OPINION
Pollution Solution: Use A
Mulching Mower
Each year, Pennsylvania residents help deposit 25 million tons of trash
in landfills. That equates to about 1 ton per person per year, according to
estimates provided by Rep. Tom Creighton (R-37), who spoke last week
during the Lancaster County Extension annual meeting.
Twenty percent of that trash is organic waste, which includes grass
clippings and leaves.
Lancaster County was given a special citation from the state legislators
because of its efforts to teach composting to households, with a potential
savings of about five million tons or 200 pounds per person. That’s signifi
cant!
What’s more significant and downright surprising is that so many peo
ple still bag leaves and grass, when a simple solution, and one that has
worked for this editor for the past 13 years, involves mulching.
I’ve used a mulch mower during that time. I have never bagged grass
or leaves. For more than a decade I have been using a 20-inch mulching
mower in a property with about 10 trees measuring about a third of an
acre. I could easily do an acre or more, add more trees, and still not have
to bag or pack a thing.
The myth: so many leaves. I have mulched every organic component, in
addition to leaves (from various maples and Bradford pear trees), even
the vegetables from my garden. It works completely. I’ve been doing it
successfully for 13 years! And my lawn looks fine!
There is no reason every yard manager couldn’t use a simple mulching
mower. For the past 13 years, I have mulched it all, including the leaves
and small branches from the trees into the lawn. The mulch feeds the
lawn and recycles the nutrients.
The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has a plan in
place to reduce organic waste by 35 percent. Let’s reduce it by at least 80
percent by using mulching systems whenever possible.
Saturday, February 8
Dauphin County Crops School,
Upper Dauphin High School,
8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., (717)
921-8803.
Sunday, February 9
Ohio Wine Shortcourse, Wyn
dam Hotel, Dublin, thru Feb.
11.
Fertilizer marketing business
meeting, Marriott Rivercenter
Editor:
National Food Check Out Day,
Feb. 6, is a celebration of the boun
ty coming from U.S. farms and
ranches.
American consumers share the
bounty by affordable food prices.
The average U.S. citizen devotes
only 10 percent of their income to
pay for food and they earn this
amount in just 37 days. Compared
to other expenses facing American
How To Reach Us
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Editor, Lancaster Farming
P.O. Box 609,1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
• By e-mail:
farming® lancnews.infl.net
Please note: Include your full
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Hotel, San Antonio, Texas,
thru Feb. 11.
Monday, February 10
Poultry Management and Health
Seminar, Kreider’s Restau
rant, Manheim, noon.
Windows II class, Capitol Region
Penn State Extension, Adams
County Extension Office, Get-
(Turn to Page A3B)
families, food is a great bargain. It
takes an average of 123 days of
work to pay local, state, and feder
al taxes.
The Indiana County Farm Bu
reau, its members and their
churches, have teamed up to take
the opportunity to share our good
fortune by collecting food, cash do
nations, and other items for the
Ronald McDonald House in Pitts
burgh. There are five Ronald
McDonald houses across the state
that provide a “home-away-from
home” for the families of seriously
ill children receiving medical treat
ment. The other 53 county Farm
Bureaus also participate in provid
ing for the needs of their local Ron
ald McDonald houses.
The farmers of Indiana County
and Pennsylvania sincerely thank
each of you who buy locally grown
and produced commodities. We
ask for your continued support.
—Jayne Jewart
Indiana County Farm Bureau
Information Director
To Prepare For Lambing
Lancaster county livestock agent
Chester Hughes provides this time
ly advice as lambing season is near.
Ewes showing signs of approach
ing lambing (nervousness, anxiety,
bleating, and pawing) should be
moved into lambing pens. If fluid is
discharged and labor is unproduc
tive, give assistance. Use a mild de
tergent solution to clean your
hands and the external area
around the vulva before examining
the ewe.
Lambs that cannot be delivered
normally can still be saved by cae
sarean section if the operation is
performed while they are still alive.
Be sure the new lamb is breathing
properly. Clear its nostrils of mu
cous by holding it by the hind legs
and rubbing it. Some shepherds in
sert a straw stem in the nostril
gently to force the lamb to sneeze.
Lambs, which won’t breathe, can
be held by the head and dipped in
cold water to make them gasp for
their first breath. Dry lambs off as
UNDER NEW
ORDERS
Background Scripture:
Acts 25:23 through 26:32.
Devotional Reading:
Ephesians 3:1-13.
Is it possible for us to be follow
ers of Jesus without ever having
experienced a life transforming ex
perience? Some of us can tell dra
matic stories of Jesus coming into
our lives and curing us of alcohol
ism, drugs, and so forth. But many
of us sincerely believe we live lives
from which we do not need to be
converted.
I believe transformation is essen
tial, but it is something that is so
varied that one style does not fit
all. It may be subtle and externally
unobserved. Dramatic changes are
easy to observe, but inner growth
may not be. Although it sometimes
may be visible, it is not so much
about external appearances, but
inner focus.
When Paul stood before King
Agrippa, he sought to explain what
had transformed him from Saul
the persecutor of the Way to Paul
the apostle for Christ. He began his
journey on the Damascus Road
Lancaster Farming
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soon as possible after birth. Rub
bing them dry is preferable. Heat
lamps should only be used with
weak lambs.
Baby lambs should nurse as soon
as possible. The first milk (colos
trum) supplies antibodies against
many diseases. After the lamb is 15
minutes old, his ability to absorb
antibodies rapidly decreases. By
the time the lamb is eight hours
old, he can only absorb about half
the amount of antibodies, and none
by 36 hours.
Baby lambs born in cold weather
and deprived of colostrum for even
a short time quickly suffer from
loss of blood glucose (dextrose).
Many are given up as lost when
simple treatment will usually save
them. Keep a supply of 50 percent
dextrose solution on hand. If the
lamb can swallow a tablespoonful
of this solution, it will usually
quickly revive. If the lamb is too
weak to swallow, use a stomach
tube to administer 5 to 10 percent
sterile dextrose-saline solution.
To Attend The
Lancaster County
Crop Production Day
A number of important and in
teresting topics are on the agenda
for Lancaster County’s Crop Pro
duction Day on Feb. 14 at the
Farm and Home Center, 1383 Ar
cadia Road, Lancaster.
Reduced tillage systems often in
crease the challenge of manage
ment of crop pests. Regional
agronomy agent Mark Goodson
will discuss how to avoid the noto
rious pests that invade under re
duced tillage. Farm Service Agency
Staff will review how the Farm Bill
affects both program and nonpro
gram farms. Capitol region agrono
my agent Paul Craig will discuss
developing good pesticide handling
habits. You will leam how to prac
tice some simple safety habits that
could prevent future illness or
emergencies room visits. Craig will
“with the authority and commis
sion of the chief priests” to seek out
and persecute the followers of
Jesus, but his experience gave him
new orders.
The Same, But Different
How dramatic was Paul’s
change? There was a dramatic
change, but it did not mean the
complete annihilation of the old
Saul. He was still a single-minded
and zealous man who poured him
self unreservedly into his spiritual
missions, still a man whose person
ality, if he were a clergyman today,
would make him a hard to place in
a local church. What transformed
his life was a new focus.
So it is, too, with most of us.
What we need is not to become to
tally different, but totally focused
on following Christ. An alcoholic’s
life is focused on his or her next
drink. A gambler’s life is focused
on the next bet. A Christian’s life,
however, needs to be focused on
the next step in discipleship.
We do not have to become like
Paul or Mary Magdalene. But, like
them, we are called to focus our
lives on Jesus.
Before King Agrippa, Paul
didn’t use the term “focus,” but he
did speak of the old commission
which he gave up for a new one.
The old one was the “authority and
commission of the chief priests” in
Jerusalem. The new commission,
however, came from the risen Lord:
“... to appoint you to serve and
bear witness to the things in which
you have seen me... delivering you
from the people and from the Gen
tiles to whom I send you”
(26:16). Paul is under new orders!
also review some simple ways to
stay safe while working with pesti
cides.
Capitol region agronomy agent
John Rowehl will present “Cus
tomizing Your Cropping Plans for
Profitability.” You will get a better
understanding of how some key
planning activities can increase
yields and minimize production
risks on drought-prone soils.
After lunch, Capitol region
agronomy agent Del Voight will
discuss “What’s in your Bank?”
Weed seeds remain viable for
many years, and an understanding
of which seeds are contained in the
soil is paramount to good weed
management.
With recent scares and terror
ist’s activities, there are major con
cerns facing pesticide users and the
agricultural community. Lancaster
County agronomy agent Bob An
derson will discuss “Pesticide Ag
rosecurity For the Farmstead.”
With recent droughts and low
commodity prices, crop insurance
is more important than ever to re
duce production and income risks.
Gene Gantz, with the USDA Risk
Management Agency, will provide
a “Crop Insurance Update.” You
will leam how producers with in
surance made out this past growing
season.
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. For
more information, call the Lancas
ter County Extension Office at
(717)-394-6851.
Quote of the Week:
“/ return to farming with an
ardour which I scarcely knew in
my youth, and which has got the
better entirely of my love of
study. Instead of writing ten or
twelve letters a day, which I have
been in the habit of doing as a
thing of course, I put off answer
ing my letters now, farmer-like,
till a rainy day, and then find it
sometimes postponed by other
necessary occupations. ”
Thomas Jefferson in a letter to
John Adams, April 25,1794
Transformed
To Transform
Those new orders are spelled out
carefully: .. the Gentiles... that
you may open their eyes, that they
may turn from darkness to light
and from the power of Satan to
God, that they may receive forgiv
eness of sins and a place among
those who are sanctified by faith in
me” (26:17,18). So his life is trans
formed and placed under new or
ders so that others may be also be
transformed and under new orders.
The call that came to Paul is the
very same call that comes to each
of us on whatever road we are trav
eling. The ways in which we can
respond will be different from the
ways in which Paul responded. The
circumstances today are different
from those in their world. Our own
individual lives are certainly differ
ent. But the call to open the eyes of
others to the light of Jesus Christ
has never changed and never will.
Forty years ago, I wrote on a
small card these words: “I am not
called to be ‘successful’ in my min
istry, but obedient for that will
be ‘success’ enough.’”
Aware that I, like Paul, was
under new orders, I have kept
those words upon my deSk and in
my consciousness ever since. Paul
did not measure his response in
numbers or public acclaim. His
only measure was obedience:
“Wherefore, O King Agrippa, I
was not disobedient to the heavenly
vision ” That is the only criteria
with which to measure our re
sponse: have we been obedient to
it?
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. Burgeat General Manager
Andy Andrewa, Editor
Copyright 2003 by Lancaster Farming