Going Green With Shaker Furniture by the Amish

The Amish have continued to create Shaker inspired furniture in the tradition of the environmentally aware Shakers. Going green or recycling were ideals that were exemplified daily in the Shaker community, be it through their furniture or a simple seed harvested by hand. Contemporary ego subtly suggests that the ideas of recycling and reusing items from furniture to food are new and modern. In fact, in comparison to the nineteenth century Shaker community we are far behind in going green. The Shakers knew long before us that from water resources to crops that if they respected their earthly home, they could share their abundance unselfishly with the needy instead of wasting it.

One way the Shakers recycled was to salvage items and reuse them with replacement parts. A chair seat often wears out first, so in the 1840's the Shakers, believing these inspirational messages came directly from Heaven, advised that plain chairs with split bottoms are preferred because they can be mended instead of tossed aside. If a chair was no longer useful some rockers might be placed on it. A chair that may be too short in the back for one Brother would simply be salvaged by adding some additional slats for another Brother. Nothing was cast aside as waste without first considering its possible second life, much like God salvaged them.

Be it talent, space, time or resources the Shakers believed that thrift was important and waste was negligence. The Shaker was not only thrifty but had an innate sense that the world was not his but a borrowed gift. They believed they were stewards of God's heritage, not owners of it. This was reflected in their careful use and reclamation of every earthly item, down to a very pin dropped on the floor. Long before modern architectural salvage companies were in vogue, the Shakers believed that if a building must be torn down it was to be disassembled and reused. In order to meet community needs, the Shakers would usually not dismantle at all but remodel or even move entire buildings without the leisure of modern equipment.

In a world of wasteful eaters, even the food was monitored by the green conscious Shakers. Take all you want but eat all you take was a philosophy shared with community members as well as visitors. Not even water that cooked their vegetables was thrown out but instead saved for soups as a nutritious "potlikker". No leftover was wasted but instead reused in a dish or stew. In a printed reminder, handed to visitors at Canterbury, Sister Hannah Bronson scribed:

We find of those bounties which heaven does give,
That some live to eat, and some eat to live.
That some think of nothing but pleasing the taste,
And care very little how much they do waste.

After many years of struggle and persecution, the Shakers, grand craftsmen and women and even grander business persons, could have easily afforded the lifestyles of the outside world but instead led prudently lived lives of ecological examples. Today the Amish still create the naturally beautiful, enduring and useful furniture of the Shakers; holding fast to the tradition of reusable heirloom designs. Solid wood Shaker conceptions endure in furniture that is not only functional but sustainable in ways that will be enjoyed for generations thanks to the kindred spirit of the Amish woodworker.