Onbei
a farm
-And o
hazar
Joyce B
Rain pattered on the metal roof,
a gentle staccato rythmn softening
other sounds from the outside.
The calves and young heifers
had quieted, their bellies swelling
full with rations of grain and the
alfalfa hay they busily chewed.
Only bedding of their pens with
fresh, shiny straw remained to be
done before my morning barn
chores would be finished.
From a perch high up, near the
rafters, I paused to catch my
breath. Our winter supply of straw
in the center haymow of the bam
is still blessedly plentiful and
stacked to near the roof. After
scrambling up over the stack of
hay bales, ducking a rafter while
crawling over a crossbeam and
then hoisting myself onto the
uppermost row of straw bales, I
sat there a moment enjoying die
barn’s secure peacefulness from
this pigeon’s-eye-view perch.
With good aim and a little luck,
you can toss sections of straw
bales from this high launch point,
across the empty adjoining hay
mow and right through the hay
hole to the heifer pen beneath it
Young heifers are housed in the
bank barn’s bottom floor, with hay
and straw supplies stacked in the
mows of the upper level. Bales
can then be dropped through
conveniently-located holes in the
floor to the feed alleyway and
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pens beneath.
As we use layers of hay and
straw bales, working down from
the top, it's handy to leave a stair
step effect along one edge for
climbing up and down. So having
scaled the bale-steps up the side of
the hay to crawl into the top of the
straw supply, I rewarded myself
by stealing a moment to catch my
breath and enjoy the peaceful set
ting and the soothing sound of the
rain overhead.
I love old bams. They have a
character about them lacking in
the sleeker-lined metal and block
structures of today. Old bams are
a tribute to an age of down-home
engineering, constructions raised
with common sense, craftsman
ship, quality and artistry, minus
blueprint or computer-assisted
design.
In our old German-style bank
bam, you can still feel the ax
hewn cuts on the rough-squared
main beams, finger die bark on
main-frame logs, and marvel at
the sturdy wooden pegs fashioned
to fasten together the main
“bones” of the barn’s skeletal
strength.
In addition to the major job of
housing cattle and various feed
stuffs, the old bam fulfills various
lesser roles. Equipment is put
there on temporary basis during
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the busy season. A vacant bay
mow floor becomes a handy shel
ter for the baler or a wagonful of
hay hustled in from die field as a
thunderstorm bursts in over die
hills.
The cats find a haven in the old
bam, becoming furry piles with
several heads, napping together in
snug, straw beds. Solomon some
times follows suit, turning in
repeated circles in classic dog
fashion before curling up on a
cushion of loose hay.
Each spring, an old broody hen
will hatch out a nest of diminutive,
downy baby chicks from a nest
buried deep in hay or straw. The
guineas screech as they fly into the
bam at night to roost, while
pigeons sofdy coo from their per
ches on the metal remains of old
hay-handling systems, still
fastened near the bam roof peak.
Old bams become receptacles
for stuff you still need but use only
on occasion odds-and-ends of
lumber, cattle show beds and rob
ber wash tubs, used feed bags and
collections of baling twine, bags
of lime and fly dust, an old chick
en coop.
After years as catchalls, old
barns may be treasure troves, in
whpse dark corners may be
unearthed antique tools, old hand
operated or early-era farm equip
ment, long-forgotten horse-hitch
hookups, battered milk cans.
With that thought, I toss down a
couple of straw bales and slide
back down the hay-steps to the
bam floor before someone wan
ders in and finds me goofing off,
IS feet up in the straw mow.
I might get accused of napping.
Or worse, be labeled as just
another antique, sitting around an
old bam collecting dust.
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School Program
Challenges
Focuses On
NEWARK, Del. What do
bats, human population growth.
Mylar-packaged potato chips and
biotechnology have in common?
Every one is related to agriculture.
There is little in the world today
that is not somehow related to
agriculture. This statement sums
up the new educational program
The World Around Us: Chal
lenges and Changes in Agriculture
being offered by the University
of Delaware College of Agricul
tural Sciences to high school stu
dents and teachers.
The presentation, designed to
fill one class period, uses demon
strations and everyday examples
to point up the impact agriculture
has on our lives. The program is
the brainchild of Karen Roth,
assistant to the dean and the prog
ram presenter.
“Agriculture is about feeding
the world, solving problems, con
serving our resources and impro
ving the quality of life for all of us.
Yet many people still have a lim
ited perception of it,” says Roth.
“As I visited high schools, telling
students about what the College of
Agricultural Sciences has to offer.
I discovered a basic lack of under
standing. People have this mis
conception of a farmer being this
dopey guy with a pitchfork, as
depicted in Grant Wood’s paint
ing. American Gothic.”
And it isn’t just the students
who don’t understand. Roth says
she’s encountered a number of
science teachers and guidance
counselors who don’t view agri
culture as relevant to college
preparatory students.
Roth realized that recruiting
was a premature step if the field
itself is misunderstood. She came
up with a presentation in which
she dsipels myths about agricul-
earned
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hire and reinforces its scope in a
50-minute class period.
“I want students to see the con
nection between the courses they
take and agriculture,” Roth says.
“In biology when they discuss
photosynthesis that’s agricul
ture. Agricultural engineers deve
lop ways to limit pollution, agri
cultural economists calculate
trends in international trade, and
some of the most advanced gene
tic engineering and microbiology
research is going on in agricul
ture."
To announce the availability of
the program, Roth targeted gui
dance counselors and science
teachers in high schools through
out Delaware and specific areas in
nearby Maryland and Pennsyl
vania.
In September, the first month it
was offered, she was asked td give
25 presentations to chemistry,
biology and agriculture classes.
Teachers and students have been
enthusiastic and receptive to the
presentation. Roth designed the
program for high school audi
ences, but now she plans to offer it
to the junior high level.
“My dream would be to be in a
different high school every day of
the year spreading the news about
agriculture,” Roth says. “Agricul
ture is an important discipline,
touching every part of our lives,
every day, from bioethics to land
scape design, from pest control to
microwave popcorn. With this
program I feel I’m finally getting
somewhere in changing people’s
attitudes about the wide world of
agriculture.”
For more information on The
World Around Us: Challenges and
Changes in Agriculture program,
call Roth at (302) 831-2508.
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