I’ve lived near Amish country for a very long time. Horses and buggies, women in brightly colored dresses and kapps, bearded bishop-looking fellows in suspenders and wide-brimmed hats… these are things I’ve been privileged to see fairly often. When I lived out in the country (in Amish country proper), I’d see Amish women doing their shopping in Walmart and horses snorting and puffing as they pulled along the shiny black buggies along the side of the road. I’d listen – or eavesdrop, whatever you prefer to call it – to the rapid Pennsylvania Dutch they spoke with immense interest.I’ve always been fascinated by their way of life. This is why I couldn’t see having a sim’s community without a few Amish sims.
This provides it’s share of problems, of course. These sims, they don’t really grasp the ‘Amish’ mind-set. Always wanting TVs, stereos, easels, things like that. Don’t even get me started about my Amish talking about fashion and politics. Telling dirty jokes. Gossiping. It’s so unAmish.
But then again, there are also aspects of sims that are perfect for making them Amish. You have sims that adore gardening, ones that always wanting more pets (what would a farm be without a handful of farm dogs, after all?), and then there are objects that make Amish simming so much fun, and authentic. The sewing machine, the juicer, plus a plethora of CC aimed at country/rural sim life.
I love building sim houses that look Amish. The lack of power-lines makes this look extremely authentic! Here’s a house I’ve built for one of my Amish sim families, the Hochstetler’s.
I’ve been rather lazy with cropping – and I noticed after the fact that I have the grid on in lot of these pictures – but I thought I’d post a glimpse into the life of one of my Amish families.
The Amish generally have gorgeous homes. Simple, but beautiful, solidly built and impeccably clean. Their gardens are perfection – weedless, tended often with amazing produce. The yards are always perfectly coiffed, the houses white-washed and often, the properties are enclosed by white fences, especially if they’re on small lots near the road. This is one of my Amish houses, and I’m quite proud of it. A lot of people think ‘Amish’ and think sprawling farms, but where I live, there’s a great deal of Amish who live on (I’d estimate) about half an acre, right up near the road. The amazing thing is, everything fits. The house, the barn, the outhouse (for those who have them), the garden, everything has it’s place and everything seems to fit perfectly.
Because of this, I try to emulate that feeling in my game. Every inch of space is utilized, and I try to make the property look as authentic as possible.
The barn is always an important part of an Amish homestead. Rarely this small, it’s where the trusty (and gorgeous) horses are kept, hay is stored and where other livestock is housed. The Hochstetler’s barn is tiny, because let’s face it, how much room do these horses actually need?
On a side note, I love love love TS3 conversions for TS2, and this clothes line was a fantastic addition to the Hochstetler’s homestead. It’s not uncommon to see long clotheslines standing in Amish yards with dresses, aprons, trousers and towels of every color hanging out, billowing in the breeze.
The little gardening nook holds the essential tools to maintain the family garden. Needless to say, Susanna spends a good amount of time in the garden with her dad. The plot is huge, as it’s their main source of income, and it takes a lot of tending.
The heart of the Amish household. I’ve been inside a few Amish homes, and they’re generally completely decluttered, with little to no superfluous decoration, no mirrors and everything has a purpose. I was a little more liberal with the deco here, but I like my houses to have a full, homey, lived-in feeling.
Some little known facts – Amish are generally finished with school after grade 8, by the standards of most Ordnung. Sometimes they attend their own schools in small schoolhouses, and others – like in the community I lived in for a while – they go to school, at least in elementary, with English kids in public schools. After grade eight their education continues, but at home. They focus on how to run a household/homestead, how to farm/do a trade. I’ve used Simlogical hacks to allow for this, but I always try to make sure my teenage simmies have a plethora of different skills to make up for the lack of time in school. Logic is a favorite, because my Amish simmies love chess. Charisma wouldn’t be very handy in the Amish world – and gaining it without mirrors would be difficult – and art, under some Ordnung, isn’t welcomed with open arms.
When people thing of Amish, a lot of times they think of quilts. (Very, very expensive quilts, I might add.) Every sim bed in my households are covered in quilts, and I like to think of them as heirlooms or home-made treasures. I picture a heavily pregnant sim mother, sitting at her sewing machine, churning out a quilt for her baby to grow up with.
So, this is one of my six Amish homes. It’s one of the smaller and simpler homes, but it’s one of my favorite to play.
