B2—lancaster Fanning, Situntay, June 26,1982 ftrf jf's HOt fhlS family H/ho fskiS them
Vacations aren't
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
A summer vacation for a dairy
fanner is often as rare as sunny
days were this June. J. Ray and
Eeba Ranck milk about 45
Holstems on their Rayba Acres
Farm at 183 Black Horse Road in
Paradise and since they cannot
often go away, they bring tourists
to their dairy farm and get to know
other parts of the country through
them.
Hosting tourists is certainly no
vacation, but it is and education.
The education is provided by both
sides, because the Rancks use this
opportunity to get out the farm
story. Reba explains, “A lot of
people ask questions, and we take
that opportunity to tell them about
farming That way they learn that
food does not grow on supermarket
shelves.”
In fact, one wall of the very
beautifully-decorated upstairs of
their home contains promotions
sure to catch both eye and the
memory of these tourists. Samples
include: “Milk drinkers are better
lovers;” “Milk-the Udder Cola;”
and “If you eat, you’re involved in
agriculture.”
Now in their 12th year of hosting
tourists, Reba says, “I don’t know
exactly why we got into it, but we
had three bedrooms we weren’t
using and decided to try it one year
and see if we liked it.” The next
year they decided to put man extra
bathroom.
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Rayba Acres is the destination of many tourists who wish to
visit in Lancaster County. They enjoy the country setting and
approximately half the visitors return, sometimes more than
once a year for a short visit to rest and relax.
Reba Ranck pauses by the bunk beds her husband built
into a closet space in one of the bedrooms of their farm home.
The “around the world" quilts which grace the bunks and the
double bed in the room were made by Reba in the winter.
The Ranch’s farmhouse is
uniquely suited for a tourist home.
Built in 1863, it has 19 rooms, and
two stairways, which allow the
tourists to have their own access to
the upstairs and their own outside
entrance. Reba says, “The house
was laid out perfectly.”
There are four bedrooms given
over to the tourists plus two rooms
they built over a recently con
structed three car garage. The
Ranch’s daughter, Rhonda, 14, has
gained an attic room, after years
of giving over her bedroom to
tourists in the summer. The two
new rooms have their own
bathroom, and the four rooms in
the mam house share a bath. One
of the new rooms was designed for
use as a recreation room for the
Ranck children, but it offers a
perfect setting for additional
tourists
The Ranch’s can now host up to
22 people, using roll-aways, but
they average around 15-20 people.
Most of the work of having
tourists falls to Reba who
schedules and cleans and often
acts as unofficial tour guide, of
fering adivce on things to do and
places to see. Although there is
complimentary coffee in an auto
matic pot in the upstairs hall, Reba
says she has no desire to cook for
her visitors. “Feeding my own
family is enough,” she says with a
laugh.
Tourists take priority in the work
schedule for Reba, who devotes
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so rare on the Ranch farm
every summer morning to doing
.sundry, cleaning rooms and
preparing for new arrivals. She
launders towels every day, and
there are frequent changes of
sheets as well. She dusts daily,
cleans the bathrooms daily and
vacuums between visitors and as
needed during their stay. She says,
“Sometimes when the kids are in
the hay now there is hay and straw
everywhere, especially where they
take their clothes off.’’ Reba also
makes beds for her guests if they
don’t do it themselves before they
leave for the day.
Reba says, “You work yourself
into a routine. I’ve learned to make
things as convenient as possible. 1
keep supplies handy, and I bring a
big wastecan into the room rather
than taking the smaller ones out. A
routine has a lot to do with how
easy it is. It’s important to do it in
order, and to take one last look
before you leave the room.”
There is a good side to all this
work, Reba points out. “How else
can you clean your own house and
get paid for it’”
A real benefit to Reba as she
works around the large farmhouse
cleaning and making beds each
morning is the portable telephone
which her husband gave her as a
gift. She uses it as a regular phone,
and can make reservations for
potential guests or let her notary
customers know she is at home.
She feels it is important because it
prevents her from missing calls. “I
carry it everywhere,” she says.
There are some very positive
benefits for the Ranck children. In'
addition to Rhonda there is Rob,
17, and Ryan, 9. “The biggest thrill
is seeing the kids enjoy them.
Having tourists has helped the kids
appreciate what we have. It has
made us all appreciate what we’ve
got and what we take for granted
It makes the kids more satisfied,
and makes them feel good. It
makes us realize all the more our
farm and our heritage,” Reba
explains.
The children become very in
volved with the tourists and help
them by taking them through the
barns or getting a game of baseball
started. It helps their self-esteem
when city kids exclaim about their
expertise of farm equipment.
Rhonda lightens the load by
helping with cleaning chores.
Ray also gets into the act, and
invites the tourists to watch the
milking. He even allows them to
try their hand at milking. “He
enjoys it,” P.eba says She points
out that the few cows he allows
tourists to milk are “so used to it”
that they don’t even flinch at the
strange fingers milking them.
Indeed, none of the cows bother to
glance at the tourists when they
stroll through the barns. The
guests, of course, are thrilled with
the first-hand experience.
Reba says many touists say “We
are going home to our farm,” after
a day of touring in the country.
Many of the Ranch’s guests
come from the city, and Reba says
they think they are really going far
into the country by the time they
get to their farm. “It is so unusual
to them. They can’t imagine being
in a place so free and open. Many
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Keeping the farmstead neat is an important part of Reba’s
work. She sweeps outside as faithfully as she cleans the
guests rooms. Here she works to keep the guests’ entrance
beautiful. 1 ’
This pump brings many questions from tourists who stay in
the Ranck home. It is powered by a water wheel in the nearby
creek, and offers visitors a refreshing drink of well water.
Many declare that it is the best water they have tasted.
people say to me, T admire your
lifestyle. We see a lot of good in it.’ ”
There are an occasional few who
simply cannot make the ad
justment to the quiet of the
countryside. One couple left after
just one night and Reba learned
later that it was because it was
“too dark.” This brought a
chuckle to Reba who pointed out all
the neighbors who have mercury
vapor lights, including one on their
own bam.
The Rancks are equipped to host
some winter visitors since all the
rooms are equipped with electric
beating units (and air conditioning
for the summer). Reba said,
"Almost every weekend all winter
we had someone. The weather has
a lot to do with it.”
She added, “The ram has realty
put a damper on the business. The
first two weeks of June are down 1
don’t think the economy has hurt
us because people are taking
shorter vacations and we are
within a tankful of gas for many
areas.”
She said a low point m their 12
years of hosting came in the season
that followed the local polio scare,
TMI and the gas shortage. “As
long as gas is available they come
More are coming and staying three
or four days instead of just one or
two days.” Despite the slow June,
Reba says, “We are still ahead of
last year.”
They had 1350 guests last year
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