Presents three stories about Amish girls and their gardens.

An Amish Garden: A Year in the Life of an Amish Garden takes you to six working Amish gardens, from January through December. Matchless photos show the garden asleep, the Amish women putting together their orders for seeds, the preparation of the soil, parents and children planting, the emerging plants, the lush harvest, the food being preserved. This close-up of a world seldom seen shows how the seasons and Amish life work rhythmically together. Laura Anne Lapp lives with her husband and three young sons in a tucked-away valley. Gardening is simply the highpoint of her year. Step apart and enter this pastoral world of hard work, sturdy families, the freshest of flowers and produce, all in harmony with the seasons.

The first book to examine the complexity of sexual identity, philosophy, and behavior in Amish culture. The Amish offer a startling contrast to the postmodern view of sexuality and gender roles. After the sexual revolution of the 1960s, mainstream American culture never looked back. Meanwhile, the Amish never looked forward. In twenty-first-century Amish communities, heteronormative sexuality is still based on a unifying principle: an understanding of sexuality as emerging from a divine plan. In the eyes of the Amish, sex is squandered by those who embrace it as hedonistic or who carve out a sexual identity that moves them away from that singular, God-given purpose. But this communal emphasis on sex for procreation does not mean that the Amish do not possess a complex range of sexual identities and opinions. In Serpent in the Garden, clinical psychologist James A. Cates breaks new ground in the study of Amish sexuality by examining this shrouded, rarely discussed subject. The first book to bring Amish sexuality into primary focus, this volume argues that, because the Amish are a sexual minority, queer theory is the ideal framework from which to observe their views on sex, sexuality, and gender. The book offers a broad view of sexuality in Amish culture that includes the challenges that gays and lesbians face in the community, as well as an exploration of Amish gender roles, their views toward intimacy, their responses to cases of child sexual abuse, and the role of fetishes among the Amish. Cates draws from multiple perspectives and years of research on the Amish themselves. He also looks at pushback against alternative behaviors or identities, as well as Amish success in keeping mainstream values at bay. With this book, Cates establishes Amish sexuality as a topic worthy of professional attention. Offering readers a more sophisticated understanding of the Amish and of sexual expression among cultures, Serpent in the Garden will appeal to scholars working on gender and sexuality, the Amish, and social service professionals who serve the Amish community.

You too can learn the special gardening secrets the Amish use to produce huge tomato plants and bountiful harvests. Information packed 800-plus collection for you to tinker with and enjoy.There's something for everyone in Amish Gardening Secrets. This BIG collection contains over 800 gardening hints, suggestions, time savers and tonics that have been passed down over the years in Amish communities and elsewhere.

Young Amish couples tend to a community garden and harvest friendships and love along the way in this new story collection by bestselling author Amy Clipston. Spring Is in the Air: As the young people of Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, plant a garden in memory of their friend, Katie Ann begins to worry that her older brother, Ephraim, is dating her best friend. What if she somehow loses them both? But Christian, a new boy in the community, also works in the garden—and falling for him may be exactly the distraction, and lesson, that Katie Ann needs. Home by Summer: Clara Hertzler is surprised when Jerry Petersheim, her old friend, comes to the garden to drop off his younger sister—especially because Jerry has been gone for years, and now seems to be living as an Englisher. As the friends get to know each other again, Clara pushes Jerry to examine why he abandoned his Amish beliefs. Will Clara help Jerry renew his faith in God, and will they find love beneath the summer sun? The Fruits of Fall: Tena Speicher has come to live in Bird-in-Hand after her fiancé left her for an English woman. When a stranger comes to the fruit stand one day and asks for food, Tena is not sure how to respond—but Wayne intervenes and offers to let him stay in the barn. Afraid to trust Englishers, Tena must learn, with Wayne’s help, that everyone is a child of God and deserving of kindness. Winter Blessings: Ephraim and Mandy have dated for some time and now have plans to marry. But after a series of unexpected events and misunderstandings, they wonder if they should go their separate ways. What will happen when their friends at the Amish garden conspire to bring them back together? Each story in this sweet, contemporary collection can be read as a standalone, but the stories are best enjoyed together. Book length: approximately 95,000 words. Also includes a reading group guide and an Amish glossary. “One story slides into the next, woven together effortlessly with the author’s knowledge of the Amish life. Once started, you can’t put this book down.” —Suzanne Woods Fisher, bestselling author of The Devoted

Each year, millions of tourists are drawn to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to experience first-hand the quintessential pastoral--both as an escape from urban life and as a rare opportunity to become immersed in history. The area has attracted visitors eager to catch a glimpse of the distinctive religious community of the Old Order Amish, to appreciate the beauty of the farmland, to enjoy the abundant and delicious food of the Pennsylvania Dutch...and, most recently, to shop at the area's outlet malls. For nearly three hundred years, Lancaster county has been a model of agricultural prosperity, rooted in the family farm. The rural character of the place remains Lancaster's predominant tourist attraction, but is at odds with its rapidly rising population and the commercial and residential growth that has brought. It is the tension between rural tradition, progress, and urbanization that lies at the core of Garden Spot. David Walbert examines how twentieth century American culture has come to define and appreciate rurality, and how growth and economic expansion can co-exist with preservation of the traditional ways of life in the region. Will small farms fail in a culture that has increasingly come to value productivity over quality of life? What impact will further development have on maintaining this region's character? Can rurality and progress co-exist in the 21st century? A vivid portrayal of the land and people, residents and outsiders alike, Garden Spot narrates the history of this region and considers the challenges Lancaster County and its people face in order to preserve their unique place.

A Son for Always by Amy Clipston (Previously published in An Amish Cradle) Carolyn and Joshua are thrilled to be expecting their first child together. Carolyn was a teenager when she had her son, Benjamin, and she feels solely responsible to secure his future. As Joshua watches Carolyn struggle to accept his support, he knows he must find some way to convince her that she—and Ben—will always be taken care of. A Love for Irma Rose by Beth Wiseman (Previously published in An Amish Year) The year is 1957, and young Irma Rose has a choice to make. Date the man who is “right” for her? Or give Jonas a chance, the wild and reckless suitor who refuses to take no for an answer? Irma Rose steps onto the path she believes God has planned for her, but when she loses her footing, she is forced to rethink her choice. Where Healing Blooms by Vannetta Chapman (Previously published in An Amish Garden) Widow Emma Hochstetter finds her quiet life interrupted when she discovers a run-away teenager in her barn, and then the bishop asks her to provide a haven for a local woman and her two children. Then, her mother-in-law, Mary Ann, reveals one of her garden's hidden secrets, something very unexpected.