Yes, the Amish use Amazon

I learned the Amish have a better command of modern technology than most professional companies in America this year

PART 6

(continued)

Like anyone alive in 2024, I thought the Amish had close to zero understanding of modern technology, electricity, and the internet. When I called them up in 2023 to put in a gravel driveway for me, I figured they had a non-Amish person at their company answer a sort of track phone, with a memory card and no internet.

Everything changed the day I met the Amish brothers who would go on to build out my entire property for me. I watched just one Amish man use modern construction machinery and generator-powered tools to install the driveway by himself.

“That’s weird, I didn’t think the Amish were ‘allowed’ to use modern machinery?” I thought to myself.

When I visited John and Sam’s homes this past winter, I noticed while there was no electricity in the house, there were propane-powered appliances, like in-floor radiant heat. They had seemingly struck a balance of living in moderate comfort while also keeping technology out of their homes.

Still, I had no idea their grasp on technology until my barn project began. In the midst of the exterior barn construction towards the end of March 2024, their cheery driver told me to follow him to his truck for a moment. I obliged, not sure what he was about to give me.

He reached into his backseat and pulled out my book, Freelance Your Way to Freedom, which I published in 2022.

“I… I had no idea you bought my book!” I said.

“We all did. Sam and John already read it - I need to finish it this week,” said their driver.

I was floored. The Amish… had used Amazon… to order my book? They read MY book?

“I would love to have you sign it,” continued their driver.

“I… of course! Wow, I had no idea you guys even knew my professional background,” I said.

Up until that point, I figured the Amish knew - or cared - little about my social media, freelance writing, and digital marketing background. I knew they were aware I did ‘stuff’ online and wanted me to film them here-and-there. But to go ahead and find my book, order it, and read it… I realized I underestimated their command of technology.

“They’re allowed to order things on Amazon?” I said to the driver.

“Here’s where things can get complicated. Every Amish community is different. What their bishop says… goes. In their community, they are allowed to use communal technology at a third party location. It is not to permeate their homes. There is a laptop that is available to them to further advance their businesses. The importance here is that the technology not control them or their personal lives, but rather, be used sparingly to advance their business,” he said.

How interesting… the Amish had curated a lifestyle where technology is used as needed while not completely controlling their every thought. The Amish could maintain their unwavering focus on their worksites, while also dipping into the world of Amazon as needed to really augment their projects.

The world of Amish Amazon

I showed up to my property one day this past April while the Amish were hard at work. John beckoned me over to come review some papers with him out of the back of one of their driver’s trucks. Usually, these meetings were to go over the budget, future costs, and money owed. As you can guess, they only accept check as payment (smart men, skipping the percentage owed to credit card companies and banks).

As I walked over to the truck, I saw a spread of papers with printed lighting fixtures on them. John had looked up fixtures he thought would match my barn best, printed them out, and presented them to me to choose that day on my land.

Shocked, again, I looked up at him and said, “Wow, John, these are all amazing options.” The Amish have impeccable interior design taste, let me tell you.

We spent some time going over their features and he gave me the sheets to take home. The next day, he texted me using his track phone to tell me he had printed out more options and didn’t feel like the first round of selections were up-to-par.

We looked over the new options inside the barn, and agreed on the Westinghouse lighting fixture you can see in the photo below.

“I think I want to go with this one,” I said. “I like that it has a classic barn look, without it being too overpowering.” He beamed a huge smile at me, saying, “I am glad you like that one. That’s the one I wanted to go with, too.”

This would not be the first or last time the Amish used Amazon to find some of the coolest accessories and fixtures for my barn.

Later that week, John came up to me with more printed papers, showing me a bluetooth-connected fan that he recommended for the barn.

“The fan comes with transparent, retractable blades so you can make them more discreet depending on the kind of event you’re hosting,” he said. “It also has bluetooth, so it will connect to your phone and double as a speaker. That way, you don’t need to buy a sound system.”

Shocked, yet again, that he had such a good grasp on bluetooth technology, I told him that sounded absolutely perfect.

I began to realize that the Amish take their professions so seriously that they spend time getting to know the latest tools, gadgets, and tech-powered fixtures to better service their clients in present day. Even if they don’t live with bluetooth in their homes, it doesn’t mean they don’t spend the time learning about these inventions to be the very best excavators, designers, and construction professionals possible.

Meanwhile, my property’s electricity saga was giving me shortness of breath

While all of this is happening, in the background, I was fighting for my life with National Grid and the county. I had gotten the easement papers signed by my neighbor. At that point, I thought I was in the clear. With the papers signed, National Grid came out to my property and placed markers where they intended to install the electric poles.

I knew there was a chance they would take their sweet time actually installing the poles.

With the markers in place, a few weeks went by and I heard nothing. I finally called up the electric grid designer and asked if there was anything I could do to speed this process along.

“It’s out of my control now. I submitted the design to the county weeks ago. It’s in their office. I don’t know what to tell you,” he said.

“So the county could just… not look at the design for months?” I asked.

“It depends. It’s out of my control now,” said the designer.

“Can I call the county to ask about the status of the permit?” I asked.

“You can try,” he said.

I spent that afternoon playing telephone tag, calling up different people with county office phone numbers. I finally found the right person towards the end of the day by calling the Public Works Department.

The phone rang and rang. I left a message.

The next morning, I saw a call coming in from the county. I answered it immediately.

“Hi there, this is (I’ll call him Bob) Bob at the Public Works Department. I got your message,” he said.

“Oh hi Bob, it’s so nice to meet you. Look, I have been having a hard time with National Grid. They have not been communicative. They advised me to call you to check on the status of the electric permit. I have a farm that is almost done and I desperately need electricity to get the water out of my well,” I said.

“He advised you to call me? That’s something he should be doing. Give me the address,” he said.

I did.

“That permit got shelved because the designer sent over two different designs to us in the last few months with zero phone calls. He’s supposed to provide context as to why we have two designs. I don’t know which is the right one here,” said Bob.

Thank God I called… I thought to myself.

“That’s because I had a neighbor go back on his promise to sign easement papers. The most recent design is the final one,” I said.

Bob chuckled at the fact that I was doing National Grid’s job for them.

“Alright, I’ll tell you what, you sound like a nice woman, I will go ahead and try and head out to the property this week to take a look at their design. If all looks well, I will sign the permit next week,” said Bob.

Wow - I figured I was close to finally getting my electric. Little did I know…

When Bob came to my property that week, he failed the electric design. Well, he declined to issue a permit and told National Grid they had to move the markers. National Grid called me and told me if they had to move the markers, I needed new easement papers signed, and that this would take months.

I hung up the phone and for the first time throughout this project, I started crying. Loudly.

I called up my mom and told her what was happening.

“I don’t know what to do,” I cried. “I don’t think I am going to get electricity. I think I may have made the biggest financial mistake of my life.”

My mom boarded a plane later that week to come up here and help me sort this out. I called up both Bob and National Grid and convinced them to meet for a mediation session at my land. In disbelief I had to do this, my mom was there with me while we watched both parties yell at each other from the side of my property. The county refused to budge on their marker placement and National Grid held firm that I had to redo the entire process.

My mom started crying in the street. We begged them to do anything they could. Their hatred for each other was tangible. I knew hell would freeze over before they got along. We left the meeting feeling unsure about what was going to happen. By God’s grace, at 4:30PM that day (I remember the time), National Grid called, telling me they had changed the design and would not require me to get new easement papers signed.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, more than you will ever know, thank you,” I said.

“We have never had a county reject permits like this. Good luck with that guy,” said National Grid.

Bob signed the permit later that week. I couldn’t believe it. I am not sure it would have happened without my mom staring these two in the face with tears in her eyes.

About five-weeks later, as June loomed over the horizon, I saw something I never thought I’d see at my property (I started this electric saga in December 2023).

I saw a National Grid truck pull up with two electric poles in tow. My jaw dropped. Tears burst out of my eyes. I had to run out of my barn before I started uncontrollably sobbing. I sent this picture to my mom and said, ‘we did it.’

National Grid took about 7-days to install both poles and the electricity. The Amish were ecstatic, since electric connectivity impacted their ability to finish the job as well. It matters to them that things are totally and excellently completed.

Upon seeing the National Grid truck, the Amish put in a call to their electrician.

Yes, Amish electricians exist. And they are fantastic.

The electrician, Jacob, and his son came to the barn the following week. They blew me away, just like all the prior Amish I had worked with. He completed the over 30+ outlets in the main barn, 15 outlets in the tack room, and 7 outlets in the loft, as well as all the lighting fixtures, generator plug, and exit lights.

The town hit us with the requirement to have three hardwired exit signs AFTER the Amish had finished their wood-working. The electrician figured out how to install the lights without tearing out the wood OR having exposed wires.

He worked nonstop for a week to get everything hooked up, with his son at his side, honored to be learning the trade of his father.

Every day when Jacob was done working, he would spend at least 30-minutes with his son sweeping the space and leaving it spotless. He would constantly ask me, “Does this look good to you, Alex? I want to make sure you’re happy with the angles and placements.”

Every single time, I told him it looked perfect… because it did.

Up until this point, I did not realize how many lights the Amish had planned to have installed in my barn. They placed 8 exterior lights, hardwired lanterns under the loft, 4 sets of lights in the bathroom, 1 set of chandeliers, 1 set of bay lights, 2 bluetooth fans, and more outlets than I could ever need in the barn.

They also went ahead and asked their electrician to install a light and an outlet in the bunny shed I had delivered the week prior. I didn’t even ask!

Additionally, they put in a generator plug for me on the backside of barn, also without me asking, figuring I may use it in the future if the grid ever goes down. Some may call them conspiracy theorists… I call them smart.

After a week of hard work, a National Grid debacle I will never forget, lots of tears and some shortness of breath… the day finally came in the middle of June when I turned on the lights inside the barn for the very first time.

It still hasn’t hit me. I learned a lot about bringing utilities to undeveloped land, which I will continue to write about here. But more importantly, I learned that the Amish had managed to do what no one else in our modern society has done - they have TAMED technology.

Amazon doesn’t control them - they control how they use Amazon. And if we are being realistic here, all of us non-Amish are controlled by technology. It rules our lives.

The balance these people have struck between leveraging technology when it’s necessary and removing it from everyday living is remarkable. It, without a doubt, contributes to their innate happiness. I don’t know a single other group of people who have managed to keep the internet’s grips at bay, while also being aware of technological advancements in the world.

I also learned about different ways to enjoy modern amenities without necessarily relying on the grid. For example: I have propane-powered heat and a generator plug that allows things to continue running without electricity. It never hurts to learn about these alternative methods!

So, are the Amish shivering around a candle in the middle of February, living like it’s 1732? No. They’re enjoying their in-floor radiant heat and a nice book while the sun goes down, ready to walk to their communal laptop office to close some business deals. There is a lot we can learn here.

Next week, I will dive into permitting battles throughout this process, how the Amish navigated it, and where that leaves me with my property today. I have so much more to share and greatly appreciate any and all subscribers!

I am hoping to entirely fund my farm via Substack so I can give out seeds, plants, and food for free in 2025. Thank you for subscribing!

To read part 5, click here.

To read part 4, click here.

To read part 3, click here.

To read part 2, click here.

To read part 1, click here.