84-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 18, 1998
On Being a
Farm Wife
(and other
hazards)
Joyce Bupp
The Early Girls weren't But
the Big Girls might be
Either way, the garden has
not yet yielded up one single
ripe tomato
Despite the slow and some
times stilted start of our garden,
July's magic wands of heat and
moisture have waved across the
veggie patch to wreak a trans
formation
A senes of circumstances
involving of family house guests,
day trips, and overnight busi
ness meetings combined recent
ly to divert my attention from
anv thought of vegetable culti
vation to more pressing issues
Like cuddling precious grand
sons
Knowing that stretch of the
calendar would offer more
important things than' "pid
dling" around the patch, I had it
planted, mulched, and weeded
as much as possible well ahead
As was the season, though, the
garden was horrendously late
getting planted to begin with,
due to the springs which opened
in the adjoining field with the
plentiful ground water supplies
Tomato plants started in the
greenhouse in late March were
aging rapidly in mid-May, while
alternately drowning and drying
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out at their semi-shaded, hard
enmg-off spot on the patio I like
to start my own tomato plants,
especially certain varieties that
I've never seen for sale any
where as seedlings, then supple
ment them from our local gar
den centers Usually, even that
isn't necessary, since my Mom
inevitably will have more than
she can use and is overwhelm
ingly generous in sharing any
thing she has with her family
With spring's delay in planti
ng, the tomato seedlings looked
so pathetic in mid-May that I
finally tucked them into a tem
porary home in the flower bor
der Transplanting tomatoes
generally makes them sprout
new roots and become more vig
orous I hoped it would work on
these poor babies
By the time our low-lying
garden finally dried enough to
cultivate, my envy was deep for
other gardens already sporting
vigorous onions, foot-high peas
and lacy carrot foliage In a two
day frenzy, the garden was
planted, mulched and marked
Reuse of a couple of very large
pieces of heavy bunker-silo plas
tic cover with planting holes still
usable from last year greatly
hastened the process Finally a
home for the frustrated tomato
plants.
Only one tomato crop failure
has ever blighted my record and
I have a culprit on which to
blame it the manure pile our son
constructed in the garden the
intensely-snowy winter he was
home following college With
nowhere to move boxstall
manure on a daily basis due to
heavy snow cover, the garden
next to the field road sported an
awesome bedding manure stock
pile by spring. Only one spot in
the garden suffered any after
effect, a small stretch of tomato
row where some acidic liquid
from the pile had puddled dur
ing the storage Those plants
didn't die, but threatened to all
summer, and bore little fruit.
Mr record is now further
tomato blighted For some rea
son, perhaps the harsh weather
treatment of the seedlings and
the lateness with which they
were finally planted into the
ground, about half of them died
Nearly a total loss was an exper
imental hybrid, named Olympic,
a freebie sent a few years ago
with a seed mail order There
may be one stalk that survived,
likely reason I've never seen this
variety offered anywhere
Faring better were my Heinz
canning variety and a few of the
Early Girls The Long Keepers
never made it to the re-trans
plant stage Luckily there were
more than enough of some of the
hardier varieties to replace the
losers And the garden itself
supplied the healthiest of all
tomato stalks, several volun
teers happily poking up in spots
from the asparagus patch to the
raspberries They joined the
pack
I broke down and purchased
a few more Early Girls and some
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big sister Big Girls. Friend Ann
shipped me some"stone" tomato
plants, a meaty-type we anx
iously await to try. And Mom,
predictably, donated her extra
Rutgers, more than I needed
with the overflow further donat
ed to the neighbors.
Cornfield In Shape Of
PARADISE (Lancaster Co.)
The next frontier of family fun en
tertainment is coming back to
Paradise. The Amazing Maize
Maze™ returned to Cherry-Crest
Farm for the third year in a row
and opened its stalks to the world
on Friday, July 17 at 10 a.m. The
day featured the 2nd Annual Fel
lowship Challenge, a chance for
non-profit organizations to win
money to fund education or family
assistance programs.
The 4.77-acre cornfield maze is
entitled Catch the Rainbow. The
maze is cut in the shape of Noah’s
Ark and boasts more than 27,000
marigolds and petunias, which
form a 1000-foot rainbow.
Cherry-Crest Farm is located
east of Lancaster, at 150 Cherry
Hill Road, Paradise. The maze
will be open to the public until
Saturday October 10. Maze hours
are 10 a.m. to dusk Tuesday
through Saturday in July and
August and Friday and Saturday
only starting September 8. Admis
sion prices are $7 for adults 12 and
over, $4 for ages 6to 11; and free
for kids 5 and under.
‘The maze enables us to com
bine agriculture, tourism, and the
universal desire to have a good
time,” said Jack Coleman, owner
of Cherry-Crest Farm. “We are
proud to present this original art
form on our land and pleased that
we can support a worthy cause by
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202 Orlan Road, New Holland, PA 17557
717-354-2613 Fax: 717-355-9170
First moment I had last
weekend found me fleeing to the
garden, to be greeted by some
lovely, green Early Girl fruits
We should be picking a fresh
tomato or two within the week
Once I find them among the
weeds.
participating in the Fellowship
Challenge.”
The Amazing Maize Maze™ is
much more than just a labyrinth.
The journey through the cornfield
includes music, a script and inter
active audience activities. Chil
dren may attack it like a 3-D Nin
tendo, seniors enjoy a walk
through yesteryear, corporate exe
cutives come to develop team
building or problem solving skill
and everyone else comes for a
good time. Winners are scored by
a formula that considers how long
it takes to assemble a map of the
maze, find the hidden questions,
and of course, find the exit.
Since 1993, the Amazing Maize
Maze™ has been getting thou
sands of people lost across the
United States. The company’s
first cornfield maze made it into
the Guinness Book of World Re
cords. This summer there will be
six Amazing Maize Mazes in the
United States, encompassing over
25 acres of cornfields.
' The maze at Cherry-Crest Farm
is the longest running Amazing
Maize Maze and the most success
ful. Last year, 40,000 people came
to Cherry-Crest Farm to experi
ence this new form of agratain
ment. Besides the maze, Cherry-
Crest Farm offers much to do, in
cluding a petting farm, a picnic
area, a wagon ride, and an educa
tional tour of their Dairy Farm.