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