ClS—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, September 19,1981
By Debbie Koontz
Having been raised on a dairy
farm, I learned at an early age that
venturing from the homestead was
to be regarded as a treat for the
very lucky in other words, we
always had to be home to milk the
cows, and vacations were
restricted to afternoon or evening
jaunts preceded by hurried
showers, miss-matching of
clothing and excesses in the
speeding limit.
Penn State research farm
UNIVERSITY PARK - A dozen
researchers and Extension
specialists from Penn State’s
College of Agriculture will be on
hand for tours and discussions
Wednesday during a major field
day at the Agronomy Research
Farm on Route 45 some eight miles
from here.
The event will be devoted largely
to management of com crops. For
example, certain plots will show
Energy efficiency audits
HARRISBURG - Energy ef
ficiency audits are now available
to homeowners who want to know
how they can save energy and
money in their residences.
These comprehensive basement
to attic surveys are being con
ducted by major gas and electric
utilities in conjunction with the
Residential Conservation Service
Program (RCS).
The Governor’s Energy Council
is the lead agency for the
preparation and implementation of
Pennsylvania’s RCS plan. The
program expands the level of
services which utilities offer their
residential customers beyond
conventional limits of energy
supply.
The actual audit takes about two
and a half hours and costs the
homeowner $l5. It includes a
complete inspection of the home to
identify areas where energy
conserving practices and
materials can lead to savings.
The results of the audit will be
given to the homeowner in writing
and will include the measures
recommended, estimated energy
Countryi'l'
' LL. Liu.
Outings
ond other brief e/cope/
So it was with this in mind that I
designed my column; a place for
fanners and their families to leam
of mini vacations thqy can take
places to visit in a day.
I chose my first stop at a place
which featured things near and
dear (more near than dear) to my
heart junk. But this junk is
classy junk, so they call it
“junque.” “Country Junque” to be
exact. But whether junque or junk,
Glenn and Linda Eberly
the value of applying pnosphate
fertilizer to the soil surface in
growing no-tillage corn.
“Yields and quality in no-tillage
com equal the results from con
ventional tillage, where phosphate
has been applied to the soil sur
face,” stated Jon K. Hall, who will
show his plots on September 23.
Hall and associates have found
that com yields and phosphorus
levels m com tissue and gram can
savings, and payback penod of any
investment. The Better Business
Bureau is compiling lists of con
tractors who have agreed to install
conservation materials in con
formance with RCS standards.
Also available to the homeowner
are lists of lending institutions to
assist m financing the installation
of RCS measures.
In Pennsylvania, the residential
sector accounts for about 25 per
cent of all the energy used in the
state. It has been estimated that
residents in average homes could
cut energy use by a third and those
it holds lots of memories for me
because we always had a hefty
supply around our farm and I filled
my apartment with a lot of it when
I moved here. I take junk with me
everywhere I go, it fills my car,
and my desk at work sports a great
deal of it too. Junk seems to
precede, surround, and follow me
wherever I go. So with this in mind,
I journeyed on my first visit.
I knew I was in for a fun af
ternoon as soon as 1 caught my
first glimpse of “Country Junque,”
a ‘sort of antique, ‘sort of junk,
and ‘sort of nostalgic store-m-a
home run by Glenn and Linda
Eberly of 119 N. Ronks Road,
Ronks.
As 1 drove along the quaint little
town of Ronks, I passed block after
block of charming, con
temporarily-decorated homes, and
then boom a feeling of surprise
much like that when you’re riding
a motorcycle and a fly hits you I
spotted my destination. How did 1
know? Easy. What other house on
the block would have wagon
wheels, a grinding stone and
wooden barrels neatly arranged on
the front porch? Wouldn’t you have
concluded the same?
I found the Eberlys to be an
amicable, warmhearted young,
couple. Also a couple with, for
tunately, a good sense of humor. 1
discovered this when, after in
be similar under conventional
'tillage, minimum tillage, and no
tillage.
Wagon tours and discussions will
begin at 9:30 a.m. and conclude by
4 p.m. Lunch will be available at
the farm. The day’s tours will
include plots featuring soybean
variety trials. Cultural tips for
growing soybeans will be
discussed.
Topics for the September 23 field
available
m poorly insulated homes could
save about half their current
energy usage.
Ten utilities across the state are
currently providing the audits.
These are: Philadelphia Electric
Company; Philadelphia Gas
Works; Equitable Gas Company;
National Fuel Gas Company;
Peoples Gas Company; Duquesne
Light Company; West Penn Power
Company; Pennsylvania Electric
Company; UGI, and Pennsylvania
Power Company. By the end of
August, all 17 large utilities will be
offering the service.
field day coming Wednesday
spectmg room after room' of
junque, (the kind my grandmother
had and I threw away), I asked
incredulously, “Don’t you own any
modem things at all? ”
After a brief pause and em
barrased glances .at each other,
they responded, “Well., .we own a
tv. . .and. . .oh, a radio,. . .and. .
.ah.. .dishes.”
Better them than me 1 thought as
I took in the yoke on the waU and
the hay hooks and tools hung at the
fireplace the same kind my dad
has hung in his bam decorated in
early cobwebs. Give me the
remote-controlled, plug-in, bat
tery-operated, supersonic,
automatic gadgets 1 keep in my
little apartment any day.
But 1 soon was to eat my words
as I began ,to appreciate the
simplistic beauty of this junque.
Every room is another treat a
step into the annals of history. The
sweat and the tears behind each
piece of decoration on the ceiling/
floors and walls came to life as I
learned the purpose and
especially, the value of each.
The business, open to the general
public for those who appreciate
such treasures and would like to
buy them, is only a side hobby for
this qouple. Linda spends most of
her time as am insurance
day include:
The effect of compaction on soil
structure and corn yields. >
- Corn diseases, showing areas
inoculated with common diseases.
Manure—its effect on weed
control and on no-till corn yields.
Aspects of corn culture such as
starter fertilizer, date of planting,
and soil insecticide.
Treatment of-corn bins, prior to
Hinkle earns scholarship
Helen D. Tunison, Extension Home Economist, is awarding
Joyce Hinkle,- a senior in Home Economics at Indiana
University of Pennsylvania, a scholarship of $250. Hinkle
worked this Summer in the Consumer Affairs office of the
Department of Agriculture in Harrisburg. The money was
contributed by the 32 homemaker’s groups distributed
throughout the county. Joyce is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
John Hinkle of York Springs and a graduate of Bermudian
Springs High School.
saleswoman and Glenn is a
bricklayer.
Linda says, “Glenn loves to go to
yard sales so he just began
collecting. The stuff began to add
up and it just spread through the
whole house.”
If you go just to look and not buy,
yoil may soon realize what a for
tune you have in your barn at
home. Have any old hay forks cast
aside? They sell for up to |2O. Do
you still use the same feed scoop
your father did? Guess what? It’s
an antique now. And the Eberlys
have it all neatly arranged
throughout their house. But as with
all junk, the memories behind each
piece are worth a fortune too. So if
you’re not there to sell or buy, you
could find some great decorating
ideas.
Though their home is open most
hours, the Eberlys say they prefer
people to call before visiting. If you
do' visit, you’ll see pieces made
from various materials such as tin,
copper (their two biggest sellers),
wood, glass, wicker and ceramic.
I hope you have enjoyed taking
this little armchair tour with me
through the Eberlys’ Country
Junque store. Come along with me
on future jaunts as I visit new and
interesting places all in an af
ternoom „
storage, for insect control. , -
Varieties and cultural tips for
growing soybeans.
Tillage and ■ fertility
maximum corn yields.
Fertility of forages, especially
alfalfa
The Agronomy Research Farm
is a part of Penn State’s
Agricultural Research Center at
Rock Springs, an area of 1,525
acres.
for