AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 13, 2003
OPINION
Pennsylvania To Implement
Statewide 4-H Fee
We learned this week that Pennsylvania plans to do what Colorado
State University Cooperative Extension, and Other extension pro
grams throughout the country, have done: initiate a minimal 4-H pro
gram participation fee that will be implemented Oct. 1, the beginning
of the 4-H year.
According to Roxanne Price, York County extension 4-H coordina
tor, the fee $lO per child per year is a brand new program for the
state.
It’s also a sign of the times decreasing federal and state budget
allocations to youth programs, shrinking sources of revenue for these
kinds of programs as a whole, and reduced individual contributions.
Everyone is expected to start sharing the revenue base to fund 4-H.
Some critics point out that the fee could be a bookkeeping night
mare. But the fee funding could come from a variety of sources not
necessarily from parents of the youth such as bake sales, craft
shows, car washes, or any number of avenues.
Price noted that many youth benefit from 4-H programs. And the
families are accustomed to paying for sporting and other event partic
ipation and some a lot more than $lO per child.
“We all have to share in ways in this cost recovery program to help
keep our programs afloat,” noted Price.
While Pennsylvania’s fee will be per child per year only, Colorado’s
fee is set for an initial three-year period, and fees are assessed on the
total number of youth enrolled in 4-H clubs and special interest proj
ects. According to Colorado State, most 4-H programs across the state
charge a minimal county-level participation fee and recoup costs of
printed materials by charging for them. Colorado is implementing a
state $5 charge per club member and an additional $1 charge per en
rollment in a special interest project. Curriculum, such as 4-H record
and project books, also will increase in cost an average of 50 cents.
“The participation fees will generate resources to ensure continuity
to the program support, management, and special services offered
through the state 4-H office,” said Milan Rewerts, Colorado State Co
operative Extension director. “The fees will help to provide staff sala
ries, operating and travel budgets, and Internet technology. Without
the fee implementation, the 4-H program would have been negatively
impacted with the loss of employees, reduced 4-H projects, and an in
(Turn to Page A3l)
Saturday, September 13
Pa. German Folklife Festival, Histor
ic Schaefferstown, thru Sept. 14,
(717)949-2280.
Pa. Shepherd’s Symposium and 4th
Annua) Young Shepherd’s Camp,
thru Sept. 14.
Forestry Workshop and Walking
Tour, Irish Pines Tree Farm,
Spruce Creek, (814) 693-6676.
Editor ;
The Pennsylvania General As
sembly returned to legislative ses
sion on Sept. 9 after an extended
spring session failed to resolve a
political impasse. This has de
layed the final adoption of Penn
State’s state appropriation.
Penn State’s budget is funded
as a non-preferred appropriation,
and by law, the state cannot pass
non-preferred appropriation bills,
such as Penn State’s appropria
tion, until its General Fund is fi
nalized. While much of the Gen
eral Fund work is already done,
there are outstanding disagree
ments on such major issues as
basic education funding, gam
bling expansion, and property tax
reduction, which have prevented
a final budget agreement from
being enacted.
Annual Conference Pa. Planning As
sociation, Hilton Pittsburgh, thru
Sept. 17,(717)671-4510.
Maryland Pasture Walk and Talk
Tour, Aist beef farm, south of
Upper Marlboro on Rt. 301, 9:30
a.m.-l p.m., (443) 482-2922.
Value Added Marketing, Pa. Farm
(Turn to Page A3O)
❖ Farm Forum ♦
Until the Governor and Legis
lature end this stalemate and fi
nalize Penn State’s 2003-2004 ap
propriation, the university will be
forced to borrow funds to replace
the state’s monthly payments of
more than $25 million. Interest
charges will quickly exceed
$lOO,OOO per month if the im
passe extends through the fall.
The message to the Governor
and your state legislator is sim
ple: quickly resolve your differ
ences, and restore full funding at
last year’s level to critical serv
ices, including higher education.
The current language contains
a 5 percent cut for Penn State, in
cluding the agricultural research
and extension line items. This
will result in an approximate $4.4
(Turn to Page A 33)
With the delay in com maturity
this year, it is really tempting to get
in a hurry and harvest your silage be
fore it is ready. But it is important to
remember that harvesting com silage
at the proper moisture is one of the
most important steps in producing
quality silage.
The ideal moisture for your opera
tion will be determined by what kind
of storage structure you will use. For
sealed airtight silos, the ideal range is
60-65 percent; for upright silos, 63-68
percent; for silage bags, 60 to 70 'per
cent; and for trench silos, 65-72 per
cent moisture is the desireid range.
Chopping at higher moistures
often causes too much acid produc
tion (which reduces palatability), DM
loss, and seepage. Valuable nutrients
will be lost from the crop through
seepage, which can also harm the en
vironment.
Ideally, one should test moisture
during harvest to stay within the op
timum moisture range. If this is not
practical, you can monitor moisture
by the stage of crop development.
There is a simple method you can
use to determine this optimum stage
A MILD DOSE
OF CHRISTIANITY
Background Scripture:
James 1:19-26; 5:7-20.
Devotional Reading:
2 Corinthians 4:5-11
As a school-age child, 1 was inocu
lated against several childhood dis
eases. I found it difficult to under
stand that, in order to keep me from
becoming ill with these diseases, they
were injecting small amounts of bac
teria into my bloodstream. It took me
some time to understand that these
bacteria would stimulate the produc
tion of antibodies that would protect
me from these diseases in the future.
TT7
* t
'v „}< $
Similarly, we can also apply this
same principle to the effect of our
Christianity. A mild dose of the gos
pel may inoculate us against experi
encing a .more severe case of it. Un
like a physical disease, however, it is
the more severe or deeper dose of the
gospel that is to be desired.
Jesus did not call his disciples to a
mild dose of discipleship. The rich
young ruler was attracted to the
teachings of Jesus, but when Jesus
told him the cost of discipleship, he
went away sorrowfully, for he didn’t
want a faith that demanding.
The beguiling thing about a mild
Lancaster Farming
An Award-Winning Farm Newspaper
• PDA Friend of Agriculture Award, 2003
• Keystone Awards 1993,1995 • PennAg Industries 1992
• PACD Media Award 1996 • Berks Ag-Busmess Council 2000
• Recognized for photo excellence throughout the years by the
Northeast Farm Communicators
To Harvest Com
Silage At The
Proper Moisture
for harvesting your com silage.
When the kernels reach early dent
stage, a separation can be seen be
tween kernel starch and milk.
Take an ear and snap it in half.
You will see the firm starch depos
ited in the outer part of the kernel
while the milk will occupy the base of
the kernel. This gives the appearance
of a whitish line separating the two
areas. As the kernels continue to ma
ture, the milk line moves down the
kernels. When this line reaches the
midpoint, 90 percent of the kernel
dry weight has been achieved. When
the milk line reaches the base of the
kernel, a black layer is formed sepa
rating the kernel starch from the cob
and the crop is mature.
When the crop reaches full dent
and the milk line first appears, the
crop is usually about 70 percent
moisture. When the milk line reaches
the midpoint, silage yields should be
at their maximum and the moisture
is at 65 percent. When the milk line
reaches the base of the kernel, the
crop moisture is usually about 60
percent. By observing the develop
ment of the milk line, one can de
termine optimum harvest time.
The one limitation of this method
is the weather variation. If you have
experienced extremely wet or dry
conditions for a few weeks before
harvest, the moisture can vary by as
much as 5 percent from the predic
tions given above. There are also
wide variations in hybrids, so testing
is still important. It is best to monitor
plant moisture using a microwave
oven or a Koster tester. If you do not
have a Koster tester, check with your
nutritionist who may be able to run
the test for you.
To Harvest All
Mature Pumpkins Promptly
Penn State Horticulture Specialist
Mike Orzolek considers 2003 to have
been the most challenging pumpkin
production year in the 22 years he
has been with the university. Rain,
rain, and more rain along with the
cooler-than-normal weather across
the commonwealth have caused
problems from day one.
Delay in planting the pumpkins,
lack of weed control, high popula
tions of cucumber beetles, and now
diseases mildews and phytophtho
ra have combined to make this
dose of the gospel is that it often al
lows us to count ourselves as follow
ers of Jesus without actually doing
so. As nominal Christians, we permit
ourselves the delusion that we are
true disciples. We have baptismal
certificates and church membership
status to support that illusion. Our
mild dose of Christianity becomes an
acceptable substitute for the real
thing.
No Nominal Disdples
This problem has existed since the
earliest days of the church. The only
difference between nominal Chris
tians today and the rich young ruler
is that Jesus forced him to realize
that a nominal relationship would
not be any relationship at all.
Jesus made it clear that his mis
sion was not to call people to approve
of him or to simply believe in him
and his teachings, but “If any man
will come after me, let him deny him
self, and take up his cross daily, and
follow me” (Luke 9:23).”
It was this concern with which
James is concerned. Perhaps they
key verse for his whole letter is 1:22,
“But be doers of the word, and not
hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
Coming to church on Sundays and
hearing the word without doing it is
only nominal Christianity. Nor is it
enough for us to merely talk about
our faith.
If we want to talk the talk, we
must also walk the walk that Jesus
walked. Talking the talk only allows
us to deceive ourselves into believing
that we are Christians. I’m not sug
gesting that we should not talk like
Christians, but that so many of us
never get beyond the talking.
James gives us a simple but power
ful example. The commandment is;
“You shall love your neighbor as
yourself’ (2:8). That means showing
no partiality. “For if a man with gold
season more difficult than many. A
number of growers have reported in
festations of phytophthora in the last
two weeks. Since there are not many
options for effective fungicide appli
cations other than Acrobat and no
resistant pumpkin varieties, this dis
ease can be very devastating this
time of year if observed in your
pumpkin fields.
Orzolek’s recommendation for
most growers is to harvest all mature
pumpkins that are orange or mostly
orange, disease free, with green stems
and place them in a dry storage with
forced air blowing over/through them
for the first two weeks. Be sure that
all pumpkins placed in storage are
disease-free. For insurance, pump
kins could be dipped or sprayed with
ISO ppm chlorine prior to being
placed in storage. Any phytophthora
infected fruit placed in storage has
the potential to rot other fruit near it
in storage.
If more rainy weather returns,
leaving pumpkins in the field would
be hazardous to the health and mar
ketability of the fruit. After talking
with growers and traveling across the
state, Orzolek estimates that many
pumpkin fields have 20 to 30 percent
less fruit in 2003 compared to 2002.
This occurred because bees do not
like wet, cloudy days and mature fe
male pumpkin flowers are only re
ceptive to pollen for fertilization for 6
hours before they close permanently.
What fruit you find in the field this
year, you may want to treat like fresh
eggs.
To Purchase Crop
Insurance For
Fall-Seeded Wheat
Crop Revenue Coverage is avail
able on fall seeded wheat for the first
time in Pennsylvania this year. This
type of coverage has been very popu
lar with com and soybean growers
because it guarantees revenue based
on the Chicago Board of Trade
prices rather than on yield. See your
crop insurance agent for details. The
enrollment deadline is Sept. 30.
Quote Of The Week:
“Conservation is the foresighted
utilization, preservation and/or re
newal of forests, waters, lands and
minerals, for the greatest good of
the greatest number for the longest
time.”
Gifford Pinchot
rings and in fine clothing comes into
your assembly, and a poor man in
shabby clothing also comes in, and
you pay attention to the one Who
wears fine clothing and say, ‘Have a
seat here, please,’ while you say to
the poor mahi ‘Stand there,’ or ‘Sit at
my feet,’ have you not made distinc
tions among yourselves, and become
judges with evil thoughts?” This is
evidence of only a mild dose of the
gospel.
‘A Right Strawy Epistle’
Martin Luther saw this passage as
a contradiction of Paul’s doctrine of
grace alone, faith alone, and called it
“a right strawy epistle.” But James
and Paul are only in superficial dis
agreement based upon different per
spectives and different understand
ings of the word “faith.” James asks,
“What does it profit, my brethren, if
a man says he has faith, but has not
works? Can his faith save him? If a
brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack
of daily food, and one of you says to
them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and
filled,’ without giving them the
things needed for the body, what
does it profit?” (2:14-16).
When James speaks of “faith,” he
means a belief that is only ideas and
words. However, by “faith,” Paul
means a conviction and trust that
motivate the way we live. Paul af
firms that we are saved by our trust
in God, not our good deeds. James
affirms that a “faith” that does not
produce fruits is not a real faith. Paul
would not deny that.
Belief without fruitful works is
nothing more than a mild dose of the
gospel.
Lancaster Fanning
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
—by—
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Steinman Enterprise
William J. Burgess General Manager
Andy Andrews, Editor
Copyright 2003 by Lancaster Farming