- Steven Haste has lived among the Amish and Mennonites his whole life
- He said he preferred their simple way of life and strong sense of community
- He explained if anyone in the community needed help, they all came together
A man who lives in remote Kentucky among strict Amish and Mennonites has revealed what their isolated communities are really like – from living without electricity, internet, and cellphones to driving around in horse and buggies.
For his whole life, Steven Haste has resided in a community in Casey County, Kentucky, that is made up prominently of Amish and Mennonite people – two religious groups who believe in living a traditionalist lifestyle.
And while he doesn’t consider himself Amish or Mennonite and doesn’t follow their firm rules, he recently opened up about why he prefers to spend his time with them rather than the outside world.
While chatting with popular YouTuber Peter Santenello for a video, Steven explained that living among the Amish and Mennonites is extremely ‘humbling.’
He explained that while he isn’t a fan of all of their regulations, he loves their simple way of life and strong sense of community.
‘I love it. These people are my best friends. I’ve been around them my whole life,’ he explained. ‘I was raised right here. I’m so used to it, I’m with them everyday.
‘They’re my friends. I don’t feel comfortable without them to be honest with you. It’s such a humbling place to live.’
According to Steven, Amish and Mennonite people are extremely ‘helpful’ and will come together to assist anyone in the neighborhood.
He recalled one time that a tornado destroyed the roof of his barn, and everyone he knew came to help repair it.
‘They help you, they’ll do anything for you,’ he continued. ‘We all gather and help each other. That’s how it works around here.’
Steven revealed that the Amish have no electricity in their homes, no cell phones, and no indoor plumbing.
They use a horse and buggy to get around, and they have one shared phone in the community – which is run by solar panels – that they can use to contact relatives or friends in other Amish areas.
As for the Mennonites, they’re a little more lenient – some have electricity and landline phones inside their home – but the use of cell phones and the internet is strictly prohibited.
‘When the COVID refunds came and everyone got money during COVID, the Amish, they have 15 to 12 kids and the government paid each family by kid,’ Steven shared.
‘They got a lot of money, but they wrote void across the checks, sent them back or ripped them up.
‘They won’t take any kind of government assistance, any kind of money like that.’
As for their schooling, they only get an education up until eighth grade, before they stop schooling to go to work, usually on their parents’ farm or in a factory.
‘They get education until eighth grade, that’s it. Then they go to work,’ Steven added.
‘It seems to work pretty good, a lot of them are doing really well for themselves.
‘These Amish and Mennonites learn more through eighth grade than most kids learn through all of public school. The distractions aren’t there.’
Steven – who lives on a farm with his wife and three kids – runs a successful horse business, which sells to carriage companies and businesses all over the nation.
And he said his love of the animal is the main ‘connection’ that he shares with the Amish and Mennonites.
‘I love horses, and I connect with them really strongly over horses,’ he explained. ‘These people have horses they’ve raised for 20 years.
‘They breed their mares and then raise them, so they don’t really have to buy them [from me] but we connect over them.’
Steven explained that because most of the people in the Amish community don’t have TVs or access to internet, they’re extremely disconnected from world news and stuff that’s going on around the country.
He said they receive a weekly 100-page newsletter called Dabotshaft, but it only focuses on the happenings in other Amish communities.
‘It will say, “So and so got married,” or, “We built John a new barn.” It’s that kind of news,’ he said.
‘News within their community. And it goes to all Amish homes in America who are subscribed.
‘But I don’t pay attention to the news myself, I just hang out here and have fun.’
Steven gave Peter a tour of the community during the video. They visited a local general store, one of the schools, the ‘phone shack’ that the Amish use to make their calls, a barber shop, and a deli.
At the eatery, Peter and Steven chatted with a man named John, who used to be a member of the Swartzentruber Amish community but decided to part ways with them seven years ago.
He explained that he opted to leave after his son got ‘physically abused’ by his peers.
‘There is a lot of stuff going on that you don’t see [from the outside],’ he admitted. ‘There’s some abuse that goes on.
‘It’s very unfortunate, although it’s not in every household, it was too much for me to be comfortable with.
‘I did not agree with the Amish and where they’re at with things. There’s even various sexual abuse cases that happen under them.’
While John didn’t expand on that further when pressed, he added that he noticed a lot of ‘hypocrisy’ in the community that made him ‘uncomfortable.’
He said that people would often secretly get access to the internet or buy cell phones without the church knowing.
He also said that while they’re not allowed to have intercourse before marriage, teenagers would be encouraged to sleep in the same bed and ‘hug and kiss’ underneath the covers after they began their courtship.
They also had something called ‘rocking chair dates,’ which involved the boy sitting on a rocking chair with a girl on his lap as they ‘hugged’ and ‘rocked back and forth.’
John said he was told he would ‘go to Hell’ if he left, adding, ‘I got to the point, if I have to go to Hell to save my children, I’ll do that. I couldn’t have them in that mess.’
After he parted ways with them, he admitted that some of the members tried to get ‘revenge’ on him for cutting ties by ‘scratching his car.’
Seven years on, he said 80 per cent of the community doesn’t have a problem with him, but 20 per cent still ‘shun him’ and won’t even use the deli he works at.
‘Just ’cause their Amish doesn’t mean they don’t go through problems like everybody else in the world. They’re people just like everybody else,’ Steven said.
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
