AtO-Lancastar Fanning, Saturday, March 26, 1994
OPINION
FFA Builds Individuality
Change in every aspect of life today is vast and overwhelming.
And today, change seems to be happening at a breakneck pace.
Just since the 19605, so much unexpected change: urban
sprawl, a surge in the human population, no mote national
“enemy” to bold us all together, new medicine, new disease, new
norms ofjacceptable social behavior, new forms of entertainment,
new farming practices, the economy, international relations,
neighborly relations, new dinner foods, new ways to shop, etc.
We have people with portable computers in dairy bams enter
ing data and sending it by telephone to a processing company in
another state.
We no longer need decades of selective breeding to manipulate
the genetics in plants and animals. Now it can be done in the
laboratory in one generation or so.
People talk on telephones while driving in their cars.
People are serious when they talk about supporting a world
effort to go to Mars and send people to live out in space.
Some days it gets dizzying, disorienting and disgusting.
Doesn’t anything stay the same?
There are many of us who have chosen to pick a moment that
we enjoyed during all of this change and just stay there.
There are others of us who have specialized into a particular
field and no longer care to try to take the rest in and make sense of
it.
Others revel in the financial opportunities created in a world of
confusion.
But there are some among us who have come to the conclusion
that the greatest power we have as individuals in a world of conti
nual change and challenge is to be an individual.
It means opinions and knowledge are worked for and earned. It
means education is constantly sought out. It means caution is
taken, out of respect for others, that personally held views and
opinions are not thrust dogmatically upon others.
Being an individual means thinking for ourselves, solving our
own problems, and creating our own solutions.
Being an individual means that, to an extent, we can choose
which changes we will accept and which ones we will discard.
It means judging ourselves, our abilities and our actions hon
estly, not through the eyes of others.
It means that we try to use the gift of being made in the image
of God to the best of our ability.
This week has been declared by our state and federal govern
ments to be periods of recognition for FFA and agriculture.
It seems especially poignant that it is also the week of the ver
nal equinox the coming of spring, a time for hope, for growth,
for birth.
Agriculture is the nuturing of life. FFA is the nuturing of
individuals.
This organization deserves to be recognized and supported
because it is good. It helps give young people a chance at being
individuals a chance at being strong and independent and suc
cessful, and it gives them an opportunity to bloom to potential.
That’s what we want for ourselves. That’s what we want for
our children.
Some things do not change.
Farm Calendar
S.ilntd.n, M.ircli
York Livestock Day, 4-H Center,
Bair, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Del. Ag Days In the Mall, Del.
Dept, of Ag, Dover Mall, Dov
er, Del., thru March 27.
Bucks County Farmers Associa
tion banquet, Plumsteadville
Mond.n, March 1H
Farm Selling Conference, Mon
toursville Presbyterian Church,
7:30 p.m.
Berks County Conservation Dis
trict banquet, Fleetwood
Grange Hall, 7 p.m.
Lebanon County pesticide update
training, Ag Center, 12:30
p.m.-3:30 p.m.
Pa. Dairy Princess Promotion
Tour to Delaware; departs high
school, 8:30 a.m., returns 3:30
p.m.
Expansion Strategies For Dairy
Farms: Facilities and Financial
Planning, Sayre, thru March 30.
EAYFA meeting: Romania trip,
home of Vemon Leininger,
7:30 p.m.
Sweet Com IPM Workshop, Lein
bach Farm Supply, Shippens-
burg, 1 p.m.
Pesticide applicator training
review, Delaware Fire School,
Dover, Del., thru March 30.
Adams County Farmers Associa
tion spring meeting, Irishtown
To Be Patient
The record snowfall has caused
spring work to be delayed.
We are now seeing nice spring
weather with very wet fields. This
is very frustrating for fanners itch
ing to start field work.
It is very important for farmers
to be patient during the next sever
al weeks and wait until soil condi
tions are ready for planting. We
still have plenty of time to get
things done if we plan ahead.
Make sure all equipment is serv
iced and ready to go. Have a good
inventory of parts that you will
need for repairs and replacement.
Check fields for winter damage.
However, allow a little time for
sunshine and warm weather to
nromote plant growth before mak-
Community Fire Hall.
Small-Scale and Alternative Farm
ing Series, York Extension, 7
p.m.-9 p.m., continues April 5
and April 12.
Pa. Dairy Princess Promotion
meeting. Days Inn. New Stan
ton^S^ajnj-SjS^jjn^^
Intensive Wheat Management,
Lancaster Farm and Home Cen
ter, 8:30 a.m.-noon.
Pesticide applicator training exam,
Delaware Fire School, Dover,
Del., 1 p.m.
Pa. Dairy Princess Promotion
meeting. Best Western Inn,
Urban Forestry Workshop, Holi
day Inn Hotel and Conference
Center, Exton.
Poultry Progress Days, Lancaster
Farm and Home Center, 8:30
a.m.-3:30 p.m., rescheduled
from March 3.
ADC Dist S dinner meeting. Bird
In Hand Restaurant, Bird In
Hand, 7 p.m.
Pa. Dairy Princess Promotion
meeting. Holiday Inn, Denver,
9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Harvesting Quality Forage prog
ram, Wayne Co. extension,
Honesdale, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Show Building, Harrisburg,
9:30 a.m.
S;iliii(l;i\. \pii| 2
Chester County 4-H Center Sale,
Solanco Fairgrounds, Quarry
ville, 11 a.m.
Dauphin County Conservation
District Annual Consignment
Auction, Gratz Fairgrounds,
Gratz, 9 a.m.
Southern West Virgina
Performance-Tested Bull Sale,
Lewisburg, W. Va.
Annual Wye Angus Beef Cattle
’ (Turn to Pag* A 32)
ing decisions on need to replant
By being patient, yon will pre
vent problems associated with soil
compaction, ratting up fields, and
getting stuck. We still have plenty
of time to do spring chores if we
plan ahead and be ready when soil
conditions and weather allow us to
plant
To Rotate Crops
Growing several different crops
on a farm and rotating the fields
which are used to grow each crop
has many advantages for the
farmer.
Rotation of crops has been
shown to increase yields by 10 to
IS percent Rotation of crops helps
to break insect and disease cycles.
Rotation helps to improve soil tilth
and soil structure, which makes
soil management easier.
Improved tilth will improve
water infiltration into the soil.
Rotations which have a legume in
them could reduce the need for nit
rogen fertilizers or help to mine
phosphorus and potassium from
soils.
Rotation also helps break weed
■ i
BY LAWRENCE. W ALTHQUSF
m
H&UHLOS
ARE YOU
SELF-EMPLOYED?
March 27, 1994
Background Scripture:
Romans 6
Devotional Reading:
Colossians 3:1-4, 5-11, 12-lSb
A few days ago I sent to the IRS
my fourth quarter estimated
income tax payment for 1993.
Like many of you out there, my
wife and I are both “self
employed,*’ so we are responsible
for seeing that our income and
self-employment tax are both esti
mated and paid. For some reason
that partly escapes me. clergy who
elect Social Security are legally
regarded by IRS as self-employed,
even though they are actually
employed by a church or
denomination.
So, my vocational self
employment over the years has
been more a legal fiction than a
practical reality. In reading
Romans 6, it occurred to me that
we are often similarly deluded
when we assume that we are in
sole control of our own lives. I
like to think of myself as being
rather independent and self
sufficient, but that picture is no
more'accurate than my legal
designation by the U.S. govern
ment as “self-employed.”
As children and youth, many of
us can hardly wait until there is no
one who is able to tell us what to
do and we can make our own deci
sions. We yearn for the freedom of
adult life. While there is no doubt
that there is a lot of freedom that
we enjoy as adults, it is not so
complete and unlimited as we
might have once assumed.
FREE AT LAST?
One of the friends of my youth
was a young man who especially
looked forward to the day when
his parents could no longer forbid
him to drink. Actually, he didn’t
exactly wait for adulthood to exer
cise that freedom and by the time
he was 21 he was already on his
-way to a life of an alcoholic. So, is
he free? No, not really. He is now
free to drink, but he is not free not
to drink. He has exchanged obedi
ence to his parents for obedience
problems by using different herbi
cides and management techniques
for the various crops.
To Increase
Milk Protein
Milk of higher protein is more
nutritious, yields more cheese, and
is worth more at the farm.
The easiest and surest way to
increase the protein content of
milk is through genetic selection.
Breeders have been selecting for
higher milk protein when the
market started paying more for this
trait.
The protein content of milk may
be influenced slightly by feeding
practices. Cows that are in good
energy balanced and well-fleshed
usually have a slightly higher milk
protein tests.
Rations that are properly
balanced for undegradable protein
and amino acids will generally
increase milk protein tests. Excess
fat or cottonseed in the ration may
depress milk protein tests.
Feather Profs Footnote: "You
can work miracles by having faith
in others."
to a habit that has made a slave of
him. He is even less in control of
his own life than he was as a teen
ager.
Thus, Paul writes: “Do you not
know that if you yield yourself to
any one as obedient slaves, you
are slaves of the one whom you
obey, either of sin, which leads to
death, or of obedience, which
leads to righteousness?” (6:16). If
we permit ourselves to be gov
erned by anything or anyone, we
are likely to let ourselves be
enslaved even while believing
that we are quite free. Absolute
freedom is an absolute delusion.
TWO OPTIONS
So. when we think about being
in control of our lives, to which
self do we give the control? Will
we turn it over to our worst self,
the self that lives only for indul
gence, that asks and expects the
very least of us, or to our highest
self, the self that God created us to
be? Will we be governed by the
power of our own reason or by our
basic appetites and drives? Will
Christian love motivate and guide
us, or will we allow ourselves to
be dominated by our fears and
prejudices?
Actually, there are only two
choices open to us; to be employ
ed by God or to be employed
against God. The so-called neutral
ground between these two choices
is another of our delusions. If we
give ourselves over to something
or someone other than God, what
are the wages of that employ
ment? Paul asks, “But then what
return did you get from the things
of which you are now ashamed?...
For the wages of sin is death...”
(5;21,23a). That “death” is not just
the death that is pronounced by the
medical examiner, but a condition
of the soul which is much more
tragic than biological death.
Paul concludes: “...but the free
gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord.”
So, who is your employer and
what are the wages you are
earning?
Lancaster Farming
Established 19SS
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A SlUnman Enrwpniw
Robert Q. Campbell General Manager
Event R. Newswangar Managing Editor
Copyright IM4 by Lancaster Farming