What’s Cropping Up At New Morning Farm. HUSTONTOWN (Portion of Huntingdon Co.) Jim and Moie Kimball Crawford grow a lot of different things on their Huntingdon County farm. One of their most successful crops must be the innovative, can-do attitude which has en abled them to prosper at small scale vegetable farming. “We’re a very diversified, di rect-marketing vegetable farm,” Jim told a crowd of about 65 during a recent Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Ag riculture (PASA)-sponsored field day at New Morning Farm. “There are very few vegetable farmers in this area. But we felt that we wanted to farm on a small scale, and we knew we wanted to grow vegetables. We’re able to farm the way we want to farm, and we have a direct relationship with con sumers.” Throughout the field and building tours, the Crawfords detailed the techniques and equipment, from a custom designed hydrostatic harvesting wagon to the practice of provid ing customers with as much farm-based information as pos sible, which have worked for them in the field and at the mar ketplace. “The thing that was always our biggest problem is that there were no models,” Crawford said. “We just weren’t sure, so we were always trying things.” The results, after 28 years of organic farming, are systems and equipment that are “low tech, but carefully chosen low tech.” Things may seem very simple, R & T, BOX 9, KINZERS, PA 17535 Between Lancaster and Coatesville on Route 30 PHONE (717) 442-4249 Bus Groups Welcome • Ample Free Parking • "Trolley" Shuttle Service TIME OF HARVEST: OCTOBER 13 & 14, 2000 ON DISPLAY AND IN OPERATION • Steam Traction Engines • Antique Tractors • Threshing Machines • Hit & Miss Gas Engines • Two Steam RaHroads • Outstanding Display of Large Gas Engines • Stationary Steam Engine • Saw Mill and Shingle Mill Museum • Much Much more! • Model Steam & Gas Engines but they are “appropriate for us and our scale,” he said. One of the most deceptively simple pieces of equipment on New Morning Farm is the har vesting wagon. Powered by a 19505’-era Tuff-Built hydros tatic tractor, the wagon sports a conveyer belt created from an aluminum ladder. the clutchless Tuff-Built creeps along through the rows of vegetables, harvesters pick the vegetables and place them on the conveyor. Workers on the wagon then put the produce di rectly into packing boxes. The wagon has a roof for shade, workers are close enough to talk to one another, and there is no need to drag boxes through the fields. “Everything is right next to where you’re working,” Craw ford said. “The main negative is maneuverability, so you have to plant accordingly.” The conveyer belt design can be adapted to fit any wagon. The only other consideration would then be propulsion. A creeper gear is a helpful feature, he noted. For direct marketers like the Crawfords, efficient storage and packing of produce is critical. “It’s a material-handling problem when you get to a cer tain point,” Crawford said. “Why this building is the way it is relates to the truck (used to haul produce to market).” New Morning Farm’s custom designed packing shed, with a concrete floor, loading dock, two coolers (each with a range of op timum holding temperatures for specific produce), and lots of storage space, has been a “big • Large Collection of Early Home Appliances • Antique Automobiles • Stationary Balers • Antique Wagons • Numerous Craft Displays • Large Flea Market labor-saver,” he said. The use of pallets and a pallet jack allowed him to load two trucks in 20 minutes. Though having appropriate equipment and buildings is criti cal, so obviously is having a product to harvest. The Craw fords, with the help of a couple of year-round employees, in terns, apprentices, and seasonal workers, plant about 25 acres into about 40 different crops which are typically harvested from May through December. A variety of season-extension methods are used, including staggered plantings. Beans, for example, are planted 10 or 12 times. “That gives us the harvest we want for our market,” Crawford said. They start all their own seeds, with the exception of strawber ries. They don’t use a trans planter, but, as Crawford said, ‘we’ve gotten really good at doing it by hand.” A number of different weed control devices are used, includ ing “plenty of hoes,” he said. Botanical pest control such as Bt keeps bugs at bay. Soil fertility is enhanced with mushroom soil, chicken manure, and a little lime. So it’s planted, it’s harvested, it’s packed, and stored. Then what? “After we grow this stuff we have to sell it all,” said Moie. There is more to that than just hauling vegetables to the nearest street corner. New Morning Farm sells at several growers only and other markets, and has been going to the same Wash- ars2nd ANNUAL ROUGH AND TUMBLE ENGINEERS THRESHERMAN’S REUNION THE MOST COMPLETE STEAM AND GAS SHOW EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 2000 FEATURE EXHIBIT JOHN DEERE 6- related equipment Contact Steve Koser, 717-354-6896 Grounds Open 7:00 AM EVENING ENTERTAINMENT AND EVENTS Starting at 6:30 P.M. ington, D.C.-area market for 27 years. As with the other farm equip ment, the technology for the sales end of things is very basic. But finding what works best in the marketplace has also been a series of trial and error. Sometimes it is necessary to pay more to get a product that suits your needs, Moie noted. The purchase of a high-end elec tronic scale and calculator, for Cattle Associations Sponsor AMITY (Washington Co.) Recently over 300 people from seven states attended the co sponsored cattlemen’s field day at*Blossom Valley Polled Here ford Farm. The Pennsylvania Cattlemen’s Association, Wash ington County Cattlemen Asso ciation, Pennsylvania Polled Hereford Association, Mason- Dixon Polled Hereford Associa tion, and the Grazing Forage/Lands Conservation Ini tiative sponsored the combined event. Mr. and Mrs. Dan Dye, hosted the event and provided an excel lent schedule of events and speakers. Noted scientist and scholar, AUGUST 16,17,18 & 19 /J||V MOLINE. ILL ROUGH ★ & TUMBLE Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 5, 2000-A35 Field Day In Western Pennsylvania MILK. IT DOES A BODY GOOD. MUSEUM OPEN: Friday and Saturday Memorial Day thru Labor Day instance, significantly reduced human error in figuring the sale price. Stackable tables with ad justable legs have been a boon as well. Through it all, the satisfaction of selling directly to consumers, of having a “personal connec tion” with the people who eat the food they’ve grown, and of farming organically and sustain ably, are all what keeps things growing on New Morning Farm. Dr. Temple Grandin of Colo rado State University spoke on the virtues of proper cattle han dling practices and challenged those present to employ prac tices more in line with animal behavior patterns. Cara Gerkin, head of the USD A meat grading division, and Paul Slayton, Ex ecutive Director of the Pennsyl vania Beef Council, each addressed the crowd with issues and changes relating to the in dustry. The Dye family, along with their farm managers, Mike and Jenny Neef, provided lunch, door prizes, contests, music by a local blue grass band, and a fun auction for the benefit of the junior associations. 9
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