82-Lanc«sttf Farming, Saturday, February 24, 1996
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
HOST (Berks Co.) Winding
down the lane that leads to Deitsch
land Farm, visitors catch a glimpse
of Polled Hcrefords grazing on a
distant hillside. Rolling acres of
cleared land and stands of timber
rise above the stone farm house
nestled in the hollow. A person can
almost feel themselves say ah’hhh
and relax away from the pressure
of schedules and too many people.
But the Millers who live in the
stone farmhouse with a brook rip
pling underneath it, lead no leisure
ly lifestyle.
Sheila is the state representative
for Berks 129th district. Her hus
band Mike labors for a Purina deal
ership. Eleven-year-old Emilie, the
slate Polled Hereford Princess, has
a scheduled filled with cattle com
petitions, school, 4-H, and Girl
Scout activities, clarinet lessons,
and gymnastics. On top of all that,
the family farms about 150 acres
and raises 25 brood cows plus
young stock.
It isn’t easy balancing political,
family, and fanning responsibili
ties, but Mike explains, “It’s all in
doing what you know you have to
do. The way I look at it, this is our
choice. Nobody is making us do
• 4 s
Rep. Sheila Miller with husband Mike, daughter Emilie (who is the state Polled Here
ford Princess), and puppy Bonnie enjoy the outdoors their farm offers.
State Representative Balances Family,
Farm, And Political Responsibilities.
this. It’s what we choose.”
Although Mike supports his
wife’s decision to be active in poli
tics, he wants no parts of it himself.
To some, it may seem that he takes
a backseat to his wife’s public
image.
He said with boyish wit, “It nev
er bothers me being known as Mr.
Sheila Miller. She was popular
before I knew her, and after I met
her she became a lot more
popular.”
Sheila portrays a gracious,
refined image adept at handling
both satisfied and disgruntled
constituents.
Raised on a Dauphin County
commercial beef farm, Sheila had
no political aspirations. She
enrolled as a pre-med student in
college, but soon realized she pre
ferred animals and the outdoors, so
she switched to general ag studies
at Penn State.
After graduating cum laude,
Sheila worked for a number of
years for the USDA Soil Conserva
tion. When Mike and his dad who'
were farming in Adams County
decided to build a pond on their
farm, they called the Conservation
office. Sheila designed the pond
and a romance bloomed. She and
Mike married and shared the dream
k*" * ;
ink
o'M
vA- \
*
'***
\ •*
sN'fcXfc'
*
.A::
Farmers got an advocate In the state House. Representatives,
only six of the house’s 203 members Involved in farming.
to farm together. It took several
years of scouting out farm sales in
surrounding counties before they
¥ if
<1
'K N
•**, N
\ \
* ' t "<*,
found the 63-acre farm on which
they now reside.
“It was grown up in brambles,
all the bams had collapsed, and the
only structure left standing on the
property was a log house and
that needed new wiring and plumb
ing,” Sheila said.
But Sheila saw the potential.
After a quick call to her husband,
Mike gave her the go ahead to
make an offer for the farm she
described.
The Millers purchased the prop
erty not because they wanted to
reside in Berks County but the farm
met their criteria: It was affordable.
It had trees, land, streams, and
hills.
Like many young couples start
ing in farming, the Millers put most
of their time and money into estab
lishing the farming operation and
** “tn ,!. v
The Miller’s 63-acre farm encompasses hills and valleys
in ail directions. They also rent additional land to bring the
total acreage farmed to about 150.
Homestea
NOTES
only miminal repairs to the house.
With the help of family members
and friends, they cleared the brush
and brambles, dismantled a bank
bam located 10 miles away and
rebuilt it in the VPI (Virginia
Polytechnical Institute) style on
their property.
The rebuilding took every
weekend for at least a year, but the
couple did it is stages as they could
afford it.
With Sheila’s background it
conservation, the gullies and major
erosion on the farm was stopped
with contour farming methods. To
keep manure from running into the
streams, the cattle were allowed
limited access to the streams.
“I’ve always been terrible al
backing wagons, so we designed
the bam to drive straight through,'
sra
* *
4 ‘
one
(Turn to Page B 4)
. <*