82-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 2,1990
The Millers Keep Perspective In Their Lives
GAY N. BROWNLEE
Somerset Co. Correspondent
BOSWELL (Somerset Co.)
Dairy farmer Mark Miller of Bos
well, RDI, in Somerset County is
about as eager to discuss his farm
ing accomplishments as a novice
skydiver is to free-jump from an
airplane three miles above an
ocean.
Voted the Pennsylvania Out
standing Young Farm Couple in
1985, Mark and his wife, Martha,
take the honor in their stride.
In 1975, when they were 20 and
21 years old, Mark and Clarence,
his brother, bought the farm their
father had purchased in 1961.
Included were 30 head of Holstein
cattle, not even half the amount the
fellows thought they wanted. They
bought 50 more head of cattle,
“because the price was right,” at
the time.
Quantity was the overriding
consideration rather than quality.
In jest Mark says, “We just went
out and bought junk.” He says it to
tease Martha who is an avid buyer
at local auctions.
Whether the idea was good
sense or not might be debatable,
but it has apparently worked for
the Millers.
About that same time, new-
The swing on the Miller’s front porch is getting some use
by the three sisters.
lyweds, Mark and Martha moved
into the farm house. Martha says
she loves living on a farm but adds
a qualifier of sorts by stating, “I’m
glad I’m not a farmer. 1 like to see
the cows in a pasture.”
Martha’s family, once neigh
bors of Mark’s family, had moved
to Ohio just before her birth. They
returned one summer for a visit
and called upon the Miller family.
At his invitation, pretty, teen-aged
Martha accompanied Mark for a
ride on his motorcycle. They were
stranded when the bike appeared to
be out of fuel.
“Mark turned off the motor,”
Martha immediately challenges,
giving him a sidelong glance.
“It ran out of gas,” he grins.
They walked nearly a mile to
reach Mark’s home, which was
ample time for the seeds of a bud
ding romance to sprout. Mark con
tinues to credit his mother, saying
it was she who devised the scheme.
“It was a letter courtship,” he
says. He was doing volunteer ser
vice in an Omaha, Nebraska hospi
tal at the time. Finally Martha’s
father let her go there for a while to
teach Bible School.
Martha, who spends virtually no
time doing farm work, is the per
son who will quote the facts and
figures. Occasionally, Mark adds a
As with most families, the family kitchen is the hub of action for the Mark Miller fami
ly of Boswell, RDI, Somerset county.
rider to her comments. Personal
publicity is something with which
they are not comfortable.
Their four children are Ben, 14;
Kirstin, 11; Julie, 8; and Alexia, 6.
Showing little of his dad’s con
versational reticence, young Ben
talks eagerly about his show ani
mals, freely admitting to his pas
sion for being in a show ring. So far
he has four years of experience in
that area.
Ben had to address the Somerset
County Holstein Association, of
which the Miller’s are members, at
its annual spring banquet this year.
It was the expected responsibility
of Ben, since he’d been voted the
most valuable player on his Dairy
Bowl Team during the Penn State
Junior Holstein Convention.
The family declares that Ben
had the banquet crowd laughing
during his address. “I only said
what happened,” he replies inno
cently, but his eyes sparkle with
betraying mischief.
With his sister, Kirstin, Ben
belongs to the Super-Milkers 4-H
Club. He is her coach as they both
prepare to enter 4-H projects in the
Somerset County Fair next
August. Mark and Martha are half
of the club’s advising team.
Doing handcrafts is a strong
talent of Martha. She particularly
enjoys painting and will use any
material paintable for her ideas,
even the bam slats. One such item
is prominently displayed in her
kitchen above a doorway. It reads,
“Let All That You Do Be Done In
Love.” Letters in dark blue paint
outlined in red are complimented
by the dainty white and yellow
daisies she has woven around the
motto with her paintbrush.
At the mention of her mother’s
sewing ability, little Alexia, whom
they call Lexi, slides off the bench
she has been occupying with sister
Julie, and disappears. In a flash,
she returns with a beautiful new
dress that Martha has constructed
for Julie. Lexi’s broad smile indi
cates how proud she is that her
mother made the dress.
When everybody went outside,
Lexi’s favorite mode of transporta
tion was to be carried in her dad
dy’s arms.
The children attend Johnstown
Christian School where Martha is a
regular volunteer.
Mark wants a milking parlor. He
and Clarence generally get the
morning and evening milking
completed in two hours, but the 80
cows are in regular stalls.
The animals are computer fed.
This requires herding the pastured
cows back to the bam at noon for
Martha, Mark, and Ben Miller stand on the front porch
steps at their home on Boswell, RDi.
homestead %//o{cz
their regulated feeding schedule. A
number on each cow tells the com
puter how many pounds of feed
she needs.
Having a modem dairy opera
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