"When the Delagrange family moved to Lenawee county, Michigan, in 2015, they refused to use modern toilets. For religious reasons, they used an outhouse. Every couple of days, once the container became about half full, someone in the family would remove the 5-gallon pail from their handbuilt outdoor privy and combine the waste with animal manure."
"Henry Delagrange, the 74-year-old patriarch and bishop of the community, had lived this way for decades in neighboring Hillsdale county. When he and his sons moved to Lenawee in search of more land, they brought those practices with them along with a commitment to avoid what he calls the lush of the world: phones, electricity and septic systems."
"The Delagrange family understood that someone must have reported them. Indeed, the health department had received what one officer called a large number of complaints about the Amish. Cindy Merritt, the health code inspector, paid a visit to Melvin's property and documented the offending outhouse."
The Delagrange family, an Old Order Amish community, relocated to Lenawee County, Michigan in 2015 seeking more farmland. Following their religious beliefs, they rejected modern toilets and septic systems, instead using outhouses and combining human waste with animal manure, treating it with lime, and spreading it on pastures. Henry Delagrange, the 74-year-old patriarch and bishop, had practiced this method for decades. About a dozen other conservative Amish families joined them to establish a new settlement. Initially, neighbors appeared friendly, but the county health department received numerous complaints about the community's waste management practices. Health code inspector Cindy Merritt investigated and documented violations of county sanitation requirements.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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