Bl4—Lancaster Firming, Saturday, November 10,1984
3 a
XA
Barbara Mummert: a woman making
BY DONNA.McCONAUGHEY
Staff Correspondent
YORK We all face crises at
one time or another. Sometimes it
'seems that farm folks face more
than the “normal” share of crises.
Many times people come away
much stronger for having to face a
difficult situation; other times they
walk away broken and defeated.
One crisis that many farm
women across the nation must face
is widowhood. It is never easy. But,
consider what you would do as a
farm wife in your early thirties
facing widowhood with four
children from age 16 to one year
old.
That is exactly what Barbara
Mummert of York County con
fronted eight yeirs ago. Barbara is
a survivor. She and her family
have not only survived, they have
grown strong and close together.
Today, they do not regret their
decision to keep the farm. In fact,
if Barbara had any doubts, they
have been erased when her two
oldest sons said to this reporter:
“Where would we be today if mom
had not kept the farm? We
wouldn’t be able to start out on our
own today. That would be real hard
since we liked it so much as
teenagers.”
The Mummert family has
continued the reputation their'
father earned as a breeder of prize
winning Landrace and Duroc hogs.
Harold “Butch” Mummert began
John, Harold, and Barbara look over the guilts they will
enter in the 1985 Farm Show. They have won several
championships there.
It in a man's world
raising hogs with a few Berkshire
sows. He purchased his first
Landrace when he went to a
consignment sale with Barbara’s
uncle. Barbara liked the hogs, but
“wasn’t that excited about them.”
Butch was determined to get her
in the hog business, though. One
year after he began raising Lan
drace he took the truck to work
with him and came home late. He
came in the house and was “being
real nice” to her.
He said, “Guess what I got you
on the way home from work?”
Like most farm wives she pictured
furniture or appliances that she
needed. But as is often the case,
Barbara found instead that the
truck contained livestock. Butch
had bought her a Landrace gilt and
registered it in her name. But it
worked; she was hooked on hogs.
Butch worked worked away
from the farm during the day and
left Barbara in charge of the
operation. She also peddled
vegetables and meat when her two
oldest children were small to
supplement their income. Through
this hard work they were able to
purchase a small farm and
eventually build a new home.
When they first moved to the
farm, they lived in a house trailer
they owned and the first building to
go up on the farm was a hog barn.
The house was built almost en
tirely by Butch and Barbara. They
moved in on Christmas eve.
Barbara remembers that
Christmas well. They were laying
carpet on Christmas eve and she
fell asleep while trying to put the
carpet down. She awoke to find
that the carpet still needed
finished, and they had toys to
assemble before morning.
Although their hog operation was
not large in size, it was high in
quality. They have won awards at
the Landrace Winter Conference in
North Carolina, including
champion and reserve champion
bred gilts. They also showed the
champion bred gilt at the National
Summer Conference in
Springfield, 111.
It was at the Summer Con
ference that Butch was first sick.
He was so ill that he could not
stand for part of the show. When
they returned home, he was
diagnosed with cancer and given
six months to live.
Butch lived only three months
after he learned of the cancer.
That three months was spent at
home trying to help his family plan
for the future. Butch insisted on
going to all the county fairs he had
shown at to say good-bye to his
friends and colleagues.
However, there was one area
that Butch never could bring
himself to turn over to the family.
His hogs. He transferred property,
the truck, and everything else, but
he could not face giving up his
hogs. His family accepted this but
had to deal with their lack of
knowledge after his death.
Although they knew how to care
for the hogs, they had no idea how
to do the paperwork necessary to
maintain a purebred herd. John,
the oldest son, learned how to
register the hogs by calling people
to ask questions and by reading
books.
At the time Butch died they had
over 200 hogs. Barbara’s first
action after the funeral was to call
her family to the kitchen, where
they sat down together and looked
at what they had. “I laid it all out
in front of them. They knew what
we had financially, what it would
take for us to keep the farm going,
and that we had to work together if
were to do this.”
They had always worked
together as a family and the
children had each had their own
chores. Barbara recommends that
other families faced with this
decision make it.a family decision.
This encourages everyone to work
together for the best of the family.
The Mummerts decided to cut
their hog herd to about 100 head, a
size they felt they could manage.
Barbara then faced the decision
of returning to work off the farm.
With a small child, she didn’t feel
she could leave her family. So they
determined to live on the social
security the family would get. This
is another decision Barbara does
not regret. She feels her presence
(Turn to Page B 17)
Barbara Mummert has led her family to become a strong
farm family as they have continued their purebred hog
operation after the death of her husband. The Mummert
family consists of Todd and Barbara Sue (on table) and Harold
and John (in back).
Carbon Copies
Creativity! I was reminded of
this as I sat down with four
children (ages 4-13) to decorate
pumpkin cookies. I had prepared
the cookies and icing and prepared
the decorator bags so everything
would be just right tor the project.
However, before I got a sample
cookie decorated the way I thought
it should be done, the children were
well under way, creating their own
versions of decorated pumpkin
cookies. Each child had his own
creative energies to bestow on this
project. Instead of four dozen
“carbon copies,” we had an in
teresting display of creativity.
(And they tasted good, too!)
All individuals, no matter the
age, have creative energies. You
may know someone who you
consider to be very creative.
Sometimes in comparing ourselves
to these individuals we feel that we
do not have any creativity. Ac
tually, we are all unique in
dividuals and we all have unique
ways of expressing our creativity.
The purpose of creativity is to
leam, grow, and enjoy, and to
express love and beauty, to share
with others.
I don’t think anyone would
knowingly swap an original in
favor of a copy, yet adults can
stifle the original creativity in
their children in favor of a “carbon
copy” of their own interpretations
of life.
Parents have always had the
responsibility to gently mold their
children as they mature. Today’s
parents have an even greater
responsibility to their children in
By Michelle S. Rodgers
Lancaster Extension
Home Economist
seeing to it that they remain
flexible and capable of change to
meet the challenges of the future.
Here are some things that parents
can do to encourage creativity. '
First, provide materials or
space. These do not have to be
expensive. Homemade play dough
and finger paints work as well as
those you purchase. Secondly,
have suggestions ready of ac
tivities. Action is the key word here
as children leam by doing. Then,
be interested. Too much guidance
can be hampering. Children need
freedom to express their ideas, but
this doesn’t mean complete
freedom. Limitations and rules are
needed, too.
Provide vivid experiences in
your child’s life. Take your child
for a walk and talk about the things
you see. Emphasize how different
things feel; the sun, the wind, the
grass. Also, talk about size, smell
and color.
As children draw or paint they
sometimes paint feelings or ex
periment to see what happens. If
you are puzzled about the finished
product, avoid the comment,
“What is that?” Instead try asking
your child to “tell me about your
picture.”
Unless we want carbon copies of
ourselves, we need to encourage
the natural creativity of each child
by allowing him to think for
himself and feel free to express his
own ideas. As millions of snow
flakes each have their own unique,
incomparable beauty, so each
expression of creativity -
however.small or simple - is a ray
of love expressing its own unique
beauty.