BlB—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 10,1983
By Joyce Bupp
Staff Correspondent
GATCHELVILLE—Labor Day
weekend was a peachy three-day
event for the Paul and Gail Mc-
Pherson family, as their 9th annual
Maple Lawn Farms Peachillcious
Festival pulled in record at
tendance crowds.
While the hot dry weather that
has favored peach production
continued, some 8500 visitors to the
orchard and grain operation
tapped their toes to country music,
browsed through craft displays
and ate - what else - lots of
peaches.
Eating, in fact, is a favorite
pastime at the unique peach
celebration, originated by the
McPherson family. Poods offered
spotlight local farm commodities
while incorporating peaches into
each recipe in some manner.
Peach pies, 670 of them, were
either eaten on site or carried
home by festival goers. Bakers of
the popular peach pastries
represented local church and
community charitable
organizations.
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Labor Day was just that for Paul McPherson and his orchard and sales staff, as they
worked feverishly to keep a supply of fresh peaches on hand at the Peachilicious
Festival.
Horticulture Show Scheduled
UNIVERSITY PARK ~ Widely
known and often visited are the
colorful flower gardens at Penn
State University site of the 70th
annual Horticulture Show to be
held September 17 and IS.
This year's theme is "Hor
ticulture, The Science Artfully
Yours.” On display will be
floriculture, vegetable, fruit, and
ornamental crops. These exhibits
win emphasize the art and science
involved in horticulture.
Hours of the show will be from 10
a.m. to 8 p.m. September 17, and
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. September
18. Sponsored by the Penn State
Horticulture Club, the event will be
held in a large tent in the flower
gardens along Park Avenue
(University Drive). Admission is
free and parking will be available.
Co-managers of the 1963 Hor
ticulture Show are Louis A. Bec-
Cari and Carl A. HutteL Louis, from
Oakdale, is a Junior majoring in
pomology. Carl, a senior from
Erie, majors in general
agriculture. Faculty advisors for
the Horticulture Club are Dr.
Roland R. Daniels, associate
professor of horticulture, and Dr.
Ernest L. Bergman, professor of
plant nutrition, both m the
department of Horticulture.
Exhibits at the Horticulture
Show will include fruits, or
namentals, floriculture, and
vegetables. Designing the fruit
York County’s Pork Producers
roasted and sliced several hundred
pounds of pork seasoned with a
peachy sauce, serving over 1700
hot pork-n-peaches sandwiches. On
hand to help with the sales were
members of the York 4-H meats,
judging team, who will travel to
national competition with the
funding assistance of the peachy
pork sandwich sales.
Other farm commodity favorites
included fresh peaches and ice
cream, hot dogs with peachy
sauce, beef barbeque, peachy
funnel cakes and chocolate chip
cookies.
Craft displays ranged from oil
paintings to woodworking to
lapidary treasures, with artists
including peach tole work, peach
pit ornaments, and decorative
peach-shaped items.
While peach season has been in
full swing for several weeks,
harvest of the “queen of fruits” is
expected to continue strong for at
least two or three more weeks,
according to Paul McPherson.
“Peaches are abundant, and
there should be lots left in the area
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exhibit are David J. Quatchak and
Ruth E. McCullough. David, a
senior from Pittsburgh, majors in
plant breeding, and is the
president of the Horticulture Club.
Ruth, a senior from Asheville, NC,
studies floriculture, and is the
secretary for the Horticulture
Club.
The ornamental exhibit will be
designed by James L. Beletti and
Paul W. Neirotti. James, a senior
from Cochranville, and Paul, a
junior from Levittown, both major
in ornamental crops. Alan D. Jones,
Oxford, and Joseph C. Oonchez,
Bethlehem, both juniors majoring
in plant breeding, are in charge of
the floriculture display.
Coordinators of the vegetable
display are Richard C. Craig, Jr.,
and Christian T. Pedersen.
Richard, a State College native, is
a junior studying horticulture
business. Christian, from Zurich,
Switzerland, is a senior hor
ticulture student.
The Horticulture Show will also
feature plant sales and an exhibit
by Pi Alpha Xi, an honorary
professional fraternity in
floriculture and ornamental
horticulture. The Pi Alpha Xi
exhibit will be done by Lisa A
Blomquist, a senior from Mead
ville, studying greenhouse
management.
Plant sales will be managed by
Lisa J. Ferrera, Richard C. Craig,
Festival was a 'Peachy' Event
for a few more weeks,” Mc-
Pherson assures fruit .lovers who
still plan on further canning,
freezing, preserving, or just
delicious eating.
The veteran orchardist adds that
the dry weather which has
shriveled fields of corn, hay and
beans has favored peach
production, resulting in a superb
growing year for the fruit.
The wealth of hot, dry conditions
raised the solid content and con
centrated sugars in the fruit, in
creasing the flavor and resulting in
high quality yields. Firmness of
the fruit also causes less bruising
damage during handling of the
peach harvest.
Fungus diseases, which favor
prolonged stretches of wet
weather, have been kept at a
minimum with excellent drying
conditions. Like many growers,
Maple Lawn irrigates the peach
crop, but moisture on the fruit
evaporated quickly and rarely
lingered on the trees long enough
to foster bacterial growth.
Random showers that crossed
York County also boosted the crop.
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Jr., and Paul C. German. Lisa,
Pittsburgh, and Richard, State
College, are both Juniors studying
horticulture business. Paul, a
senior from Pittsburgh, majors in
horticulture genetics.
A Horticulture Show booklet will
be distributed to visitors. Ad
vertising m the booklet was
compiled by Darlene M. Mc-
Conaughey, a junior from
Smicksburg. Darlene majors in
horticulture business and industry.
SADDLE
UP!
To Better
Equipment...
Find It In
Lancaster
Farming's
CLASSIFIEDS!
McPherson believes, adding
enough moisture to later varieties
to finish peaches to a desirable
size. Earlier extreme dry weather
had created some sizing difficulty
-y tole artist from Bel Air, Maryland, designed
peach paintings for her display of original creations at the
Peachiiicious craft barn.
feeding calves, relief milking, and
helping out whenever needed.
"We unload tons and tons of
hay," she added as her mother
laughed and stated that Patty did
win the hay bale throwing contest
at the recent 4-H days in the
county.
Patty is a senior this year at
Hamburg Area High School and
plans to attend Virginia Polytech.
She plans to return to the home
farm and pursue a career in ag
journalism. Currently a member
of the National Honor Society,
Patty is also president of the
Pennsylvania Junior Jersey Cattle
Club and reporter in her Hamburg
FFA Chapter. She also serves as
the 1983 Jersey Queen for the
Pennsylvania Jersey Cattle Club.
“I thought I did OK,” Patty
stated about the contest. “I made
the mistake of tasting urea,” she
added.
Most of the girls agreed that the
feedstuff part of the contest was
the hardest and they credited Car)
Brown for their knowledge. Patty
added that at their practice session
Monday, before the contest, Carl
brought a variety of feeds and
coached them thoroughly. He said
that if you taste urea, there was no
mistaking what it was, Patty
remembered. - “Wow,” she ex
claimed as she explained how right
he was.
“The hardest for me was the
Hoard's Dairymen questions,”
Patty continued as she explained
that all questions were taken from
the past year’s issues of Hoard’s
Dairymen magazine. “I really had
to dig deep,” she stated.
For second place honors there
was a tie between William Lesher
and Carol Dreisbach, with William
winning the tie breaker. William is
currently preparing for the
National FFA judging contest in
Kansas City, where his team,
currently tops in the state, is
hoping to win the national title.
Team members are Clark Sat
tazahn and Glenn Stoltzfus.
“Just about everywhere we go
we clean up,” William said of his
Berks County associates.
William, along with Carol
Dreisbach, was on the Berks
County dairy bowl team last year
and finished their year as second in
the nation.
with certain earlier varieties.
Peach varieties being harvested
through the remainder of the
month are Red Skins, Rio Oso
Gems and Marqueen.
Daily Champs
(Continued from Page 8161
The current dairy bowl team on
which Sandy Moser has a place, is
fourth m the state. Patty
Dreisbach, Charles Seidel, and
Harold Dietrich recently took first
place at the state level for their
dairy judging team, and all of the
eight who went to Maryland have
placed high in any dairy contest
they entered.
“We knew when we went there
the biggest competition we would
have would be each other,” Patty
stated. “Whenever we see each
other....we talk about cows all the
time.
When asked if their parents
helped at all in preparing for this
contest, Patty replied, “Yes, my
gosh, the practical experience....”
Helene Dreisbach added her
comments.
“It’s listening to what we talk
about at the dinner table,” she
said, adding that the families that
these 4-H’ers come from are all
active, interested dairy families,
where their cows are their lives.
Wayne Lesher, William’s father,
belongs to the Milk Producer
Handlers of America and par
ticipates on national phone con
ferences. William stated that this
also helped him in the milk
marketing area, since he often gets
to listen in on the conferences.
Each of these youth had their
own ideas for bettering the dairy
industry.
Patty Dreisbach stated that we
should “improve quality first,”
and added that more advertising
and improved handling must come
second. Milk should always be
cooled properly, and cardboard
boxes should be replaced.
Of the interviews where each
student was asked about his
thoughts on the milk surplus and
dairy situation, William stated,
“That was the best part of the
whole contest....that really tests
your ability... talking one on one. 1 '
I’m really up on that," he added,
and said that he completed a term
paper on the subject. He said the
problem is more under con
sumption than it is over production
and believes that farmers' should
not be asked to cut back.
"That’s the whole goal of far
ming, to produce to make money,"
he stated.