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Lancaster Farming, Saturday. Ma
********************* •
Frpm Local Aa Teachers:
The article this week was
prepared by Donald Robinson,
Young Farmer advisor in the
Eastern Lancaster County School
District.
OUTDOOR RECREATION
ENTERPRISES
As the weather changes from
Winter to Spring the farmers
thoughts turn to working his
fields, but for millions of
Americans, thoughts turn to
planning vacations or having an
enjoyable drive in the country.
What do these two thoughts
have in common’ - faamers may
have what vacationers want-but
neither knows it Have you ever
considered developing a vacation
farm, youth camp, golf course,
swimming facility, picnicking
and sports area, camping area,
nature trail, riding, fishing and
hunting facility, winter sports
area, or some other recreational
facility’ Before you say it
couldn’t be done on your farm,
read on
This short article cannot
provide all the information you
need to develop a recreational
facility but it can provide some
thoughts for you to analyze the
possibilities
Three ingredients are
necessary to any successful
outdoor recreation enterprise
resources, management, and
location Resources are those
areas that have natural or
developed facilities that will
bring enioyment or relaxation to
people Income producing
recreation opportunities may
crop up in the most unexpected
places. For example, one farmer
was about to tear down an old
smoke house and spring house,
instead he decided to restore
them as a tourist attraction and
P. t. BOHBEH & B»0„ IHC.
Smoketown, Pa.
13. 1
Thoughts
in Passing
Donald Robinson
charge admission to come in and
look them over It happened to be
near a main highway so it
developed into a thriving
recreation business.
Another farmer put up a sign
“$1 to see the cows milked” and
soon found he had to buy more
cows to fill the demand (Con
tinuous milking isn’t the best way
to develop a milk cow, of course,
but the viewing may bring better
returns than the milk).
The point is that not all
recreational resources need to be
spectacular “Beauty is m the
eye of the beholder” they say So
also it might be said, “Recreation
opportunity is in the eye of the
imaginative developer”—within
limits. Which brings us to the
next factor
Management covers many
items such as aptitude,
imagination, financing, and
labor It is the proper blend of
many ingredients. Aptitude is
possibly the most important
single component of any
recreational enterprise. To be
PH. 397-3539
successful in recreation one must
like people in general well enough
to put up with their foibles,
moods, and sometimes annoying
habits. He must look after their
comfort He must, in short, keep
his customer’s interest up
permost in his plans at all times.
A person with imagination can
make up for deficiencies in
natural resourses. One com
monly thinks water and trees or
both are necessary for a suc
cessful recreation enterprise, but
think of the example of the smoke
house. Every farmer and far
mer’s wife has a limitless store of
interesting and entertaining
information that can be the
delight and an education to
people brought up in the city.
Financing. A few people have
founded successful recreational
businesses on a shoestring, but
more have failed. In this field,
even more than in farming, it is
necessary to have good
arrangements for adequate
financing.
Labor. A farm family adding a
recreation enterprise to its
agricultural operations often
tends to overlook the amount of
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time and energy that must be
allocated to the recreation
portion. Many times the in
dividual entrepreneur is in a
situation where service is the
most important product he has to
sell because service may not be
available in a public facility
nearby. In respect to labor,
recreation may be an answer to
the problem of under
employment brought about by a
farmer’s inability to acquire
sufficient land to bring his unit up
to adequate size from a labor
utilization standpoint.
Location is always of im
portance in an industry such as
recreation. Since we are already
in a high tourist attraction area,
this should be beneficial to a
recreation type of enterprise, and
would not need to be developed as
much .as in other areas. But as
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24 Hour Service Daily
SUPPLY CENTER
1027 Dillerville Road, Lancaster
stated in the beginning, you have
what vacationers want. If you
want to take advantage of that
you need to develop your
facilities to harvest that par
ticular crop and let them know
that you have it available.
Ham Insurance
A large canned ham in the
refrigerator is especially valu
able company dinner insur
ance in the summer when par
ties are often spontaneous and
relatives or friends may drop
in unexpectedly. A ham can
be kept unopened in the re
frigerator for several months.
What if company doesn’t ma
terialize? No problem that
ham will make a fine family
meal with leftovers for satis
fying salads and hearty sand
wiches.
*TTtf f| R
Ml
Ph; 717-397-4761