On Being a
Farm Wife
(and other hazards)
Joyce Bupp
Green.
Smooth expanse of velvety
textured, emerald carpet. Evenly
mowed, uniform in color, border
ed by clusters of tulip blooms,
nodding in the breeze, cherry
clumps of red, yellow, pink.
The lawn of early May.
Lots of lawns of early May. All
those lawns I admire in passing,
attractively landscaped, resplen
dent with flowering trees and
carefully pruned shrubs and
planters already filled with
blooming plants.
Rough, ragged, uneven. Some
what reminiscent of a construc
tion site. A work in progress.
Our lawn of early May.
It seems nearly every spring,
some disruption or project we
COUNTRY PINE \
6 PC. BEDROOM SET ,
w/Door Chest
Rgg. Ret. $1,869.95 I
I PflU Our Price $890.95 .
ill. J~l 65%1l FACTORY
r SECTIONAL SLEEPER \
Reclmers, Sofa [
Factory Liquidation w/Hide-a-Bed I
Reg. Ret. $2,589.95 Close Out |
, Our Cash Price $94088 y
4 DRAWER CHEST \
Pine Finish |
Reg. Ret. $149.95 I
FACTORY .
SPECIAL
$39°4 g|g|| i
5 PC. BEDROOM SET \
Light Oak, Pedestal Tbl, 42” Round .
w/4Arrowback Chairs
ttStt (filiii Rag- Rat- I
V $549.95 .
Our Price
*so*u. i
r it $ 229 9S f
*a*
7 PC. DINING ROOM
Dbl Pedistal Table w/Tile Top
w/Butterfly Leaf and 6
Spmdleback Chairs
nv-v (SmWiifi A R *U- R#t
$2169.95
Our Price
Tfvr
lose out $ 699 95
4 PC. BEDROOM SET
Cherry Finish, Dresser, Mirror,
Headboard and Armoire
Rat. $1649.95
tfSSmk Special
BMP Price
Lcloseout $ 389 95
FIVE PIECE
Table * Four Ct
Whlta/Natural, (
Reg. Ret. $l,Ol
Caah Prlce $46l
CLOSEOUT $ 2
BMP
have under way entails having
equipment all over the lawn. One
year, it was cleanup and leveling
where a pair of willows plant
ed when the kids were both little
had toppled over. One just fell
over on a calm, sunny day, the
other soon crashed in a wind
storm, like long-married couples
who pass away within days or
weeks of each other.
Another year, it was tearing
up a branch of the underground
tile drainage system which origi
nates at the edge of the lawn. Or
cleaning out a buildup of road
gravel from a storm culvert
under the road which dumps at
another edge. Or when we had to
redo the springhouse area after
manure storage construction.
7 PC. DINING ROOM \
Dbl Pedestal Table, 42 x 60 x 78 x 96 ,
(1 Leaf is Self Storing), Wagon Wheel Chairs, 1
2 Arm and 4 Side |
555*rfs5»j
' ~ HIDE-A-BED " \
w/lnner Spring
Factory Select
$29988;
f GLIDER ROCKER \
Available in Blue, I
Beige, Green P I .
Reg. Ret. $159.95
Cash Price I
Special llgssyb? |
$7904 ,
/ 5 DRAWER CHEST \
' Oak, Whitewash or Cherry Jik |
Bankrupt Cham Store, A■■
We Purchased *
Reg. Ret. $469.95 BJHMRS I
Our Price'SWfcM- EBEIV j
CLOSE-OUT $ i39 95 au/
5 PC. DirOTfQ ROOM \
Black Oak Marble Polyester Table,.
36x60 Table w/4 Black Welded
Chairs, Distributor Refused ■
Container, We Purchased
- m »- Reg. Ret. $599.95)1
Our Price
CLOSE-OOT I£9 , I
YOUTH'S/MATE'S BED SETS
Bad Box w/Drawer .
Bookcase Headboard &
2 Night Stands
Reg. Ret. $329.9f
(SSL, Our Price*
closi
179*
mmummmmmm
Day Of The Year ”
gSK& HUTCH \
FORAGE |
Green, Natural
Our Price
'S3S&M. ■
$ 199 95 /
;iAL \
i
i
j.
r
. t
089.95
TTSMS
' 7PC DINING ROOM
Empire Pedestal Table
42x42 w/18" Leal _
6 Arrowback Chairs, urn ’’•mSBBmM
Natural
Reg. Ret. $1489.95,
Our Price ■599195-
' 4 PC. BEDROOM SET \
Cherry Finish, Dresser, Mirror.
Armoire
$ 389 95 >
RED
If '
' TWIN/DOUBLE
wfeaa FUTON BUIHK
HBjSSSfSJgI in Black Red,
White, w/8’
JT " " Tl Futon Mattress
» fj 'wlb^S
t. SPECIAL $ 279 95
Stores in: LANCASTER • YORK • CARLISLE
STORE HOURS: Mon.-Fri. 9-9 • Sat. 9-6;
Sunday 12 to 5 PM
• No Refunds
• All Salts Final For purchases with a check, bring FINANCING
• Cash A Carry drivers license and phone numbers AVAILABLE
responsible for typographical errors We reeerve the right to substitute gift ilems^
This year, it is restructuring
some lawn features for safer play
areas for our beloved “little
folks” who hang out here. In
order to do so, The Farmer had
to open a section of the yard
fence and drive in with tractors
and...and well, there goes the
lawn.
You rarely find “lawn slaves”
on farms. Not with all the more
pressing field demands of the
crop season. Rye is growing inch
es-per-day and must be cut,
chopped and packed into the
bunker silo in a very small win
dow of optimum nutrient value
like a couple of days. Other
wise, forget it, since it will quick
ly turn old, tough, stemmy and
worthless for cattle feed. Har
vesting and ensiling of high-pro
tein fresh alfalfa haylage has to
follow close behind, and on al
most as tight a schedule.
Com fields also await timely
planting, to be followed by soy
beans, and grass hay and early
grain harvest. And, then it’s time
to cut alfalfa again. All this de
pendent naturally on the
whims of weather, which can
play havoc with the whole spring
schedule.
Thus, our lawn should feel
privileged to get a weekly ride
over with the mower; it’s a bonus
if I can get the thick swaths of
HEKRY ARNOIRE
35x17x59 |
Reg. Ret.
$569.95
j Cash Price
S2T9>US.
CLOSEOUT
fj $ 149 95
clippings raked for mulch before
the grass starts pushing up
through them, like forgotten hay.
Dandelions, their yellow heads
lopped off one day, poke up new
ones the next day to taunt us
until the next mower pass-over.
And, escaped heifers May
invariably brings a few seeking
the greener grass on the outside
of the fence always manage to
find the freshly-trimmed lawn
and leave their “calling cards,”
natural fertilizer to further en
courage the grass. So we careful
ly watch what we plant in beds
and borders. Even surrounded by
lots of lush lawn grass, those girls
will zero in on and nibble any
plant even slightly toxic to bo
vine bellies.
Glancing out a kitchen win
dow one morning last week, I
spied a strange, brown shape at
the far upper comer of the lawn.
Binoculars confirmed it was a
bunny but standing up on it’s
haunches, ears perked high. It
stayed there, like a statue, for a
JOIN
r m r:
FIRM.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 5,2001-B3
long time, looking for all the
world like a chocolate rabbit in
an Easter candy display.
We guess that the watchful
rabbit is a mama, guarding a nest
of babies she has tucked some
where in the tall grass of that
corner. Handy, too, to where she
can nibble fresh goodies from the
garden. We prefer baby bunnies
to beet tops, so that comer of the
lawn has been declared off-limits
to lawn mowing.
Another section of lawn going
scruffy.
So the border must be redone
where the equipment came
through but first we have to
move a few large bank retaining
timbers and move in some
more wood chip mulch under a
big willow at the pond and fin
ish picking the rocks and
smoothing the soil for reseeding
some grass.
Some days it would be tempt
ing to just let it all grow up.
If we encourage enough bun
nies, they can keep it mowed for
us.
g Invitations
res
s Cards
ards
tters
pers
Arl Haai
East Main
527, Ephra
197 • Fax