The Scribes

P.J. Huffstutter: The latest edition of the Budget had just hit newsstands and Amish family mailboxes, and already fresh updates were pouring in.

"Canning is coming to a close," one person reported from Salem, Mo. "The weather is very humid to hot today," wrote another from Grabill, Ind.

The big news from Cottage Grove, Tenn.: "Thomas Hostetler hurt his ankle while loading grain onto the truck from the grain cart."

The Budget is not your typical newspaper. Since 1890, it has served as the primary communication link among Amish settlements across the country.

And at a time when papers big and small are struggling amid plummeting circulation and intense online competition, the Budget is holding…