Thursday on Amish Wisdom | Sherry Gore and a BIG announcement!
Tune in on Thursday at 4:00 pm Central! To listen in – go here and just click on the player in the top right corner. This week on Amish Wisdom we’ll be catching up with ever-exciting Sherry Gore. Her new cookbook is out and she’s got some BIG news of her own! Don’t miss this week’s show.
Want a copy of Sherry’s Simply Delicious Amish Cooking? I’ve got three copies to giveaway! Just {leave a comment HERE} (or email ckrumm@litfusegroup.com if you are having a problem with the comment box). Winners will be notified next week via email.

More about Sherry: Sherry Gore is a scribe for the national edition of The Budget newspaper, a cookbook author and editor in-chief of Cooking & Such magazine.
Learn more at Sherry’s website, www.sherrygore.com.
More about Sherry’s new cookbook, Simply Delicious Amish Cooking (Zondervan): Unbeknownst to many folks outside the Amish Mennonite population in America, Pinecraft, Florida—a village tucked away in the heart of Sarasota—is the vacation paradise of the Plain People. Unlike any other Plain community in the world, this village is a virtual melting pot of Amish and Mennonites from around the world, intermingled with people, like author Sherry Gore’s family, who live there year-round. Gore has put together a cookbook that represents the people who make Pinecraft unique.
With hundreds of easy-to-prepare recipes, 16 full-color photographs and black-and-white photographs throughout, this cookbook includes traditional favorites such as Sweet Potato Sweet Mash and Mrs. Byler’s Glazed Donuts, as well as Florida favorites including Fried Alligator Nuggets, Grilled Lime Fish Fillets, and Strawberry Mango Smoothies. Interspersed with the recipes are true-life stories about births, engagements, weddings, deaths, funerals, celebrations, wildlife encounters, and accidents told through years of Sherry’s Letters from Home column published in The Budget, the Amish newspaper. This delightful cookbook offers readers a faith-based, family-focused perspective of the simple way of life of the Plain People. It is truly a breath of fresh air from Sarasota, Florida!

Order a copy of Simply Delicious Amish Cooking today!
Thursday on Amish Wisdom | New Amish Fiction with Kate Lloyd and Shelley Shepard Gray!
Tune in on Thursday at 4:00 pm Central! To listen in – go here and just click on the player in the top right corner. This week on Amish Wisdom, my friend, blogger and columnist Rhonda Schrock, will be filling in as host. The topic this week? New Amish fiction! Authors Kate Lloyd and Shelley Shepard Gray will be joining Rhonda to share their new books. Sounds like a delightful show.
Kate and Shelley are both giving away a copy of their books (Pennsylvania Patchwork and Ray of Light). To enter, just {LEAVE A COMMENT HERE} (or email ckrumm@litfusegroup.com if you experience a problem with the comment box). Winner will be notified next week via email.
More about Kate: Author Kate Lloyd is a passionate observer of human relationships. A native of Baltimore, Kate spends time with family and friends in Lancaster County, PA, the inspiration for her novels. She is a member of the Lancaster County Mennonite Historical Society. Kate and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest. Kate studied painting and sculpture in college. She’s worked a variety of jobs, including car salesman and restaurateur.
Be sure to visit Kate’s blog, www.katelloyd.net.
More about Pennsylvania Patchwork:
Seattle native Holly Fisher is smitten by Lancaster County, its simplicity and her long lost relatives. In the sequel to bestselling Leaving Lancaster, Holly embraces the Amish culture, learning to slow down to see what – and who – really matters.
Meeting the family that her mother had kept hidden from her, Holly comes face to face with her real life and blood legacy. She also falls for the charming Zach, a handsome Mennonite veterinarian who is everything she’s ever wanted in a husband: confident, kind, successful, and authentic. And Zach proposes marriage. Is this too soon? Is this the right choice? Mother and Amish grandmother think she’s rushing into too much of a lifestyle change. Holly is in love with Zach and that precludes everything. Until she meets an attractive Amish man. And an old suitor shows up.
Pennyslvania Patchwork is the moving, richly told story of one woman’s heart, her faith and trust, and the choices she makes. Never easy, but one choice can change your destiny.
More about Shelley: Shelley Shepard Gray is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the “Sisters of the Heart”, “Seasons of Sugarcreek”, “Secrets of Crittenden County”, and Families of Honor series. She lives in southern Ohio, where she writes full-time, bakes too much, and can often be found walking her dachshunds on her town’s bike trail.
Visit Shelley’s website for more, www.shelleyshepardgray.com.
More about Ray of Light:
Bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray brings inspirational romance to life in this sweet tale of love in the Amish community, Ray of Light, the second installment of her Days of Redemption series.
Roman Keim just wants a break from the family drama at his snowy Ohio home when he heads to an Amish snowbird community in Florida. There he meets Amanda Yoder and her daughter Regina who soon are warming his heart. But will Roman return to Ohio or will he stay and help the young widow embrace a second chance at love?
The author of the series Sisters of the Heart and Seasons of Sugarcreek, Shelley Shepard Gray delivers an honest, tender love story in Ray of Light, featuring the challenges of faith, family, and romance.
More about Rhonda: Rhonda Schrock is the mother of 4 sons, ages 6 to 22. She and her family live in Northern Indiana. She is a telecommuting medical transcriptionist and the writer of the weekly column, “Grounds for Insanity,” which appears in The Goshen News. A prolific blogger, she appears twice monthly on Suzanne Woods Fisher’s website and writes once monthly for Sherry Gore, author and founder of “Cooking & Such” magazine. Rhonda is also the editor of “Cooking & Such,” and her column is featured there regularly.
You can find her at www.RhondaSchrock.com.
Thursday on Amish Wisdom | “Marriage in Fiction” with Dan Walsh and “Homesteading Today” with Melissa K. Norris
Tune in on Thursday at 4:00 pm Central! To listen in – go here and just click on the player in the top right corner.
This week on Amish Wisdom we’ll be talking about two very different topics! The first half hour we’ll be checking in with Dan Walsh about the new series he’s co-writing with Gary Smalley. We’ll discuss how marriage is portrayed in fiction and how story can help encourage and edify a readers’ marriage. Then during the second half hour, Melissa K. Norris will be talking about homesteading. What is homesteading? What does it look like to homestead today? We’ll also look at the reasons behind this trend’s popularity. Should be an interesting show.
Both Dan and Melissa are giving away a copy of their books. Leave a comment HERE (or email ckrumm@litfusegroup.com if you are having a problem with the comment box). Winner will be notified next week via email.
More about Dan: Dan Walsh is the bestselling author of several books, including The Discovery and The Reunion. He has won three Carol Awards, and two of his novels were finalists for RT Reviews Inspirational Book of the Year for 2011 and 2012. A member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Dan served as a pastor for 25 years. He lives with his wife in the Daytona Beach area, where he’s busy researching and writing his next novel. Visit Dan’s website to learn more about him and his other books. www.danwalshbooks.com.
More about The Dance: Jim Anderson is a successful businessman, and his wife, Marilyn, is the perfect wife. And why wouldn’t she be? He gives her everything she needs. That’s why Jim never expected to come home one day and find Marilyn gone.
After 27 years of marriage, Marilyn has had enough of feeling unloved and neglected. She wants to experience some measure of happiness before she’s too old to enjoy it, even signing up for dance lessons, something Jim would never do. What will it take for Jim to finally become the man Marilyn needs him to be?
Combining the literary talents of bestselling author Dan Walsh and the relationship expertise of bestselling author Gary Smalley, The Dance is the first novel in The Restoration Series. Readers will get caught up in these flawed but sincere members of the Anderson family as they rediscover genuine love and start a transformation that ultimately affects all of them.
More about Melissa: Melissa K. Norris is a Christian fiction author, newspaper columnist, and author of her award winning blog at www.melissaknorris.com.
She found her own little house in the big woods, where she lives with her husband and two children in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State.
Her books and articles are inspired by her family’s small herd of beef cattle, her amateur barrel racing days, and her forays into quilting and canning–without always reading the directions first.
More about Homesteading Today: Do you long for the simpler times of yesteryear?
Do you wish you had the time to offer your family home grown meals?
Does your heart silently cry for a quiet place in this fast paced life?
In Pioneering Today-Faith and Home the Old Fashioned Way, author Melissa K. Norris explains practical and easy methods to cook from scratch, garden, preserve your own food, and see God’s fingerprint in your everyday busy life. You’ll learn how to:
Decrease your grocery and energy bill
Improve your family’s health by cooking from scratch and over 40 delicious recipes
Grow and preserve your own food
Reduce your time in the kitchen without sacrificing taste and nutrition
Expand your view of God in your daily activities
Whether you live in the middle of the asphalt jungle or on the side of a mountain, you can experience the pioneer lifestyle and start your own homesteading journey. When you surround yourself with things made from the hand of God, you can’t help but see Him.
Thursday on Amish Wisdom | Amish Fiction with Vannetta Chapman and Kathleen Fuller
Tune in on Thursday at 4:00 pm Central! To listen in – go here and just click on the player in the top right corner.
Don’t miss this week’s edition of Amish Wisdom. Judy Christie is filling in as guest host extraordinaire and welcoming Amish fiction authors Vannetta Chapman and Kathleen Fuller to the show. Vannetta will be talking about the new book in her Pebble Creek Amish series, A Home for Lydia. Then novelist, Kathleen Fuller will join the show during the second half hour to talk her novel, Letters to Katie.
Both authors are giving away a copy of their books. Leave a comment {HERE} for a chance to win (or email ckrumm@litfusegroup.com if you’re having a problem with the comment box). Winners will be notified next week via email.
More about Judy Christie: Judy Christie committed to write her first novel when she turned fifty – and her seventh novel, “Sweet Olive,” will be published this year. Like many writers, she started keeping a diary when she was nine – and still has all of them. She loves to talk about reading and writing and how to slow down and enjoy each day more.
Judy is the author of the Green series of novels set in the fictional North Louisiana town of Green. “Downtown Green,” the most recent, is No. 5 in the series. Publishers Weekly has given Judy’s work a starred review, and Library Journal has compared the Green series to Jan Karon’s Mitford series and Philip Gulley’s Harmony series.
She also wrote the award-winning “Wreath,” a novel about a 16-year-old girl who is determined to finish high school after her mother dies – and lives in a Central Louisiana junkyard to do so.
Judy loves to help busy people slow down and enjoy life more and has written the popular Hurry Less Worry Less nonfiction books, including “Hurry Less Worry Less for Moms.”
She loves to visit with readers from her green couch and blogs at www.judychristie.com. Follow her on Twitter @judypchristie.

More about A Home for Lydia: A Home for Lydia, the second book in a new romantic series from popular author Vannetta Chapman, centers again on the Plain community of Pebble Creek and the kind, caring people there. As they face challenges to their community from the English world, they come together to reach out to their non-Amish neighbors while still preserving their cherished Plain ways.
Aaron Troyer simply wants to farm like his father and grandfather before him. But instead he finds himself overseeing the family’s small group of guest cabins nestled along the banks of Pebble Creek. That also means he must work with the cabins’ housekeeper, Lydia Fisher.
Lydia is the most outspoken Amish woman Aaron has ever met, and she has strong opinions about how the guest cabins are to be run. She also desperately needs this job. Though sparks fly between boss and employee at first, when the cabins are robbed, nothing is more important to Aaron than making sure Lydia is safe.
Together they work to make the vacation property profitable, but can they find out the identity of the culprit before more damage is done? And is Lydia’s dream of a home of her own more than just a wish and a prayer?
More about Kathleen: I was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, and now make my home in beautiful Geneva, Ohio. I’ve been married to James for 19 wonderful years (really, they have been wonderful!) We have three terrific children, three dogs, and an overwhelmed cat. We have also raised cattle, pigs, and chickens at various times over the years. We would have gone into the goat business, but I had to draw the line somewhere. I started writing in 2000, and published my first short story a year later. Since then I have authored several short stories, novellas, novels, and have done a lot of freelance non-fiction work. I have also worked as an editor. I have a Masters degree in Special Education, emphasis on teaching the blind and visually impaired, and a Bachelors in Early Childhood/Elementary Education. I have taught all age groups ranging from age 4 to age 21. A few of my favorite things: my relationship with Christ, chocolate (of course!), autumn, a satisfying book, good friends, a sense of humor, people who don’t take themselves seriously, haunting melodies, NFL football, and did I mention chocolate? Learn more about Kathleen at her website, http://kathleenfuller.com
More about Letters to Katie: Everything changed between them the first time he called her Katie.
Katherine Yoder has loved Johnny Mullet since the two were children, but he’s never returned her affections.
Now Johnny is trying to forge a new life for himself by purchasing a farm and building a business of his own. But times are tough, and he soon learns that he can’t take anything for granted—especially Katherine.
Before Johnny has the opportunity to tell Katherine his true feelings, she’s struck by a serious illness. While Katherine struggles to recall recent memories of Johnny, a surprise visitor comes back into her life, claiming that his letters speak of a history and a future for the two of them.
With the two men vying for her attention and her memory still elusive, Katherine has never felt so torn. But will the solutions to both Johnny’s and Katherine’s problems lie in places neither one has ever considered?
My Weekend at the ACFW Bay Area Chapter Meeting
Saturday lunch, after the ACFW Bay Area Chapter meeting. I taught a writing class on “Creating Dialogue Driven Scenes.” Note Revell author Sarah Sundin is second on right!
Sunday’s talk, about the Amish, was given to the San Jose Presbytery Annual Gathering of Women. My display table! Lots to “schlep.”
A terrific group of interested, intelligent women.
Baby Boomers Raise The Bar for Family Values | Guest Post by Kristi Carter (Plus a Giveaway)
Please welcome to my blog Kristi Carter, co-author of the wonderful book Guerrilla Marketing to Baby Boomers. She has some wonderful tips, so be sure to check out her book AND enter to win a copy! To be entered, simply leave a comment on this post with your name and email address. I’ll announce the winner next Friday!
In my book I show how large and small businesses can optimize their marketing effort to the targeted audience of baby boomers. I teamed up with Jay Conrad Levinson, the father and originator of Guerrilla Marketing, on this book. It was a joy and an honor to work with him. Many businesses are realizing that baby boomers are buying for three generations; their children, themselves and their aging parents. The baby boomers are the biggest sector of consumers with disposable income, and they demand high standards in the products they purchase. Baby boomers have a consciousness that past generations were not as concerned about. Boomers have actually helped our society raise the bar for more sustainable items and environmentally sound products. They care about the world around them and what they will be leaving as a legacy to their children. In Guerrilla Marketing to Baby Boomers, I discuss the boomers’ perception of the world. It is crucial for marketers to use the right language and method to activate interest in their prospects’ mind. It is important to know that boomers are changing the world for a better and simpler place.
In my book I show several marketing methods that help simplify our marketing plans ranging from using social media to delegating certain tasks to professional services such as Odesk. Working efficiently is the key here. For the entrepreneur, my book shows how to set up and use autoresponders, viral marketing, and landing pages to drive traffic to their product or services. More and more people are preferring the “work at home online” model of business so they can spend more time at home with their families. This book speaks to them and points the way. Family values and time freedom are the buzzwords that so many entrepreneurs use to propel themselves onto great success both personally and professionally as they work at home online.
In this book you will learn:
* The basic principles of marketing online
* How to get an audience of people begging to buy your product
* Why and what baby boomers are buying
* How to automate your business so you can spend more time with the family
* The importance and influence of social media
* Secrets that baby boomers don’t want you to know
* Developing and sustaining your marketing plan
There are resources throughout each paragraph of the book to educate and help marketers reach their goals. In chapter seven, “Secrets for Selecting the Best Marketing Methods,” there are links to demographic studies, e-media, and info-media. If you have the Kindle version, you can simply click and go to that link immediately. Plus there is a number of case scenarios that shows the cost and time frame for running ads in the Yellow Pages, television ads, and radio ads. This book provides 150 ways to reach your audience through mini and maxi marketing methods. Chapter nineteen disusses using Skymall as a resource to promote your business. The later chapters show how to put all of these methods into action. This book is a hands-on marketing tool that is up-to-date with the current methods of marketing online and offline. Using a few different marketing methods, both online and offline, will your heighten your exposure to the baby boomer customer. I wish you all much success, happiness, and lots of family time.
You can purchase the book, Guerrilla Marketing to Baby Boomers, by clicking here. You can also contact me by emailing kristiacarter@gmail. Or visit me on Facebook here and here.
Thursday on Amish Wisdom | The Thrill of the Chaste, Part 2 |
Tune in on Thursday at 4:00 pm Central! To listen in – go here and just click on the player in the top right corner.
This week on Amish Wisdom I’m welcoming back Valerie Weaver-Zercher for part two of Thrill of the Chaste. This week we’ll talk about the history of the Amish romance novel, chastisty as a counter-culter phenome, and much more. If you didn’t catch part one, listen here. Valerie’s book studies the exploding subgenre of Amish fiction from every angle: Why is it so popular? What are readers seeking? Do these stories truly reflect the Amish? What motivates the authors? The publishers? Thrill of the chaste is sometimes hard-hitting but always fair, and this fascinating book is a must-read for anyone interested in the plain life. Join us Thursday at 4pm CST.
Leave a comment {HERE} for a chance to win a copy of Thrill of the Chaste (or email ckrumm@litfusegroup.com if the comment box isn’t working.) Winner will be notified next week via email.
More about Valerie: Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Orion, the Christian Century, Mennonite Weekly Review, and Sojourners, among other venues, and her work has been nominated for and received special mention for a Pushcart Prize. She received a 2009 fellowship in creative nonfiction from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Weaver-Zercher and her husband and three sons live in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Visit her website for more information.
More about Thrill of the Chaste: The Allure of Amish Romance Novels:
Browse the inspirational fiction section of your local bookstore, and you will likely find cover after cover depicting virtuous young women cloaked in modest dresses and wearing a pensive or playful expression. They hover innocently above sun-drenched pastures or rustic country lanes, often with a horse-drawn buggy in the background—or the occasional brawny stranger. Romance novels with Amish protagonists, such as the best-selling trailblazer The Shunning by Beverly Lewis, are becoming increasingly popular with a largely evangelical female audience. Thrill of the Chaste is the first book to analyze this growing trend in romance fiction and to place it into the context of contemporary literature, religion, and popular culture.
Valerie Weaver-Zercher combines research and interviews with devoted readers, publishers, and authors to produce a lively and provocative examination of the Amish romance novel. She discusses strategies that literary agents and booksellers use to drive the genre’s popularity. By asking questions about authenticity, cultural appropriation, and commodification, Thrill of the Chaste also considers Amish fiction’s effects on Amish and non-Amish audiences alike.
Thursday on Amish Wisdom | Myths and Facts about Shunning with Ira Wagler and Murray Pura
Tune in on Thursday at 4:00 pm Central! To listen in – go here and just click on the player in the top right corner.
This week on Amish Wisdom we’ll be talking about the fascinating and often misunderstood practice of shunning. Authors Ira Wagler and Murray Pura will be joining me as we talk about some of the myths and facts about this Amish tradition.
Leave a comment {HERE} for a chance to win a copy of Amish Values for your Family (or email ckrumm@litfusegroup.com if you’re having problems with the comment form). Winner will be notified next week via email.
More about Ira: Ira Wagler was born in the small Old Order Amish community of Aylmer, Ontario. At 17, frustrated by the rules and restrictions of Amish life, Ira got up at 2 am, left a note under his pillow, packed his duffel bag and left. Over the course of the next 5 years, Ira would leave and return home numerous times, torn between the ingrained message that abandoning one’s Amish heritage results in eternal damnation, and the freedom and possibilities offered by the “English” world. Upon becoming a Christian at age 26, Ira left the Amish for good. He is currently general manager of Graber Supply, LLC and Pole Building Co. in Lancaster County, PA. Ira is the author of Growing Up Amish. Learn more about Ira at his website, www.irawagler.com.
More about Murray Pura: Murray was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His first novel was released in Toronto in 1988 and was a finalist for the Dartmouth Book Award. Since that time he has published a number of novels, two collections of short stories, and several nonfiction titles including the Zondervan books Rooted and Streams. He has been a finalist for several awards in the US and Canada and in 2012 won the Word Award of Toronto for Best Historical Novel. His book The Wings of Morning has been nominated for several literary awards in the United States including Best Inspirational Romance and Best Historical Romance. Murray lives and writes in southwestern Alberta and is currently published by Barbour, Baker, Harper One, Zondervan, and Harvest House as well as several other publishing houses. His releases for 2013 include: Ashton Park, The Rose of Lancaster County, A Road Called Love, Seven Oaks, The Painted Sky, Whispers of a New Dawn, Majestic and Wild, Beneath the Dover Sky, and An Amish Family Christmas. Learn more about Murray’s books HERE.
More about Ira’s and Murray’s books:
This week on Amish Wisdom | Guest Host Judy Christie and New Amish Fiction with Barbara Cameron and Kathryn Cushman
Tune in on Thursday at 4:00 pm Central! To listen in – go here and just click on the player in the top right corner.
Don’t miss this week’s edition of Amish Wisdom. Judy Christie is filling in as guest host extraordinaire and welcoming Amish fiction authors Barbara Cameron and Kathryn Cushman to the show. Barbara will be giving us a peek into the unique Faith and Fiction Bible study series Abingdon Press has launched. Then novelist, Kathryn Cushman will join the show during the second half hour to talk her novel, Almost Amish.
Both authors are giving away a copy of their books. Leave a comment {HERE} for a chance to win (or email ckrumm@litfusegroup.com if you’re having a problem with the comment box). Winners will be notified next week via email.
More about Judy Christie: Judy Christie committed to write her first novel when she turned fifty – and her seventh novel, “Sweet Olive,” will be published this year. Like many writers, she started keeping a diary when she was nine – and still has all of them. She loves to talk about reading and writing and how to slow down and enjoy each day more.
Judy is the author of the Green series of novels set in the fictional North Louisiana town of Green. “Downtown Green,” the most recent, is No. 5 in the series. Publishers Weekly has given Judy’s work a starred review, and Library Journal has compared the Green series to Jan Karon’s Mitford series and Philip Gulley’s Harmony series.
She also wrote the award-winning “Wreath,” a novel about a 16-year-old girl who is determined to finish high school after her mother dies – and lives in a Central Louisiana junkyard to do so.
Judy loves to help busy people slow down and enjoy life more and has written the popular Hurry Less Worry Less nonfiction books, including “Hurry Less Worry Less for Moms.”
She loves to visit with readers from her green couch and blogs at www.judychristie.com. Follow her on Twitter @judypchristie.
An Amish Christmas, Expanded Edition (Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller, Barbara Cameron, and Kelly Long) and An Amish Gathering (Wiseman, Fuller, Cameron) were published by Thomas Nelson in 2009 and landed on the Christian bestseller lists. Both of Barbara’s novellas in those anthologies were finalists for the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Carol Award.
She is the first winner of the Golden Heart Award of the Romance Writers of America and a member of the local Volusia County Romance Writers of America chapter. Some of her titles include the Everything Weddings on a Budget Book and the Everything Roberts Rules of Order. She’s a former newspaper reporter. Check out her website at www.BarbaraCameron.com
More about Her Restless Heart: Her Restless Heart is the second study in the Faith and Fiction Bible study series that uses Christian fiction as a backdrop for exploring biblical themes. Just as Jesus used stories (parables) to teach important principles, inspirational fiction can open readers to greater understanding of themselves and spiritual themes.
Based on a novel of the same name by acclaimed Christian fiction author Barbara Cameron, this six-session Bible study explores the heart’s longing for love and acceptance and the Bible’s answer to this universal human need. The Participant Book has five daily readings per week, each including Scripture, reflections on the day’s topic with questions and space for writing responses, prayer, and a suggestion for the day—a question to ponder, Scripture to consider, or action to take.
More about Kathryn Cushman: Kathryn Cushman is a graduate of Samford University with a degree in pharmacy. She is the author of four previous novels, including Leaving Yesterday and A Promise to Remember, which were both finalists for the Carol Award in Women’s Fiction. Kathryn and her family currently live in Santa Barbara, California. Visit her Web site at www.kathryncushman.com.
More about Almost Amish: ”Cushman crafts strong characters that are easy to connect with.”–Romantic Times
Julie Charlton is at the breaking point. She’s overwhelmed and burned out, and in today’s unrelenting society, her kids are, too. When her sister-in-law Susan, a Martha Stewart-in-training, lands the chance to participate in a reality TV series promoting simple living, and needs another family to join her, it seems like the perfect opportunity.
The location is an idyllic farm outside an Amish community in Tennessee. Julie, with her two children, joins Susan and her teenage daughter for a summer adventure. Susan needs to succeed in order to become self-sufficient after an ugly divorce, Julie needs to slow down long enough to remember what her priorities are and regain a sense of purpose and meaning. It becomes clear from the start that “living simple” is no simple matter. With the camera watching every move, Susan’s drive for perfection feels a lot like what they left behind, while Julie suddenly finds herself needing to stand up for slowing down. With each new challenge, their season of “going Amish” gets more and more complicated, as each woman learns unexpected lessons about herself and her family.

















