Finding things to do to fill my days since retiring from the legislature hasn’t been difficult.  The tasks that go along with farming are never-ending, and I’ve thrown my “spare” time into helping several agricultural organizations achieve their goals.  Two of them will be coming together on July 14^th as the Farm City Council in Berks County conducts its second Bull Bash, with proceeds going to benefit farmland preservation through Adopt An Acre Inc.  The county’s 4-H clubs and commodity groups will also be raising some funds to support their programs by serving up some delicious food for visitors to the event.  The ultimate goal, along with financially supporting things we care about, is educating folks who no longer live on or near farms about agriculture.

Ag businesses, ag lenders, commodity groups like the Pennsylvania Beef Council, the county Grange and Extension Service, all have joined with farmers in putting on this year’s fun affair at the Reading Fairgrounds.  For more information on next Saturday’s event, you can check out the schedule posted on the brand new website for Adopt An Acre Inc. at www.preservefarms.org.  Just click on Upcoming Events.  Then come out between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. to participate in the numerous events, including horse-drawn wagon rides, a mechanical bull to test your “cowboy-up” abilities, cow-pie bingo, and contests to test your knowledge about agriculture.  The Pennsylvania Beef Council will be sponsoring, along with Boyer’s Food Markets, a burger grilling contest with great prizes for the winners.  A six-horse hitch demonstration will be sure to dazzle the crowds as the skillful driver puts his team through their paces on the fairgrounds.

Of course, Berks County is not unique in offering this type of agriculture education experience.  I was impressed by Lancaster County’s “Family Farm Days” which was reported on by Michelle Kunjappu in last week’s Lancaster Farming.  What a great cooperative effort by the community in making sure people understand where their food comes from.  They always say that the best form of flattery is when someone borrows your ideas.  Well there are a lot of good ideas in that story that may be cropping up next year in neighboring Berks County and hopefully at other events across the state!  Along with learning, it was apparent that all the participants were having lots of fun and enjoying the whole farm experience.

I congratulate all the counties and farm groups that are putting on these types of events.  It is no small effort to plan and carry out these programs each year.  Whether as a weekend special event or in conjunction with county fairs, educating the non-farm public has to be an on-going commitment by everyone in agriculture.  Don’t miss the opportunity to teach a memorable lesson about life on a farm just by taking advantage of people who are driving past your place.  Is the story you’re telling a good one?  Can you do a better job communicating the key role agriculture plays in each passerby’s everyday life?  Can you lend some time, talent, or support to events like “Family Farm Days” or the “Berks Bull Bash.”  No matter how busy you are, these programs could sure use a few minutes of your time to help tell the farm story.  By volunteering to teach others what it means to F-A-R-M, we learn the real meaning ourselves.

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I am blessed to have two dads --- one who is responsible for my existence and my love of farming, and one who became part of my life 32 years ago when I began dating his son.  Both of these wonderful men were born on farms and grew up in the 20th century.  They watched the transition of agriculture move from equine horse power to mechanical horse power during their youth.  They also found their young adult years impacted by a World War that sent one to the Pacific while the other stayed home with his family and farmed.  As we celebrate our nation’s independence this coming week, I encourage you to join me in reflecting on the sacrifices soldiers and farmers have made throughout the history of our country.

With great pride and appreciation, I reflect on the role my father, Vernon Miller, played in our country’s defense during World War II.  He enlisted in the Marine Corps and was shipped out to Iwo Jima where he survived one of the bloodiest battles in the history of mankind.  While he has always kept most of his wartime memories locked up inside, he has shared some of his battleground experiences with his three grandchildren in recent years.  That is important so they can understand the great sacrifice that soldiers, like their grandpa, made in their lifetimes to keep our country shining as the beacon of freedom around the world.  When my dad returned from the war, he returned to the farm, married my mom, and has been tilling the land for more than half a century on the farm they purchased in Dauphin County.

While my Dad was in the first wave of Marines who crawled up the sandy beeches of Iwo Jima more than sixty years ago, my father-in-law, Charles Miller, and his brothers worked the family farms in Adams County and cared for their young families.  His role in keeping food growing for the country and its soldiers was an important task, too.  Even though many supplies were limited on the farm because they were needed for the war effort, the farmers who stayed behind made the best of it and kept food on the tables at home and across the seas.

As former Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Sam Hayes has pointed out in eloquent speeches I have had the pleasure of listening to over the years, “Our nation’s defense is only as strong as our ability to feed ourselves.”  That message should be on every car’s bumper sticker in the 21^st century.

Too often I hear folks who should know better, since they are considered successful businessmen, make comments that we do not need to save farmland to raise crops here in Pennsylvania, or in this country.  We can always buy food off-shore from foreign countries, they contend.  Are they forgetting about the price of oil these days and what happens when we become too dependent on foreign suppliers?  Further, do they want to risk the health of their children and grandchildren by forcing them to consume food that we have no safety controls on how it’s raised or processed?  And, are we willing to jeopardize our national security by allowing other countries to determine what food is sent to our hungry citizens if there is a shortage or global conflict?

My answer and I hope yours, too, is a resounding “no.”  We need to continue to keep our farms growing and feeding our people and our military men and women who are putting their lives on the line every day so that we can enjoy the benefits of a free democracy.

Our forefathers knew the importance of agriculture to the nation.  Our Commonwealth’s flag bears a plow and shocks of grain on its shield.  The artist who created our state’s flag knew the key role farming played in the history of the Keystone state.  The only other industry depicted on the flag is ship building.  More than two centuries later, Pennsylvania remains a leader in agriculture while ship building is no longer a major economic driver for our state.

This Fourth of July, take a few minutes to reflect on the past and remember to say thank you to our military family, both active and veteran soldiers.  At the same time, say thank you to the members of our farm family who are behind the front lines, feeding the nation and helping to keep it strong.  Just this week, a man stopped by my parents’ farm to say thank you to my dad for serving our country.  That meant a lot to him to know that someone took the time to stop in just to thank him for his patriotic service to our country.  Do you know someone who is serving or has served in the military?  With all we have to be thankful for, take a few minutes to express it to that person who put their life on the line for you and me.  God bless America, keep our soldiers safe, and let freedom ring around the world.

 Lancaster Farming's guidelines for posting comments on the website ask that you follow the Golden Rule, respecting other opinions and being truthful and civil.  Do not post any statements that are illegal, defamatory, obscene, threatening, or plagiarized.

I want to thank Painted Hand Farm for taking the time to post comments on last week’s F-A-R-M blog.  It’s good to hear from you and know you share many of the same feelings I do about agriculture.  As farmers, it is our responsibility to help others know what it means to F-A-R-M for a living, and what it means to every consumer on a daily basis.  This message can be shared on bumper stickers, in blogs, or by bumping into someone in the grocery store who looks puzzled about food and where it comes from!  Don’t wait for commodity check off programs to do the public relations for you.  Grab the opportunity and speak up in support of farmers.  It’s amazing what people don’t know!

When it comes to not knowing, I am the first to admit that blogging is all new to me.  It is part of an evolutionary publishing world.  Nevertheless, I am learning how to navigate this new technology that allows me to write this column in my farm office and paste it onto Lancaster Farming’s website without wasting fuel.  Last week, I was cruising along on my computer’s keyboard and feeling quite proud of my adaptability in posting my second blog when I realized I had actually “replied” to my first column.  Ooops.  Try again and follow Editor Dave Lefever’s directions more closely this time.  As I successfully completed the task (hearing imaginary cheers coming from his office in Ephrata, Lancaster County), I heard the telephone ringing.  Answering it with an eye on my computer screen that might signal Dave was calling to warn of a fatal error to deflate my elation at having completed the blog before 8 a.m., I heard my mom’s voice asking me:  “Do you want your heifers in both pastures?”

What?  It took a few seconds to transport myself away from the virtual world of my blog and into farming reality.  As my mind absorbed what was being said over Alexander Graham Bell’s old-fashioned communication mode, my mother suddenly had my full attention as my heart raced faster than the speed of my Internet server.  Why were the heifers in both pastures?  Was the fencer not working because of the previous day’s storm?  Had the hi-tensile fence or a post been knocked over somehow?  Were they going to venture beyond the confines of the pasture fence once they knew they could?   With all this warping across my brain cells, I managed to ask with less than a calm composure if my dad knew if the fencer was working or how the heifers got through to the other side.  Her response gave me no comfort when she said, “We don’t know.”

Jumping out of my chair, I told her to tell Dad I would be on my way to their farm where we keep our yearling heifers throughout the summer and fall.  My parents’ farm is a forty minute drive from our farms in Berks County so I knew I had to get rolling.  I was heading out to grab another fencer, just in case, before leaving and decided to call to see if there was anything else I might need.  That was a good decision and saved me a trip to Hershey when Dad said he discovered the heifers had somehow bumped a gate open and helped themselves to the greener pasture on the resting side of the grazing system.  Relief!  My heart quit pounding like a drum after a minute or two.

Calming down, I went back to the computer as I sipped a cup of coffee and checked my messages from Dave Lefever who was giving me an e-mail “high five” for getting my blog posted right the second time I tried.  I thought about how quickly my sense of accomplishment had changed to anxiety thanks to my cattle in that short time frame.  The experience of roller coaster emotions is pretty standard for farmers.  We are elated when we get our crops planted in April, and become anxious when Mother Nature turns off the rain in May and June.  We are ecstatic when our livestock are bred to better sires than the year before, and are devastated when birthing difficulties or illness claim the calf, lamb or piglet before it’s had the chance to grow up to be the best one we ever bred.  Farming’s highs and lows can sap your psyche.  Sometimes it’s good just to talk about them.  Find some humor, or reassure someone that there is a better day coming.

We all can relate stories of things that happen on the farm that bring us great joy or great sorrow, calm or stress.  They happen every day, week, year, or as the kids say, 24-7-365.  That’s life on the F-A-R-M.

 Lancaster Farming's guidelines for posting comments on the website ask that you follow the Golden Rule, respecting other opinions and being truthful and civil.  Do not post any statements that are illegal, defamatory, obscene, threatening, or plagiarized. 

Another issue of Lancaster Farming is going to press.  And, this is the second edition for my F-A-R-M blog on the website.  It has been an interesting challenge getting the page ready to go, with graphics and photo, but I always enjoy learning something new.  I have to give credit to my daughter, Emilie, for taking the photo and helping to develop the page.  The newspaper staff performed the technology magic and F-A-R-M made its inaugural appearance on Lancaster Farming’s web page last week.  Amazing what can be done in today’s information age.  And now I've learned how to log on and add another column to the blog.  Give it a try yourself and post a comment on this blog if you would like to share your thoughts on what farming means to you.

This week I was reminded that one of the real meanings in life is meeting, making and keeping true friends.  I received a message from a fellow Hereford breeder in New Jersey who read the article and logged onto the website.  Along with an update on his beef cattle herd and this year’s calves, Chris R. shared with me what it means to F-A-R-M.  He told me that it is “preserving a way of life for my grand kids, having the opportunity to show the next generation in a small way how the simple ways can be the most meaningful.”  He added that even though he and his wife are not fulltime farmers, they “love the ability to have our own small slice of heaven.”

His message brightened my day, especially knowing that Chris and Bev farm in New Jersey, between Philadelphia and Atlantic City.  Before visiting their farm, I couldn’t imagine there could be any farms left in that highly-populated area.  I was in for a great surprise when we drove through acres and acres of productive farms that are holding their own, despite the development pressures around them.  While Pennsylvania leads the nation in preserving farmland, I have to give credit to the programs in our neighboring states that help keep crops and livestock growing on these fields, rather than houses or casinos.

Saving the land for the next generation is a true gift. It is coincidental that one of my favorite tee shirts was purchased on a rare day-trip to the ocean many years ago.  The shirt caught my eye in one of those board walk shops.  It reads:  “A farm is a gift from God.”  Those words surround “homespun” graphics of a barn and various foods that are raised by farmers.  Friends ask me where they can find a shirt like it but I’ve never seen it anywhere else since that day at the seashore.  It is a special shirt and I wear it with pride.  It reminds me to give thanks for the privilege of farming the land, a job that lets me make many friends and help feed the world one customer at a time.

Perhaps you have a special shirt, or hat, or sign that serves as your inspiration to keep on farming.  It may be a special person who keeps you tilling the land even though it may be easier and more lucrative to sell out.  Feel free to share what motivates you to keep on F-A-R-Ming.

Lancaster Farming's guidelines for posting comments on the website ask that you follow the Golden Rule, respecting other opinions and being truthful and civil.  Do not post any statements that are illegal, defamatory, obscene, threatening, or plagiarized.  

F-A-R-M.  Those four letters mean different things to different people.  Taken together, the letters can be the subject in a sentence or an action word.  A farm can be a place or something someone does to make a living.  Whether a noun or a verb, these letters have always been the real meaning for my life.  I am hoping this column will help you to Find A Real Meaning for life as well.

What does the word FARM mean to you?  You may find it interesting to learn that the word has its origins in Middle English, Old French and Middle Latin according to Webster’s dictionary.  Ferme and firma were the roots of the word farm.  To make a contract, to make firm, secure --- these were its original meanings.  It was a fixed sum payable at regular intervals with the privilege of keeping all that was collected.  It was tied to taxes.  It also meant being let out for a fixed amount, whether renting land or hiring out a person --- as in “farm out.”

The fine-print definition of “farm” takes up twenty-six lines on the dictionary’s page while most words can be defined in simply one or two lines.  It’s worth a few minutes to pull out the dictionary and read all the meanings this word can have.

Most of us think of the definition generally attributed to the word, which is a piece of land with a house and barn where crops and animals are raised, a farm is so much more.

To farm for a living is to be a steward of land and livestock.

Interestingly, the definition of farm can also mean “to destroy the fertility of land by failing to rotate crops.”  Most of us don’t associate the word with a negative meaning, but the fact remains that past actions by individuals have defined it in such a way that it appears in the dictionary.  That is one definition I would prefer to erase in all future editions of Webster’s interpretation of words.

Now that we know where the word comes from, it’s time to understand what it means to F-A-R-M.  This column will be an opportunity for you to share with others what a life in agriculture means to you, or stories about your farm.  At the same time, it will give me an opportunity to answer the question:  “What are you doing with your life now that you have retired from the legislature?”  The answer is: “ I’m  F-A-R-Ming!”

My goal in life has always been to farm.  While I was not quite sure where my future would lead when I was a child growing up on my parents’ commercial beef farm in Dauphin County, the love of farming has always been in my blood and has filled my heart with a passion for agriculture.  I come from a long line of farmers who have worked the land in southeastern Pennsylvania since emigrating from Germany.  This heritage has spurred my strong desire to farm my own land which I have been doing for almost three decades.  It has also given me the passion to save other farms and historic barns in Pennsylvania from being lost to development.

Since leaving the legislature, I have been working with others to launch two non-profit organizations that will help preserve the land and structures on our Pennsylvania farms.  “Adopt An Acre Inc.” will help support the successful farmland preservation programs run by state and local governments in many counties in Pennsylvania.  “The Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of Pennsylvania” is just getting organized and will help to document and preserve our wonderful old barns and outbuildings that have stood here for hundreds of years.

At the same time I am pouring my energies into these two programs, I am happy to be back on the farm, spending hours on the tractor and being home to help with calving and other farm chores.  My fourteen years as a legislator were fulfilling and challenging.  I was happy to have helped move farm policies through the political maze in Harrisburg for nearly a quarter century --- first as the director of the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee and then as a member of the House of Representatives from Berks County.  But I knew it was time to refocus on what I love the most, and that’s the farm.  I want to concentrate my attention on agriculture once again, and hone in on the daily tasks that confront farmers from sunup to sundown.  The long hours won’t change, just the location.  From Capitol to corn field, golden beauty still surrounds my workplace.

I look forward to writing this column where we can share thoughts about farming and its special meaning for the Lancaster Farming family of readers.  Whether you till the soil, raise livestock, or just care about farming and everything it means to the world today, this is an opportunity to reflect, encourage, or reminisce and tell your favorite farm story.

There’s lots to talk about as we F-A-R-M.