82-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, December 23, 1995
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
COATSVILLE (Chester Co.)
When Paul Sands purchased a
280-acre farm in a secluded part of
Chester County in 1953, he said
that his mother-in-law almost dis
owned him.
She was dismayed that her
daughter would live in the delapi
dated farmhouse where chickens
had once roosted.
Several years later. Sands con
sidered relocating. “And my
wuihcr-in-law almost disowned
me again. She couldn’t understand
why I would sell such a nice place
after all the work we put into it.”
Sands recalls, “Those first years
in farming, we really had to
struggle. Things in (he house just
had to wait because we needed
things to make the farm run.”
Little by little, the house was
restored.
Underneath the crumbling plas
ter and layers of blackened soot,
the Sands discovered beautiful
sandstone and three fireplaces.
Partitions were tom out, walls
erected, new windows installed,
and even the beams replaced.
“We did everything first class
when we did it even if it was slow
in getting done,” Paul reported.
The lovely stone house sits on
top a hillside surrounded by fields
and woodland.
The secret to success in terming Is paying attention to
detail. Business is very cruel and unforgiving If you don’t do
it right,” said Sands who calls himself a calculator man.
“The calculator doesn’t lie,” he said of his wariness to not
take another person’s word for the profit that can be made
on contract and bids.
i iS<U
V’H.
*
Change It’s What Sands Thrive On
The end result confirms Paul’s
philosophy concerning farming.
“Buy a place for the land, not the
buildings. You can always change
the buildings, but you can’t change
the land.”
Change. That’s the word Sands
thrives on.
While he concedes that many of
his age talk about the good old
days, he said, “I don’t have much
nostalgia in my bones. To me, the
future is more exciting than the
past”
Especially fascinating to him is
biotechnology and the changes it
promises to bring to fanning.
Sands doesn’t believe people
should be frightened by change. In
his travels to many different coun
tries all over the world, he has
found that the countries who stay
ed the same and resisted change
are the countries where people are
starving and in poverty.
The farmer’s number one down
fall, he believes, is not change or
increasing land costs, but govern
ment interference.
“At one time, Romania was the
bread basket of the world. Now
people wait in lines that are one
block long to get a loaf of bread.
Farmers are using hand scythes to
mow 40 acres of hay. That’s what
happens when you leave it to the
government to tell you how to
farm,” he said.
Paul and Helen dubbed this evergreen on their property “Our Miracle Christmas
Tree” after thieves chopped it down 20 years ago. To their amazement, another tree
sprouted and grew In its stead. Since then, It has been chopped down several times,
but it always grows up again.
“Romania is the direction in
which America is heading. One
can’t understand the devastation of
that country unless you go and see
it,” he said.
“Leave production and distribu
tion in the hands of private indus
try and you will have abundance.
Put it in the hands of government
and you’ll have poverty and want”
Although Sands identifies gov
ernment interference as a problem,
he is at a loss to know how to stop
it.
Despite the trend toward gov
ernment interference. Sands con
tinues to believe that America is
still the land of opportunity and
that anyone who really wants to
farm can make a living by it.
“In America, anything is possi
ble. If I can do it, anyone can do it,”
he said.
Sands was only 11 years old
when he left home as a hired hand.
The first four years of his adult life,
he worked as a plumber but farm
ing was in his heart even though it
didn’t pay as well.
Still, the versatility of learning
different trades is treasured by
Sands. “I’m glad for everything
I’ve ever done. It’s like going to
school everyday. Everything is
qi Jts that she donates to charitable organi
zations. Recently one of her quilts brough $l,OOO at a sale.
exciting to learn.”
His advice to would-be fanners
is simple. “Make sure farming is
really what you want to do because
it will test you. There are days
when for 10 cents, you’ll want to
throw in everything. But keep
banging away.
“Change those things that need
to be changed. Find your niche and
learn to major in what you’re good
at,” said Sands, who found his
niche in raising crops.
“That was one glorious, happy
day when I found I could get
groceries without a milk check,”
said Sands of his decision to quit
milking after 15 years and concen
trate on crop production.
“The secret to success in farm
ing is paying attention to detail,”
he said. “Business is very cruel and
unforgiving if you don’t do it
right.”
Sands calls himself a calculator
man. “The calculator doesn’t lie,”
he said of his wariness to not take
another person’s word for the pro
fit that can be made on contract and
Homestead
notes
bids.
One time, after weeks of consid
ering a farming contract. Sands
turned it down. Later, his son
talked to a person who had signed
the contract When asked how he
figured it would be profitable, the
fanner said, “My neighbor’s doing
it. I figured if it’s good enough for
him, it’s good enough for me.”
Sands cringes at words like
those. He believes a farmer must
learn to think independently.
“You can’t go forward with
your head in the sand.”
Sands frowns on farmers work
ing for large corporations, which
he believes is the same as making
the farmer a hired hand who does
all the work but doesn’t share in
the profits of the business to the
degree they should be able to.
Sands sold some of his acreage
for industrial park development
For those who are critical of him
developing prime farmland, Sands
replies, “It ,is disgusting to fill
(Turn to Page B 3)