22—Lancaster Farming, Saturday. May 19. 1973
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At Shirk’s “Cardinal Farm Home", ..
They Offer Hospitality To Non-Farm Families
As summer approaches many
tourists and vacation-bound
urban dwellers are attracted to
beautiful, bountiful Lancaster
and neighboring counties with
their large barns and well kept
buildings. As has been the
privilege of some city folks for
several decades to visit their
country cousins, now some less
fortunate pay their hard earned
savings just to get out in the lush,
green meadows and woodlands,
to breathe fresh air, to hear the
birds sing, to hear the cattle
lowing, to hear the cock crow at
break of day, to see the good
brown soil strips between the
grass strips, to sit in the shade of
the old apple tree, to fish in a
quiet stream, to fondle a kitten,
puppy or bunny, to see the good
earth plowed and planted, to lend
a hand in the busy harvest
season, yes, to smell the aroma of
country cookin’ and to pull up
their chairs to a long dining table
laden with foods like they have
only heard Grandma and
Grandpa talk about.
All this and more are to be
found at Cardinal Farm Home,
owned and operated by ‘Herman
A. and Verna Shirk and daughter
Sylvia of Quarryville RDI. Their
131 acre farm is located in the
southern part of Lancaster
County on Cardinal Drive, which
is the road from Drumore Center
on Route 272 to Mechanic Grove
on Route 222.
As the Shirks are starting
their sixth year in the farm
vacation business they are
eagerly anticipating the return of
old friends they have made
because many of them return
again and again. They thoroughly
enjoy meeting and entertaining
these folks. They have taken
pictures of almost all of them and
have them entered in an album
which to them is a collection of
fond memories.
Shirks have a very good
cl: ntelf ->f doctr lr ~s
is her album which has colored pictures of nearly all the
guests she has entertained. Her poster board is well sup
plied with brochures of tourists’ attractions in Lancaster
County.
Farm
Feature
Writer
Mrs,. Charles
McSparran
executives, t -ackers, writers and
their families. They have come
from the British Isles, Italy,
Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia,
Germany, Holland and Australia,
as quite a few states in the
United States. Most come from
the New York metropolitan area,
Washington, D.C., Philadelphia,
Boston and a few from Chicago,
Michigan, Oklahoma, California
and Massachusetts.
Last year they hosted 433
people from 119 families and over
half of them were repeats. Some
talented guests have given Mrs.
Shirk things they made. There
are two signs hanging in her
dining room. The one says “The
Shirks” and the other one,
decorated with a cardinal and
green twigs, says “Cardinal
Farm Home.”
A very talented wood carver
carved a realistic Holstein cow
and an artist painted a picture of
their farm. A photographer made
two large pictures of their farm
scenes. A guest who works at
Tiffany’s in New York gave Mrs.
Shirk a sterling silver cream
pitcher and sugar bowl. The
cream pitcher is a cow and the
sugar bowl is a milk pail. Also, a
guest from Ireland gave her a
little ceramic horse with Ireland
printed on it. These gifts are
highly treasured by Mrs. Shirk.
Shirks belong to the Penn
sylvania Dutch Tourist Bureau
and their name appears in then
publication as well as in the
Pennsylvania Farm Vacation
Directory and in an airline
'PatDickr editc
Mrs. Shirk likes to relax with one of her
favorite magazines in her great
grandmother’s platform rocker. The
straight chair also came from her. The
childs rocker came from Mr. Shirk’s great-
f :
it-,
Mrs. Herman A. Shirk, hostess of Cardinal Farm Home,
holds some prized gifts from vacationers--a sterling sugar
bowl (milk pail) and creamer (cow) from Tiffany, New York,
a ceramic horse from Ireland and a hand carved wooden cow.
The shingles beside her were painted by two vacation
guests.
of “Farm and Ranch Vacation
Guide” published by Rand Mc-
Nally, has stayed at Shirks’ on
various occasions and wrote
about them and their business in
this publication. There have been
write-ups about Cardinal Farm
Home in the New York Magazine
and the Washington, D. C.
American Motorist.
Shirks have a brochure printed
by the thousands which is given
out at practically all the tourist
attractions and the Lancaster
County Visitors Official In
formation Center. All this has
given them very favorable
publicity because they furnish
clean, comfortable ac
commodations, serve fresh,
delicious, wholesome, country
food family style in a congenial
atmosphere and surround their
well-kept farm setting with green
lawns and beautiful flowers. Most
of all, news of Cardinal Farm
Home has spread by word of
mouth because guests not only
return but bring with them their
friends'and relatives.
These vacation seekers are
more concerned with an escape
from the city and being able to
relax then they are attracted to
the often over-commercialized
tourist attractions. Shirks, on
occasion, do take these guests on
a short trip to see-the country but
most generally provide
brochures of places to see and
grandmother. A few of her many house
plants are in the background. Also a
painting of their farm done by a vacation
guest.
sometimes secure the guidance
of Mrs. Samuel E. Zook of
Strasburg EDI who goes with
them in their automobiles
showing them places of interest
and taking them to household
sales and places that sell an
tiques.
Shirks have a capacity of 19 or
20 guests in their two far
mhouses. They can sleep seven in
their own home and about 12 to 15
in their guest house. They also
provide cribs and high chairs for
small children. The guest house
is used exclusively for their
guests and has complete
housekeeping facilities which
include heat, four bedrooms,
bath, complete with linens and
bedding, a large combination
kitchen and living room with TV,
refrigerator, electric stove,
dishes and utensils and an
automatic washer in the
basement. The guests rooming in
the guest house are also
privileged to dine at Shirks’ home
where three family-style meals
are provided a day. The
homestead has two guest rooms,
two baths and laundry privileges.
Mrs. Shirk makes homemade
bread, pies, cakes and puddings
and serves their home raised
vegetables, meats and fresh
whole milk. During the peak
guest season they consume three
or four gallons of milk a day.
Shirks have a herd of 25
Holstein cows and as many
heifers and calves. They do their
own milk testing. They ship their
milk to Abbott’s in Philadelphia.
Guests like to be out in the bam
at milking time and like to help
feed calves, clean the stables,
ride tractors, help bale hay and
unload it, ride the garden tractor
for mowing meadows and road
(Continued On Page 23)
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