BiB-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 5, 1994
Who Says Pumpkins
Don’t Grow On Trees?
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
HOLTWOOD (Lancaster Co.)
Who said pumpkins don’t grow
on trees?
John and Martha Herr have liv
ing proof. A pumpkin hangs from
the pine tree in their backyard.
If you look a bit closer, you can
see the pumpkin vine hidden
beneath the tree branches. Herr had
planted pumpkins in his garden,
and while gone on a month-long
trip, the pumpkin vine meandered
from the garden, wrapped itself
around the tree, and sprouted a
pumpkin.
The pumpkin growing on a tree
seems symbolic of the Herr family
who appear to thrive on
impossibilities.
John is a chemist who sang at
Carnegie Hall, ran for mayor,
farmed, and studied at the Peabody
Conservatory in Baltimore for
seven years on a part-time basis
while raising five children. The
couple had a son who lost his legs
in a mountain climbing accident
but later conquered rock climbing
on artificial legs.
Martha likes to help others con
quer the impossible. She leaches
illiterate adults to read. She is con
cerned that there are 35,000 adults
in the county who cannot read. She
is now the literacy tutor coordina
tor for the Lancaster-Lebanon Lit
eracy Center.
The Herr couple, who married in
college, decided when they mar
ried that they wanted lots of child
ren fast and to own a nice farm.
“I am a tenth generation Hans
Herr descendant, so owning good
farmland was something I always
aspired to do. It happened,” said
John, who goes by the full name
Plastic Coatings
On Teeth Give
Lasting Smiles
CHICAGO, 111. Children who and destroying the teeth,
have dental sealants applied to The coatings, which seal out
their teeth today will be smiling decay and seal in healthy teeth,
for years to come. are quick, easy and painless to
The clear plastic coatings can apply- First, the teeth are thor
prevent 90 percent of tooth decay, oughly cleaned and dried. Next,
but just one child in 10 has had the lhe tooth surface is treated with a
sealants applied. solution that enables the sealant to
“Dental sealants are highly bond to it. A liquid coating is then
effective in preventing decay on painted onto the top of the tooth,
the biting surfaces of molars, Finally, the liquid hardens, pro
where the majority of decay occurs viding solid protection against
in children,” said Erik Olsen, decay.
D.D.S., chairman of he American
Fund for Dental Health.
Dentists recommend that seal
ants be applied to the first perma
nent molars soon after they erupt,
between ages 6-8, and to the sec
ond molars when they appear,
around ages 12-14. Sealing both
sets of teeth as soon as they appear
prevents decay from taking hold
m Happenings
At the last P.A.W.S. 4-H busi
ness meeting the group discussed
new and old business and held
elections. Some new business was
upcoming. Carnival Night and the
Holiday Workshop, P.A.W.S. TV
debut on a show called Kids Cor
ner which will be aired October
30 on Channel 12.
In election news the new offi
cers are president, Andrea Prosics
John Bucher Herr, to differentiate
himself from the numerous other
John Herrs in the county.
Herr’s most consuming passion
is singing. He grew up with no par
ticular interest in music. His family
moved often. The longest time
Herr spent at one school, he said,
was seven months. That was at the
Edward Hand Junior High School
in Lancaster, where the U.S. Mar
ine Chorus presented a choral
program.
“I was wowed by that,” Hen
said. But his love for sports was
stronger, and Herr pursued sports.
When he attended Eastern Menno
nite College, his interest in sports
continued, but he found time to
take a voice class—not a whole lot
of training fora person who would
later achieve his dream of singing
at Carnegie Hall.
But first, he worked a few years
as a chemist, built a house, sold n,
and purchased a 130-acre farm,
which they named “Leban Kai”
a combination of German and
Hawaiian words that mean “living
by the water”. The farm is situated
at the head waters of Muddy Run
Creek.
At first, the Herrs fattened
calves for steers to raise the money
needed to pay the farm mortgage.
Later, they raised tomatoes, com,
and hay.
‘Those days were the heyday for
tomato raising. If you had early
tomatoes, you received a pheno
menal price,” he said.
The Herrs raised eight acres of
tomatoes, but it was never enough,
Herr said. “It’s still to be deter
mined what can be grown on 100
feel (of land),” Herr said.
In the wintertime, Herr would
built a'house or two, which he later
sold or used as a rental property.
“Dental sealants are not new,
they’re not experimental, and they’re
not used enough,” Dr. Siegal said.
Parents interested in helping
their children have healthy smiles
that last should contact their den
tist, their local health department
or write the American Fund for
Dental Health at 211 East Chicago
Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611.
of Lebanon; vice president, Jeff
Bowlby of Flemington; secretary,
Matt Savarino of Flemington;
treasurer, Mat Bishop of Fleming
ton; corresponding secretary
Peter Staples of Flemington; his
torian, Chris Savarino of Fleming
ton; photographer, Becky Palum
bo of Lebanon; and awards mas
ter, Christine Trontill of Lebanon.
Eventually, the tomato business
dwindled and Heir concentrated on
buying rental properties to fix up in
the city.
Every summer the family took a
long trip. Mountain climbing and
skiing became family hobbies.
Their son Hugh became obsessed
with climbing and established
many records in soloing. But when
Hugh was 17 years old, he lost his
legs during an ice climbing expedi
uon. The story about the accident,
how he lost his legs, how he
learned to climb on artifical legs,
and later design prothesis and
sneakers for amputees is told in the
book “Second Ascent” by Alison
Osius.
The Herrs travel to other coun
tries about three times a year. They
continue to live on the farm but rent
the bams and land to neighboring
farmers. But Herr hasn’t lost his
yen for farming. His dream is to
raise the biggest pumpkin ever. In
his travels, he has viewed some
giant species, one in Conneticut
that reached 910 pounds.
This year he did raise some large
pumpkins in his garden, but the one
on the tree, although small, is the
one that is considered his prize. At
first it reached almost to the top of
the tree, but as it grows, the weight
of the pumpkin brings it lower.
THE NATURAL
FIRST STEP IN
OUR NATURAL
FLOW SYSTEM.
HERNLEY’S FARM C.J. WONSIDLER BROS.
EQUIP.,INC. Quakertown, Pa.
Elizabethtown, Pa. 215-536-7523
717-367-8867 New Tripoli, Pa. Oley, Pa.
215-767-7611 215-987-6257
John and Martha Herr show off the pumpkin that grows
from a tree on their farm. The pumpkin started growing near
the top of the tree, but the weight of It brings it lower and
lower.
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Waynesboro, Pa.
717-762-3193