Barn on Cleveland's eight-generation family farm gets Amish re-roofing

Nice to see the traditional Amish workers are sticking with their values and using Hi-Lift equipment that their ancestors used!!!

Kevin, they can use the hi-lift as long as they aren't operating it.
I wondered when someone would say something about the hi-lift.

Well, at least the barn wasn't designated a historic landmark,or else it never would have been fixed.It's good to see some of these barns getting a facelift to keep them standing for years to come.It seems there are more barns beyond repair than usable around here......

I ignored the lift they where using and I was admiring the old world craftsmanship of the hand worked aluminum siding.

Amish barn construction seems to have slipped to the same level of decline as Amish furniture-craft. It all started with those Amish Miracle, radiant heaters.

...Why would Historic landmark status prevent a structure from being repaired? I think you have confused alteration and repair. Landmark status is applied to buildings that have Historic/architectural significance. The point is to preserve their integrity not prevent repair.

The key to abandoned barns: round bales won't fit in a square barn.

Speaking of round hay bales...did you hear that they're outlawed in some areas?

It seems that the cows weren't getting a square meal. (I know...groan!)

All 3 of the men on the lift are wearing Amish/Mennonite clothing and it is operated from the basket they're standing in. I don't know if it's the same crew or not but I've seen them painting a couple of houses in Castile within the past year, and they were using a Skyworks lift on site there as well. Just last week I walked past a crew going into the Silver Lake Country Market while the driver was getting fuel for their blue pick up truck. Until that day I wasn't aware the Amish drove vehicles any color but black, or that they were big Hip Hop fans.

There are slightly different versions of Amish practices. Just because they are using a lift does not mean they are not keeping "kosher". Some drive cars that are painted all black and many use power tools. I learned a little about them wile doing some work in Lancaster PA years ago.

I was looking for something like: Thou shall not aluminium or vinyl side thy neighbors barn but I found this instead.
http://www.800padutch.com/amishpeople.shtml

My understanding is that they are independent groups not all one big organized religion. If they decide in their own church or group that something is OK, then it is. True story, a few years ago,I was sitting in the parking lot of a Wendy's in Dover, DE listening to the radio and eating lunch when 2 young men (20-21 yrs old) carrying a 12 pack of Bud, Wendy's bags, smoking cigarettes, wearing normal clothing for a young guy (shorts, t-shirt, sneakers, sunglasses) walked up to an Amish buggy that was tied there, put the beer and Wendy's in the buggy and proceeded to untie the horse. I started to get out of my truck as I thought they were stealing it, but I saw one of them pet the horse and talk with him while the other gave him an apple, obviously their horse. They got in the buggy popped the brewskis and started chowing down and then took off. I wondered what the elders would have said about that!! Pretty funny, you can't keep 'em on the farm forever.

Dave - I read an interesting article not too long ago about how young Amish adults are encouraged to venture out into the modern world and drink, smoke and all that other good stuff. the hope is that once they've had their fill, they will choose to remain in the church. It's called rumspringa:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumspringa