84-Uncaster Fanning, Saturday, April 4, 1998 On Being a Farm Wife (and other hazards) Joyce Bupp Wackier things have come in the mail. Maybe. Like mopt folks, our mailbox fills with the routine contingent of bills, the unfortunately-less frequent checks, never-ending credit card offers, wastebaskets full of junk mail and charitable solicitations with "gift" address labels enclosed (for which we are expected to ante up a donation, except that they are now incor rect since we've been issued a street number.) Some of the most useful things which turn turn up via the postal service's delivery come courtesy of assorted adver tising creativity. There are pens, pencils, and markers flying around the office with our name on them, sent by outfits hoping to entice us to order them for giveaways. Ditto for pocket date books, usually coming toward the end of the year and including some really handy ones sporting nifty little blurbs of humor on each page. Also useful are packets of "sticky notes" on which we scribble mes sage over the advertising and thus distribute the sender's Trust a partner like Pequea and put your energy into getting the job done. Built by farmers with strong roots in agriculture, Pequea equipment delivers more than you were expecting at a price you can afford! Adamatown Equipment % Adamatown, PA • 717/484-4391 Chambaraburg Farm Sarvica Chambersburg PA*7l7/264-3533 CharlaaS Snyder Inc Tamaqua PA *717/386-5945 C H Rtnahimar Berwick, PA • 717/752-7131 Dear Craak Equipment Whiteford MD* 410/452 5252 Deerfield Ag A Turf Watsontown PA* 717/538 3557 KHy message far and wide on our own communications. But we don't often get worms in the mail. The worm was not really that much of a surprise. After all, the colorful outside of the soil boost er promotional material bore assorted crop pictures and fat, healthy earthworms. One didn't need much'of a clue to figure the telltale long, narrow bump in the package was a replica. And a very realistic one at that, by golly. Six inches long, the limp, plastic earthworm was a light pinkish-beige at one end, shaded to a medium brown at the other. Even with the classic body bump and reddish spot marking., something or another I should remember from tenth-grade biology class when we dissected those slimy, formaldehyde-laced critters. I never did understand why dissesting a worm was nec essary to get a diploma. Anyway, The Farmer and I looked at each other across the plastic worm and voiced an iden tical thought; "Josh (our three year-old grandson) will love this for fishing." Next To Your Cows, Pequea Equipment is Your Best Partner. Paquaa Machina Manufacturas A Complata Una of Farm Equlpmant A Trallars • Call Dunkle ft Qreib Equipment Hines Equipment Kermtt Kletler North East Dietrlbutore Center Hall, PA* 814/364*9109 Cresson, PA* 717/866-4183 Lynport, PA* 610/298-2011 West Clifford. PA* 717/222-9090 Eckroth Bros. Farm Equipment New Ringgold, PA* 717/943-2131 Elder Sale* & Service Stoneboro, PA *412/376-3390 Heflin S«lm * Service Woodsboro, MD • 301/698-3233 Henry Horning Lrtitz PA *717/626-5033 Hetricks Farm Equipment J David Mullinlx New Bethlehem PA *Ol4/275-3507 Dayton MD* 301/489-4363 i 1 ■ •fr* Pequea Machine, Inc. • 3230 E. Gordon Rd. • Gordonvltle, PA 17529 • 717/768-3197 • 717/768-8380 fax \ Similar advertising gimmicks several years ago had delivered an object of a related, though slightly more distasteful, ilk-a chubby, white, incredibly-realis tic, cornworm grub. Our then teenaged son promptly pro nounced the plastic grub ideal bait for teasing the fat bass in the pond and added it to an already bizarre assortment of fish-lores, including gummy plastic worms in shades of glo purple, brilliant tangerine, and lime green. Though it probably generated lots of belly laughs from the fish, the neon-bright bait never had the drawing power of the real thing. But this new addition on the kitchen counter was the "realest" imitation earthworm I had ever seen. Had it arrived in our mail when I was but a kid, it would_ have generated shrieks and screams from one youthful worm-hater. Family tales relate how my sister would chase me with earthworms until I was hollering so loud the neighbors beyond the hill could hear me. Earthworm-phobia was con- 1 quered as an older kid interest ed in gardening, I can even bait my own fishing hook with them, thank you. That, however, is a painful thing for me to do. Because earthworms are a treasure. And should be to any one who values the land or likes to eat. These lowly critters eat up waste and convert it into rich, organic soil matter. In the process, they aerate and open up the ground, easing the way for moisture and roots to penetrate. Then they give up their lives to feed birds, including the cheer ful robins, a worthy life-contri- ickt -816,818, 916 A 9 >r strength with upi lauge steel, mized lumber bed, /ears. late is hinged to oi ther side Round Models • Easily • Strom •Cental —.Mng t • Model 646 G has gooseneck hitch. CB Hooter