On Being a Farm Wife (and other hazards) Joyce Bupp Our city relatives find it sur prising. Some of the younger generation never heard of it. But some of us holdouts here in the hinterlands still like to do it. And, I'm one of 'em. Weather permitting, I love to hang laundry outside. Yes, it takes longer to pin each piece to the washline. Yes, the birds occasionally undo what was just done with the washing Farm UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co) - Children and adults can learn about agriculture prior to the 1930 s in two new education al videotapes, available from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. Narrated by Jerome Paste, volunteer curator of the Pasto Agricultural Museum and asso ciate dean emeritus in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, the videos walk view ers through the history of the production of small grains and corn. Using antique implements inside the museum, Pasto demonstrates how foods were harvested before the advent of electricity and pqwpr equip ment. “The videos are suitable for early grades of elementary schtod - or anyone interested in ourap&tiitoal heritage,” Pasto says. ' “Fanning in the Old Days: Small Grains” describes how farmers produced, harvested and threshed small grains from 4000 B.C. to the 19305. The 31- minute video traces early tools used for harvesting, including a 6,000-year-old clay sickle from MARYLAND SCHROCK FARM EQUIPMENT Route 1, Box 2568 Oakland, MD 301-334-9060 machine. Or do back what was just undone? Whatever. It doesn't happen enough times to convert us us outside-laundry lovers to the inside appliance when the sun is shining and a breeze dancing through the back yard. There's a distinct satisfaction that comes with glancing out the kitchen window and seeing a line of clean jeans, towels, tee ing In The Old the Trgris-Euphrates Valley, flails made of wood and leather and a winnowing tray that used windpbwer to clean the chaff 1 from the grain. “Farming in the Old Days: Com,” a 26-minute video, covers planting methods used by early Native Americans and pioneers, and traces progress in corn planting and harvesting through the 19305. “This video traces progress in corn planting, from the ‘poke-a-hole-in-the ground’ method, to a corn planter with hopper, to a horse drawn com planter,” says Pasto. The Pasto Agricultural Museum is an unusual museum located miles southeast of State,, College at the Russell E. Larson Research center at Rock Springs. The museum houses more than 300 Reading Before Six? TOWANDA (Bradford Co.) - 7:00 p.m. at the Penn State "Learning to Read Before Six?" Cooperative Extension Office, and informational workshop for 701 South Fourth Street, child care providers will be held Tbwanda. Register by November on Thursday, November 12 at 9. Call (717) 265-2896. More MODELS. Easy on fuel • Reliable • Loaders available D. W. OGG ROVENDALE AG 51 i 9 9 aF ? ? ir s l P d & barn equpment 4250 RD 2. Box 210 301-473-4250 Watsontown, PA 717-538-9564 961 Leister’s Church Rd. Westminster, MD 410-848-4585 5011 5045 5111 5145 6311 6345 re FEATURI 57 to 65 hp 2 & 4 wheel drive Shuttle Shift Available More VALUE! Wfßelants shirts, and socks swinging gen tly back and forth under the trees. That's reinforced a little later when that wonderful, freshly-dried-in-a-sunny-breeze scent wafts up from each piece as you fold and stack it in the basket. No matter what the deter gent manufactures say, no syn thetic fragrance comes close to touching that indefinable, all natural, fresh scent. Like that of new-mown hay or a mow tucked full of fresh straw or com polli nating on a hot August night, the perfume of sunshine-dried laundry can't be replicated by a chemical formula. Nor can yanking a pile of clothes from the dryer come close to the entertainment value of handling them outside in our backyard. For instance, by assessing which equipment, dri ven by which operators, headed Days rare, antique implements once used for farming and homemak ing. Items include early lamps made of animal fat and rushes, a charcoal-heated clothes iron and a dog-powered treadmill used to churn butter and wash clothes. For information about group tours, call (814) 865-2541, or send e-mail to pastoagmuse um@psu.edu. For more information about the videos, contact Ag Information Services, The Pennsylvania State University, 119 Ag Administration Building, University Park, PA, 16802; phone (814) 865-6309; FAX (814) 863-9877. Price is $35 for one video, or $5O for both. Allow three weeks for delivery. Make checks payable to Penn State or include a purchase order. PENNSYLVANIA in what particular direction, I can usually come up with an educated guess as to what's on the farm and neighborhood agendas for the day. In one comer of the yard, a lone, old rooster scratches for tasty tidbits hiding under a pile of leaves. One lone Canada goose rests on the sparkling sur face of the pond, recovered, but still not flying great distances, victim of last year's first day of goose hunting season. And the single remaining aged guinea fowl goes sneaking off up around the upper side of the bank bam. These three should all be with flocks, but age and circum stances have rendered them lon ers. While they aren't birds of a feather, they'd surely be less lonely if we could somehow get this trio to flock together. Several cats hover about the yard, finally learning to tolerate one another. Monk, the house cat, joins me in the yard to stretch out in the sunshine under the drying clothes. Butch, our affectionate black-and-beige tabby, curls up in the washbas ket for a snooze. And Midnight, the shiny-black, former stray, perches on the porch, still a tri fle leery of the other two. Just have them accept being in sight of one another is progress. The fields have regreened after several inches of rain reju- Wooly Crafts, Conestoga, there is another reason the trip is worth it. The farm is the perfect spot for families to get a glimpse of nature's bounty. The winding lane leads to the red painted bam that is more than 100 years old. On the opposite side - arc grazing sheep with a scenic set ting of trees and rolling hills, a large pond. “Sheep ate grazers and pygmy goats are browsers,” Linda said of the combination used to keep both grass and weeds neatly trimmed. During different seasons visi tors can see Canada geese, osprey, and various species of ducks on the large pond. The songs of swallows, orioles, goldfinches. Indigo bunt- LUBINIECKI WELDING & EQUIPMENT RD 2, Box 160 Meadville, PA 814-336-3553 Lancaster Farming. Saturday, October 31, 199*81 venated the lagging alfalfa and spurred growth in the fall cover crop of rye. So once again the cows are being turned out daily for a couple hours of extra graz ing, the all-natural way to har vest these fresh, tasty forages. Watching them hasten out over the green fields (behind tempo rary fencing), heads down munching young blades of grass is gratifying entertainment as I hang up a last laundry load of sheets and pillowcases. Annuals in the border bloom with a fierce determination to make the most of these linger ing days. A clump of tall dahlias sports fat, glow-yellow blossoms, flanked by red roses, purple clusters on the butterfly bush and zinnias in shades of fushia and pink. Bumble bees haunt the vivid-blue spikes of the salvia clumps, frantically stor ing up for the coming big chill. And a reflection of the yellows and reds of the woodlot trees shimmers over the pond. So beautiful. So peaceful. So special because these seasonal moments are so fleeting. As I snuggle in between freshly-washed, sun dried sheets at bedtime and inhale their earthy fragrance, it's obvi ous that "they" (as in "they 5ay....") are right. Some of the best things in life really are free. Acres (Continued from Pago B 2) ings, house finches, cardinals, and many more mingle with the croak of bullfrogs. Deer feed in early and evening hours along the wooded areas of the farm. Linda tells prospective guests, . “Visif our craft shop and enjoy our farm. If you can’t come and sit, pause awhile and breath deep. The view is free.” Directions to Wooly Acres: From Lancaster, follow RL 324 or Route 741 to New Danville, south to Conestoga about three miles. Turn left at the Conestoga Post Office, go about one-fourth mile to Wooly Acres (130 River Comer Road) on the right. 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