AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 30, 2002
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OPINION
Something To Celebrate:
National Farm-City Week
President George Bush reminded us in a recent proclamation that
Nov. 22-Nov. 28 was National Farm City Week 2002, reflecting on the
fact that “agriculture has always been a cornerstone of our nation’s
way of life.”
In the proclamation, Bush noted that “our dedicated farmers and
ranchers improve our well-being by working to ensure a healthy and
abundant agricultural supply.”
Bush looks at the cooperative network, the way farmers and non
farmers cooperate in this compact, this covenant, that makes this na
tion the greatest ever.
Fanning, bush noted, was America’s first industry. This industry
provides us with the essentials of life.
Bush signed the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002
to support workers in the agricultural industry and to strengthen the
farm economy. This act stretches opportunities and allows farmers to
compete in the international marketplace.
In this week’s Farm Shelf on page A2B, a book looks at the realities
of that national competitiveness. Roger Simmermaker’s HOW
AMERICANS CAN BUY AMERICAN examines these lofty ideals of
what free trade and an open border trade policy has meant to the U.S.
ideals that have been dashed against the rocks far too many times.
Why take one day to celebrate Thanksgiving? Why only one day to
recognize mom, for that matter? Why not every day? Why shouldn’t
every day be a Farm-City day?
And why shouldn’t a president dedicate himself fully, day by day,
to making international trade fair and responsible for those farm fam
ilies who buy products?
Lancaster Farm and Home
Center, 12 weeks, Monday
evenings Dec. 2 thru March
17, (717) 394-6851.
Tuesday, December 3
SOPs for Dairy Industry Profes
sionals, Dairy Alliance, 9:30
a.m.-3 p.m., (888) 373-7232.
Grapevine Pruning Workshop,
Clover Hill Winery and Vine
yards, Robesonia, 9 a.m.-noon,
(717) 394-6851.
Wednesday, December 4
ADADC Meeting District 21,
Timberwolf Restaurant, Da
rien Center, N.Y., noon, (716)
492-3659.
E-Record Keeping for Diversified
Market Farms, Carroll Com
munity College, 10:30 a.m.-
3:30 p.m., also Dec. 11, (410)
386-8108.
Thorncroft Clinic, Mental Health
and Horsemanship, (610)
644-1963.
Pa. Milk Marketing Board Hear
ing, Room 309, Ag Building,
Harrisburg, 10:30 a.m., (717)
How To Reach Us
To address a letter to the editor;
• By fax: (717) 733-6058
• By regular mail:
Editor, Lancaster Farming
P.O. Box 609,1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
• By e-mail:
farming@lancnews.infi.net
Please note: Include your full
name, return address, and
phone number on the letter.
i nncaster Farming reserves the
light to edit the lettei to ■it and
is not responsible foi returning
unsolicited mail
787-4194.
Thursday, December 5
Ohio Sow Management Short
Course, N.W. District Exten
sion Office, Part lof 3,7 p.m.-
9 p.m., (614) 292-8254.
Our Future Grows Here: Future
Of Our Food And Farms Sum
mit, Wyndham Hotel, Wil
mington, Del., thru Dec. 6,
(215) 568-0830, ext. 10.
Maryland Grain Marketing meet
ing, Dutch Family Restaurant,
Millington, Md., 7:30 a.m.
Goddard Forum: Biodiversity,
Days Inn, State College, (814)
865-9390.
Friday, Decembei 6
Pa. 4-H Leadership Conference,
Hartman Center, Milroy, thru
Dec. 8.
Saturday, December?
Waterloo Boys Annual Christ
mas Banquet, Family Cup
board Restaurant, Intercourse,
5:30 p.m., (717) 292-0104.
Auction hosted by Washington
County Junior Fair Board at
Washington County Ag Cen
ter, Sharpsburg, 6:15 p.m.,
(301) 582-2116.
Thoroughbred Charities of
America Annual Fundraising
Event, Candyland Farms,
Middletown, Del., 6 p.m.
Ohio Forestry Workshop, Lum
ber From Your Woodlot,
Peace Lutheran Church, Cin
cinnati, Ohio, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.,
(614)688-3136.
Sunday, December 8
Maryland Farm Bureau Annual
Meeting and Convention, Car
ousel Resort Hotel, Ocean
City, Md„ (410) 922-3426.
Monday, December 9
Md.-Va. Milk Producers Coop,
district meeting, home of
Jacob Fisher, Mechanicsville,
(Turn to Page A2O)
To Explore Business
Planning Options
For Your Farm
“Tilling the Soil of Opportunity” is
a business planning class for fanners
who want to explore different pro
duction options on their farm. The
series of meetings is {timed at teach
ing small to mid-scale farmers and
agricultural professionals the neces
sary business skills to make decisions
that affect their current businesses,
or to start a new enterprise.
The course is taught in 12 three
hour sessions, during which fanners
develop mission and goals, market
ing strategies, financial statements,
and other critical components of a
comprehensive business plan. Each
class session combines lecture, guest
speakers, and worksheets to provide
the information necessary to com
plete a chapter of the farm business
plan.
People involved in fanning and re
lated businesses looking to “fine
tune” their current enterprises, as
well as beginning farmers consid
ering the business possibilities, are el
igible to sign up for the classes that
will begin soon in Lancaster and Get
tysburg. The Lancaster class will
meet on Monday evenings, Dec. 2
through March 17 at the Lancaster
Farm and Home. Center. The Gettys-
DON’T BE AFRAID
Background Scripture:
Luke 1:5-66.
Devotional Reading:
Isaiah 40:3-11
For Zechariah, one of Israel’s
20,000 priests who ministered in the
Jerusalem Temple, it was like win
ning the lottery. There were 20 divi
sions of priests and they alternated
responsibility for conducting the
morning and evening sacrifices for
the whole nation.
Within each division, the person
presiding over these rituals was de
cided by the drawing of lots. Many
priests might live a whole lifetime
without ever gaining the privilege of
offering the temple sacrifice. Those
who did counted it the greatest of
their lives.
Finally, it was his division’s turn
and the lot fell on him. What joy he
must have felt. His whole priestly life
had been focused on this day. Then,
at last, after so many years, that day
arrived. But Zechariah was unpre
pared for what he would experience.
Sometime after he uttered the tra
ditional invocation— “May the God
of mercy enter the sanctuary and be
pleased to accept the sacrifice of his
Lancaster Farming
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burg class will meet Wednesday
mornings, Jan. 8 through April 9 at
the Adams County Agricultural Cen
ter.
Contact Winifred McGee, (717)
270-4391 or Lynn Kime, (717)
334-6271, for additional information
or to receive a copy of the class regis
tration form. It is still possible to en
roll in the Lancaster class. There is a
cost of $l5O for the complete pro
gram.
To Learn How
White-Tailed Deer Disperse
When scientists from Penn State’s
College of Agricultural Sciences and
the Pennsylvania Game Commission
began tracking young, male white
tailed deer last winter to learn how
they disperse, the researchers weren’t
sure what to expect.
For years it was believed that deer
in Pennsylvania don’t move around
much. But wildlife experts knew that
for genetic reasons, deer populations
should minimize inbreeding, so it
made sense that the males would
leave the area where they were bom.
Now, almost a year into the study, a
fascinating picture of young buck
dispersal is emerging.
“Movement of young bucks is cer
tainly not related to quality of habitat
of a deer’s home range,” said Duane
Diefenbach, adjunct assistant profes
sor of wildlife resources with the
Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and
Wildlife Research Unit, a joint effort
of Penn State, the Game Commis
sion, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat
Commission, and the U.S. Geologic
Survey. “We see young bucks leaving
natal home ranges with good habitat
and traveling to other areas of good
habitat. It’s almost like the doe gives
them the message that it is time to
go.”
The joint three-year study in
tended to be the most extensive
radio-telemetry study of male deer
dispersal, survival, and the effects of
antler restrictions for hunting ever
attempted in the U.S. started last
December when 141 male deer were
captured in Armstrong and Centre
counties. Those deer caught using
helicopters, drop nets, walk-in traps,
and tranquilizer dart guns were
radio-collared and released un
harmed. Researchers have been
tracking their movements ever since.
The .two sites offer dramatically
different landscapes. Long points
people” Zechariah saw something
he had not expected: “... there ap
peared to him an angel of the Lord
standing on the right side of the altar
of incense. And Zechariah was trou
bled when he saw him, and fear fell
upon him” (1:11,12).
No Child Was Given
Isn’t that a bit strange? Zechariah
was a priest and both he and his
wife, Elizabeth, were “righteous be
fore God.” So why should he, a man
dedicated to serving in the spiritual
realm of life, be “troubled” and
afraid at the appearance of one of
God’s messengers?
Why would he invoke the presence
of the Lord and then be struck with
fear when God revealed his pres
ence? It was not because he did not
believe in God, but that he did not
believe that God believed in him. For
so many years he and Elizabeth
prayed for a child and, despite his
rank and their righteousness, no
child was given.
Childlessness in a marriage was
regarded as a sign of God’s disfavor.
It was even a valid ground for di
vorce. At the very least, it was a pub
lic embarrassment. Zechariah be
lieved that God answered prayers,
but he no longer expected God to an
swer his prayers! The embarrassment
was of greater consequence than his
trust in God’s grace.
What about us? We believe in a
God who does wondrous things in re
sponse to prayer, but not to us.
Maybe we think we’re not good
enough (and we’re not), don’t have
enough faith, don’t know how to
pray, or that this is simply our fate or
God’s will. So we go through the mo
tions as Zechariah did and we are
equally unprepared when at last God
sends a message that says, in effect.
out, and that probably accounts for a
difference in dispersal rates of young
bucks. “At the Armstrong County
site near Kittanning, which is mostly
rolling hills with patches of forest
and open agricultural areas often di
vided by roads, 44 percent of bucks'
that were collared left their mothers)
in the spring. On average they went )
about seven miles.
“At the Centre County site, which
is less fragmented and features con
tinuous forested ridges, 24 percent of
young bucks dispersed in the
spring,” said Long. “They didn’t
move as far on average about fivei
miles. The maximum dispersal dis-.
tance we have seen in Centre County,
was 13 and a half miles.”
Early information yielded by the
research dispels some myths about!
Pennsylvania deer, Long noted.!
“From a management perspective,
we know that we can’t manage deer
in a small area,” he said. “There is a
lot of interchange between animals
and areas. Landowners should real
ize that there is a good chance that
the bucks they see on their property
probably weren’t bom there. There is
a lot more interchange than people
were expecting.”
This information likely will be of
great interest to hunters, Long specu-1
lates. “There have been suggestions!
that landowners could introduce big
racked bucks to pass on their genes
to offspring males that will have big- 1
ger racks,” he said. “But we are see- •
ing now that the young male deer!
probably won’t stay in the area. They i
more likely are producing bucks fori
landowners in the next valley, or
even the next county.”
Moreover, Gary Alt, deer manage- ■
ment section supervisor for the Game!
Commission, points out that Penn-,
sylvania deer don’t need better genes,,
they just need to live a year longer.
“We know from our research that’-
two-and-a-half-year-old Pennsylva-i
nia bucks sport a seven- or eight- 1
point rack with an outside spread of
IS inches,” he said. i
The Pennsylvania Game Commis- j
sion’s Website, http://!
www.pgc.state.pa.us, is keeping a
running journal of the study. For.
more information, click on “Wild
life,” then “Deer in Pennsylvania,”
and then “Antlered Deer Study.”
Quote Of The Week;
“Tact: the ability to describe
others as they see themselves. ”
Abraham Lincoln
to us: “Do not be afraid... for your
prayer is heard...” We need to learn
with Zechariab that God not only
hears prayer, but he hears our pray
er.
A ‘Holy Fear’
The late Walter Russell Bowie dis
cerns in the nativity narratives of
Luke a pattern of fear. When the
angel appeared to Zechariah, “fear
fell on him.” When Gabriel came to,
Mary in Nazareth, she was “greatly
troubled.” When the shepherds in
the fields of Bethlehem experienced.
the angelic chorus, “they were filled
with fear.”
And the message of the angels in
each case was directed at this holy
fear. “Do not be afraid,” the angel
said to Zechariah. “Do not be'
afraid,” Gabriel said to Mary. And to
the shepherds abiding in their fields,
the angels proclaimed, “Be not;
afraid.” ,
So there are two kinds of fear that
Luke lifts up for us. There is the fear
that keeps me from believing that
God will respond to my prayers.
That kind of fear means that we do
not really trust God to come, care,
and provide for us. We lack faith be
cause we believe the promises of God
are not valid for us. Nothing is more
paralyzing than that craven fear.
But there is another kind of fear, a
holy fear that comes as a sudden rec
ognition of the reality of God in my
life. This is a sense of overwhelming
awe and wonder that says to us, if we
listen with any attentiveness, “Do
not be afraid.”
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
-by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Stemman Enterprise
William J. Burgess General Manager
Andy Andrews, Editor
V ~ “•-
Copyright 2002 by Lancaster Farming