such an averred "bad gardener" would be so interested in doing a book about gardening. Apparently she likes flower-gardening better, but there was very little mention of flowers throughout the year's narrative.  Perhaps this is a cultural disconnect - with her insisting that she's "bad" at gardening to counteract the hubris of writing a book about it?  It was an odd note.

 

I was interested in the little ways that Amish lifestyles and culture slipped through the cracks of the story - mentioning that their house was designed for both Amish and English people, the eldest boy heading off to school on his scooter, the casual mention of eating on the porch because the house is hot during the summer (no electricity means no AC) and other little bits that just flit by without emphasis.

 

Interesting look at a part of Amish life that hasn't gotten much attention (that I'm aware of) so far.