Perpetual Motion!
Submitted by Sheila Miller on Fri, 08/17/2007 - 8:55am.
When people ask me how my life is going since retiring from the legislature, I don’t have to take much time to issue a response. Perpetual motion is the best description I can think of to describe my days since leaving the House and heading back to the farm. Not that I was ever away from the farm, since my husband, Mike, and I never stopped farming even after I was elected in 1992. But, I was back as a fulltime helping hand, or so I thought.
Not even 24 hours went by in my “retired” status when my telephone rang, with someone asking me to launch a statewide non-profit for preserving historic barns in Pennsylvania. That has been an on-going evolution since December as I pull together experts and enthusiasts who care about saving these architectural treasures.
This past week, I organized a tour of two great Berks County barns for Congressman Tim Holden, vice chairman of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee in Washington. It was a valuable civics lesson for the directors of the Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of PA as they had the exclusive ear of this policymaker for two full hours. Holden had a reciprocally beneficial lesson on how farmers in the late 1700s and mid-1800s used Pennsylvania’s tall timbers to construct log and later frame barns to store their crops and livestock.
The Historic Barn and Farm Foundation is working with the National Barn Alliance on the 2007 Farm Bill, HR 2419, Section 6017, to make sure Congress includes the language needed to provide for a grant program for historic barn preservation and registration. This same language had been included in the 2002 Farm Bill, but no funding followed its passage. Holden assured us he would work with U.S. Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey Jr., along with Congressman John Peterson, to try to secure much-needed funds for this program in the 2008-09 budget.
We appreciate Congressman Holden’s interest in historic barns, and all the issues facing agriculture in Pennsylvania, including farmland preservation and conservation, crop insurance and subsidies, and the multitude of federal programs designed to help farmers balance on the tightrope each crop season puts in front of them.
Adopt An Acre Inc. is another non-profit that has kept me busy this year. This organization has been created to supplement the very successful federal, state, and local farmland preservation efforts through education, outreach, and placement of conservation easements on small parcels of land through donation or purchase.
It’s been fun helping to raise funds through the sale of recycled canning jar lids that I turn into Christmas ornaments. The first one in what will be a series of ornaments featuring preserved farms has been well received. I appreciate the help of the volunteers and staff at the Berks County Extension Office and the members of the Berks Farm Women Societies in saving these lids. I welcome any contributions of canning jar lids, used or unused, for this effort to raise funds for farmland preservation in Pennsylvania.
The Bull Bash held last month in Berks County helped raise additional dollars for Adopt An Acre Inc. This event, aimed at educating non-farmers about agriculture and bringing everyone together for a day of fun and farm-related activities, is sponsored by the Berks County Farm City Council. A raffle that features a John Deer Model LA 100 18.5 HP tractor from Pikeville Equipment, along with a quilt, chain saw, hand-made stepback cupboard, and numerous cash prizes, will be drawn on October 19th when the 50,000th acre of farmland in Berks County is celebrated. Anyone interested in more information on the raffle or Adopt An Acre Inc. can go to www.preservefarms.com.
Today we take the farmland preservation message to Anniversary Day at Bethany Children’s Home where hundreds of people from across the state travel for an annual reunion, craft show, and concert. Established around the time of the Civil War, this church-affiliated home has been caring for orphans and other children in an atmosphere of warmth and caring, surrounded by its farmland and forests. A working dairy farm is still very much an integral part of Bethany’s operation, and I am happy to serve on this institution’s Board of Managers as a volunteer.
Raising large sums of money seems to be a theme in my life that I wish could translate to my farms, as well. With cutbacks in federal, state and local support, our county 4-H program is facing financial challenges. The farm and business communities have been asked to step up to the plate to help investigate the opportunity of raising at least six figures, and hopefully seven, to perpetually support a 4-H staff position in Berks County. Helping kids is what 4-H is all about. Who can say no when asked to serve on a committee to benefit young people’s heads, hearts, hands, and health through 4-H activities?
Perpetual motion? My list of volunteer jobs seems to be getting longer as the misperception that I have lots of time on my hands continues. Just before I got busy chairing the art and photography department at last week's Reading Fair, a friend of mine gave me a pack of post-it notes with three letters on it: “SUV.” No, it wasn’t supposed to be the abbreviation for sport utility vehicle. In smaller letters, the message “Stop Unnecessary Volunteering” was written. Good thing I couldn’t read the small print without my glasses! It wouldn’t have made any difference, however, if I had read it the first time with “four” eyes. My answer, when asked to help agriculture, is always in the affirmative. It's an automatic "O.K" When it comes to F-A-R-Ming, it’s always necessary.
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