A Pining for Success Story...

There was a tree sale going on yesterday when I went to the Farm and Home Center for the Lancaster Chamber's monthly ag issues forum. It was the Conservation District's 35th annual tree sale and it sent me back a few years. More than a few. I bought a trayful of white pine seedlings at the district's second or third sale - about 1976 if you're into math - and planted them on my three-quarter acre suburban lot. Each 10-inch seedling cost a dime. At home, I picked a random spot for the first tree, dug a hole with a mattock and planted it. Then I threw the mattock over my shoulder. Wherever it landed, the second tree went. And so forth, until there were 50 trees in the ground. Those seedlings now soar over our house. We still live there, and one reason we never left is the trees. I googled my neighborhood the other day, and could pick out my house from space. There's lawn to the east, lawn to the west, a cornfield to the north and a tiny pine forest right in the middle. When I was picking up my trees, there was a 92-year-old guy in line behind me, waiting to pick up his tree order. I thought, "Why would a 92-year-old guy plant trees that are going to take decades to mature?" Now, I think I know.

The Stroud Water Research Center is a world leader in the science of fresh water. It is tucked away - really, really, tucked - in the rolling hills of Chester County.  A busload of Lancaster County ag and civic leaders paid a visit to the center on April 3, and an account of their visit is in this week's Lancaster Farming.

You could sell way more eggs if everybody partied like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRduPZvIm08&eurl