AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 9,1989
OPINION
Practical Farmer Knowledge
A glass of skim milk each day can keep excess cholesterol
away. That’s the report summary of several university findings.
According to a national tabloid, volunteers drink a quart of skim
milk every day for eight weeks. These volunteers for Penn State
researchers made no other dietary or lifestyle changes, but when
the test was completed most of them had a noticeable improve
ment in blood cholesterol levels.
Dr. Daniel Cramer, assistant professor of obstetrics and gyne
cology at Harvard Medical school, said the switch to skim milk
would most likely benefit young people in their 20’s and 30’s
but everyone should see some benefit. Evidently, skim milk has
components that reduce the body’s ability to manufacture
cholesterol.
Of course, we*know that the high levels of jalcium in milk
help reduce the risk of high blood pressure too. Three glasses of
skim milk each day provide enough calcium to cut your risk of
high blood pressure by 22 percent. The tabloid called this an
“astounding university discovery.” But those of us who have
worked on the farm have known for a long time that “milk is fit
ness you can drink” and “docs a body good.” The doctors in this
world just take a little longer to catch on to our practical farmer
knowledge.
Farm Calendar
Sunday, December 10
Alexander Schaeffer Farm candle
light tour, Christmas drop in
party, Schaefferstown, 2:00
p.m.
Monday, December 11
Salmonella informational meet
ing, Clayton Hall, University of
Delaware, Newark, Del., 7:45
a.m. to 3:45 p.m.; to register,
call 302/856-7303.
Wednesday, December 13
16th annual Mid-Allantic Conser
vation Tillage confernce,
Maryland Stale fairgrounds,
Timonium, Md., 9:15 a.m. to
3:15 p.m.
Newspaper bedding meeting,
Weaver Homestead, New Hol
land, 10:00 a.m. and Robert
Wagner farm, Quarry villc, 7:00
p.m.; call the Lancaster County
Extension office for directions.
ARHMA executive committee
meeting, Penn Slate Fruit
Research Lab, Biglerville, 1:00
p.m.
Thursday, December 14
Alternative grain crops meeting,
Begins Fire Company Hall,
Begins, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Mercer County DHI banquet, Mer
cer County Extension Center,
Mercer, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, December 15
Pennsylvania Seedmen’s Associa
tion winter meeting, Eden
Resort Inn & Conference Cen
ter, 9:30 a.m.
Pennsylvania Egg Marketing
Association dinner, Olde Hick
ory Inn, Lancaster, 6:00 p.m.
social hour, 7:00 p.m. dinner.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
by |»r
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A SMnrmn Enlt.prk*
Robert G. Campbell General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Managing Editor
CffVrifM IM hr UnMttor Farmlnf
Tuesday, December 19
Farrowing Short Course, 111 Hen
ning Building, Penn Stale, Uni
versity Park; runs through
December 20.
Wednesday, December 20
Pennsylvania Forage & Grassland
Council meeting and banquet,
Sheraton Inn, Altoona, noon.
Thursday, December 21
Grain drying and storage meeting,
Conference Center, Penn State,
Schuylkill Campus, Schuylkill
Haven, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday, December 27
Lebanon County 4-H Livestock
Club Winter Roundup, Leba
non Area Fairgrounds, Leba
non, pig show at noon, beef and
lamb shows 1:00 p.m. Decem
ber 28, and sale6:oo p.m.
December 28.
Monday, January 1
Red Rose Alliance pork and
sauerkraut dinner, Churchtown
Fire Hall, Churchtown, 11:00
a.m.
Tuesday, January 2
44th annaul meeting of the North
eastern Weed Science Society,
Sheraton Boston Hotel & Tow
ers, Boston, Mass.; runs
through January 5.
Wednesday, January 3
Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion
Program second annual ban
quet, Holiday Inn, Grantvillc,
general session at 2:00 p.m.,
banquet 5:30 p.m.
Lancaster County home horticul
ture seminar, Lancaster Farm &
Home Center, Lancaster;
IGBT UP AT PI VI
AAORNIN'
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- 'I
NOW IS
THE TIME
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent,
To Sort Tobacco
Tobacco stripping is under way
in this part of the state and many
hours will be spent removing the
leaves from the stalk. The days of
special handling and sizing seem
to be over; however, it is still very
important that growers sort the
injured and ground leaves from
the good tobacco. This will be
required if the crop is being sold
on grade. With some “pull off’
crops this is less important. On the
other hand growers should be fair
enough to sort out the undesirable
leaves. If this is not done, the buy
er will be unhappy and look else
where for their tobacco supplies.
Some sorting is necessary with
every crop regardless of the
method of selling.
To Take Inventory
An area of our operation that is
very important at this time of year
is inventory. With the close of the
year most of our farmers close out
their records for the year. This
means that if you are going to
have a Farm Analysis made you
should take inventory of all your
Readers Write
Editor:
I get your Lancaster Fanning
every week and I saw in the
“Opinion” column about “Your
Right to Farm.” Our farm is
located across from a mushroom
farm or grower. They have been
adding more houses. Also the
smell’s awful. I keep my farm
clean and haul my manure out
What’s the setup on these
mushroom growers? How close
can they come to your property?
John Oleyar
Bradenville
beginning beekeeping at 7:30
p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and home gar
dener’s guide to fruit produc
tion at 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Sunday, January 7
Pennsylvania Farm Show, Farm
Show Building, Harrisburg;
runs through January 12. Times
are 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sun
day, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Monday through Thursday,
8:00 a.nr. to 4:00 p.m. on
Friday.
supplies. You’ll need this to do
any kind of farm analysis, because
the amount of grain, hay and other
supplies that are in storage will
vary from year to year, and unless
this is taken into consideration,
you cannot have an accurate
analysis of our year’s operation.
So, as accurately as possible,
record the amount of hay, grain,
feed, seeds and fertilizer (hat are
on hand. This is the first step in an
accurate farm analysis.
This is the time of year that
most people are considering the
type of Christmas tree to buy.
And, I hear objections to using
real trees as being wasteful. So
let’s take a look at this situation.
Actually, the Christmas tree
farmer is raising trees as a crop
and a source of income. This is
much the same as the farmer who
raises wheat, com or soybeans to
sell or use on his own farm.
Christmas trees are raised on land
not suited for other crops -- not
even pasture land. It’s mostly roll
ing land and highly acid.
Also, remember that these
Christmas tree farmers are putting
this land to good use; by conserv
ing the soil and providing an
Background Scripture:
Devotional Reading:
As a boy, I was always skepti
cal about this verse: “And this is
the judgement, that the light has
come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light,
because their deeds were evil”
(John 3:19). Because I was some
what afraid of the dark, I couldn’t
imagine anyone loving it. Today,
of course, I realize that, strange as
it may seem, people often do
choose darkness instead of light
because, for some perverse rea
son, they love the darkness more.
That is the supposition that under
lies the newspaper business today:
they focus on human darkness
crime, corruption, decay, tragedy,
and anything that is essentially
negative. “Bad news” sells news
papers, books, and television
advertising time. If your daily
newspaper were to focus on “good
news” instead of “bad,” people
wouldn’t buy it.
NEGATIVELY TUNED
Unfortunately, many of us are
tuned in to negativity. If we are ill,
we can describe our feelings in
great detail. But if wb are well, we
are hardly aware of our wellness at
all. If someone has a “juicy” story
about someone we know, perhaps
even a friend, we are much more
To Use A Real
Tree For Christmas
DO YOU PREFER
THE DARKNESS?
December 10,1989
John 3:1-21
John 3:18-21
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excellent watershed. Keep in mind
that Christmas tree farmers have a
very slow turnover in their capital
- from the time they plant the tree
till it’s ready for your living room
can be from 5 to 6 years for small
trees and 10 to 15 years on the lar
ger trees. Another fact to consider
is there is nothing like the fresh
aroma of a real tree in your home
during the Christmas season.
To Appreciate
Farm Labor
Farmers should not neglect
opportunities to reduce production
costs by carefully using family
and non-family labor to maintain
productivity at a high level.
There is more to using labor
other than just wages paid or fami
ly tradeoffs to run the farm. The
returns received from your help
should always be based on their
productivity.
Attention to keeping the farm
“labor force” happy and contented
will really return more in produc
tion than an increase in wages. Put
more emphasis on; kindness,
praise, respect, concern for the
employee’s family, some free
time, recognition, fair treatment
and other non-cash approaches.
These will increase production
more than wages alone.
likely to listen to it. Even our
prayer lives may be dominated by
negativity: how much of your
prayer time is devoted to asking
and how much to thanking? Some
people even practice a Christianity
that is negatively oriented: seeing
and expecting the worst in people
and the world. Still others are
attracted to satanic religious prac
tices that seem to glory in the
darkest and lowest elements in our
human nature.
When Nicodemus, a member of
Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious
council, came to Jesus he came by
night because he didn’t want any
one to see him in the presence ot
the Nazarene. He also chose dark
ness, but in this case he chose
darkness to hide, not his sin, but 1
his virtue. The reason, of course,
is that his society saw sin as virtue
and virtue as sin. Associating with
Jesus would threaten his “virtu
ous” religious standing in the
community. So, he chose
darkness.
PLAYING “DUMB”
We don’t know what he
expected Jesus to say to him, but
he was obviously perplexed when
Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, unless one is bom anew, he
cannot see the kingdom of God”
(3:3). Did Nicodemus really not
know what Jesus was saying, or
was he simply playing “dumb”
because he didn’t want to deal
with it? I suspect the latter,
because it is a lot easier to discuss
being bom physically than it is to
be spiritually reborn. If the first'
seem,' impossible, the other must
• seem highly undesirable to others.
Tae fact is that all of us need to
be transformed so that we will
seek the light rather than the
darkness.
(Based on copyrighted Outlines produced by
the Committee on the Uniform Senes and used
by permission. Released by Community & Sub
urban Press.)