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—Lancatter Farming, Saturda
Lancaster County has better air, better people and is a lot
quieter than New York City. This will come as no surprise to
residents of the County, but the observations were made by
youngsters visiting local farms through the Fresh Air
program.
They all seemed to be having a great time with their host
families, and in the words of one boy, the big advantage of the
program is “just to give the kids a break in the summer”.
Mr. and Mrs. Christ Hess, Pequea RDI, are hosting 15-
year-old Neal Council for bis eighth summer. Neal’s home is
in the Bronx, and he says he likes “everything” about
visiting at the Hess’s. His family lives in a single family
home in New York and they have a yard and garden, so he
has had the experience of watching green things grow, but he
said in the summer at home he mostly “sits around, plays or
goes to the pool”. He sometimes rides his bicycle at the park
close by his home.
At Creek Knoll Farm, however, he helps milk the cows and
even loads straw and hay. One of his proudest ac
complishments is learning to drive a tractor. Raymond Hess,
23, says that each year Neal becomes more and more of a
help on the farm.
His opinion of Lancaster County in contrast to New York
City is that there is “better air and better people” here. “The
people,” he said, “are kinder and nicer.”
Part of Neal’s experiences at the Hess farm include
playing with their pet lambs, relaxing on a swing attached to
a high tree and fishing in the Pequea Creek. He also enjoys
sleeping under the stars with the Hess’s youngest son, Park,
13, but added that after he read about the bear dragging off a
local boy’s sleeping bag while camping in the west he’s not so
sure he wants to sleep outside anymore.
Neal has ten brothers and sisters in New York, so he fits in
quite well with the Hess family in which there are 11 children.
Mrs. Hess says they have had fresh air children for nine
years, and in one year had three children. She said, “We
really enjoy having Neal here.” In fact, Neal is such a part of
the family, that each year at Christmas the Hess’s send him a
train ticket to come and spend the holidays with them. Neal’s
father is a truck driver.
Mrs. Hess’s son and daughter-in-law are hosting two fresh
air children. Mr. and Mrs. Abram Hess, Conestoga EDI have
opened their home to Frances and Elizabeth Santana,
Spanish sisters from Brooklyn. Elizabeth, who is 11, has been
coming to the Hess home for six years and Frances, 9, is here
for her fifth year. Mrs. Hess recalls that the first year
Elizabeth came, they hosted another girl, too, and the two
girls had not been to school so could not speak English very
well. Elizabeth spoke the better of the two, so she acted as
interpreter. Communicating proved to be quite interesting.
The Abram Hess family has been hosting Fresh Air
children for 12 years and Mrs. Hess said they became in
terested through friends who hosted children. There are four
Neal and Raymond show .'ff a newborn calf which
they had just brought in fro n the meadow.
>. July 27. 1974
Lancaster Residents Host Fresh Air Visitors
by
Sally Bair
Farm Feature Writer
Hess children: Wayne, 11; Gerald, 10; Brian, 6; and Vicky,
2%. Although the two visitors were shy at first, it became
evident very soon that there is a lot of activity in the Hess
household, and quite a lot of happy chattering is contributed
by Frances and Elizabeth.
Both girls agreed that the best thing about living on the
farm is the “fresh air - in New York it is all polluted”. They
Frances and Elizabeth Santana enjoy playing with
the pet lamb, Midnight, along with the youngest Hess,
Vicky.
live in a single family dwelling, and have a small garden and
“roses and apple trees”. Elizabeth added that they do “have
trees and grass in New York”. They have one brother and
five sisters, and their father is a carpenter.
Abram Hess, who is in partnership with is father and a
brother, Christ, Jr., has 25,000 laying hens, 75 sows and 400
market hogs. Frances said, “I never saw so many chickens.”
The girls demonstrated how they help to pack the eggs as
they come off the belt, and as the tour of the farm continued,
Frances said with some wonder, “They have more pigs here
than at home.”
Apparently there is some difference in the food here, and
Packing eggs is a real family affair and the visitors
pitch in and help.
Neal shows how he’s learning to drive tractor on the
Hess Farm.
both girls agreed that they don’t like red beets. Barbecued
steak is a favorite. They helped to pick beans and dig
potatoes.
The girls said they don’t have time to write to the Hess
family when they’re at home, saying that they help “clean
house” and make “mud cakes”. Two of the Hess sons are
learning to play the organ, and the girls’ eyes lit up when they
said they, too, are learning to play this summer. Elizabeth
said they can play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and the
“Wedding Song”.
Mrs. Hess said her family “looks forward to having the
children visit in the summer, and they get along real well”.
She said, “We include them as one of the family, and they do
just what we do. The most important thing in life is to give
time and love to children as the Bible verse Matthew 18
suggests.”
This year the girls won a goldfish at the Conestoga Fire
Company Festival and are looking forward to taking it home.
Last year it was three toads that went home with them.
The Jay E. Landis family, Lancaster RD6, is hosting Joel
and Loy Chu, whose home is in the Bronx. The Landis’ have a
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