On Being a Farm Wife (and other hazard: Joyce Bupp Green ground. And purple corn. No one ‘round these parts can remember a year in which so little farm crop work has been completed as the last full week of spring rolls over into official sum mer. And the prolonged monsoon of damp, gray, drippy and del uges has rendered some unusual phenomena. We have soils tinted green with mossy/slimy/wet overtones, push ing up reluctant shoots of com protesting conditions with pur- Middleweight Champions AGCO LT Series tractors are designed to knock pcit all competitors with more standard featu/esand' value, including: < ' ; • "t* ! • Turbocharged Cummins® B Series 3.9 L engines • Quiet, spacious cabs or folding ROPS • 24x24 Power Shuttle transmission. • 2WD or PFA • 540 and 1000 RPM PTO Standard Stop in today. Take off your gloves. Grab the wheel. You’ll see whypowW feature, dollar to dollar, AGCO LT Series tractors are the urvJisputed , * ' » 'P'' 1A - > aoo6i AGCO* is a registered trademark of AGCO Corporation. FARMERS EQUIPMENT WITMER’S INC. & SUPPLY Columbiana, OH Airville, Pa. 330-427-2147 717-862-3967 HERNLEY’S FARM EQUIP., INC. Elizabethtown, Pa. 717-367-8867 B.H.M. FARM EQUIP., INC. Annville, Pa. 717-867-2211 lILLER EQUIPMENT CO. Bechtelsville, Pa. 610-845-2911 pie-tinted stress signs. Corn is a heat-loving tropical and like peo ple who are chilly, “turns blue” when it lacks adequate warmth. Even though it looks purple and peaked, our corn acreage is at least planted. Early this week, our soybeans sat high and dry, in their seed bags. I’ve tried not to grumble and worry, remembering last year’s parched summer. Our rolling, well-drained soils dry fairly quickly, enabling our equipment to head for the fields after a good day of sunny airy weather. Much acreage in the re- WERTZ FARM & POWER EQUIPMENT, INC. PARt. 516, Glen Rock, Pa. 717-235-0111 gion on low-lying ground, or of heavy soils, had not yet been planted this week. Couple this late, wet, delayed-everything year with the shortened (or failed) crops of last year’s drought and you can imagine how bare most barn cupboards have gotten. The seasonal weather pendulum seems locked into bizarre, ex treme swings, unable to find any sort of sensible “normal” rhythm. Hole-y, yellow-leaved peppers. Tomato stems nipped to nubbins. A totally-vanished row of string beans. That’s what greets us in the garden, as Derra Dog and I swing by after a frustrated check of the green-tinted fields of pur ple-hued corn seedlings. Linger ing wetness has spawned an in credible population of slugs, cousins of ordinary snails but naked of the shell. These little gray oozing clumps of insect goo gnaw their way through an ex tensive array of plants. And they don't just take samples here and there, but will chomp whole «*' ' * V s * > ? , <■ V h’ STANLEY’S FARM SERVICE Khngerstown, Pa. 570-648-2088 MANOR MOTORS On Rte. 553 Penn Run, Pa 724-254-4753 GRUMELLI FARM SERVICE Quarryville.Pa. 717-786-7318 leaves into Swiss cheese-like con ditions, leaving more hole than foliage. Despite my liberal dust ings with deterrents, the slugs ap pear to have banqueted on most of the pepper plant leaves, then finished dinner off with a dessert of infant string beans. Keeping slugs company is a fat robin I spy regularly, hip-hop ping around the yard, usually headed for the garden. Slugs shun tomato plants, but every one of ours not protected by some sort of sheltering device was promptly and nearly nibbled off. This team of sluggish slugs and raider rabbits should eliminate any problems with excess garden produce this season. A less-destructive damp weather-denizen is the king (maybe queen?) of the ponds, one of the fattest, biggest bullfrogs we have ever seen. Its conversation ' * . ■*i '.*»,» - S *',**• ( * y * K<4 ’■'V . v "f ,• C.J. WONSIDLER BROS. Quakertown, Pa. 215-536-7523 New Tripoli, Pa 215-767-7611 Oley, Pa 215-987-6257 LEBANON VALLEY IMPLEMENT CO., INC. Richland, Pa 717-866-7518 B. EQUIP, INC. Waynesboro, Pa 717-762-3193 Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 14, 2003-B5 Chester County Awards Ag Scholarship WEST CHESTER (Chester Co.) The Chest er County Commissioners and Agricultural De velopment Council awarded Thomas Marsh of Honey Brook their $l,OOO Agricultural Grant for 2003. Marsh, a Coatesville Area Senior High School student, has been involved with 4-H Clubs and leadership activities as well as mhny school activ ities. He recently attended the 4-H “Capital Days” program in Harrisburg. He plans to study Horticulture and Animal Science at Penn State University. The Council has been presenting the schol arship each year since 1995 to a high school sen ior planning to pursue a career in agriculture or an agriculture-related field. The applicants must plan to attend a four-year college on a full-time basis. -y f CLOSED SUNDAYS, MEW YEAR, Kg&LJ EASTER MONDAY, ASCENSION DAY, WHIT MONDAY, OCT. 11, THANKSGIVING, f*B«imf CHRISTMAS & DECEMBER 26TH FISHER FURNITURE NEW AND USED FURNITURE Antique & Collectables BUS. HRS BOX 57 MON.-THURS 8-5 1129 GEORGETOWN RD FRI , 8-8, SAT. 8-12 BART,PA 17503 See Duncan Sales & Service Representative for Mahoning Outdoor Furnaces * ) •*’ * '• VV .JVM # - y M\ N CAP $3.50* Each Available At Lancaster Farmsng, 1 East Main St., Ephrata, PA PLUS Shipping & Handling $2.50 Add’t Cap and Shipping @ $4.00 Each with fellow frogs dominates the evening meadow harmony, as the deep-throated croaks echo back and forth across the waterlily pads and pond grass clumps. Hard, greenish strawberries. Reluctant raspberries. Melan choly melon plants. A friend has dubbed this season “suspended animation” in gardening. But, hey, what’s this? Thick growth springing up, turning bare soil to lush patches of green. Strong, sturdy stems defy the weather and push ram pant foliage skyward, rejoicing in the frequent rain. Weeds. Healthy and apparent ly very happy, regardless of con ditions. Why don’t slugs and rabbits eat weeds? 90 DAY FREE FINANCING* Call or See George Duncan 1-800-332-6293 Millville, PA 1-570-458-6293 90 Days Free Interest with Approval Financing 'with approved credit Lancaster Farming Phone 717-626-1164
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