84-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 13, 2002 On Being a Farm Wife (and other hazards Joyce Bupp Gotcha! That might be another name for April, a 30-day stretch in which Mother Nature is over come with swings of raging hor mones, throwing weather at us that ranges from benevolent balmy to irresponsible-temper tantrum. Isn’t it supposed to be March that comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb? Someone in the Greater World Weather Schedul ing Department must have a computer glitch. (Maybe that’s where our rainfall of the last two years got hung up.) Usually, it’s the very early daf fodils that go down shivering through cold and wet, late-season snow. This year, the early daffs danced like ballet artists in a rel atively benign breeze. But nearly every day I rescue a few more of the later ones as they keel over with battered stems trying to hide from relentless wind. Gotcha! In a burst of balmy-aftemoon spring fever in late March, I tucked radish and spinach seeds into a little patch of rich, crumbly 01, SUS< (UEHANNA L'UINTING topsoil at the base of a bank which catches the early sunshine. To discourage cats and the guin ea trio from promptly scratching them out, a couple of those large, clear-plastic covers that come over bakery cakes went over the mini-patch. Strategically placed rocks on top served as anti-wind weights. About two weeks passed before any green poked through, about the same time the sun really began warming in the lengthen ing days. Mid-mornings on my way in from the barn, I’ll “flip my lids” to prevent baking the seedlings. Before long, a crowd of clouds will darken the sky. Next moment, there may be snow flur ries drifting by the window.. It takes a quick trip back out to replace the plastic covers, but not until they’ve been retrieved after having blown halfway to the pond. This may be repeated a couple of times a day, and then again at night. Gotcha! The Farmer has been similarly confounded in his early-season field chores. Our relatively-warm I A winter left many fields covered with incredibly lush growths of winter weeds, which will suck up every bit of precious crop mois ture if given a chance. But each time the spray equipment is filled, it must be emptied prompt ly before the temperatures drop overnight to freezing. An spray rig full of ice cubes is not a pre ferred way to start the day. Gotcha! We crank and shove open all the doors and windows of the dairy bam, even turning on a few fans inside, on those bright, sunny afternoons when the wind naps and the air inside quickly heats. Within hours, the sun sails west, wakes the wind, and we go trucking around the bam crank ing closed windows and yanking doors to shelter the cows from sudden gusts of snow dust. Gotcha! Even the berserk weather tem perature of April doesn’t con found nature’s critters, who go about their daily lives seemingly impervious to the extremes. Our cheerful robins look fat and well worm-fed despite the goofy weather and groundhogs are out, busying nibbling new grass. And a dozen geese honk and squabble endlessly on the pond, chasing, splashing, flying, vying for territory. In ever-growing agi tation, they circled and investi gated the mid-pond nesting “is- Streams and Lakes The STREAM MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA was completed in 1965 after a thirty-year effort by Howard Higbee, a former Penn State Professor The map is known as the LOST STREAM MAP to some anglers Professor Higbee succeed ed in creating a map of the high est detail possible a map that shows every stream and lake He painstakingly plotted by hand the location of 45,000 miles of streams onto a 3 by 5 foot map The map sold extremely weil-until it was lost several 4 years later Incredibly, the printer entrusted with the original draw ing and printing plates declared bankruptcy, then carelessly hauled Higbee’s 30 years of work to a landfill The few remaining dog eared copies became a pnzed fisherman's possession Professor Higbee was offered $4OO for one of his last maps. And state agencies were forced to keep their copies under lock and key Experts told Professor Higbee that reprints were impos sible, because the maps were pnnted in non-photographic blue. Then, in 1991, at the age of 91, Howard Higbee’s dream came true Computers made it possible to repnnt the map. Howard said, “I never thought I’d live to see this day." Get Your Garden Started TOWANDA (Bradford Co.) The Master Gardeners will pres ent their first in a series of gar dening classes on April 16, 6:30 p.m., in the County demonstra tion garden. The first class “Get Your Gar den Started” will feature short sections addressing planning and planting the garden, effective use of composting, using soil amend ments, soil preparation, starter fertilizer for transplants, garden ing with containers, and how to use newspapers to start beds. Any gardeners are welcome to attend. The free classes are very land” site, which had again worked loose from the plank moorings and such beneath the water surface. On a recent sunny morning, The Farmer took a few moments to balance in the canoe while he repaired the damage. Predictably, within moments, the sun disappeared, wind began to gust, and his fingers grew numb in the short time under icy water. But a fat goose promptly climbed onto the nest site and staked her claim, with a self-sat isfied shake of feathers over besti ng all other contenders in the quest for the yard-square, mid pond real estate. Gotcha! angler and boater needs these maps )% of all the anglers catch 90% of the fish. Regardless of which group you fall up your odds...simply try new fishing waters. Now, with this map you can find Pennsylvania, New York, New England, New Jersey, Ohio and Maryland/Delawaftare loaded with great fishing holes...many of them overlooked. Thousands of miles of streams, rivers and lakes are now easy-to-locale on one map. The 3-foot-b\-5-foot Pennsylvania map shows 45,000 miles of streams plus lakes. The 3 l/2-foot-bv-41/2-foot \ew \ork map shows 65,000 miles of streams plus lakes. The 3-fool-by-4-foot New England map shows 36,000 miles of streams plus lakes. The 2 l/2-foot-by-3- foot New Jersey map shows 8,300 miles of streams plus lakes. The 3-foot-by-3- foot Ohio Map shows 29,000 miles of streams plus lakes. The 2-fool-by-31/2-foot Marvland/Delaware map shows 12.000 miles of streams plus lakes. Professor HigbeeV Stream Maps are the first and only highly detailed maps of their kind. RAVE REVIEWS “It is amazingly detailed and names some creeks in the Mohawk Valley that can't even be found on topo graphic maps" —John Pitarres, OBSERVER-DISPATCH, Utica “If you're looking for the most definitive maps ever created depicting every sin gle creek, river, stream, pdnd and lake then ‘Professor Higbee’s Stream Maps' are without question the finest" —Howard Brant, THE NEWARK STAR LEDGER “It is in showing where to find out-of-the-way trout streams that makes the map Such a treasure to the fish erman ” —Joe Gordon, TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT, Johnstown practical and designed to give home gardeners usable gardening tips. The second class in the series will be held on May 21 and will feature plant propagation. Each month the Master Gardeners will teach one class in the garden on the third Tuesday of the month except for October which will be held on Saturday, October 19 at 9 a.m. The Bradford County Master Gardener Program began in 1995 as a means to provide commu nity gardening education and in formation to the public. Master Gardeners help the extension agents answer home gardening questions, diagnose plant prob lems, and teach gardeping class es. The Bradford County Demon stration Garden began in the spring of 1996. The first beds that were started included the raised beds of vegetables, perennial bor der with a rock wall, annual gar den and herb garden. The Victorian Garden Shelter was added in 1999. Added since then are PA Gardener Selects plants, stone pathways, a com post center and members are cur rently designing and planting woody ornamental beds and a rock garden. Get Ready for Spring Fishim Stream MAPS of Pennsylvania, New York, New fingland, New Jersey Ohio, & Maryiand/Delaware FREE GUIDEBOOK WITH ALL MAPS Pinpoint the best fishing in PA, NY, NE, NJ, OH & MD/DE with this valuable guide. Easily locate streams and lakes shown on the Stream Map both alphabetically and Jtowr map and guidebook will take you to m smct fishing waters. T ” OBI)ER YOUR TfOCbl? STREAM MAPS ~ ; Available rolled or folded ALSO AVAILABLE in heavy gauge LIFETIME j GUARANTEED, glass-likedear-laminabon, wnte-on wipe-off surface, | j with brass eyelets for easy hanging priority MAIL INCLUDED | ■ Stale Strum Map ROLLED FOLDED LAMINATED ; j PA3FIxSFT $2445ei _S24<sex. _s44 451 l j INY 3.5 FT 1 4.5 FT _«4.45ei. _524.45t1. _544.45tl j jN£3FT x 4 FT _524.45ea _J24 45ea. _544,45u j jtU 2.5 FT x 3 FT _534.45m _J24.45u _J44.45u. j jOH3FT X 3 FT _52445a _5244511. J 44 45fl j [ MD/OE 2FT x 3.5 FT $24.45m. 524 45*i. _544.45« j j Check or money order enclosed $ ! ; EACH ROLLED AND LAMINATED MAP SHIPPED IN A STURDY STORAGE TUBE | Kane ! Address | MAIL TO 1 1 LANCASTER FARMING I Dept. Map I | 1 East Main St., P.O. Box 609, Ephrata, PA 17622 ■ i PayablerQCheck Enclosed □ Visa □ Mastercard ODiscover i ! r.arHM ... ■* .Signature ; Exp Date i - j —n i
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers