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