MARSHA ANN CHESS
Mercer Co. Correspondent
MERCER (Mercer Co.) The
Mercer County Lamb and Wool
Growers Association held its an
nual Shepherd’s night, June 25, at
the Mercer County 4-H Park and
Extension Center, Mercer. The ac
tivities included a lamb dinner,
crowning the lamb and wool
queen, a skillathon contest, a lead
line competition, and a jackpot
dr««° k So t^ dy f P r school ln a red and black plaid wool
Kara Kingsley, 6, of Volant, shows her lamb In the
Night" 6 COntest dur,n ° tha Mercer County Shepherd’s
Colorado 4-H’ers Try Pennsylvanian Life
JENNY WILT
Adams County Correspondent
ABBOTTSTOWN (Adams
Co.) When the school bus
arrived in front of Knouse Food’s
Peach Glen plant many of those
aboard gave no indication that
they had spent days riding in
this means of transportation.
They had arrived in Adams
County on July 1 from their
homes in LaPlata County, Colo.,
and were now exploring Adams
County and the surrounding
area as part of a 4-H Exchange
Program.
This day they had just com
pleted a Mason-Dixon Farm tour
and were about to embark on a
visit to the Peach Glen plant
*
wniSKB JB.
*1 1?
Members of the LaPlata
County, Colo., 4-H Clubs
painted die window of the
school bus they traveled In
with a “Gettysburg or Bust”
sign. The 21 youths and 10
adults visited Adams Coun
ty 4-H members and their
families and todred the
area.
Lamb And Wool Queen Promotes Industry
lamb show.
TTie 1998 Mercer County Lamb
and Wool Queen is Cheryn L,
Courtney of Mercer. Cheryn won
the title at the annual meeting in
April, but her crown had not ar
rived at that time so plans were
made to crown her at Shepherd’s
night. Unfortunately, Cheryn was
working so her mother accepted
the crown and banner on her be
half.
where cherries were the fruit of
the day.
Bob Weary, director of human
resources for Knouse Foods, said
the cherry crop was “very short”
this year because of the early
spring rains which made the
fruit “mushy.” What was har
vested was now going through
the line in the canning plant.
The plant expects to process
6,800 tons of cherries. Most will
be turned into pie filling or be
water packed.
Knouse Foods Cooperative,
which includes Lucky Leaf,
Musselman, Apple Time, Speas
Farms, and Lincoln, is the
largest fresh fruit packer in the
United States, according to
Weary.
Weary also explained that
Knouse Foods will process some
three million pounds of peaches
and in a year’s time can process
12 million bushels of apples.
There are 147 growers in the
cooperative.
The visit to Knouse Foods
was just one of the many area
attractions the youths saw dur
ing their visit East.
They spent a day at the Civil
War re-enactment held over the
July 4th holiday, went to
Hershey Park, Baltimore, Md.,
where they visited Fort
McHenry, Inner Harbor,
Lexington Market, and The
World TVade Center Observation
Level.
Before heading West and
home they stopped in
Washington D.C. for two days.
Kimberly Stevens, 15, of
Abbottstown, who is a member
of the Adams County 4-H
Senate, and her Colorado com-
In Mercer County
Chcryn is the 17-year-old
daughter of John and Pamela
Courtney. She will be a senior at
Mercer High School, this fall,
where she is an honor student. Her
activities include showing lambs
in 4-H, soccer, track, powder puff
football, speech team, show choir,
ecology team, SADD, equus
board, and school musicals. Che
ryn is listed in Who’s Who
Among American High School
Students and has received the
Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership
Award.
Cheryn feels that her position as
Lamb and Wool Queen is import
ant because it allows her to edu
cate the public and promote the
sheep industry. “Some people
don’t even know where wool
comes from,” she said. “Some
people know very little about farm
animals.”
Cheryn added, “People need to
realize that shearing doesn’t hurt
the animal. In fact it’s good for
them.”
Cheryn is part of the fourth gen
eration of her family to sheep and
her family is very active in the
sheep industry. Her father, John
Courtney is president of the Penn
sylvania Sheep and Wool Growers
Association. And her sister Cam
ise and Aunt Ruth Ann Courtney
Maxwell were both Mercer Coun
ty Lamb and Wool Queens. In
fact, Ruth Ann was the Pa. Lamb
and Wool Queen in 1962.
Cheryn plans to go to college,
but is unsure of what field of study
she will pursue.
panion, Misty Zellitti, 14, of
Durango, were enjoying getting
to know each other and said “It’s
nice to get to meet people from
other areas. It’s fun.”
Misty also enjoyed visiting
with others and said, “It’s really
pretty on on the East Coast, but
it’s definitely hot.”
Misty’s cousins, Tracy
Zellitti, 15, Kristi Zellitti, 19,
and Cynthia Zellitti, 14, all of
Durango, found their experience
in the East “awesome.”
Cynthia summed up the
three visitors’ thoughts with “It’s
exciting and totally cool.”
The goal of the 4-H Exchange
Program is to provide an oppor
tunity for 4-H teens to visit a dif
ferent part of the country and
experience, first hand, the
lifestyles and differences in cul
tures.
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co) You’ve just finagled a
month off work and rented a
quiet cabin in the mountains.
You think it might be fun to
bake your favorite wild berry
pie, but suspect the rustic
kitchen may lack to say the
least a pastry blender and
measuring spoons.
How will you squeeze a well
stocked kitchen in with the
clothes and sleeping bags? A
home economist in Penn State’s
College of Agricultural Sciences
may have the solution.
The Portable Kitchen
Assembly Guide describes how
to pack a kitchen, from veg
etable brush to wire whisk, into
ier County Lamb and Wool Queen Cheryn Courtney
poses for the camera while on a weekend break from her
job as a lifeguard at Seneca Hill Bible Camp, Franklin, Pa.
Among the 4-H members from LaPlata County, Colorado,
are sisters Tracy, 15, Kristi, 19, and Cynthia Zellittl, 14. The
three pulled on hairnets for a tour of Knouse Foods Peach
Glen plant, where cherries were the fruit of the day.
Kitchen To Go
a package the size of a tote bag,
§ays Jan Scholl, associate pro
fessor of agricultural and exten
sion education..
“You might be interested in
the Portable Kitchen if you’re
heading to a cabin this summer,
or out on the road in an RV,”
Scholl says.
The Portable Kitchen con
tains more than 50 common
kitchen items, packed into an 11
l/2-by-15-inch plastic dishpan.
The dishpan doubles as an on- -
site sink. A second dishpan,
which is slipped inside the first,
can be filled with rinse water.
“All items are standard-sized
except for the cookie sheet,
which is the size used in toaster
ovens,” says Scholl.
The four-page assembly
guide comes on card stock and
opens like a menu. It lists step
by-step visual instructions on
how to pack the kitchen, with
drawings for each item. It also
includes a shopping checksheet
To order the Portable Kitchen
Assembly Guide, send a check
for $1 (for printing and mailing)
payable to Penn State
University to Jan Scholl, 323
Agricultural Administration)
Building, University Park, PA
-16802. For more
call Jan Scholl at (814) 863-'
7869. . -