Q: What do the Amish eat for dinner after a long day of working on the farm?

A: The work of the Amish is usually hard physical labor, whether it's toiling in the fields or working in lumber mills and furniture making companies. They usually eat hearty meals of food raised on their farms -- fresh vegetables and fruit in season and home-canned when out-of-season; meat and poultry raised and slaughtered on the farm; and other products that they buy at local grocery stores.

The parking lots of most grocery stores in the Amish Heartland have hitching posts for the convenience of their Amish customers who drive into town by horse and buggy.

Q: Since the Amish don't have telephones or computers in their homes, how do they keep in touch with distant family members?

A: The Amish use conventional mail, and for news of different communities, they rely on The Budget, a weekly newspaper published in Sugarcreek, in the heart of Ohio's Amish country. The newspaper, which is slightly wider than the size of a conventional newspaper, is full of newsy tidbits -- about weddings, visits from relatives, traveling and the weather -- written by Amish scribes, or correspondents, in communities throughout the United States and Canada.

The Budget was first published in 1890 by John C. Miller. It is printed in English.

Q: When does an Amish person enter the church?

A: As Anabaptists, the Amish believe in adult baptism and entry into membership of the church. However, most Amish people commit themselves to the church in their late teens. Once they decide to enter the church, the young Amish people are given special religious education instructions. If they meet all the requirements after having received that instruction, the Amish teen enters the church in a traditional ceremony of baptism usually held in the fall.

Q: When I travel to Amish country, I see big horses in the fields. What types of horses are these? How are they used?

A: The Amish use these large, or draft, horses for plowing their fields, pulling wagons, and performing the tasks that would be performed by a tractor on a farm that uses modern equipment. The horses are not usually used to pull buggies. Belgians and Clydesdales are common draft horses seen in the Amish Heartland.

Q: Do the Amish still practice the tradition of providing their daughter with a dowry?

A: Yes. The dowry consists not of money or special treasures, but simple, practical items for the young bride and her husband as they start a household together. Parents may provide cows, tables, chairs and dishes.

Wedding guests also bring gifts, and these too are practical in nature.