CB-lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 21, 1993 JOYCE BUPP York Co. Correspondent DILLSBURG (York Co.) When Rolls Lehman installed his first farm conservation measures, the move stirred some skepticism among his neighbors. It was nearly 50 years ago that the northern Yoik County farmer began converting from the block style fields, then common, to planting in strips. Since then, the kinds of practices he instituted on die rich, rolling farmground near Dillsburg have become recogniz ed as backbone programs of soil conservation. Recently, Rolla and his wife, Esther were recognized for their half-decade of dedication to pre serving the soil when they were named winners of the Pennsylva nia Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Farm Award. The York County Conservation District nominated the Lehmans for the honor, award ed by the Pennsylvania Associa tion of Conservation Districts, in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Bay Education office. ‘The District felt Rolla should be recognized for his outstanding work over the years. He’s been a sort of conservation torchbearer in the community.” said Yoik Coun ty Conservation District manager Mark Kimmcl. “Rolla always says and shows by example his belief that ‘conservation doesn’t cost, it pays’.” The Lehmans’ award was pre sented during the state Associa tion of Conservation Districts’ July executive council meeting in Altoona. Also honored as regional winners for their soil conservation efforts were Mark and Sue Mapes, Mifflinburg, and Karen and Ran dy Hunstman, Martinsburg. Rolla and Esther Lehman review a pamphlet explaining the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Clagett Farm, which they toured recently as regional winners of the Clean Water Award. '' '> ■ ' 9/ "yf£ '// s m. A sod waterway runs above the first contoured com strip to slow runoff on one of the Lehmans’ steeper slopes. Lehmans Win Regional Conservation Award For having been selected as clean water award winners, Rolla and Esther were hosted recently on a tour of the Clagett Farm in Upper Marlboro. Md. The 285-acre Clagett Farm is owned and operated by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation as a educational showcase for sustainable agricul ture practices. They were also giv en a bay tour on an oyster-dredg ing skipjack. In 1991, the county district named him its conservation farm er of the year. He was also select ed a Goodyear Award winner, a national conservation award spon sored by the Goodyear company and the National Association of Conservation Districts. Rolla’s interest in soil-saving agriculture techniques was spur red by a government program set up to train veterans returning home from service in World War 11. “My brother came back from service and decided he wanted to farm. The government had a pro gram to provide schooling for ve terans, and the one for agriculture education was held one night each week at Dillsburg High School,” Rolla said. “I attended a lot of those meetings with him and it was there that the seed of conser vation was planted in my mind.” Planting in strips and contours, use of sod waterways, and instal lation of tile drainage were in their infancy as agriculture practices. Rolla initially planted just part of the couple’s 97-acre farm in sim ple strip, which he laid off himself since no technical assistance was then available. “The only thing I would have done differently, looking back is to have gone to contour strips right One of the Lehmans' underground tile drainflelds feeds crystal-clear water to the park-like backyard pond of a neighbor's adjoining property. Esther and Rolla admire the waterfall setting from the picturesque bridge. away,” he said. In the ensuing years, nearly two miles of tile drainage have been installed in the fields to handle the plentiful “winter springs” scatter ed across the Lehmans’ acreage. A sod waterway slows runoff on one of the steeper slopes. Much of the tile installed in the early 1950 s was put in with the help of Thomasville farmer Albert Bentz. Bentz owned a specialized piece of equipment which operat ed from a Fold tractor and both cut a trench and laid the clay tile pipe. “Most of the tiling is still the original clay,” said Lehman. “On ly on occasion has a section need ed replacement with plastic.” One of the tiled drain fields empties at the edge of the farm property and is used by adjoining neighbors as a partial feeder source for their attractive, back yard pond. The water draining out from beneath the contours of hay and com, even after fairly abund ant summer rains, is crystal clear. An early user of minimum till age, Lehman first tried the new practice to renovate a section of pasture. Some IS or more years before minimum tillage became popular, he borrowed an early type chisel plow, a piece of equip ment that originated in the Mid west. ‘This farm has lots of ironstone and was always hard on plows,” he said. Lehman was so pleased with the results that he later pur chased his own chisel plow. “For a full 10 years, we never put a moldbooard in the ground,” Lehman said. “Now, we do use a The Lehmans check the growth of the Acer Rubin ma ples recently planted along their road frontage. Behind the new trees Is the area of fields Rolla first put into alternating strip crops nearly a half-century ago. plow to turn the ground to start al falfa, maybe three to eight acres a year. It can cut the roots of the mulberry bushes that take root in the fields better than minimum tillage.” Rolla and Esther moved on to his home farm just a few months after their marriage. His father purchased the farm in 1922, four years before Rolla was bom. The couple raised five children, all of whom have gone onto careers other than agriculture. Even before Lehman began im plementing conservation mea sures, the farm had another early innovation. “We had running water in the house,” he said of his childhood. “It was gravity flowed to the house and bam. We still have a spring in the basement.” For some years, Lehman con tinued the five-year crop rotation used by Ilfs father, planting two years of com, then oats, wheat, and hay of timothy-clover mix. “But I could never raise good oats,” he said of the crop’s diffi culty in the heavy soil that can rarely be worked in the early, cool' weather favored by the grain crop. As the couple’s dairy herd grew, Lehman eliminated the oats and later the wheat, concentrating on herd feed of com and hay. While the Lehmans never look ed back once they started adopting conservation improvements. Mo ther Nature once handed them a rather dramatic setback. In 1972, when Hurricane Agnes dumped some IS inches of rain across the region, they had just finished in stalling a new section of tile drain age. With the soil still loose and not settled, the three-day down pour completely washed out the completed work. “A neighbor told me I was cra zy,” he said. "But we got a dozer and high-lift back in and repaired the damage. TTiese conservation measures are some of the best things I’ve ever done.” It was for Lehman’s lifelong commitment to conservation and ongoing implementation of prac tices that earned him the District’s recommendation for the state award. Lehman served the York County Conservation District as a director from 1957-1981. In that time, he has seen consistent strides being made in the move to con serve the nation’s soils. “Nutrient management has probably been the biggest change in that period of time,” he said. “Minimum tillage is another.” On nutrient management, Leh man believes that the philosophy has come somewhat “full circle.” He relates that when he was grow ing up, stackpiling manure until it could be spread at optimum times, spring and fall planting, was a common practice. “Then the dairy regulations made it necessary for us to move manure out every day, to not hold it Now, we’re going back to the concept I grew up with.” Two years ago, the Lehmans took an additional improvement step on their land of grading and (Turn to Page C 9)
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