Slow. Slow as molasses in
January.
That was a familiar saying of
my family’s, used to describe
something or someone that took
way more time than necessary to
accomplish a particular task. If
you’ve ever tried to pour molasses
in cold weather molasses
stored in the unheated pantries of
an earlier era the phrase is self
explanatary_
And it certainly describes the
state of our strawberries this June.
We were beginning to wonder if
the strawberries would be ripe by
Independence Day. Fact is, trying
to get to the berry harvest has been
a battle all season.
This is the first year of bearing
for our rejuvenated little patch of
strawberry plants, re-done last
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summer after the old planting had
worn out. Strawberry plantings,
like the alfalfa hay stands most of
us area dairy producers raise to
feed our “gWs,” generally have
only few years of really produc
tive life in our southcentral Pen
nsylvania climate, then need to be
replanted. Our patch pretty much
gave out two years ago, supple
mented by a more reliable supply
of berries from nearby “U-pick”
plantings.
For the last several weeks, we
had watched the development of
the new patch. And wondered if
we would harvest any at all straw
berries this year. One early May
morning brought the surprising
and disappointing revelation that
the first blooms were opening
with black centers - death by
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unexpected frost. Apparently the
temperatures had dropped even
further than we’d been aware ear
lier that week; a layer of floating
row cover went over the plants
during the next chilly stretch.
Then, the unreasonable lack of
moisture threatened to greatly cur
tail the remaining berry yield. I
lamented to The Farmer about
mid-May that, if the berries didn’t
soon have a good watering, we
could kiss goodbye the possibility
of another year’s harvest of ice
cream topping and jam material.
Timely, welcome rains even a
downpour or two came to the
rescue and the languishing little
green berries swelled and grew
fat
Gradually, a berry or two along
the edge began to take on a
pinkish-orange hue. We made
almost daily checks on their prog
ress. Then one day, the earliest
visible berry, about two-thirds
red-ripe, had a gigantic bite taken
out of the red part.
Expected culprits lurked all
over the yard. Robins. And our
gregarious, noisy mockingbirds.
While we enjoy having both these
friendly species of birds around,
their taste for berries points them
right at the strawberries, raspber
ries and one surviving blueberry
bush. They love our strawberries.
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MANOR MOTORS
On Rtf. SS3
Penn Run, Pa. 15765
412-254-4753
HERNLEY’S FARM
EQUIP., INC.
Elizabethtown, Pa.
717-3674M7
There’s a limit to friendship and
tolerance. Gobbling up our small
supply of carefully-watched
strawberries crosses that line.
Having already battled frost and
escaped berry-patch drought, I
instituted the next safeguard
lenghts of discarded hay net-wrap.
When the round baler monitor
registers that a bale has reached
the proper size, it goes into a beep
ing mode for the machine to be
activated to wrap lenghts of the
nylon netting around the roll of
hay. The netting keeps the bale
tightly wrapped and helps it shed
water if stored outside. It’s similar
to the material available in garden
centers for the express purpose of
covering fruit crops from hungry
feathered friends. We just happen
to have oodles of it available as a
crop discard.
Birds tend to avoid the netting
because of an instinctive sense of
entanglement. Its effectiveness
Button-Size Batteries Hazard
The National Button Battery In
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is available 24 hours a day to ad
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Parents are advised not to per-
SANDY LAKE IMPLEMENT B.H.M. FARM EQUIP.,
Sandy Lake, Pa. INC.
412-376-2469 Annvllle, Pa.
717-867-2211
NICHOLS FARM EQUIP.
Bloomaburg, Pa.
717-714-7731
B. EQUIP., INC.
Wayneabore, Pa.
717-762-3193
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 14, 1997-B5
was demonstrated tome again a
few weeks ago, when I found one
of our noisy barnyard roosters
with his feet firmly wrapped into a
piece of the stuff. He screeched,
squawked, and flopped me; you’d
have thought I planned to attack
his neck rather than free his feet I
finally more or less had to sit on
him to cut the net-wrap loose with
a sharp scissors.
Smarter then the squawky roos
ter, the berry-loving birds have
learned to tip-toe alongside the
edge of the patch and take a peck
of any berry not totally enveloped
in the netting. Plus, something is
busy under the netting some
thing that lives in holes in the
ground and had taken bites out of
about two dozen berries found
while picking the other day.
If we confirm that it’s a rat, as
suspected, there will be a side-dish
offered with the strawberries.
And ... it won’t be ice cream.
mit babies and toddlers to play
with toys powered by button-size
batteries. For older children’s
toys, secure the battery compart
ment with tape.
Dispose of used batteries im
mediately and keep replacement
batteries locked up where young
children cannot handle them.
GRUMELU
FARM SERVICE
Quarryvllle, Pa.
717-716-7316
HOLTRY'S EQUIPMENT
Roxbury, Pa.
717-532-7261
C.J. WONSIDLER BROS.
Quaktrtown, Pa.
215-536-7523
N*w Tripoli, Pa.
215-767-7611
Olay, Pa.
215-917-6257