BtLaneaatar Firming, Saturday, Dacambar 11, 1993 Onbei a farm -And a bazar Joyce B Without thinking, I pitched the almost-cmpty jar of peanut butter into the trash. After opening the lid and noting how rancid the re maining contents smelled, it hadn’t been hard to decide that these few tablespoons had long passed being tasty even if it did seem wasteful to toss it out Peanut butter is a staple in our household, spread on celery, crackers, raw apple slices, blended in cake and cupcake icing. This container had somehow gotten pushed way into the back comer of the kitchen cupboard, probably months before. While retrieving baking ingredients, I’d found the long-lost jar and promptly chuck ed it Then I had second thoughts. And fished the peanut butter con tainer back out from the bottom of the kitchen trash can. ‘The birds will love it,” I told The Fanner, warning him that the small amount of peanut butler in the jar was not advised for his con sumption. At the same time I had to ’fess up that we had unbelieva bly otherwise run out of one of his very favorite snack foods. But the birds would at least have some. “Birdbrain” the youngest has labeled me on more than one occa sion. Friends, too polite to say it, probably think the same thing. For instance, several years ago, we planted a dead tree just a few feet away from one of the kitchen windows. That’s right, dug a hole and planted a dead tree, a several year-old maple with a trunk about four inches across. There was a simple, logical rea son for such seeming foolishness. We needed a suet feeder site at that particular spot so we could watch the ladderback woodpeck ers at closer range. A small dead tree, with a trunk and branches for serving an onion-bag filled with suet chunks, was The Farmer’s solution. And it worked perfectly, bringing the hairy, downy and red bellied woodpeckers, nuthatches. even big. bossy bluejays to where you could almost look them right in the eyes. After the recent heavy wind and flooding rainstorm that swept through York County, I noticed the tree was flat on the ground. Since it seems otherwise unscath ed and there are still some of last year’s suet chunks in the freezer, we will probably replant the dead tree. Another large, dead limb from one of the big maples lies in an other comer of the yard, snuggled between the low-sweeping spruce and a weeping cotoneaster shrub that droops long branches toward the ground. Into this somewhat tangled comer come the cardinals, chirping loudly as they rummage on the ground beneath for sun flower seeds. While it does tend to make the yard look messy in that area, the brushy comer remains in steady popularity with the cardinals. And when snow covers the ground, as many as a dozen gray and white j uncos can often be counted * makes the tractor less maneuverable, hurts _ _ performance, lowers efficiency and k __ JH increases soil compaction MF 300 Senes 4WD tractors are W engineered with just the nght balance and strength for optimum 4WD B performance. This means easy handling, all the performance of bigger, more IHv JW PWWWm expensive tractors. Smart engmeenng is just one of the a many reasons why, over the last 28 years. Smore people have selected Massey Ferguson tractors than any other brand * Check out all the reasons today at your MF dealer See Your Nearest Dealer For Details - - - ARNETTS GARAGE Hagerstown, MO 81740 (SOI) 788-o*ls aaamsitammn 7oee.u«j*jst HflMani. Wk t7O»T (717) M*7«ta FARM ) SHOW ( OPENS ) „ Low-rale MF financing Standard hydrostatic steering for Ul | iflt( , for fast, easy turns and ownership easy precise handling. Hjdralock front-wheel difFertnUil engages automatically with differential lock. SO* turning ingle mean} less “jockeying" in light quarters, and shorter headlands, s * , scratching around under the tum ble of limbs. Scruffy-looking or not, the dead limb will stay.yet another winter. Come spring, though, I may ask The Farmer to lop off the bulky trunk section which slicks out and invariably snags the lawn mower as it passes. Another oft-questioned “bird” item on the farm sits on the most distant pond bank, a 15-foot high pole with a flat, square platform fastened to the top. This was the youngest’s design a few years back ,(the one who calls ME a birdbrain), and is so located to provide a nest-site for the ospreys that make rare appearances at the meadow pond. /ilflflßrs-wirw earned '-ijjjour support When building a 2WD (factor, (here's little reason to conserve weight. In fact, you may well end up adding weight for traction. ' With 4WD tractors, you really don't need, or even want so much weight. It just N.ikMmi a* 4ttmuL It? rlWOv t»t«)Mttns»ft VWiile wc have yet to sec an os prey use the high platform, the lo cal blue heron sometimes perches there to scout for fishy snacks. Damp mornings bring an occa sional vulture to the high-rise, sit ting there with wings slightly out spread. drying in the sunshine. And I recently snapped pictures of the resident redtailed hawk, sur veying the pond and meadow horn the poletop lookout. So. given our tendencies toward bird-brained ideas, how could I throw out slightly old peanut but ter that will be perfectly good for slathering on pine cones to hang out fqr the birds to enjoy this win ter? I’m much too “cheep” for that L_J' 'W Wheels don’t lean o*fuH lock, reducing soil damage ad are wear sit co w»BwBP^mwBf Q * i yy^tt^ o7B rt-raMi* M S'*' i a '•# -\ *, MABBEY FERGUSON QUSFAWiPWMEm -**vn "°° Bs ’ “Jfif.Sf M^wT **< '•S-**
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers