Amish

Dr. D. Holmes Morton was new to Lancaster County, Pa., when he was asked to come see a baby born to an Amish family. The child had a very small head, but looked surprisingly normal in every other way. "I could tell by examining the baby it was not the kind of problem that would get better," Morton said. Since that visit in 1989, Morton has seen about 20 Amish babies with microcephaly, with brains so underdeveloped that there is no chance for survival beyond the first few months. The babies' heads are 10 to 11 inches in circumference instead of the usual 13 to 14 inches for newborns.

Lapp's Fresh Meats, one of several Amish-run stalls inside the Joppa Market Place at Joppatowne Plaza Shopping Center, must close within ten days, a federal judge ruled Thursday. The meat vendor violates an agreement between Redner's, a Pennsylvania grocery chain with a store in the shopping center, and the plaza's owner, the Baltimore-based Cordish Cos., U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett said. Redner's sued Cordish more than two years ago, saying that the Amish stalls break a contract between the companies.

Several Amish building companies from Pennsylvania have quietly brought their barn-raising skills to Maryland, where homeowners are discovering the charm that timber-frame additions can bring to a house.The Amish builders' post-and-beam construction techniques, finely tuned through generations of building barns, offer an alternative for homeowners who want something different from the studs, nails and drywall of traditional framing."It's part of a very old tradition of building," says Chuck Dougherty, a building designer in Leola, Pa., who specializes in timber-frame structures and who has worked with Amish builders.

A two-story Colonial-style home set on almost 3 wooded acres in Fallston is currently on the market for $620,000. "This is a stunning home located at 3002 Sheffield Court. in Haddon Hurst, a community of 30 homes all situated on 2- to 3-acre lots," said Maureen O'Shea, the listing co-agent with Long & Foster Real Estate. "[The] welcoming two-story foyer with curved staircase leads to a custom gourmet kitchen handcrafted by Amish craftsmen with granite counters and Viking appliances.

GAP, Pa. -- Amos K. Stoltzfus is one of the bearded, straw-hatted Amish farmers whose 19th-century lifestyle has been romanticized nearly as often as the Amish horse-drawn buggies have been pictured on postcards and photographed by tourists here in Lancaster County.But now animal rights advocates have accused Amish farmers like Mr. Stoltzfus of breeding dogs in a cruel way and flooding the market with puppies that are sometimes maladjusted and sick.Pennsylvania dog officers and humane agents say they have found many Amish breeders who violate health, shelter and sanitary standards for kennels.

LANCASTER, Pa. -- In a red barn behind a brick house on Strasburg Pike there sits a spanking new buggy. Christmas came early for Moses Junior.At 16, he got his first carriage, a hand-me-down that rattled and needed a new set of wheels. For two years, he rode this rolling countryside of dairy farms and cornfields in that buggy. But now, with a girl to court, Moses Junior wanted a new carriage. Not the traditional courting buggy, a two-seater open for all to see. But a closed carriage with a 20th-century spin: a hand-crank windshield wiper and a speedometer.

There's always a good turnout for the Fire Company Auction and Spring Sale in Lancaster County. This year's 24th annual auction is scheduled Saturday in the town of Gordonville, Pa. Reported to be the largest firemen's auction on the East Coast, it's sponsored by an all-volunteer fire company with a membership that is predominantly Amish and Mennonite.The bidding begins at 8 a.m. and continues all day with over 40 auctioneers simultaneously selling everything from Amish quilts to Amish courting carriages to household goods.

MECHANICSVILLE -- The procession of black, horse-drawn buggies to the Stoltzfus farm began yesterday at first light.The Amish of northern St. Mary's County came to comfort a brother and to try to come to grips with a rare explosion of violence within their pacifist society. What police believe was a murder-suicide at the Stoltzfus farm Thursday rocked this stable community."We hear about this kind of thing happening in the outside world," said an Amish farmer who, typical of a people who closely guard their privacy, declined to give his name.

OAKLAND -- Ernest Schrock looks like any other Amish man who might toil in the ripening fields of corn and other crops that blanket the pastoral, rolling countryside of Maryland's westernmost county. He wears the sect's usual 17th-century garb: dark trousers held up by suspenders, a light-colored shirt and a straw hat. And he sports a white beard.But Mr. Schrock is no ordinary Amish man.Catch up with him at his youngest son's 160-acre farm, where he runs a farm equipment business, and you'll likely hear the relentless ringing of a cordless phone, tucked into Mr. Schrock's trouser pocket.

Nickel Mines, Pa. -- As light snow swirled, the only sounds that could be heard on the country lane were the scrape of mortar on brick, the tap of a hammer and the whine of a power saw. In a field between two houses, down a drive marked "no trespassing," more than a dozen men could be seen one day last week laying bricks, pounding nails and cutting planks to build a new one-room schoolhouse. The schoolhouse is rising a few hundred feet from where the West Nickel Mines Amish School stood.

Kitchen backsplashes are a popular kitchen upgrade, right up there with a fancy stone countertops. Tile and glass are probably the easiest and the most common — even the big-box stores carry them now for DIYers. And the Internet is filled with photo galleries for inspiration. But what Jackie Smith and her architect husband, Chris, do for their customers is off the grid. (Excuse the tile pun.) "I ask them what would make them smile when they come down for their morning coffee.

Naomi Stoltzfus, a young Amish woman, pushed a cart full of soda she'd just bought at Redner's Warehouse Market across the parking lot of Joppatowne Plaza to another section of the shopping center, where she planned to resell the beverages at the food stall where she works. Stoltzfus is employed at Kreative Kitchens, a salad and sandwich shop in the Amish Market, which occupies part of the Joppa Market Place section of the plaza. "We get a lot of ingredients for the salads from Redner's," Stoltzfus said on a recent Friday.

Fairfax, Va. Blake Shelton Stop by for Weekends at Mason to see country singer (and NBC's "The Voice" celebrity vocal coach) Blake Shelton's "Well Lit & Amplified" tour. Performing at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, on the campus of George Mason University, Shelton will be joined by rising star Justin Moore and Meg and Dia, a group founded by Dia Frampton, a finalist on "The Voice," and her sister, Meg Frampton. The concert is at George Mason University's Patriot Center.

This weekend, I was not going to go Dutch. Yes, we were in the "Dutch Country. " Lancaster County, Pa., to be exact. But I was not going to stuff my face at Kitchen Kettle Village, gawk at Amish buggies or get sidetracked by the QVC or Pottery Barn outlets. No. The goal of this two-day getaway was to discover the other Lancaster — the one that sits downtown within a compact 7 square miles and offers an artsy and hip vibe. Theater. Architecture. Galleries. Farm-to-table eateries.

James B. Cooper, a lifelong arabber turned stable manager and wagon builder, died April 1 of lung cancer at his West Baltimore home. He was 76. "He is a wonderful and colorful character and is among the last of the arraber wagon builders and restorers," said Elaine Eff, veteran state folklorist, who is co-director of the Maryland State Arts Council's Maryland Traditions. "Mr. Cooper lived and loved the streets of Baltimore. He would show up unannounced at the Arts Council — his eyes sparkling, an impish smile — just to tell us that he had discovered a lumber supplier on Pulaski Highway plastered with historic arraber photographs," said Dr. Eff, who is also folklorist-in-residence at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

The spring thaw — if we ever get one — will likely come with a good helping of mud. The Pennsylvania Dutch are counting on it. The segue between the seasons is when the Amish and Mennonite communities launch their annual mud sales in Lancaster County. No, they're not selling dirt. The sales are actually auctions featuring anything from tools and furniture to toys and livestock — and a whole lot in between. The events benefit the region's local fire companies.

STRASBURG, Pa. -- This was not the typical audience for a medical conference, but then again, this was no typical conference. At an inn set in the lush farmland of Lancaster County, doctors attending scientific lectures were joined by young Mennonite and Amish couples, the women in bonnets and the men in suspenders, babies fussing in their laps.The Amish and Mennonites may travel by horse and buggy and forgo most modern conveniences, but there is one bit of progress that they are eager to embrace: gene therapy.

STRASBURG, Pa. -- It's nearing dusk in Pennsylvania Dutch country and Holmes Morton has come to make an unannounced house call on Henry Martin.Dr. Morton pulls his green Jeep into the barnyard, scattering a dozen chickens near a hay wagon hitched to two draught horses.Henry, a blue-eyed 22-month-old, runs to his father, Jesse Martin, who is talking to two of his brothers. The three men, who married three sisters, have almost identical faces and wear plain, dark fedoras."How is he?" Dr. Morton asks,still seated behind the wheel.

Amish food vendors in prayer caps and suspenders have come to Baltimore to sell meats, cheeses, baked goods — and a little bit of fantasy. The vendors might be Old Order Amish who live without electricity and many other modern conveniences in Lancaster County, Pa., traveling here in a van with a hired driver because they do not drive. But many of the foods they're peddling in the Cherry Hill market they opened last month are modern, industrial products. There is, for example, the beef, promoted as a grass-fed product from a Lancaster County farm.