I know some Mennonites who visit Belize a lot. Many have moved there. They and their Amish cousins will eventually turn Belize into a formidable country. None of these people are afraid of hard work.
That's a good thing, somebody among the 300,000 odd citizens is going to have to pay off their billion dollar foreign debt. It's obvious the rest of the population isn't going to.
Some of the members of the Mennonite community in Lott, Texas lived in Belize, but decided to move back. They said it was more dangerous there and they felt safer in the U.S.
Hi All, I spent a year in Belize on a project --The people shown are Mennonites they are a big portion of the population there. --There are two main "Genotypes" for lack of a better word-- One lives in a fairly modern, but self sufficient farming community --they have cars, tractors, nice houses ---and grow most of the food in Belize , and then there are the traditional groups, like the ones in the vid and they live way in the back woods and only use animal, water, and human power--- they make some incredible machines like we saw here and all driven by muscle power and lots of belts, wheels and pulleys.
There's a more recent video by a Belizian TV crew and it shows a transmission of some kind and two or three prop-shafts joining to the cog or wheel for the broad bandsaw blade.
I'm surprised that they don't use cattle for the sawmill instead, they're stronger, less expensive to buy and care for and less likely to get bored with the monotony of this task.
I don't think they are that good for wheeling like the horses are. Plus you can train the horses to up and down-tempo for speed changes of the blade; with oxen that's usually very difficult as it's start or stop and no middle-ground usually.
Very sustainable. At the rate they are harvesting and processing the rainforest will grow back and the manure can fertilize it. What's not to like? ;-)
@@meandnature6452 they're just lean, not skinny. I should know, I worked in the vet clinic and we had ourselves some neglected horses rescued that would literally just skin and bones.
Theresa Knapp The folks in the video are old order mennonites. Many Amish groups use power tools. They use air compressors to power them. As for horses I know many people who won't sell a horse to the Amish or Old Order Mennonites. Many Amish think of horses like some people think of cars (use it up and buy another one). The Amish I dealt with in Maryland had solar powered electric lights on their buggys and wagons. The mix of technologies from one Amish group to the next is amazing. amishamerica.com/
+Paul Best That is SO true! Thank you for providing the amishamerica URL. That's one place to get a basic understanding of our Amish. But that's different subject, really. Like you said, these are Old Order Mennonites.
With the thin kerf of a bandsaw less wood is cut/removed thus less HP is required when compared to the wide kerf of a large circular saw blade. Why even use horses, why not use water power? A stainless steel welded water wheel could easily power a band saw mill and the wheel would last forever only have to lubricate the bearings and occasionally replace them.
It would seam more practical to me that you have a steam power plant running off all that wood waste to power a steam engine to run your sawmill as well as a yarder cable to bring the logs to the saw. All in all you are running a more simple method that still works, great job.
Coming from a guy who has worked around steam engines, it's not as practical as it sounds. It takes a LOT of wood to keep water hot enough to produce the necessary power. The most effective method of non-electric saw-milling (aside from gas powered) is still a waterwheel.
Smart horse, his work for the day is already done. The head honcho probably saddles him for a ride home afterwards.
11 лет назад
I just read a very good comment about the Amish (see the link in the clip discription). This short clip gives you a realistic insight of hard young Amish worker.
These guys are not Amish but members of the Old Order Mennonite Group "Noah Hoover Mennonites", who in their outward appearance almost totally resemble the Amish.
well, if they're looking for a place to move to, that has a nice climate, is pretty safe, with abundant nature and at places cheap land, then try Croatia. I'm serious, i'm from there. our countryside in many parts of the country is dying off, only old people, everyone else is moving to cities. google "Lika Hrvatska" or "Zumberak" or "Slavonija" to see one such place. i remember land prices in some parts are ridiculously cheap. however, one has to buy small homesteads, nothing big, as Croatia had a history of small, fragmented farms. anyways, this was off topic, but inspired by comments below.
Tell those people that it's amazing how much more work they can get out of a horse if they FED them. And that brat of a boy, swinging his little whip over horses that are NOT balking, but working. From their clothing, I'm assuming this is a religious sect of some sort, perhaps Mennonite or similar. If so, his father needs to press Proverbs 12:10 into him, "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."
Liked it & added it to my favorites list Once those kids learn how to run the mill as well as they handle their animals, they'll have a good operation going, if no-one gets hurt in the mean time. Letting the log jam up on the lower band wheel at the 1:22 mark is not very good, nor is throwing the Cant Hook over the log at the 2:21 - 2:22 mark. Not to mention not using the dogs Other than that, it looks like they did a good job for using a home made mill with some actual sawmill parts in it
A newer video did say there's been some finger injuries unfortunately, so it looks like your words were prophetic. There's an older guy now sorta in charge of the mill operation and running etc so hopefully those young kids didn't lose any fingers.
I too would have like to have seen more of the power drive train. These days I'm not likely to travel to an adjoining State, much less travel outside the USA.
yep just amish folk in a belizen jungle running an 8 horse power saw mill.. guess there is more end torque with all the gear belted pulleys to operate tram and cutting saw..
+Randy Maylowski Horses are not "cute." Horses have good temperament (or not-so-good), good conformation (or not-so-good -- possibilities for all kinds of faults there), good musculature (or -- well, you get the idea), great coloring or markings and have nice lines. Horses can be regal or handsome or breathtaking or dainty (in the case of fillies and mares), or any number of things, but you don't call a horse "cute." Newborn foals may be cute; would you call a team of Budweiser Clydesdales "cute"? How insulting!
Ah, yes, there's that, too. I once owned about a dozen ponies. Most of them were cute, some more so than others. One was ungainly, but I loved him dearly.
Bestmountjoy Belize strongest foreign exchange earners are sugar, citrus, banana and fisheries and of course off sure Banking. None of which involves the Mennonites. They are good people and an asset to the country but there are a lot else going on.
When I think of 'industry' Mervin, I think of something net productive, like you said ~ sugar, citrus, banana and fisheries. Like creating with steel, wood, even electronics, horticulture, farming, just hacking in the garage to a RU-vid with your tools. Is there much of that? I'm honestly not aware...I live a very long way in Nova Scotia...hah! @^b! ... where I would never think of banking as net productive...only to those who own them...! Nor politics or religion either... Still though, thanks for getting back at me. I appreciate the exchange. I hope to find out firsthand someday soon. lol... I have good friends there...and perhaps an abidingly happy home in the future. :^>!
Wow ... Can u just think about in the really old days when this was common place .... My how we have advanced over the years ... We all need someone else to do this for us now ...
Amish in Belize? I didn't know that. Or are they Mennonites? Old order Mennonites? I heard the PA Dutch being spoken by some of the adults. Why on earth are they down in Central America. Interesting video nonetheless.
+wilhard45 Yes, Mennonites. And possibly Old Order, or similar. Many things have further dispersed Mennonites that came first to North America. Civil war, unjust laws (private schooling for one,) and a few other things. Anyway I was glad to find this video.
+Michael Dougfir These guys belong to the Noah Hoover Old Order Mennonites. They came to Belize in the late 1960s and were joined by quite a few Russland-Mennonites , who came to Belize in 1958. Their villages are Upper Barton Creek, Springfield and Pine Hill. They are quite open to outsiders.
+Watch Ryder These are definitely no Amish but Noah Hoovers from Springfield, Belize. The dress of the Noah Hoovers is very much like the dress of the Amish. There are different Old Order Mennonite groups with different dress. Some people think all Old Order Mennonites look like the Groffdale Conference Mennonites, also called Wenger Mennonites, but that is a simplistic view. The Orthodox Mennonites are another group of Old Order Mennonites, that dress like the Amish. The men of the Noah Hoovers and the Orthodox Mennonites also wear mustaches, whereas the Amish do not, except of the "Michigan Churches" of the Amish, that are influenced by the Noah Hoovers and Orthodox Mennonites. The guys in this video also have mustaches, if you look closely. By the way, there are no Old Order Amish outside North America.
Everyone needs something to do. Even horses and cattle and dogs. They aren't straining while doing their jobs. No one in this video is doing back breaking work. But it is boring, slow, calorie burning work.
Ramon Pacheco They use horses instead of engines and electric motors because horses don't need expensive spare parts and fuel that must be purchased from outsiders. Being different from the outside world is part of their religon.
+Ramon Pacheco Their "Ordnung" (set of rules) does not allow the use of any engine, because especially Old Order Mennonites and Russian Mennonites, but also Old Order Amish made the experience that there is a strong drift toward the use of more and more technology, that over a period of several (2, 3, 4, 5) generations leads to assimilation and the loss of their belief. They fear the use of engines leads to the use of tractors and then to cars. There are no Old Order Mennonite groups, who use cars, that still have retained the German language. As soon as they speak the languages of the people around them, the pressure to assimilate becomes much stronger. The more assimilated Mennonite and Amish groups are, the less children they have and fewer young people will join their church. Thus over a long period leads to the disintegration of their communities. The idea behind all that is: more technology --> assimilation --> loss of faith --> hell, therefore no modern technology, --> no hell! This idea is based on experience. They sacrifice the conveniences of the modern world for their salvation of and the salvation of their children.
Donald B, you know nothing about the Noah Hoover Mennonites and related Christian groups! Using certain technologies - or not using them - has nothing to do with blasphemy in the view of these Mennonites! Groups like the Noah Hoovers decide which technologies are good for their church and which are not. They look at other churches and observe which changes strengthen their community and which changes weaken them. There is much more rational thinking behind their decisions what technologies they use than behind you ignorant comment. Read about Old Order groups and you will learn how erroneous your assumption is.
Oh brother... Those horses are healthy. I don't see any chipped hooves or mange. For living in the tropics, those horses look very well cared for. It's OK to see some rib.
they are not under fed you are meant to see a horses ribs (unless its a fashion horse they are over fed for a better look but this decreases there life span )
Let these Amish guys see television for a couple of days and no one will show up for work The next day. They will all be on their way to modern civilization.
bob Last Work isn´t the problem. THIS kind of work is. First of all the horses are too skinny. Second of all letting them walk around in small circles is very bad for their bones. Third of all, these people should enter the 20th century for a change instead of staying stuck in the middle ages.
Saartje Hond I would bet that there "skinny horses" out live yours by a ways.. Do you own horses..? Probably not.. They look healthy and quite content to do the job.. You notice very little motivation being given out by the little guy with the whip in the middle.. "20th century"..? Do you mean people piled on top of each other, living in high rise apartments that have forgotten where there food and furniture really come from..?? If you want a pet get a dog...!! The bible refers to these animals as beast of burden for a reason.. These people know better than anyone how to maintain healthy livestock.. There very lives depend on it..
Larry Barnett I own horses for more than thirty years. My oldest is nearly thirty years old and still doing well thank you. I'm sure they won't keep their horses that long, because they won't make them money anymore and only cost them. And if there´s something I don´t care then it´s what a bible says. And their lives depend on it? You do know these people have the biggest puppy mills in the US? Do their lives depend on that? Or is it just to make money. They're the biggest hypocrits around. Selling things saying they made it but in the mean time it's really 'made in China'.
Saartje Hond I didn't know about the puppy mills.. I myself have not witnessed that.. I have, however, purchased tack from the Amish and set there watching them make it to my specs.. If by "made in China" you mean the heaters you see on TV, I don't doubt that for a minute.. But I think that there may be, what they call, an "English man" behind that operation.. Sorta the same way there is usually a white man behind all the Native American casinos.. And if not, I am sure the Amish have there bad eggs the same way any other society does.. If you want to purchase something that is genuinely Amish made you need to go to an Amish community.. What it comes down to, with the treatment of the horses in the video, is upbringing.. I was raised on a farm and learned, at a young age, the need to euthanize those animals that were no longer an asset to the operation.. I helped my father and grandfather put down and bury quite a few animals.. It's very hard to put down a horse that has treated you good for so many years I agree.. But don't wake up one day to realize that you are trying to maintain an older horse with the use of drugs and feed supplements only for your benefit.. If the 30 year old horse still has a good quality of life, that's great, you are very lucky.. Are you sure it's not a mule...?? I originally commented on your post because I felt you were being very judgmental of a group of people you may not know much about.. After rethinking my earlier post I now realize that I have done nothing more than lower myself to your level by casting judgment on you without really knowing you..
Where's OSHA?!! CPS?!! PETA?!! NLRB?!! EPA?!! NAACP?!! This is OUTRAGEOUS!!! NO hemets! NO hearing protection! NO safety glasses! NO posted labour laws! NO shop steward, and NO coffee!! Outrageous!
+Stephen Franks Apparently some of you have trouble with either geography or reading comprehension. This is in Belize. Belize is in Central America -- you know, between North America and South America?
