812-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, March 23, 2002 Never A Dull Moment For Lutz Family At Conicville Ostrich Willard and Lorna Lutz, owners of Conicville Ostrich, Mount Jackson, Va., pose at their Virginia Century Farm sign located along Senedo Road (Rt. 42). GAY BROWNLEE Virginia Correspondent MOUNT JACKSON (Shen andoah Co., Va.) On the Vir ginia Century Farm of fifth generation owners Willard and Loma Lutz, a guest and the cou ple, themselves, watched a female ostrich using her beak to roll an egg on the ground. They ap proached her on a sort of runway situated in the center, with high fences separating ostrich pens on the left and those of the smaller emus on the right. Aligning his movements to those of the people, a big male os trich inside the fence trotted along, ready to protect a harem of females with a lightening strike of his awesome beak, if the intruders threatened to come too close. When the danger passed, Lorna said, “Watch, he will dance for you.” Sure enough, with ruffled feathers lilting every which way, elongated neck undulating left and right and legs in the dirt, the great bird performed a fascinat ing and amorous routine. Then a companionable, coal black goat sporting gray horns, exercised his right to join the peo ple, but instinctively began to nibble at the black shoulder bag and dark linen jacket the guest had on, obviously, pleased with an array of unexpected dietary supplements he could easily reach. In 1995, the Lutzs were al ready living on the land that, UNIXERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) On Thursday, April 4, from 1 p.m.-3 p.m., Penn State Cooperative Extension in collab oration with the Appalachia Can cer Network, will host a national satellite conference entitled, “En vironment and Breast Cancer: Education for Change.” The program is a project of Cornell University’s Program on Breast Cancer and Environ Willard Lutz holds an os trich hide that is in the dry ing process packed in salt after the fat is removed and preparatory to being shipped away for tanning. after emigrating from Germany, Willards great-grandfather had acquired in the Shenandoah Val ley. That’s when they decided to go for the long jump and start an ostrich business. Getting Conic ville Ostrich off the ground wasn’t easy for Willard, who re tired from having been a dentist with the Harrisonburg/ Rockingham Health Department, and Lorna, a Shenandoah Coun ty elementary school teacher, Satellite Conference On Cancer April 4 mental Risk Factors (BCERF) and is targeted for those working with women, girls, families, and communities to teach the connec tions between health and envi ronment, the need to be physical ly active and to eat healthily, to limit exposure to environmental chemicals, and to integrate breast cancer risk reduction education into health screening. The conference will include who agreed to remain on the sub stitute roster after resigning the full-time position. “Money was the challenge,” said Willard about the early ex perience. It turned out they lost big bucks upon the purchase of their first breeder pair ordered from Texas. The lesson was a hard one. In Orange County Virginia, however, the same year they bought a second breeder pair close to home, their success im proved. Despite the difficulties, they retained a determination that was owing to the conviction that ostrich is a lean, healthier meat choice and a worthwhile small enterprise. They soon realized when they attempted to gather helpful in formation and advice from an os trich organization, that support was not there. They were on their own. Willard said Conicville Ostrich is one of a handful of similar op erations in the state of Virginia and reports that Texas and Okla homa are the main hubs for os trich farms. A female ostrich roils her egg on the counterparts ground at Conicville Ostrich, Mount Jack- laid by the os- son, Va. By and large the pursuit got off the ground and now is start ing to pay for itself. These days at appropriate times they hitch the livestock trailer to the truck and tow it to Somerset, Pa. where the Laßue Meat Processing folks slaughter the birds. En route there, however, curi ous travelers slowing down to get a better look generally create a slowdown of traffic. Instead of continuing on their way, the trav elers stay abreast longer than they should to observe the long necked creatures. “Traveling on the interstate, the ostriches stick their heads out the side of the trailer,” said Lorna. “Traffic will back up to see what on earth is sticking out its head out of the trailer.” The valuable hide is profes sionally removed at Laßues and the meat is also processed. Back at the farm, the fat is rendered after Willard takes it off the hide. The fat is valuable in producing lotions, soaps, and oils. Until ready to ship to a tannery in lowa, the hides stay packed in salt for two or three weeks. The four national speakers and fea ture the newly released BCERF Tool Kit, which contains practi cal breast cancer risk reduction messages that can and should be integrated into the lives of real people. Content areas include talking about pesticides in the home and neighborhood, chemicals in the home, helping rural women to adopt breast cancer risk reduc Loma Lutz, left, of Conicville Ostrich, chats with Lynn St. Clair of Swover Creak Farms about the Shenandoah Alternative Farmers Exchange (SAFE). In February, SAFE was awarded a grant that St. Clair applied for In behalf of the three farms comprising the exchange. Working coop eratively, they are going to direct-market their own fresh meats, poultry, vegetables, and small fruits both at home and at farmers markets. leather is shipped to Missouri and someone fills the order for various items the Lutzs want made from it. Lorna waxes creative with the eggs and feath ers visible in the handcrafts scat tered through out the house, along with nu merous leather items and by products, all within easy reach. The teal green emu eggs resem ble ready-made Easter eggs, but considerably smaller than the cream+colored trich. Lorna said as you drill into an emu egg, it gets lighter and lighter. Keeping both emus and os triches enable the Lutzs to edu cate visitors who come to them for tours. They can see distinct differences in the two species. The laying chickens they keep provide eggs to sell and their tur keys are ready at holiday time. With a good deal of pride, they point out a patch of blackberries Willard Lutz models the ostrich leather boots and Lorna, his wife, the ostrich leather shoes. tion strategies, integrating breast cancer risk reduction messages into community health care and breast cancer screening settings, and working with preadolescent girls to strengthen leadership skills in modeling healthy behav iors for breast cancer risk reduc tion. Each module of the Tool Kit has been field-tested and evaluat ed and is designed to be integrat ed into existing community edu that Willards forebears planted 40 years ago. The stalks continue their annual fruit-bearing. The markets and shows Lutzs go to in Woodstock, Staunton, and Charlottesville open on March 30 and run through De cember. Loma says, in fact, be fore the season ends for the mar kets, their fruits and vegetables will already have run out. They grow snow peas, onions, raspber ries, blackberries, asparagus, and corn, besides all manner of os trich meat and products. Their goal for connecting to customers in person is to ac quaint people with the source of their food and to provide the as surance there are no additives (Lutzs have applied for organic certification) in what they are selling. In maintaining and expanding this mission, with two other farms- in the area, they have or ganized the Shenandoah Alterna tive Farmers Exchange (SAFE) to market their products togeth er. For instance, at separate ven ues this year, while someone will be holding down one fort and selling all their products in a sin gle location, another will be doing the same thing somewhere else. People are welcome to visit the Conicville Ostrich farm by mak ing an appointment for a tour. Call the Lutzs at (540) 477-3574 or visit www.conicvilleos trich.com on the internet. cation programs and will be available for on-site review. For more information on the BCERF Program at Cornell check their Website: at http://www.cfe. comell.edu/bcerf. The Program will be broadcast also at Penn State Cooperative Extension Cumberland Coun ty- Register by calling Marg Male horn at (717) 240-6500.
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