A better way.... or simply another way

Well, the baby has me up again, so I get to write more babble!  I just finished reading Jodi Picolet's The Plain Truth.  What a great book!  She goes into detail about the Amish way of life and the intricacies of family life under the rather strict religious guidelines.  While reading this, I found myself enamored by the thought of a more peaceful existence.  What would it be like to live by the land, on the land - with the land?  To spend the days out of doors doing physical labor and eating the best food around without concern of putting on weight.  Ah the benefits of manual labor...
Seriously though, she portrays them in a somewhat idyllic manner.  Having never been on an Amish farm before, I don't know how accurate her portrayal was, but am assuming it is pretty close to reality.  The sense of peace they seem to have when they abandon the typical egotistical way of modern man, working instead to better each other and their community, is enough to make me want to "try it out." I love to bake and tend to the children, enjoy a good hymn sing (does jazz count?), and enjoy sunshine, nature and physical labor.  Then again, I have allergies and would probably be miserable.  And there is that small rule that would forbid my baking binges with wine and the sweet crooning of Ella.  Hmmm.... and no Zumba or dancing of any kind really.
I suppose that while I enjoyed reading about this way of life and all that it entails, I would rather lose myself in my imagination than give up so much of what I have grown accustomed to.  I do wonder how much extra time I would have in my day if I stopped checking my e-mail or searching for coupons 10 times a day...  Perhaps what I really need is simply a vacation.