Extension Fraternity To Hold National Meeting in Annapolis
ANNAPOLIS, Md. Exactly
165 Cooperative Extension Ser
vice educators associated with
land-grant universities across the
nation are expected in Annapolis
the weekend of December 5-7 for
the annual meeting of Epsilon Sig
ma Phi. the national honorary
fraternity for Cooperative Exten
sion Service workers in all subject
areas, both at state and county
levels.
Conference sessions will be
held at the Annapolis Marriott
Waterfront Hotel. The opening
workshop on Thursday will fea
ture a nationwide live, interactive
videoconference uplinked from
the conference site, 1:30-4:30
p.m. EST. Craig Pace, senior con
sultant with the Covey Leadership
Cento*, based in Colorado, will be
the presenter. His topic is “Mov
ing Forward... Keeping Pace With
Change.”
Epsilon Sigma Phi’s traditional
Ruby Award luncheon is set for
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Friday. It will feature an address
by Henry A. Wadsworth, director
of the Indiana Cooperative Exten
sion Service, based at Purdue Uni
versity. Dr. Wadsworth is this
year’s recipient of the Ruby
Award - the highest, most presti
gious national distinguished ser
vice award presented by Epsilon
Sigma Phi. The Ruby Award is
designed to recognize truly out
standing thinking, performance
and leadership in the Cooperative
Extension Service.
Bom in Cortland, N.Y., Wads
worth holds 8.5., M.S. and Ph.D.
degrees in agricultural economics
from Cornell University. He has
served in academic and admini
strative positions at Cornell, Ore
gon State and Purdue.
Wadsworth also has held sever
al positions of leadership with the
Extension Committee on Organi
zation and Policy, affiliated with
the National Association of State
Universities and Land-Grant col
leges. He is described .as “an
rn ?
4* %*
effective, efficient visionary who
has propelled Indiana’s Extension
programs into high regard.”
One or more National Friend of
Extension award winners will be
recognized at a Saturday evening
awards dinner. This is the highest
award offered by Epsilon Sigma
Phi to a non-Extension person for
outstanding support and personal
Turkey Farmers Prepare Store
(Continued from Pago A3O)
the late ’sos.
“Some customers say that our
turkeys are more white in color,”
said Strock, which he attributes to
more exposure to sunlight in a
naturally ventilated house with a
dirt/sawdust floor.
In the first four weeks of age.
Shock feeds the birds a commer
cial starter. At four weeks the birds
are fed a specialty mix prepared by
Shock consisting of com and bean
meal and a mineral supplement
Strock said he uses no growth
promotants or hormones. The
birds are not vaccinated for any
programs mainly because the
birds are cleaned out at the end of
liJQp'
Uinc«isi& Fairhiny,* Satun&ifj' M,'
involvement in Extension educa
tion efforts. Louis L. Goldstein,
Maryland state comptroller,
received this award in 1994.
Awards for outstanding accom
plishments by professional Exten
sion educators also will be made at
the Saturday banquet
Maryland’s Tau chapter of
Epsilon Sigma Phi, established in
the holiday season, the houses are
completely disinfected, and the
house is empty until the next
growout.
The birds sold at retail end up as
employer gifts at the holiday table.
For Thanksgiving, Strock esti
mates that of the 1,000 birds the
store will sell, 300 will be gift turk
eys, hens weighing between 16-18
pounds. Toms will weigh about
23-28 pounds.
Mostly family members are
involved in the dressing process,
which occurs at certain times
before the start of the holidays.
The turkeys arc processed and
wrapped in cream-colored plastic
shrinkwrap packaging and placed
in boxes with the Strock Farm
1928, is the host organization for
this year’s national conference.
Ellen Varley, a Cooperative
Extension Service state specialist
at the University of Maryland at
College park, is chairperson for
local arrangements. Ms. Varley is
Extension coordinator for distance
education and outreach
communications.
logo.
Customers also rely on the
Strode turkeys at other times of the
year. Every year in October Strode
sells about 300 birds to the Carlisle
Fish and Game Club for turkey
shoots and block parties.
Most birds finish from 16*17
weeks of age. Some birds are
killed at a younger age, about IS
weeks at 12-14 pounds.
Strode noted that keeping a loy
al customer base is critical to
success.
“People that buy our turkeys are
like family you see them every
Thanksgiving,” said Strode. “We
have an extremely loyal clientele.
They’re in the second generation,
some of (our customers) here."
Kent said that when
she ran the business, his
mother “knew every
customer by their fust
name, could tell the
family history, who was
sick and where they
worked. Customers
really appreciate when
you get to know them,
they don’t feel like
they’re just another
number standing in line
at the counter.”
The turkeys arc indi
vidually hand-picked by
weight for customers at
the on-site 8-foot by
48-foot cooler trailer.
The challenges remain
ing for the Struck family
arc to develop and main
[ tain customer loyalty.
Strode also manages
his hog roasting busi
ness, Scent-Sational
Pignic, begun in 1982.
What started as one
roaster grew into 12
roasters, which has
experienced “14 conse
cutive years of growth,”
he said. Now, Strode
helps conduct about 150
roasts during the
summer.
At the roasts. Strode
said that “75 percent of
the time they make you
feel like you’re part of
the party." The swine
roaster business makes
up a large percentage of
the entire farm’s-gross
sales receipts.
(Stiock’s swine oper
ation and his leadership
of the state pork produc
ers council was the first
page featured story in
the Feb. 15, 1992 issue
of Lancaster Fanning.)
The biggest challenge
at “turkey time” accord
ing to Strock is keeping
things from backing up
during the hectic sales
season.
“Although we can’t
1 take care of everybody
at once,” said Strock,
“we treat cadi customer
as personally and perso
nality as we possibly
can.”