42
—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 14,1978
By SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
“Life is not bonng.”
Geraldine Hershey says with
a smile as she discusses her
family’s activities in the
kitchen of her home on
Hossler Road just outside of
Manheim.
1 Gerry is the wife of Donald
L. Hershey, the 1978 Master
Farmer from Lancaster
County, one of just three in
the state named to the honor.
The Hersheys have three
children, and to Gerry this is
her most important job. She
enjoys being home where
she is needed, and likes
-putting her skills to work to
make a comfortable home.
The Hersheys are farming
on the farm where Gerry
grew up, now called Her
shvale Farms, and Gerry is
quick to give credit for the
honor they have received to
their three children: Larry,
18; Steven, 16 and Patti, 12.
It is truly a family operation
and each family member
has tasks which make the
highly diversified fanning
operation click.
Gerry herself is very in
volved in the poultry end of
the farm enterprise. It is her
responsibility to “gather
eggs twice a day.” That may
not seem like much, but with
31,000 layers that amounts to
quite a few eggs. The job
takes 2% to three hours, and
son Steven is the regular
assistant. In the morning,
Gerry says, “Steve and I do
it from 6:00 to 7:00 a.nu In
the evening everyone helps
and we usually begin at 3:00.
We have the eggs done
before we start milking.”
So, although Gerry does
not hold down a job, she does
acknowledge that the
responsibility of packing the
eggs is really a “part-time
job.”
While the eggs are her
primary responsibility,
Gerry says that when she
and Don were first married
nearly 20 years ago she
began doing “anything and
everything” until her
children were old enough to
take over some of the chores.
She helped with field work
and carried milk for years.
Despite 20 years of being
around cows, Gerry says,
“To me a cow is still a cow.”
She said she cannot
distinguish one from
another, although now the
milking chores are handled
by Don and Larry, with
Steve doing the feeding of
the cows and Patti feeding
the calves. Patti says, “I like
to feed calves.”
Gerry says she feels her
family is fortunate because,
“The children have always
been willing to help out with
the work.” In fact, she feels
Larry really liked the idea of
taking on responsibility
when he was first asked to
take over some of the chores
as Donald became active in
many community activities.
She says frankly, that
without the help of the
children Donald could never
have attended the many
meetings he has over the
years.
The entire Hershey family
is busy - Donald in the
community; the children in
FFA and 4-H. However,
Gerry says she has no desire
Master Farmer wife says
life
Finding Gerry at the sewing machi
common. She said she se' whr
Steve. 16. and Gerry pack the eggs every afternoon. Gerry says she enjoys the help and the
morning from 6:00 - 7:00, and then again in the company.
'net boring' on farm
H
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A
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me is very
she tf
Gerry Hershey puts the topping on Moravian
sugar cakes in the remodeled kitchen of her farm
home.
the time, and makes garments for the whole -
N
i —o I
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E
to join organizations
“Donald enjoys it -1 don’t
It’s great that we’re op
posite.” Another reason she
doesn’t 'eel a need to belong
to clubs: “I have more to do
than I get done as it is.”
As she talks about her
family, however, a few in
volvements do begin to come
forth. The family belongs to
the Congregational Bible
Church of Marietta. Gerry
enjoys playing the piano for
her own enjoyment, but adds
that she plays for the Good
News Club, which is an
terdenominational Bible
study group at Patti’s
school.
Her one constant joy and
interest is sewing, and this
summer she shared her
knowledge of sewing by
being a leader in the Mount
Joy Community 4-H club.
She said she decided to offer
to help instead of just taking
Patti to and from the
meetings. She enjoyed
working with the 4-H’ers and
found that she often had
more patience in explaining
techniques to them than she
finds at home.
Gerry has been sewing for
a long time, but said she
probably accomplishes more
in sewing than she once did,
since the children are older
and her work on the farm is
less demanding. She said, “I
sew anything - anything, that
is, that I can use a patter(|
for. My sewing machine is
always open.”
Although she has taken a
course in tailoring, she said
that her knowledge of sewing
came mostly on her own with
some encouragement from
an aunt. “It comes easily to
me.” Gerry sews for the
whole family, including her
trio of men. She said she has
made three leisure suits for
her husband, and several for
her sons. She added that she
will be sorry to see leisure
suits become less
fashionable because she has
enjoyed making them. She,
of course, sews for daughter
Patti," and added, “I sew
most of the shirts for the
family, but now I get
everything approved before
I make it.”
Aside from her sense of
accomplishment in sewing,
Gerry said, “There is no
doubt that it is a savings. I
just won’t pay the price for
ready-made clothing in ttifj
store.” She added that she
also doesn’t pay full price for
the fabric she uses. She
shops fabric outlets and
sales, and when she sees
something she likes she gets
it and then figures out a use
for it. Her ingenuity always
comes up with something
suitable for the fabric.
Donald once served as
president of the Maoheim
Farm Show, and Gerry likes
to enter her sewing in the
Show. She laughingly says,
“I’ve taken jellies,” but
indicates that sewing is
really a more successful
area for her.
She has a large garden m
the summer and does the
usual canning and freezing
for a large family. She
recalls a new experience she_
had this past summer whftf
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