C2-Lancasttr Farming, Saturday, November 8,1986
HI Wind Of ‘B5 Blows Kindness For ‘B6 Drought Victims
BY JOYCE BUPP
York County Correspondent
ELIMSPORT - Farm families
in a picturesque mountain valley in
central Pennsylvania have turned
a devastating memory into a
helping hand for other farms in
need.
Friday evening, May 31, 1985,
will not soon be forgotten on the
farms that dot this valley at the
southeast base of White Deer
Mountain. That was the night
destruction roared over the ridge,
splintered and scattered trees
down the hardwood forest
mountainside, and then laid a path
of waste through the peaceful rural
community.
That was the night a tornado
flattened seven barns, ripped
apart homes, blew away roofing,
tossed around outbuildings and
wreaked general havoc to the
community, farmers’ livings, and
the emotional well-being of young
and old alike in this southern tip of
Lycoming County.
“It had been such a gorgeous
night; I remember because I had
walked out to get the paper,”
recalls Patricia Ulrich. She, her
husband Charles, and their family,
operate a dairy and crops farm at
Allen wood Rl, near the foot of the
mountain.
Then, with no warning, the storm
front which raced across the
northern part of Pennsylvania that
evening, leaving destruction and
death in many communities,
covered the moon with black
clouds and descended into White
Deer Valley with a wail like an
oncoming freight train.
When the moon again shown in a
matter of minutes, in its glow lay
ground white with hail and farm
steads twisted and flattened like
matchsticks.
“The reaction of people was
wonderful. Sunday the churches
closed down. Instead of services,
congregations went to the farms
and fields. They’d form a line
across the end of a field, and just
work their way across, picking up
the unbeheveable amounts of
pieces of buildings, roofs,
machinery, household items,”
says Patricia.
Numerous work crews arrived
from other parts of the state, in
cluding several forces of Amish
builders who immediately began
restoring barns and houses.
Disaster relief volunteers brought
assorted skills, from building to
clean up to providing meals.
Neighbors milked cows and tended
other livestock for those whose
barns had exploded into splintered
bits littered across unknown acres.
“It was because of the out
pouring of help and response after
the tornado that we wanted to do
something to help when we read
about farmer’s severe drought
problems in the South this sum-
used to store military ammunition, prior to shipment to
County.
once
York
Lycoming Countians Remember And Reach Out
mer,” continues Pat Ulrich.
“Someone at Sunday School
mentioned that maybe we could
send some hay from around here.”
Pat Ulrich went home and made
a few phone calls. Someone had
suggested that farmers might be
able to take hay off the State Game
Lands holdings in the valley. With
the assistance of local legislator A 1
Bush, permission was obtained.
However, the hay had to be har
vested by Sept. 15, to allow
regrowth on the grasses for winter
wildlife feed and cover. Earlier
cuttings had been harvested, and
the volume and quality of the grass
forage was ideal for what the
Elimsport community had in
mind.
On Sept. 1, - appropriately,
Labor Day - the first mowers
moved onto the 90-plus acres of
grasses. Before the job was
completed, mowings were made at
these separate times. Up to nine
haybines at a time swathed the
forage, and as many as seven
balers followed in their paths a few
days later.
“We had the best haymaking
weather of the entire season,” Pat
marvels of how the entire hay
donation operation “just fell into
place.” Through her making the
initial phone contacts, Mrs. Ulrich
was named the Elimsport coor
dinator of the project. Still, she
refuses credit for the generous
community spirit outpouring
which followed.
Before the job was complete,
approximately 7,000 bales had
been harvested from the Game
Commission fields, and another 550
donated. Some was stored tem
porarily in empty World War II
underground ammunition bunkers
located on the government-owned
property, until it could be loaded
out.
The first load went to Randolph
County, Ala., to a very small farm
community. That contact was
made, and the load delivered,
through Robert Russell and
Massimo Fremiotti, co-owners of
Watsontown Trucking Company.
Two more loads went out to
Alabama, one costing the pay to
the driver. Local donations,
handled through the Ehmsport
Methodist Parish, anted up the full
cost of $l,lOO to send the third load.
Local newspapers picked up the
story and interest in the hayhft
spread. The Frito-Lay snack
company out of Williamsport sent
a truck, plus manpower to help
load it, and hauled a trailerful to
Alabama and Georgia.
Then, the Elimsport haymakers
learned of hay shortages due to
severe drought in York County.
Many York counties had been
among those who came to help in
thy tornado’s wake. And Charlie
Sellers came into the picture.
Sellers, of Spring Grove R 4, is
Part of the group which made and sent hay from Lycoming County in thanks for the
help they received from farmers in York County after the 1985 tornado devastated their
Lycoming County farms. Pictured from left, Harold Drick, Fred Mill, John Anderson, Eric
Stamen, Charles and Pat Ulrich, Charles Sellers, John Bower, Hal Drick, Jim Tentz and
Max Fruman.
the southern district of Penn
sylvania Disaster Response
coordinator for the Church of the
Brethren. The Brethren Church’s
haylift efforts were in co-operation
with Farmer-To-Farmer, a
program handled in cooperation
with the Rural Advancement
Fund, National Council of Chur
ches and United Farmers
Organization. ,
Working with the York
Agricultural Extension offices,
contacts were made by Sellers to
deliver hay at cost to qualifying
farmers short of livestock feed. A
total of 10 loads eventually went
into empty York County dairy
farm hay mows.
Charles Ulrich mentioned one
day after hay loading that an ice
cream party for all those involved
in the hay making, loading and
donations might be an appropriate
celebration. On Sunday evening,
Oct. 5, more than 100 participants
and supporters of the Elimsport
Haylift gathered in the community
hall for fellowship and more
homemade ice cream and cake
than even the hungriest crowd
would ever finish. Slides of the
haylift and a film on tornadoes was
shown by Charlie Sellers, and the
Weed Control Possible With Conservation Tillage
MOUNT JOY - This fall is a
good time to consider beginning or
expanding a conservation tillage
program. Changing field work
patterns may be the best place to
start, says an agronomist for a
leading seed company.
“Leaving residue on the ground
instead of plowing or disking after
harvest keeps a protective blanket
over the field. During a heavy rain,
surface residue cuts down on run
off and lets rain soak into the soil
where it will be available for the
next year’s crop. Ground cover
also traps snow fall. Roots
remaining in the ground decay
over the winter forming small
canals which increase moisture
penetration and help decrease
compaction,” says Bill Fleet, area
agronomist for Pioneer Hi-Bred
International, Inc.
However, eliminating fall tillage
does not mean losing control of
weeds. Good control is attainable
in no-till corn production, but it
requires attention to details. A
sound knowledge of the types of
weeds - annual and perennial -
and residue present, herbicide
capability, and spray equipment
and operation is necessary, Fleet
says.
Some no-till weed control
Lewisburg Barbershop singers
provided musical entertainment.
“What’s so wonderful was how one
called one, and each called
another, and another. There was
no struggle to get help; nothing
was hard; even the weather
cooperated,” says Patricia Ulrich.
“It just all came together, that’s
been the nicest part of this. The
way the idea came up and just fell
into place ... it seemed as though it
was just supposed to happen.”
A rough scar still angles down
the south face of White Deer
Mountain, mute testimony to the
path taken last spring by the
devastating tornado. Buit already,
green brush is beginning to grow
over the barren-path of gnarled
and broken trees, as the healing
begins.
In the mountain valley below,
shiny new buildings stand among
the checkerboard of corn, hay,
beans and cows once again grazing
in their home meadows. And in the
homes of those lives torn apart by
the desstruction of whirling winds,
healing has been hastened by the
passing on to other farmers of the
kindnesses shown here just one
harvest season ago.
programs begin in the fall with an
application of Roundup and/ or
Banvel or atrazine. A spring
follow-up treatment with a
residual herbicide combination
would be used for control of
broadleaf weeds and grasses.
Herbicide selection is determined
by thg type and number of problem
weeds.
As an alternative, Paraquat or
Roundup may be used in spring for
initial bumdown, the Pioneer
Agronomist continues. Depending
on the weeds present, these her-
PFA Right To Know Seminars Set
CAMP HILL - The Penn
sylvania Farmers’ Association
(PFA) is sponsoring Right-to-
Know Seminars especially
designed for farmers
“The Right-to-Know law goes
into effect on December 1”, said
Steve Crawford, Governmental
Relations Division of PFA. "The
law places certain responsibilities
on farmers, including employee
training, recordkeeping and
written inventories of chemicals on
the farm,” added Crawford.
The Seminars will be held from 8
a.m. to 5 p.m. at the following
Charles Sellers, Southern
District coordinator for
Disaster Response, Church
of the Brethren, lines up two
more loads of hay.
bicides may be tank mixed with
other residuals to give complete
control In some cases, atrazine
and Pnncep can be applied up to
six weeks before planting.
Roundup or Paraquat and Banvel
plus 2,4-D may be added to the tank
mix.
Split shot treatments are also
popular. These treatments utilize
early spring application of
hrebicides such as atrazine
followed by at plant treatments
such as Pnncep plus atrazine with
Roundup and/or Banvel or 2,4-D.
locations
November 6 Lehigh Valley
Inn, Routes 22/78, McArthur Road,
Allentown, Pa.
November 14 Holiday Inn, I
-81, Exit 28, Grantville, Pa.
November 25 Howard Johnson
Motor Inn, Routes 79/80, Mercer,
Pa.
There is a *25 registration fee
which will include lunch, breaks
and materials. The seminars are
open to all farmers.
To register, call Steve Crawford
at PFA’s Governmental Relations
Division, (717) 761-2740.