52—Lancaster Farming Saturday. August 23, 1975 The Berks Co. has chosen nursing as a career Sevenlcen-yc*r-old Cathy Yanos haa a list of 4-H ac tivities which never seems to end. But despite her busy summers, she was persuaded to enter the Berks County Dairy Princess contest and came out a winner. Cathy, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Yanos, Douglassville R 2, already has some ideas about things she would like to do as Dairy Princess, so the next year is sure to be an active one for her. “I think farmers already know how important milk is, so we should try to reach others,” Cathy says. She said the Berks County dairy promotion week at the Berkshire Mall was very successful and it will be tried again next year, perhaps adding something special each night. ”1 might give some demonstrations,” she says. There are some plans for her to visit elementary school children in the first, second and third grades. If she does IV -■*. - t -K; ■ * - •*-•■ Cathy feeds a new calf in the Yanos herd. Country Corner Farms Get Redefined A recent announcement that reached our office this week explained that an official redefinition of farms was about to occur. The announcement stated that “the official definition of a farm has been changed to better reflect today’s agriculture ” The USDA and the Bureau of Census will now be defining a farm as “any establishment from which $lOOO or more of agricultural products is sold or would normally be sold during a year" The last definition given for u§e by the census was given in the late 1950's when a farm was de'-of-*' as p'ace imde' 10 acres with annual s d if * 50m or more of agricultural goods or any place of 10 or more acres selling $5O or more From that definition posed in the late 50’s it is startling to see just how much agriculture has grown and prospered At that particular time, most of the farms included in the census were family operations quite a bit smaller than today's farm Although our Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz has recently noted that corporate farming is not increasing as rapidly as it once was, still many farms in the US are no longer family type operations The new definition will no doubt result in a decreased number of places designated as farms* But the extent of the decrease will not be entirely known until the 1974 Census has been published By Sally Bair Farm Feature Writer with; Melissa Piper ASSOCIATE EDITOR dairy princess visit them, she said, “I will emphasize how important milk Is to drink and give out recipes. That will get their mothers more aware." Another idea for promoting milk which was suggested at the recent dairy princess seminar, Cathy said, is "to preside at a supermarket dairy case and hand out recipes and perhaps samples of a dairy product or a milk punch." This kind of appearance can be especially effective, Cathy said, if the supermarket can be persuaded to run a special on a dairy product. The dairy princess can be valuable, Cathy said. “Because people will pay attention to a princess." Hie Van os farm is approximately 260 acres, with 50 milking Holsteins. In addition to Cathy, there are two boys, Bobby 16, and Glenn, 12 and six-year-old Marianne, self-proclaimed future Dairy Princess. Cathy readily admits that she is not a regular farm worker because she is often too busy. But she does help with the milking in the evening and if her parents go away, she and her brothers are capable of taking over all the chores. But, Cathy, says, "I do a lot of cooking." Cathy does not have a 4-H dairy project, as one might expect of a Dairy Princess, but she has been a 4-H member for nine years and has carried a wide variety of projects. One project she has had almost continually since she began is baby beef. She has had Hereford, Charolais and Angus and has shown at the Reading Fair, the Kutz town Fair and Oley Fair and in 1973 she showed at the Pennsylvania State Farm Show. She has also had swine projects. Cathy just returned from 4-H State Days at Penn State where she was a member of the fifth high meat judging team. She ranked 22 as an individual. Homestead Notes Meat judging sounds like one of those very interesting things one should know about these and as Cathy explained it she supported this viewpoint. Part of the contest is meat identification, she said, and that consists of knowing wholesale cuts, retail cuts and method of cooking. She explained that contestants must give oral reasons on carcasses and must judge which is the best of several loins. This is the second year Cathy has been on the team and in 1973 she gave a demonstration on meat identification, so she said she felt fairly sure of her sub ject. Other projects she has had include clothing, child and family relations, leadership, jellies and jams, freezing, candle making, bicycling, home environment which in cludes such things as start with a small change, terrariums, dish gardens and flower arranging. Cathy has-had so many projects in the home en vironment area and has done so well that this year she was one of three 4-H’ers in the state who were interviewed at State 4-H days for the possibility of being a Keystone winner. That would mean a trip to National 4-H Club Congress in Chicago, and if she wins, it would be a first for Cathy. Cathy is currently president of the Exeter Community Club and is a member of the Berks County Baby Beef Club. She is vice-president of the Berks County 4-H Council, which organizes and carries out all county ac tivities such as the demonstration contest and the county 4-H fair which was held two weeks ago in Kutztown. A big honor for Cathy this summer was the opportunity to travel to Washington, D. C. to participate in the Citizenship Short Course at the National 4-H Club Center. There were two from Berks County and about 100 from Pennsylvania attending with her. She was a member of the Conference committee which helps make rules for the week and work out any discipline problems. There were eight states at the conference with 500 4-H’ers totally, Cathy said the highlight of the week for her was being asked to host representatives of Sun Oil Company at a luncheon. Cathy explained that they were considering making a donation to the 4-H Club Foundation. The group toured Washington, D. C., as any tourists, of course, but a special tour of the White House was arranged and Cathy said they got to see really close-up how the president lives. Cathy said, “There were no ropes and the carpets were rolled down. We saw all through the basement and outside in the gardens. Even though the President was not there we saw the entrances he uses.” But the thing she liked best of all, Cathy said, was the National Zoo. She said, “I had been to Washington twice before, and had seen a lot of the things But I had never been to the zoo. I loved the zoo.” She said she considered attending the conference “an honor.” Last year Cathy attended the Leadership School at 4-H Club Congress at Penn State. In the spring she represented Berks County at Capitol Days in Harrisburg and was asked to give the invocation at the breakfast for legislators. She said, “I really liked Capitol Days. A highlight was learning just what the state is doing to prepare for the Bicentennial. Many things are being done in coordination with 4-H, and it made me much more aware.” Cathy pours a glass of cold refreshing milk for an adoring six-year-old sister, Marianne. At State Days this year Cathy was mistress of ceremonies for the opening assembly. Through 4-H Cathy has also become an accomplished seamstress. The gown she wore for the Dairy Princess contest was her project this year, and it was so well done that she received a perfect score in Dress Revue. She said, “I never did that well in dress revue. I knew this dress was sewn well, but I didn’t think it was that good.” The dress was enhanced by hand embroidery, but Cathy added honestly, “I can’t really say I enjoyed working with it. The fabric wrinkled a lot, and every pin hole showed.” Another sad note was that she had elected not to enter the awards program in dress revue, because she felt she would not do that well. For the county dress revue Cathy wrote the com mentary. She said, “I worked on it for days.” 4-H has obviously played a large part in Cathy’s life, and her hard work was rewarded last year when she was named Outstanding 4-H Girl in Berks County. She said', “The most important thing I gained from 4-H is that I can talk in front of people and can give demonstrations. I have also gained a lot of friendships. I have met a lot of im portant people and a lot of just friends. 4-H has also given me responsibility. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to serve on committees.” Cathy also participated in the summer institute spon sored by the Pennsylvania Association of Farmer Cooperatives. She attended two years in a row. As a second year scholar she said one of the most meaningful things was helping to run the “mini-co-op.” This is a cooperative organized with a board of directors and operated throughout the conference. The co-op promotes the PAFC Institute, sells group pictures of the conference, sells T-shirts and organizes and sells tickets for a pizza party and dance. Each member pays in $l.OO to get organized and at the end of the week the co-op is dissolved and the profits divided. Cathy said everyone made an additional $l.OO profit and there was about $3O left over to donate to an alumni fund for PAFC. Cathy said the members were particularly pleased with [Continued on Page 53] Cathy is no stranger to the milking parlor. Here she demonstrates how she helps to hose it down.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers