Tour of York farms to stress retailing BY JOYCE BUPP Staff Correspondent LEADERS HEIGHTS - Four farms specializing in commodity retailing are hosts to the fifth annual York County Farmers’ Association’s free farm tour, scheduled for next Saturday, June 16. Farms to be visited via hay wagon transports are Perrydell Farm Dairy, Keeney’s Vegetable Produce Farm, the Ken-Mar Fruit and Poultry Farm and Miller Plant Farm. All are located on Indian Rock Dam Road, west of Interstate 83, Exit 4. Departure site for the cross country wagon jaunt is Perrydell Farm, where visitors can enjoy a variety of educational and com modity displays while waiting for the wagon departures. A petting zoo is planned by area 4-H clubs, with plenty of baby animals to please both children and adults. Demonstrations scheduled periodically through the 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. tour hours include sheep shearing. Perrydell Farm and Dairy is owned by the George and Roger Perry families, whose children now comprise the third generation of dairymen. Production from the herd of 200 milking Holsteins is processed and sold directly to a steady stream of customers through the on-farm retailing outlet. While all processing for the day will be completed prior to the tour hours, milking begins in early afternoon, and can be observed by orchards. cropping equipment, like this row crop sprayer, will interest visitors to the Keeney Produce Farm. The family's boxer, Colonel, sometimes rides along with the Keeney brothers, Paul, left, and David. visitors to the parlor area. Calf hutches and livestock-feed crops of corn and hay offer other items of interest for tour visitors. The Perry’s trace their history on this farm to 1922, when George and Roger’s grandfather pur chased the land for his son Howard. Operating a typical general farm of that time, Howard maintained a herd of 12 to 18 milking cows as well as pigs, steers and a flock of chickens. In 1953, his sons purchased the cows and machinery, acquiring the land a few year later. In addition to the milk produc tion retailed through the Perrydell Dairy store, a complete line of Rutters’ ice cream and related dairy products, as well as home baked breads and bakery goods, are available to customers. Perrydell is the home of York County’s 1984 dairy princess, Judy Perry, daughter of George and Nancy. She’ll be greeting visitors along with other commodity princesses. Her brothers Tom, Greg and Chip are also part of the family dairy operation. Roger and his wife Charlotte have two children, Lisa and Jeff, also part of the Perrydell farm staff. From the Perry farm fields, tour wagon will cross the hills to the adjoining Keeney. One of Pennsylvania’s Century Farms, the Keeney homestead has roots deep in York County’s historic farm market industry. Their great-grandmother-tended a stand at the original open-air fanners market, first held in center square in the 1840’s. *4 *4 , < *■ ** ♦ * >* ✓ * “Here’s the Beef" in the Hereford herd that keeps pastures trimmed around the Miller Plant Farm's horticulture operation. Jeff, left, and George Perry check hutches that house calves on the Perrydell Farm Dairy. Later, the Keeney’s grand parents carried on the market production business on this same farm, becoming charter members of the Penn Farmers Market at Penn and Market Streets. Today, Paul and David continue that tradition opening, up the family s’ app -'■•sartto h A '<V * ' **s«!*• ■«. *sr ■Hi wm xmt. stand there every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday market days. A veritable cornucopia of vegetables dots these fields each summer, many raised under the long black strips of plastic that shine in rows along the hillsides. Sweet com and tomatoes are backbone commodities, along with cantaloupes and watermelons. From the first early peas through winter pumpkin and squash harvest, customers can select from a wealth of fresh “veggies" grown just a few miles from the downtown market sales stand. Regular customers also rely on supplies of eggs produced from the flock of about 1300 laying hens. An unusual commodity, gladoli, keep the Keeney brothers har vesting bucketfuls of blooms every day, once the first petals begin opening across the acre of these bulbs planted annually. Beginning about July 4, the glads continue blooming through late summer, as the 60,000 to 100,000 bulbs push up their spikes in a rainbow of shades. Specialized truck-cropping equipment to be displayed; like a two-man transplanter, air blast sprayer for row crops, potato digger and plastic mulching machine, promise an unusual twist to the more standard farm field equipment familiar to tour groups. About 20 acres planted to sweet com and 30 to wheat are rotated regularly with the various truck crop plantings, to hold to a '•W'V * 'H'jl r"'... minimum any potential of disease buildup in the vegetable acreages. A small flock of sheep, “our lawnmowers,” the Keeney’s claim, round out the farm with a touch of livestock. On hand to greet visitors will be Paul’s wife June and David’s wife Brenda. A quarter-mile down the road is Ken-Mar Farm, specializing in fruit and poultry production. Here, visitors can expect a wagon-level look at growing crops of apples as the tour meanders through the mature orchard plantings. Strawberries are an important spring crop as well and since the season is running quite late, they ’are expected to still be bearing abundantly and irrestibly available to visitors wanting to dine later at home on shortcake. Ken Markey was raised on this farm, which he and his wife Eleanor purchased in 1942. Ten ding market is also a tradition at Ken-Mar, with stands maintained at both Central and Eastern far mers markets, a total of four days each week. Sweet corn, tomatoes, and a full line of seasonal vegetables, as well as peaches and pears, round out the horticultural market line, most of these crops produced on acreage on an adjoining location to the home farm. Egg production comprises a large percentage of the Ken-Mar retailing business, with 4,000 utm. * #* » ■'V'X t. g jT'i*? - (Turk to Page A 32) Bsw-
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