AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 4, 1997 UMM&TfcaaiMi OPINION When Children Want To Act Big We had just completed Farm Safety Week, and farmers again were reminded that they need to take safety precautions around their bams, fields, homes, and roadways to guard against farm related accidents. This time of year is especially critical as the fall harvest season brings the big machines into play on many farms. The National Safety Council reports that agriculture is one of the most hazardous occupations in the country. So we must emphasize awareness and if possible, correction of any hazards that may exist around your farm. In Pennsylvania a total of 44 farm fatalities occurred in 1996. Tractor-related accidents accounted for 24 of those deaths. In a recent press release. State Agriculture Secretary Samuel Hayes, Jr., noted that the use of safety devices is well worth the time and effoit to prevent death or serious injury. We agree. Practice safety, especially with children. Your little people may want a ride or may want to drive the tractor. And even if they are mature enough mentally, they simply don’t have the physical strength to hang on to the steering wheel. Do your family a favor and say, “No” when your children want to act big around farm machinery. 40th Anniversary Open House Pasture Management Meeting, Demonstration Farm, Mercer. National Apple Harvest Festival, Arendtsville, 8 a.m.-S p.m., thru Oct S and Oct 11-12. National 4-H Week, thru Oct. 11. Pa. Association of Conservation Districts annual meeting, Mt Laurel Resort, White Haven, thru OcL 8. Berks Shire Hunt Show, Walnut Hill Farm, Oley, 9 a.m. Pa. Make It Yourself With Wool, Farm Show Complex, Harrisburg. East Central Pa. Two-Cylinder Club Inc. 3d Annual Antique Tractor and Implement Collec tors Show, St. Peter’s Church, Shimersville, 9 a.m.-S p.m. Pa. Make It Yourself With Wool, Farm Show Complex, Harrisburg. Hollidaysburg Community Fair, Hollidaysburg, thru Oct. 9. Manheim Farm Show, Manheim, thru Oct 10. Berks County Farm Bureau Annu al Meeting, Ag Center, Lees port, 7 p.m. 4-H Achievement Night Dauphin County Agriculture and Natural Resources Center, 6:30 p.m. ADADC Dist 6 meeting. Club 211, Midedlctown, N.Y., 7:30 (Cancelled) Pasture Walk and Conservation Tour, Samuel K. Click, Leola, 10 a.m.-Noon. (Cancelled). Bradford County Extension Start ing a Home Day Care, Part 1, Extension Office. Towanda, 7 n.m. Unionville Community Fair, Unionville, thru Oct 11. Bradford County Extension Parenting the School Age Child, Northeast Bradford Elementary School, Large Group Instruction Room, 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m. Bradford County Extension Parenting the Teenager, North east Bradford Elementary School, Large Group Instruc tion Room, 8-9:30 p.m. Berks County Beef Roundup, Leesport Market and Auction, fetence Center, State College, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. S2nd Annual Pa. National Horse Show, Farm Show Complex, Harrisburg, thru Oct. 18. Compost Tour of Compost Pro duction and On-Site Farm and Greenhouse Use, Arbor Mea dow Farms, Horsham, 4 p.m.-6:30 p.m. York County 4-H Achievement Night York County 4-H Cen ter, Bair, 7:15 p.m. ADADC Dist 2 annual meeting. Deer Hill Restaurant Lowville, N.Y., 7:30 p.m. ADADC DisL 17 annual meeting, Gibson Grange, Gillette, 8 p.m. ADADC DisL 10 annual meeting, .ben Bi Cht ;h, Br SaUirda>, (Hlolht 11 Choice Plus Club Calf Sale, Mer cer Co. 4-H Park, 7:30 p.m. Annual Octoraro Creek Nature Walk, Black Rock Area, Octor aro Creek, meet at Ken Shoe maker’s house, Kirkwood, 9 To Salute 4-H October 5 to 11 marks Na tional 4-H Week. This year's theme, "4-H...More Than You Ever Imagined 1 ", reflects the vari ety of 4-H programming and the diversity of the lives and back grounds of 4-H youth throughout our country. This year we are implementing a special program. Hearts and Hands in Action. This program will emphasize community serv ice projects. 4-H members will be developing Service Learning Proj ects. These projects will have learning, citizenship and personal and social development objectives. Members will look at their ar eas of interests and develop vari ous service projects. These could include food and fitness classes for children, a farm day for pre schoolers, a community garden or tutor young children in reading, math or science. 4-H offers many exciting educational, citizenship and leadership opportunities. For more information on this exciting youth program, contact your county cooperative extension of fice. To Check Yield Monitors Yield monitors need certain pre-harvest maintenance. If you are using a yield monitor on your combine for the first time, make sure you take time to calibrate the monitor. This calibration should be done using a wide range of conditions, including yield levels and moisture levels. The wider the range of conditions, the more ac curate the monitor will perform. For all monitors, check the grain flow and moisture sensors for cleanliness and dirt build up. Check the stainless steel plates on the grain flow sensor for wear. Tour, Alvin J. Stoltzfus, Para dise, 10 a.m.-noon DST. Solanco Young Fanners meeting, silage com management ADADC Dist 16 meeting. Troy Fire Hall, Troy, 8 p.m. I hui sd.i\, < U tolur I(> National Poultry Health and Pro cessing meeting, Sheraton Fon tainebleau Hotel, Ocean City, Md., thru Oct 17. Lancaster County 4-H Recogni tion Night Beut Creek Country Club, 6:30 p.m. ADADC Dist 12 annual meeting, Sennett Federated Church, Sen- I i id;i\. Oclolht 17 Mid-Atlantic Regional Romney Show, NYS Sheep and Wool Festival, Dutchess County Fair grounds. Rhinebeck, N.Y., 7 p.m. Union town Poultry and Farm Pro ducts Show, Union town, thru Oct 19. Dills Check all cables for physical dam age. Check yield monitor data cards and replace batteries. Re move last year's data from the memory of the yield monitor. Check any GPS receiver for proper operation and signal strength. To Participate in FSA Elections October 27 is the last day to file nominations for your Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Committee elections. On Novem ber 21 ballots will be mailed to eligible voters and the ballots must be returned to your county FSA office by December 1. All farm owners, operators, tenants and sharecroppers includ ing spouses, of legal age may vote if they are eligible to take part in any FSA program. It is ARE YOU A DISPLACED PERSON? Octobers, 1997 Background Scripture: Daniel 1 Devotional Reading: Psalms 40:1-11 In a day in which life is so full of soaring complexities, ambiguit ies and uncertainties, for those of us who can remember what at least seemed like simpler, more comprehensible and manageable times, looking back to life then may make us feel like displaced persons today. Despite the fact that most of these were the Depression years in our nation, I remember the days when everything else seemed easier and more virtuous. Whether they really were “easier and more virtuous” is a matter of some dis pute. Nevertheless, I sometimes feel that although my body is firm ly planted in the 19905, my insides are tuned to life four or five decades previous. I can therefore imagine how it must have felt to be a Jewish exile in Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon. Many of these people were deter mined to remain faithful to their God and live as devout Jews. But, despite their high resolve, it was a different world in which they found themselves and living as devout Jews was extremely difficult. In many ways, it was a better life, at least economically speak ing. Babylon was prosperous as Judah had never been. The Babylonian culture was rich, var ied and often luxurious. But, despite the material advantages, the spiritual atmosphere was not supportive of their faith. IGNORING OUR CHOICE Their dilemma is somewhat similar to what we face today. While life in these United States may not so much oppose or perse cute followers of Christ, neither docs our culture make it easy to truly follow him. The values of our society arc obviously very dif ferent from those in the New Tes tament. Although our coins declare, “In God We Trust," our daily living, economics and politi cal life testify that we really believe much more in other things. Many of us survive or even pros per by making compromises. We get along by going along and if we can spread a thin veneer of Christ important for all eligible fanners to participate in this process. FSA county committees make deci sions on commodity price support loans and payments; establish al lotments, yields and marketing quotas; eligibility for farm loans and conservation programs; incen tive, indemnity and disaster pay ments for some commodities and other disaster assistance. In order to make the county committee system work, it must represent all parts of local agricul ture. Now is the time to contact your FSA office to register to vote and file a nomination form if you would like to serve on the county committee. Feather Prof, 's Footnote: "Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others." ian catchwords over our society it keeps us from realizing that real Chritianity would compel us to make a choice. It is difficult for us to under stand why observing the dietary laws of Judaism was so important to the exiles. It is enough for us to realize that the dietary laws were a major support to their Judaism. The Judean community was gone, the temple in ruins and Jerusalem far away, but the dietary laws were one pillar that could sustain them. We have to respect their choice even as we want others to respect ours. So, when Daniel and his Mends were put into Nebuchadnezzar’s training program, in order to pre serve their Jewish identity they decided to refuse to eat the high level cuisine the king had ordered for them. They wanted to remain on a Kosher diet and thereby wit ness to their loyalty to the Lord. So, Daniel asked Ashpenaz, who had been assigned responsibility for the program, to permit him and his friends to abstain from the king's cuisine. TRY IT! We can appreciate Ashpenaz's hesitation, but Daniel saved the day by proposing, “Test your ser vants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s rich food be observed by you, and according to what you see deal with your ser- 1:12,13). Ashpenaz agreed to put it to a test. Who was it said that the prob lem is not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting, but that it has never been sufficiently tried. If Christianity is what we say it is, then we should never hesitate to put it to the test We should never shrink from demon strating that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the best way for us to live. Maybe the reason we spend so much time arguing religion is that it is easier than practicing it. The fact is, life is deeper, richer and more victorious when we live by the example of Jesus Christ. And even when we are “displaced persons” in a strange land, we can live that life and demonstrate the truth of the gospel. Lancaster Farming Established 1955 Published Every Saturday Ephrata Review Building IE. Main St Ephrata, PA 17522 -by- Lancaster Farming, Inc. A Steinman Enterprise Robert G. Campbell General Manager Everett R. Newewenger Managing Editor Copyright 1997 by Loneosttr Forming
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers