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.