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.
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“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
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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
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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
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