Harnish Family Works Together To Meet Deadlines
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Fanning Staff
MANHEIM (Lancaster Co.)
It’s difficult to tell if Marci Ham
ish is more excited about the dairy
industry or about FFA.
Regardless, one thing is defi
nite: Agriculture is number one in
her life.
This recently crowned Lancas
ter County Dairy Princess credits
her parents. Bob and Marti, for
inspiring her to become involved
in agriculture.
Raised on a fourth-generation
dairy farm, Marci had lots of
experience with the behind-the
scenes work of a family farm, but
she lacked the overall perspective
of how agriculture affects society.
‘When she entered ninth grade, her
father advised her to try FFA for
one year. “If you don’t like it, you
may drop it,” he said.
It took less than one year as a
member of the Manhcim FFA for
Marci to become an avid supporter
of the program.
“I did not know about the won
derful opportunites FFA offers.
It’s a chance for kids to develop
self." Marci expresses her appreci
ation for a program that she says
changed her from a shy kid into a
confident, outgoing leader.
Her dad shares her enthusiasm
for the program although he says
that he learned that FFA really
stands for “Father Farms Alone.”
Laying puns aside, her dad is not
complaining. He is quite willing to
do more than his share on the fami
ly farm while Marci and tier older
brother Greg, who was a former
FFA state officer, participate in
many FFA activities.
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Her dad said of his high school
years, “I had always wished that I
could be in FFA, but I did not have
that opportunity when I was in
school. It was something that I
really wanted my children to do.”
Marci considers herself fortu
nate to be part of what she calls one
of the best FFA chapters in the
state.
“Every year, the class gets big
ger and bigger. We have about 80
kids in it. Our advisor, Deb
Seibert, is great Even though she
has two children, we (FFA mem
bers) are really her kids," she said.
Manheim FFA is number one in
the state for activities and has the
distinct honor of having one of its
members appointed to an FFA
state office in each of the past six
years.
Marci, who is 17 years old, will
be a senior at Manheim Central
High School in the fall. She is pres
ident of not only her school’s FFA
but also the county organization.
And, like her brother Greg, who is ''
now 21 and a senior at Penn State,
Marci hopes she will have the
opportunity to become a stale FFA
officer.
But that accomplishment is
months away and in the interven
ing time, Marci is quite busy repre
senting the dairy industry as the
Lancaster County Dairy Princess.
This responsibility means more
days away from the family’s
90-acre farm and its 50 Holsteins.
But, her parents’ philosophy is that
the family is here for each other.
“We work together to meet
deadlines,” said Hamish, who
began farming while he was still in
high school because his father had
LANCASTER FORD TRACTOR
y at their Manheim farm are Kristen, kneeling; and from left, mom,
dad, Marcl, and Greg.
a heart condition,
“Things were a lot different
back then,” Bob said. Then, the
family had only IS to 20 cows.
When he married Marti, who was
from a non-dairy background, she
had what she terms an interesting
transition. One time, her husband
sat her on a tractor to disc a Held.
After several hours of discing, she
saw an object setting in the middle
of the field, and wondered where
in the world it came from, oblivi
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ous to the fact that the culti-packer
fell off while she was discing.
In those beginning married
years, Marti learned to help with
the milking. Milk cans were used
and the milk needed to be carried
from the bam to the milkhouse.
Marti was convinced there had to
be an easier way. Her husband
agreed, and had a dumping station
devised without having a tank.
“No one else did that,” Hamish
said of the set-up that moved the
milk from the buckets to six milk
cans by vaccum. The set-up had to
be watched carefully to prevent
overflowing, but it saved time and
backs, according to the Hamishes.
Daily, the milk needed to be
hauled to the Ml Joy Co-op.
In 1972, the Hamishes installed
a milk tank, and sometime later, a
pipeline with six units.
These changes made milking so
much easier and faster that Marti
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