Library Seed of Agriculture
107 Pottcc Lldg.
Vol. 17 No. 19
The water on the Stehman farm runs from the terraces
onto this sod waterway. There are 2.2 acres of sod water
-ways on the Stehman farm.
, Farm Calendar
Sunday, April 2
Easter Day
Monday, April 3
|jsp.m. Public meeting, Fulton
'Grange Hall, Oakryn.
8 p.m. Lancaster County
Poultry Association board of
directors meeting, Farm and
Home Center.
Octarora Young Farmer
meeting, Farm Safety, vo-ag
room, Octarora High School.
Lancaster County Guernsey
Breeders Association farm tour.
Tuesday, April 4
7:30 p.m. Lancaster County
Soil and Water Conservation
District educational meeting,
Mastersonville Fire Hall.
7:30 p.m. Penn Manor Young
Farmer meeting, Fire Protec
tion, Millersville Fire Hall.
Lancaster County Farmers
Association board meeting,
Farm and Home Center.
Poultry Short Course, Penn State
University, April 4-5.
Wednesday, April 5
7:30 p.m. Lancaster County
Soil and Water Conservation
District board meeting, Farm
and Home Center.
Thursday, April 6
7 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. Ephrata
Young Farmer annual tour,
Philadelphia area.
Friday, April 7
6:45 p.m. Cloister FFA Parent-
Son FFA banquet, Ephrata Area
High School cafeteria.
7 p.m. Penn Manor FFA
Father-Son banquet, Millersville
Fire HaU.
7 p.m. Pennsylvania Egg
Marketing Association meeting,
Holiday Inn, Rt. 222, Exit 21,
Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Northeastern Poultry Producers
Council meeting, Concord Hotel,
Kiamesia Lake, N.Y., April 7 - 8.
Saturday, April 8
Fulton Grange €6 annual supper,
Oakryn.
Pennsylvania Holstein
Association calf sale, small
arena, Farm Show Building,
Harrisburg.
The Peace Corps Wants Yon
The Peace Corps wants you,
young man, or young woman, or
middle aged couple, or, in fact,
anyone who has a background in
agriculture. This, is the message
that Frank Pixley, chief of the
Peace Corps Agriculture skill
desk, wants to spread throughout
Lancaster and nieghboring
counties this week.
“We need people of all ages
with agriculture skills. The time
is long since past when the Peace
Corps wnet onto the college
campus and signed up hundreds
of eager Liberal Arts majors.
Now' the emphasis is on skills and
agriculture is one area in par
ticular where we need people.
We, of course, are looking for
people with degrees. But we also
need people with farm ex
perience. That is why we are
extremely interested in talking to
anyone with at least two years
experience in working on a
farm,” says Pixley.
And that is why Pixley and two
young recruiters will be holding a
meeting at 7:30p.m. April 6 at the
Farm and Credit Budding in
York and a similar one at 7:30
p.m. April 7 at the Farm and
Home Center in Lancaster.
“We want any interested
person with a background in
agriculture to come out. We’ll
determine whether or not he is
qualified.”
The Peace Corps has changed
since its inception during the
Public Meeting
On Plans for
Atomic Plant
The public is invited to a
meeting at Fulton Grange HaU,
Oakryn, at 8 p.m. Monday, AprU
3, sponsored by the Grange.
Purpose of the meeting wiU be
an informative discussion on the
effects an atomic plant, located
in the Solanco school area, would
have on the community.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 1,1972
Lester Stehman
Steward Of The Soil
Webster defines the word
conservation as the planned
managment of a natural resource
to prevent exploitation,
destruction or neglect. Lester
Stehman, Manheim RD2, who
was recently named Outstanding
Cooperator at the annual banquet
of the Lancaster Soil and Water
Conservation District says that
one more word should be added to
this definition . . . stewardship.
“God put us here to be stewards
of the earth. I feel that by
following good conservation
practices I am simply being a
better steward of the land.”
Lester Stehman’s love for his
land is evident as one takes a
leisurely stroll over his 76 acre
farm located between Mount Joy
and Manheim. “My father toiled
this land before me for 20 years
Kennedy days. There has come
the realization that many of the
peoples of the world need to be
taught basic skills simply to stay
alive. Thus, the Corps was
changed from one where you
selected the region of the world
you wanted to go and visited that
office to one where you now go to
the office where your particular
skill happens to be.
“I’m responsible for
agriculture and skilled trades,”
relates Pixley. “That includes
plumbers, electricians and the
like. In addition to people with
agriculture backgrounds, I’m
also looking for skilled trades
people. For instance, right now
I’m looking for industrial arts
people and tool and die makers.
We need all sorts of skills in the
Peace Corps.”
If someone is accepted for the
Corps he will go through a three
month training cycle. The
training period, however, is not
one in which to teach people new
skills but rather one to teach
them the language in the country
to which they are going. “We
screen people pretty closely,”
says Pixley. “We’ll know after
the interview and screening
process whether he is qualified
for the Corps.”
The basic concept of the Corps
is a people-to-people concept.
“Most of our relationships are on
a small group basis,” notes
Pixley. “In fact, many times its
on a one-to-one basis. It’s not just
people telling other people how
something should be done, but,
rather, its actually working right
along with people until they can
do the job for themselves. The
idea is to teach people to do
things for themselves. They,
then, feel self-sufficient and
maybe we have made a friend. It
can be a very exciting thing.”
The duration of a term in the
Peace Corps is two years. Many
of the young people who volun
teer are interested because they
want to be of service but do not
want to serve in the military.
and I have been farming here for
the past 29 years. I simply believe
that I have an obligation to pass it
on in as good or better condition
than when I began farming it ”
he went on.
To that end five years ago
Lester Stehman began to put into
practice the theories of con
servation that he had learned. As
a result he has increased his
contour farming to 60 acres, has
constructed 12,461 feet of
terraces, built 10,025 feet of file
drain, added 2.2 acres of sod
waterways, and has one grade
stabilization structure.
Terraces are simply gradually
sloping, rather wide areas of land
built to insure that water runoff
flows at a slow rate toward the
sod waterways.
Once the water reaches the sod
“We advise these draft conscious
young people to talk to their draft
boards and then talk to us.”
The Peace Corps is not just
young people oriented. “Oh no,”
exclaimes Pixley. “I’ve got a lot
of wonderful older couples and
older men all over the world. Age
is a measure of respect in many
countries and they would rather
have maturity. What we are
looking for is the skill which the
person has to offer. Age is
relatively unimportant.”
Pixley said that his desk has
775 requests to be filled in the
(Continued on Page 35)
Frank Pixley, chief of the Agricultural skills desk of the
Peace Corps, who is in the Lancaster-York County area
recruiting people with agriculture backgrounds for service in
the Corps.
$2.00 Per Year
waterways it continues to flow
along until it reaches wherever
the farmer wants it to go. The end
of the line at the Stehman farm is
a small creek. While the water is
following the sod waterways it
again is gradually seeping into
the ground. As a result the Steh
man farm shows almost no soil
erosion and very little washed out
areas.
(More pictures on Pages
34 and 35.)
Why don’t more farmers
employ conservation practices 9
“Well, I guess cost is one factor,”
says Stehman “But you can’t
look at conservation as providing
you with immediate dollars in the
pocket. It will eventually mean
more dollars, however, for as the
land is cared for more diligently,
so shall it eventually produce
more, enabling a farmer to earn
more. But if farmers look at
conservation" with the idea of
making a fast buck, no, that just
won’t happen.”
The Bible says, “As every man
hath received the gift, even so
minister the same to one another,
as good stewards of the manifold
grace of God,” (1 Peter 4:10)
Conservation of our farmland is
simply putting the Bible into
practice. It’s probably the
greatest legacy we can leave to
our children.
In This Issue
Classified Ads 37,38,39
DHIA Report 28,29
Market Section 2,3,4
Sale Register 30,31,32
Thoughts in Passing 12
Women’s News 24 thru 27