Bl2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Dacambar 17,1983 ren Evans Brubaker is responsible for making the candy sold at the store. She remembers when candy making was just a family project, long before it became a family business. BACK 10MB Christmas a festival of the family. It is a time of year when being together and doing things together seems especially im portant... and it is! We enjoy many family activities such as decorating the tree as a family, family cookie baking, the ex changing of names, family secrets, family meals and family caroling. For some people there is also another family activity. This might be the time of year for making the annual trek and maybe somewhat difficult visit to a family member who is shut-in or in a nursing home. Whether you are a regular visitor to an elderly family member or friend, or, if you only visit occassionally, it sometimes seems difficult to bring the joy of the season to those shut-in. But, the real joy of the season is sharing it with others; which includes your aging aunt or elderly grand mother. I remember well my awkward visits to the nursing home to see my great-grandmother; “Gramdma-ma” we affectionately called her. She had lived on the family farm and was taken care of by my grandparents until she was 96-years-old, when my grand parents health no longer enabled them to care for her. I wish I would have realized at that time how much family visits count and how I could have brought her the joy of the season. If you can, spend your holidays always the most significant when soybeans, and have several side with an aging family member, shared with family and friends, enterprises, including broilers and Share with them the joy in your Enliven your holiday visit and hogs. home. If your loved ones are reinforce your relationship with a At the recent Southeastern unable to be with you, think of this loved one during this year’s Holstein Seminar in Newark, Del., “five sense” approach to make celebration of the family hosted by the University of this holiday season brighter for Christmas. Delaware and the Delaware By Michelle S. Rodgers Lancaster Extension Home Economist everyone. Stimulate the sense of sight with bright colors and bold forms: the latest family snapshot, a large calendar of the new year, Christmas decorations and mementoes of Christmas past. There is so much to hear that is special to the holidays: sing favorite Christmas carols, read the Christmas story, a favorite poem, or the kids’ letters to Santa. Tape record a great-grandchild’s first words or messages from distant relatives. Another way to say “you’re special” is to listen and to recall memories of holidays gone by. The touch of the hand is so im portant. Sometimes when I visited my great-grandmother, I won dered if she even realized that I was there. It was difficult to see her in that condition and remember the days I had sat on her lap while she Little Black Sambo. I wish I would have realized that as she grew older, there was still the need to show affection through touching: the holding of hands, hugging, a back rub or a kiss, or combing her white hair. Stimulate taste with special foods or beverages that do not violate the prescribed diet. And bring in the holiday aroma of scented candles, greens and fresh baked goods. These sensory experiences are 3a JUX BY KIMBERLY HERR LANCASTER It started as a family project - something fun for the children to do. It became a family business. “Dad was always figuring out projects for us children,’’ Karen Evans Brubaker explained. “This one just kept going and going.” The project was candy making. Jay Evans, Karen’s father, heard of a candy company that was going out of business. He bought a melter and some molds, (Miking, ac cording to Karen, that it would be “a project for the family to do together.” That was in 1976. The following year, the Evans’ began making candy for a few relatives and friends, and then as Karen said, it just “kept going and going.” Until Dec. 8, they were selling the candy from their Willow Street home, but as of the above date, their candy can be purchased at the Evans Candy Store, 2100 Willow Street Pike. The candy store is part of the Evans Country Mill, which also features The Mill Restaurant which will be opening soon, ac cording to Karen. Karen’s father was not a com plete stranger to candy making when he bought the first melter for the children. According to Karen, he had made and sold peanut butter eggs at Easter when he was in college to help pay tuition. “And this became a way for us to earn money to go through college,” Karen said. Although Karen at tended nursing school for two (Turn to Page B 14) Involve Children NEWARK, Del. Many farmers dream of turning over the family farm to their children when they retire. To reach this goal they work hard and sometimes go out on a financial limb. But no amount of devoted effort can guarantee that your sons and daughters will want to become your business partners. Involving them in the farm operation takes patience, flexibility, and conscious effort as keeping open lines of com munication, according to dairy producer Bill Vanderwende of Dutch Ayr Farm in Bridgeville, Del. “When I got into farming I was i milking eight cows - four that I owned and four I rented,” Van derwende says. Today he and his three sons, Doug, Danny and Jimmy, and daughters-in-law, Debbie and Becky, milk 250 cows, grow their own grain and Family Projscts Turns Sweet Business to * jm* Lisa Shenk, a friend of the Evans family, helps with packaging the candy. in the Farm Operation Holstein Association, Van derwende presented some of his thoughts on bringing children in the business and told how Dutch Ayr Farm has grown to ac commodate his family. “There never was a question about bringing my fr nungsters T Delaware farmer Bill Vanderwende tells how he brought his children into the family dairy business, during recent Southeastern Holstein Seminar in Newark, Dec. -.% .v-v.t.v smmm : - into agriculture,” he said. (His daughter Carla majored in agricultural economics at the University of Delaware and is a loan officer with the Farm Credit Association in Salisbury, Md.) “From the time they could get to