Onbei
a farm
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bazar
Joyce B
Kvery youngster’s life oughta’
have a creek running through it
It wouldn’t have to be a large
stream, just a small brook that
chatters its way through a pasture
or a meadow.
A creek (that’s pronounced
“crick" in some parts) is a sort of
living outdoor classroom, a
microcosm of the world of live and
let live, eat or be eaten, of con
servation, of devastation, of
adaption to the inevitablity of
constant change.
Some of the most memorable
days of my childhood were Spent
poking around the creek that
gurgled and chattered through the
partly-wooded, partly-grassy
hollow below the woods behind our
parents’ home. The property
through which the creek mean
dered was not ours, but belonged to
several neighbors, and today' I
remember them with eternal
gratitude for their tolerance of us
kids and our endless adventures
that centered around the brook.
' Though enticing at all seasons, a
meadow creek is rarely more
alive, more beautiful, more sen
suous than (nearly springtime.
It is on the moist banks of a
stream that the grass first shades
to deep, vibrant green, framing the
blue-sky reflections mirrored in
quiet pools. Nearby, brave early
dandelion blooms snuggle dose
against their leafy rosettes, dotting
the wakening meadow with
droplets of sunshine.
A creek sounds an endless
chatter, murmuring as it rushes
over small rocks, swelling to a
small roar in a foot-high waterfall
that cascades from one meadow
level to the next.
Schools of tiny stream fishes
dart, en masse, from deeper, sunlit
pools to hide in the protective
shade cast by an overhanging
rock, then ease back out In the light
current while as intruder watches,
standing perfectly still.
Here and there, briar patches
embrace the creek’s edge, their
spindly, thorny arms arching
gracefully, over the bank and close
to the clear waters. Within the
tangled mass, sparrows argue and
fuss, build homes, rear their
young, play out their life cycles
against this meadow stagedrop.
• A rabbit disappears into the
same tangle, hiding in a burrow
with her babies, safe from the
intruding foxes that sometimes
sniff and search creekside for the
unwary.
Through periodic heavy rains,
drought, snowmelt and freeze, the
banks give way to one side, while a
sand bar builds opposite, the shape
and curves of a creek ever
phnnging, yet always the same in
purpose.'
You can play in a creek, throw
rocks in it, build dams across it,
jump bade and forth across it and
squish home with wet sneakers
from falling in it
You can fish in a creek, search
for crayfish under its rocks and
momentarily be scared out of your
wits by the snoozing watersnake
disturbed by your poking about
You can meditate beside a creek,
rest on a cook rock and dabble your
fingers in the cool freshness, find
peace and calm, be soothed by the
rippling play of sunlight and
shadow as the waters pass by on
their endless cycle to the sea, to the
cloud, to the rainfall, and back to
the stream once more.
Every kid should learn the
lessons taught by a creek.
I’ve never outgrown my love for
them.' I pray I never will.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 19,1983—913
Berks Co. offers
youth safety course
LEESPORT Farm employers
and parents of young farm em
ployees should insist that youths
working on farms this summer
have proper training and cer
tification.
The child labor provisions of the
Fair Labor Standards Act, man
date that youth under 16 years of
age cannot be employed in certain
hazardous agricultural operations
unless they have had special
training and received certification.
While the provisions do not apply
working on farms of their parents
or guardians, the training is still
essential for all young farm
workers.
The Berks County Extension
Get jump on
EBENSBURG Many areas of
Pennsylvania are well acquainted
with the Gyp«y moths. Some aress
will be sprayed later in the spring
when the eggs have hatched;
others will not. But now is the time
to get a jump on them.
From now until late April the
buff colored, inch-and-a-half long
fuzzy egg clusters of gypsy moths
are in view on bare trees. Each
cluster contains several hundred
eggs. They are on the undersides of
tree branches, along trunks, or in
protected areas.
Check the trees gypsy moths like
best apple, speckled alder,
basswood, gray and river birch,
hawthome, oak, poplar and willow.
Award Winning
CIMARRON ALFALFA
Available for Spring
aj§£
WL 311, WL 313, WL 318,
Saranac AR, Clovers, Orchard
Grasses, Oats
TOBACCO NEEDS
• Nylon Bed Covers • Bed Fertilizer
• Cotton Hulls • Seed
BALER & BINDER TWINE
Farmers
I SUPPLY
80x1537 215 East Fulton St
Lancaster, PA
(717) 394-7127
Service will offer an agricultural
equipment safety and certification
course to teach 13 to 16-year-old
youth about normal working
hazards involved with tractors and
other farm machinery. Cer
tificates of completion will be
issued upon successful completion
of the course.
The course will begin on Wed
nesday, March 23 at the Berks
County Agricultural 'Center and
run for five consecutive Wed
nesdays. Classes will run from 7
p.m. tp 9 p.m. (Last class on April
27 will run from 6 to 9:30 p.m.)
To enroll in the course, contact
Karen Taylor at the Extension
Office ((215)-378-1327) by March
ifi
Gypsy Moths
They also like blade, yellow, and
paper bird), cherry, chestnut, elm,
blade gum, hickory, hornbeam,
larch, maple, and sassafras.
After finding the egg masses,
paint them with creosote and leave
them on the tree. Or scrape them
off with a knife or a flat wood stick.
If you scrape the eggs, collect and
drop them into a can of kerosene or
burn them until they’re dead.
Merely scraping the eggs off will
do no good since the eggs can still
hatch on the ground.
Destroying some of the gypsy
moth egg dusters will be of some
help in cutting down of the invasion
of the destructive moths later this
year.