82-Lanc«ster Fanning, Saturday, January 1, 1994 K eiders’ Famil £ LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Farming Staff MANHEIM (Lancaster Co.) Two hundred years is a long time to keep a farm in the family. For the Kreiders of Manheim, that accom plishment is a time to look back in appreciation of their roots and a time to plan for the future. The Manheim farm and its 102 acres were deeded to Christian Hershey in 1792. The farm almost did not remain in the family when it was sold over public auction in 1934. Noah Kreider Jr. recalled the scenario surrounding those years. The country was in the Depression. His parents had been married about eight years and were faming a 57-acre farm in Bird in Hand. When his mother prompted his dad to buy the Manheim farm, his father’s response was: what with? His mother said, “We have nothing to lose.” Noah Kreider Sr., agreed and purchased the property for $12,000. “That was not considered cheap at (hat time, and Grandfather didn’t think my dad could make it,” Noah Jr. said. But right timing and his father’s agressiveness in turning a hog house into a place for 1,000 layer hens and coverting an area above the garage into raising I,ooochicks enabled (he couple to pay off the mortgage within two years. In those beginning years, the Kreiders also milked 10 to 20 cows by hand, but were one of the first families in the area to buy a milk ing machine. They also were the first in the area to purchase a tractor with rub ber tires. Noah Jr. recalls that people pre dicted, “That will never work. The radiator is too small and the rubber ores pack the soil too much." Steers and eight acres of tobacco were added to the family’s enter prises and, by 1939, Noah Sr. decided to rent a neighboring 120-acre farm. During World War n, farmers could not buy new equipment and it was difficult to farm 220 acres with only two tractors. In 1946, the Kieiders purchased a neighboring 137-acre farm that sold for $32,000 at a public auction. The buildings were worn out and the neighbors thought his dad was foolish to spend so much for acreage, but by then Kreider was making money in potatoes. Huck sters purchased the potatoes to resell. The next year, Kreider planted 80 acres in potatoes, which needed to be harvested by hand and marketed through potato brokers. Noah Jr. and his older brother Richard worked hard on the farm. The boys remember that their father got them out of grade school whenever the truck came and needed to be loaded with potatoes. To young boys, this was not seen as hard work but as excitement. It was not that the elder Kreider did not think his sons’ education was unimportant. In fact, he paid to send Noah Jr. to town school because he thought he would receive a better education. When Noah Jr. said that he would like to play sports in high school, his father said, “Fine. If you want to go out for sports, we will cut down on the work at home.” But the boys liked the new trac tors, trucks, and cars that accom panied the success of their father’s farming’ enterprises. They decided Form Exi The Lord’s, The Bank’s And Ours From left, Richard, Noah Jr. and sons, Ron and Jim Kreid er, gather In front of the Manheim farm that has been in the they would rather forgo sports and They slarted irrigating the pota on the farm. to cro p during the late ’sos. The following year, the Kreiders ln 1958> they suffered purchased the farm that they had setback w hen they lost money rented. ..... . invested in potato futures. Noah Jr. said that his parents had Despite the setback, the business been relunctant to purchase that con tinued to grow as dairy, beef, farm because they thought: we an d poultry operations were have only two sons and we already expanded. New facilities were have two farms. We don’t need built. And more farms were added, anymore. “Sometimes we really could not But the sons encouraged their a ff or d to buy farms, but it worked parents to buy the third farm with because the seller would con the promise that they would stick tact us and o ff er to work something b yj he " l - out,” Noah Jr. said. The brothers a chick- .. We never imended t 0 en house for 2,000 broilers, which as as we We always tried to was an FFA project. That was se ek the Lord’s direction and pray before the time of live television abou| major decisions> .. he footage but radio station WGAL He quoted verse from came out and cut a live record in Bible, “‘You have not because you ** , ®*^ re **^ er chicken house. a sk not.’ Sometimes God’s The brothers soon graduated answers seem clear and other times from high school and worked full no t \y e learned not to act time in the business. The brothers unld d was •> and their father formed a partner- During years> sons ship in made more of the business-related , ™‘ SO " S b “ lIt 3 brol,er h ° use f or decisions while Noah Sr. became 16,000 chickens considered a heavily involved in community big amount then but nothing com- „ . „ , , . r „ . .... , affairs. He was a board member of with the VA million layers thelocai b an k.wasoneoftheorigi- e AI . 1 l s now . ave .‘ . • nal directors to plan the building of Although it sounds as if the bus.- phUhaven Hos £ ital to ness was a constant booming withpsychiatri c problems, and was sucess, Noah Jr. said they had their J active in many farm organizations. “one happened when Noah ,r. £5? : When the Kreiders expanded die potato warenouse oeneatn tne 102 s . 1964 broiler house so that potatoes could *.... ... . be held and sold for higher market prices out of season When the te expand larger. But in 1972, they building was three-fourths fin- " to thc,r OWl J u milk .shed, it collapsed. There was no when they bu.lt dieir own milk pro insurance It was time to harvest cessing plant and opened up a dairy store. The demand for milk and potatoes and no place to store them their brand . and no equipment with which to increased After gradua , cxpan . harvest them. sion , they now milk 1,000 cows. The family managed to rebuild Ano J r store comb - ned with a the warehouse, but the potatoes restauiant was buiu 1979 d rotted and the broilers got sick. |ater andcd to seat min addi . Noah Jr. remembers the ,• , ... JL ... . .. . uon to a banquet room. Three more resiauraitls,oiicinHeKhey, oncin "CSt.’S*;*S “ ,n c “ terviile another farm? As independent poultry produc- For a few years, the family did „„ • ... / ... ers, the Kreiders increased their Sa«T. P Noat I TpS ttr . „ , , ,f, . ’ in Manheim, a halt million layers Once you lose, you don t take as big of gamble.” (Turn to Pag* B 4) onds To 25 Farms family for 200 years. From this one farm, the Krelders farm* ing operation, restaurants, and dairy stores have grown to Include 25 farms. Of the 1792 farmhouse, Pauline Kreider said the story Is told that a group of troublemakers from Harrisburg mas* sacred a number of Indians in the Manhelm area. An elderly Indian couple sought refuge at the farmstead and were hid in the arch cellar. After danger passed, the couple con tinued living on the property and eventually a small house was built for them.
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