Amish Tools
The Amish do not reject modern technology; rather, they carefully choose what technologies to accept. With their focus on religion, family and community, any new-fangled tool that might turn them away from their community and fellowship will be shunned. For years Amish farmers struggled with possessing farm machinery that could greatly increase the productivity of the farm. Early tractors were adopted and used in the 1920s, but church elders of the community felt that owning tractors would lead to wanting and owning cars, so the tractors were banned from use in the fields by 1923. Horse-drawn farming methods are still the norm in most Amish communities.
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Household Tools
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While you might find a gas or propane stove or refrigerator in some Amish households, usually you will find a wood cook stove, and an old-fashioned spring house is used to keep foods cold. Amish farm houses rely on kerosene lanterns and oil lamps for light. Different styles of butter churns grace the kitchen when butter is being churned from cream. Amish women do their baking and cooking using hand tools, such as food mills and rolling pins and cook the food in or on the wood-fired stove. Canning meat, fruits and vegetables on the stove is a constant feature of the Amish kitchen.
Barn Tools
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Horses are work animals on an Amish farm, and harnesses are used to hook the horses to wagons, buggies and plows. The Amish keep hand tools such as axes and saws, butchering tools and woodworking tools in outbuildings and the barn. Most items that would have been found on a 19th century farm are still in use at Amish farms. Feeding bins for horses, goats and dairy cows are in the barn as well as milking stands or stalls for gathering milk from the goats and cows.
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Farm Equipment
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Wagons, manure spreaders, plows, seed sprayers and hay-cutting tools are all used by Amish farmers. During harvest, a gas-driven threshing machine is used at each farm for threshing the grain. A few Amish farms might have steam-driven tractors, but usually farm work is done by draft horses pulling plows and cultivators. Amish children learn farming at their parents' side, and occasionally you will see a young Amish girl or boy plowing using a team of three huge draft horses.
In the Community
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If not busy farming, many Amish men will be woodworking or sawmilling. Farm sawmills are common, with wood mizers and chippers run by diesel or gas engines. Woodworking shops could have table saws, joiners, planers and band saws run by diesel. Many Amish are fine woodworkers, crafting cabinetry using traditional hand tools.
The Amish use horse-drawn buggies for transportation in their communities, though when they need to travel some distance, they will take a Greyhound bus or train. An Amish family might hire someone from outside of their community to drive them to a distant location as well.
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