Beavers Receive Century Farm Award
(Continued from Pago A 1)
It was an important event for all of
them as they looked back to the
past when the family first started
to operate the farm.
In March of 1891 Roy’s grand
father, William A. Beaver, and
great-uncle, Thomas K. Beaver,
purchased the farm. They remained
partners for some years, and then
William bought Tom’s share. Tom
continued to operate the general
store and post office located in
one end of the large home while
Wiliam and his wife, Emma
Troutman Beaver, lived in another
part. The T.K. Beaver General
Store and Academia Post Office
were kept in operation by some of
the Beaver family until the late
fifties.
The store was a typical old
country store with groceries,
hardware and sundry items for
sale, as well as gasoline after a
time. All that remains of the store
are some shelves and a few mis
cellaneous items. The showcases
and the post office “pigeonholes”
were sold some years ago, but the
0-673-2580
Wvt IttlMflMMMil •* tit fftntfiftt halng
fcy loti K^h|
Authorized master distributor since 1982
■ Northeast Agri Systems Inc. 388 raDHIAL . iUI(a «
Flyway Business Park storahours Mon Fn 730t0 4 30 fIHK sot university avk.
139 A West Airport Road 24 Hr 7 ™
Lititz PA 1 7543 m »tom hours
Ph (717)569-2702 gS
1-800-673-2580 *5? fBSS&\ .** &-H.S
original room that held the store
is still a part of the home building
and is now used for storage.
Roy’s father, Jesse T. Beaver,
was born and raised on the farm,
helping with chores at an early
age. He married Pearl Bryner, and
they took over the operation of
the farm after some years. They
raised hogs, cattle, chickens and
ducks, in addition to crops of com,
hay, wheat, barley and oats.
A proud moment for Roy at
age IS was when his father pur
chased a 1941 Farmall H tractor
and allowed Roy to drive it by
himself from the dealer’s place to
the farm. Roy has special memo
ries of his grandfather who asked
grace at every meal and read his
Bible every night. Roy carried
drinking water to his grandfather
in the f ield everyday at 9:30 a.m.
and 2:30 p.rn., as he was plowing
with horses. Sometimes he gave
Roy a nickel, a small fortune to
the boy. His grandfather liked to
go to the barn to see the horses up
to the time of his death at agd 98.
Roy took over the operation of
Contracts Available For
• Hog Finishing:
1,000-3,000 Hsstf
• Sow Unite: 200-1,300 Sows
the farm in 1961, farming with
his father, Jesse, until Roy and
Mabel bought it in 1982. Roy
chose to eliminate the ducks and
chickens and to raise just cattle
and hogs. Mabel has helped with
farming in every way down through
the years, milking cows, driving
the tractor and helping to load
hay, as well as growing a large
garden and canning the results.-
As Roy’s parents did for them,
Roy and Mabel continue to help
son Mike with many phases of
farming, even though Mike has
been operating the farm since
1991. They agree that they would
never want to live anywhere but
on the farm, and they say there is
just nothing like seeing a perfect
field of corn or a newborn animal.
They live in the middle section of
the original farmhouse, next to
the end that housed the store and
oost office. Mike and his wife
live in the other end, and so the
tradition of two Beaver families
living in the big farm home con
tinues.
From the time that Mike was
quite small, he knew he wanted to
Vegetable Growers
GREENSBURG
(Westmoreland Co.)
Strawberry production
will be a new feature at
t
Save $lO per bag on two great alfalfa
varieties with Supreme Cash:
• Arrow Offers top yields over a
long stand, life.
• Apollo Supreme Features unique
winterhardiness and full-season yields.
Call your America’s Alfalfa supplier today
for more information about Arrow and
Apollo Supreme ... and ask for your $lO
per bag Supreme Cash savings.
L KOHRLR & BRQINC J
Smoketown, PA
be a farmer. His playtime was
filled with farming, using toy
machinery. After graduating from
high school, he became a milk
tester and still helped Roy wth
farming, and then saw his dream
come true as he took over opera
tion of the farm. He married a
farm girl, Marlene Book, who
also loves the farm. She had
heifers and dairy cattle in 4-H.
Although working away from
home during the day, Marlene
helps with farming chores in the
evening and on weekends.
Mike chose not to raise hogs,
as his father had, and so he has
just dairy cattle and crops. They
milk 30 Holsteins and have a lot
of young cattle. The farm has 215
acres, with 90 cultivated, and
they rent another SO nearby. They
raise the sample grains as the pre
cedinq generations did, except
that they have added soybeans as
a crop. Each generation makes its
own improvements, such as hav
ing added a larger silo, skid
loader, larger tractors and a milk
transfer system. Where they once
had to wait for the threshing
machine to come, and have many
men come to help to fill the silo,
now they have their own combine
Pennsylvania Commer
ical Vegetable and Ber
ry Growers Seminar to
be held on Thursday,
'B. the Dr 'ln’-
AMERCES
apt.
PHONE 717-299-2571
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 26, 1994-A25
and silo-filling equipment. How
ever, sometimes they need extra
help in order to get the work done
in time to take advantage of the
good weather. Jobs that used to
take 20 people now take 2.
Roy agrees that things sure
have changed since his boyhood
when they milked 18 cows by
hand, selling the milk to the
Academia Creamery located
down over the hill from the
Beaver Farm. Nearby the cream
ery was a feed mill which once
ground all of their grain. The mill
was owned by the Beers brothers
and then by Bub Palm. Water for
the mil) dam was supplied by the
Tuscarora Creek which went on a
rampage in the 1972 flood, ruin
ing the mill. Thus three genera
tions of the Beaver family wit
nessed a tragedy which wiped out
much of what they had taken for
granted all of their lives in the
view horn the top of the hill.
However there are some con
stants in the lives of the genera
tions of the Beaver family.
When asked if they have an
“official” farm name, Roy replied
simply, “Well, not really - it’s just
been known as The Beaver Farm
ever since I can remember.”
Butler, from 8 a.m. to
3:30 p.m.
Concurrent sessions
will be held for farm
for the
To Meet
first time, strawberry
growers.
Every year growers
from western Pennsyl
vania as well as parts of
Ohio and West Virginia
meet to learn the latest
information and pro
ducts available to help
them grow top quality
produce. Excellent
speakers from universi
ties and private industry
will discuss production
practices, marketing,
pest management, and
other topics.
Commerical exhibi
tors include seed com
panies, chemical com
panies, machinery deal
ers, greenhous-e
suppliers, and irrigation
equipment and distribu
tors of a wide range of
products for the com
merical grower. Penn
State Extension and
commerical suppliers
are again cosponsoring
this event.
Concurrent sessions
will be held in the
morning on marketing
produce and in the
afternoon strawberry
production with Dr.
Barbara Goulart, Penn
State professor of small
fruit crops.
Weed control spe
cialist Dr. Bradley
Majek of Rutgers
Research and Develop
ment Center, Bridgeton,
N.J., will discuss weed
control options in cole
crops, snap beans, and
strawberries. Another
guest speaker. Dr.
Richard Hassell, Ohio
Agricultural Research
and Development Cen
ter, Wooster, Ohio, will
tell the results of his
variety trials with green
and cole crops.
To register or for
more information, con
tact Penn State Exten
sion, Westmoreland
County, Donohoe Cen
ter, RR 12, Box 202 E,
Donohoe Road, Greens
burg, PA 15601 - (412)
837-1402.