2009-11-04 19:53:00
P.J. REILLY
Attendees of Lancaster Farmland Trust's annual fall dinner last month ponied up enough donations to preserve an 85-acre farm in Leacock Township.The Acres for Auction event at the Trust's Oct. 21 dinner at Eden Resort netted $54,750 in contributions. That sum will be matched, dolla......
2009-10-25 00:02:00
MICHAEL SCHWARTZ
Andrew Buckwalter believes in leading by doing. From coaching varsity soccer to providing college counseling to helping students find their inner strengths on Outward Bound excursions, Buckwalter has remained true to the idea that the best action translates to the best example. That bel......
2009-10-24 10:26:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Pancakes are their profession, but puppies are their passion.Beth Buchter and Kathy Styer, co-owners of The Pancake Farm restaurant in Ephrata, use their free time and their business in the fight to end the deplorable conditions in which some dogs are bred.The two got involved in th......
2009-10-23 09:51:00
AD CRABLE
Almost a year ago, farmers here and nationwide were outraged over reports that the federal government was considering a "cow tax" aimed at reducing methane gas produced by their livestock.The plan to tax cows for burping or flatulence was fodder for late-night talk shows, but it ......
2009-10-22 08:03:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
The builder standing before them has done "other good developments in other communities, and I believe he'll do a good job on this property also."So Bernard Krutsick and the other East Hempfield Township supervisors voted to approve several rezonings that would pave the way f......
2009-10-21 09:23:00
AD CRABLE
Plans for the future of Lancaster County's landfill have again changed direction.The newest plans call for the piling of waste atop the current Frey Farm Landfill on Turkey Hill, 58 feet higher than originally permitted.By encircling the current 96-acre landfill with 60-foot-hig......
2009-10-21 08:18:00
JACK BRUBAKER
Can Lancaster County's farmers help clean up the Chesapeake Bay's watershed without damaging the agricultural economy?State Sen. Mike Brubaker asked nearly 100 people attending the county's first agricultural summit how many think that dual goal is impossible.No hands we......
2009-10-13 06:06:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
Mike O'Brien had just spent more than an hour Wednesday giving details on his proposed development on the west edge of Rohrerstown, the small village in East Hempfield Township.Then he thought of one more thing — "I also would like to thank Major League Baseball for scheduli......
2009-10-06 00:01:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
The bluegrass band on stage played everything from Bill Monroe to Bob Dylan.Teenage queen candidates and younger junior-queen and "princess" candidates stood off to the side with a parent (in one case, a grandfather) awaiting their turn on stage.Visitors stopped at an exhi......
2009-10-05 00:28:00
DAVID O'CONNOR
It can mean only one thing when you start to feel the early-October chill and your nostrils pick up the aroma wafting over from nearby food stands.It means it's time for the Manheim Community Farm Show, that annual fall celebration of community and agriculture, which returns here this ......
2009-10-01 00:01:00
JEFF HAWKES
I admit it. I was sitting at a meeting feeling my eyelids grow heavy.After three hours of speakers at Tuesday's day-long Smart Growth Summit, I reached a point where I just wanted to put aside my notebook and lay my head down.I wasn't drowsy because the topic bores me. Not a......
2009-09-30 06:54:00
AD CRABLE
Large-scale livestock farming in the Octoraro watershed of Lancaster and Chester counties is producing "staggering" amounts of manure in an already overloaded area, despite efforts to limit it, according to a new study by the environmental advocacy group PennFuture.The study of t......
2009-09-29 06:08:00
P.J. REILLY
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts was bombarded Monday night with emotionally charged complaints, ranging from health care reform and the government's rising debt to a fellow congressman calling President Barack Obama a liar on national television.And, for the most part, the crowd agreed with Pitts&......
2009-09-29 00:03:00
JACK BRUBAKER
Correction Oct. 15, 2009 — The article below said Ephrata Township refused to provide water and sewer lines to the proposed site of a new Lancaster General Health medical facility in West Earl Township. That is incorrect. The Ephrata Townshi......
2009-09-26 00:02:00
AD CRABLE
Gov. Ed Rendell has appealed to the state's Milk Marketing Board for ways to aid the state's struggling dairy farmers. Rendell said milk prices have fallen 40 percent since this time a year ago, and dairy farmers need ways to survive "unprecedented financial hardships." "Pennsylvania's ......
2009-09-25 16:40:00
STAFF
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2009-09-24 09:04:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County commissioners on Wednesday approved the preservation of two farms, with assistance from supervisors in Warwick and Penn townships. The commissioners authorized the preservation of a 79.4-acre crop and livestock farm owned by Raymond H. and Dorothy E. Good in Warwick and Penn......
2009-09-18 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
A few notes, quotes and anecdotes from the week in local politics.Pitts not convincedPresident Barack Obama, speaking about health care reform on prime-time TV last week, forcefully denied that his plan would cover illegal immigrants or spend taxpay......
2009-09-15 06:02:00
TIM MEKEEL
A housing development is being proposed for part of an agricultural landmark in the heart of Manheim Township.But even if the eastern third of Brook Lawn Farm gets developed, the farm's owners say the rest of the farm, plus its farm market, will stay in operation."Brook Law......
2009-09-10 08:49:00
AD CRABLE
When volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians swarmed a Sadsbury Township farm in the sweltering heat on July 6, they rushed to the diesel shed and saw a gruesome sight.An Amish farmer's leg, badly broken, was wrapped several times around a power takeoff drive shaf......
2009-09-09 08:28:00
CHAD UMBLE
Ten Thousand Villages opened a store last week at Rockvale Outlets. The retailer has taken over a 2,573-square-foot space next to Dress Barn that formerly was occupied by Royal Doulton. The new store opened Thursday.Akron-based Ten Thousand Villages sells gifts, jewelry and home déc......
2009-09-08 09:46:00
JACK BRUBAKER
Many Amish farmers sell produce and crafts from roadside stands.Now tourists — or residents, for that matter — can buy tobacco straight from the farm.An Amish family along Route 30, just east of Route 896, is selling individual stalks of tobacco. The multi-leaved stalks ......
2009-09-05 09:33:00
TIM MEKEEL
From a financial perspective, this real estate deal is hard to figure.But it's being called a transaction that's more about people than numbers.Lancaster General Health sold Maple Farm Nursing Center this week to Garden Spot Village for $1.67 million, courthouse records show......
2009-09-03 00:16:00
DAVID O'CONNOR
A doubleheader is scheduled in East Hempfield Township in early October. But this twin bill won't have anything to do with the World Series. It will be the night two major plans get their first hearing before the township supervisors. The new Charter Homes & Neighborhoods plan f......
2009-08-31 00:14:00
AD CRABLE
A dozen Amish and Old Order Mennonites, mostly girls, squeeze into a shoulder-to-shoulder circle inside a barn near Farmersville, their bare feet and sneakers buried in ankle-high onion skins as they hand-sort the produce.Behind them, two young boys, their faces grimy with sweat and dust, ......
2009-08-29 00:18:00
JOAN KERN
Myles Miller believes too many men are isolated."They're islands, trying to do it on their own," said Miller, of Harrisburg.Joe White, of Branson, Mo., founded Men at the Cross "to empower men to reach men."White will lead the Northeast conference of the two-year-old disciple......
2009-08-27 08:08:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
One of the bigger issues they "always wrestle with in a rezoning of this size," an East Hempfield Township official said, is "what do we do about traffic?"And as they study plans for a new community near Landisville, which took a step forward Wednesday night, East Hempf......
2009-08-26 08:23:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County commissioners today are expected to vote to protect two farms under the county's farmland preservation program.But if the state budget impasse, which enters its 57th day today, isn't settled soon, the owners of those two farms could join four other county farmers w......
2009-08-25 08:06:00
TOM KNAPP
Kelsey Binkley had a pretty awesome Monday at the 36th annual Elizabethtown Fair.She started off the day with her animal being named supreme champion in the sheep show. Later Monday evening, she was picked over two other competitors to become the 19th annual Elizabethtown Fair queen....
2009-08-18 00:14:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Terry Shuey, a fifth-generation dairy farmer, described an idyllic life she and her family once enjoyed while working their productive farm in Lebanon County.About two weeks ago, however, she said she sat in her son's hospital room, where he was recovering from a ruptured appendicitis,......
2009-08-13 07:59:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
This time, people said things like "exciting" and "the right idea at the right place" to greet a new Charter Homes & Neighborhoods plan in East Hempfield Township.The Lancaster-based housing developer on Wednesday night unveiled a long-awaited proposal for the Landi......
2009-08-11 09:27:00
AD CRABLE
A $1.5 million federal stimulus fund grant awarded Monday is just the boost needed to launch southcentral Pennsylvania's first commercial wind turbine project atop Turkey Hill in Manor Township, according to a county official."There's nothing really to hold this up now," ......
2009-08-07 00:13:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A man working on a roof truss for a new chicken house on a Warwick Township farm fell about 30 feet Thursday morning — and was apparently able to walk afterwards, according to police.When a truss broke about 8 a.m., Steve R. Stoltzfus, 28, of New Holland fell about 25 feet, and his l......
2009-08-05 08:32:00
TOM KNAPP
A proposal to create a new, professional enterprise zone in West Earl Township raised no alarms Monday in neighboring East Lampeter.The proposed zone is tailored to plans for a Lancaster General Health complex near the intersection of Routes 222 and 322.And although the 68-acre trac......
2009-08-03 00:01:00
TIM MEKEEL
No more med carts. No more nurses' stations. No more call bells.By 2011, the institutional, hospital-style of skilled nursing care at Maple Farm Nursing Center could be a thing of the past.The Akron facility is expected to be sold by Lancaster General Health to Garden Spot Villa......
2009-08-01 10:22:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Dan Sweigart is not opposed to growth in Lancaster County. He's just opposed to what he considers to be bad growth.A member of the Lancaster Farmland Trust, Sweigart, 54, believes the way to maintain Lancaster County's farming tradition is to channel growth where it belongs, and aw......
2009-08-01 00:31:00
JASON FULGINITI
No words needed to be said.As Zak Drescher sat in the clubhouse at Groff's Farm Golf Club sipping on a glass of ice water Friday afternoon, it was written all over his face."I'm exhausted," Drescher said. "I'm feeling pretty good now, but it was exhausting......
2009-07-31 23:43:00
JASON FULGINITI
Correction — Zak Drescher was incorrectly referred to as the defending Lanco Open champion in the article below, posted on LancasterOnline Friday. Dan Walters won the 2008 Lanco Open at Tanglewood.•&bu......
2009-07-30 00:33:00
JASON FULGINITI
The last time we saw him on any sort of public stage in these parts was last August, when he lost a head-to-head battle with Dan Walters down the stretch at Tanglewood to finish second in the Lanco Open.Then, just like that, he seemed to disappear.So, what ever happened to Jarred Te......
2009-07-29 13:35:00
CINDY STAUFFER
A farm worker pinned in a hay-raking machine in Elizabeth Township was rescued by firefighters Wednesday morning.The man, who appeared to be in his 50s, was flown by helicopter to Lancaster General Hospital at about 11:30 a.m.His identity and condition were not known Wednesday night......
2009-07-29 09:47:00
KATY HOPKINS
Faced with potential cuts in state funding, the seven county fairs in Lancaster are sticking with a common mantra — the fair must go on.Some fair committees are dipping into reserves, postponing building repairs or considering cutbacks in prizes, board members said, to ensure the fal......
2009-07-27 10:00:00
AD CRABLE
Nearly $4.75 million in federal stimulus funds are headed to Lancaster County for farm-related conservation projects.Eleven agriculture projects here include barnyard runoff controls, animal-waste storage facilities, anaerobic manure digesters, grassed waterways and work to stabilize areas......
2009-07-23 19:26:00
DAINA SAVAGE
Clarification — In the article below posted on Lancaster Online on Wednesday, the hours of Gelato Di Babbo and the Euro Café were not included. The business, at 635 S. Broad St., Lititz, is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday......
2009-07-16 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County Commissioners on Wednesday voted to preserve four farms, totaling about 360 acres.The county's Agricultural Preserve Board had recommended the commissioners buy perpetual conservation easements on the farms.The preserved farms are:• ......
2009-07-09 10:02:00
AD CRABLE
Norfolk Southern is kicking in another $250,000 to help Manor Township convert six miles of the abandoned Enola Low-Grade rail line into a public trail along the Susquehanna River.Another 23 miles of the rail line that was turned over to six southern-end townships has been opened to public......
2009-07-08 06:01:00
AD CRABLE
Uncommon weather and the sale of infected plants by big-box stores has unleashed a disease that threatens tomatoes and potatoes grown by backyard gardeners and commercial growers here and across Pennsylvania.The disease, known as "late blight," is the same one that caused the inf......
2009-06-21 00:12:00
PAULA WOLF
Aaron E. Martin has handled plenty of farm auctions over the years, but even he was a little surprised at what happened Monday when he sold a 13.2-acre farmette at public auction. The Upper Leacock Township property was purchased for $1.045 million, which comes out to an impressive $79,167 per ......
2009-06-20 00:52:00
DIANA MARTIN
Chad Fisher squatted on the hillside, held up his iPhone and recorded his nephew, Roman Thomas, 11, as he strained to gain a few extra feet in the pedal tractor pull."You have to get a good start and keep pedaling hard," Roman said after the event.The two helped illustrate......
2009-06-19 10:00:00
RYAN ROBINSON
The Manheim Community Farm Show might have to one day charge an entry fee or shut down. The Ephrata Fair, the largest street fair in the state, lost $30,000 last year. The New Holland Farmer's Fair Association bought a $195,000 building and can't afford big losses. Organizers ......
2009-06-14 00:06:00
DENNIS LARISON, Business Editor
While the recession has been accompanied by a drop in sales at many businesses, one sector has had a sudden spurt of growth. "It started last year," said Jeff Watson, who runs the retail store at Rohrer Seeds in Smoketown. As the recession set in, he said, more and more people de......
2009-06-10 01:56:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Thieves recently stole four commercial lawn mowers worth almost $50,000 from a farm-equipment business in Mount Joy Township.Police believe they were taken by a group of thieves who likely scouted out Messick's Farm Equipment on Merts Drive before swiping the tractors.Investigat......
2009-06-09 00:01:00
PATRICK BURNS
Rettew Associates Inc. has teamed up Kreider Farms to help lay out a livestock waste-treatment plant at the dairy farm in Manheim.Rettew, 3020 Columbia Ave., was awarded the engineering contract from Bion Environmental Technologies Inc., which has contracted with Kreider to build the treat......
2009-06-04 11:00:00
AD CRABLE
What do athletic fields at Hempfield schools, abandoned strip mines in Northumberland County and first-of-its-kind groundwater recharge landscaping at a Lititz housing development all have in common? Compost from manure gathered in Lancaster County. For more than a year now, the Chesapeake......
2009-06-02 18:11:00
STAFF REPORT
From sweet corn and pick-your-own strawberries to baked goods and hearty flowers, consumers can find the best Pennsylvania has to offer with the 2009 Consumer's Guide to Pennsylvania Farm Markets."Pennsylvania is home to more than 1,200 farm markets where consumers can buy fresh, ......
2009-05-30 00:58:00
JENNIFER TODD
Although a flock of chickens kept in Lancaster city was ordered out of town earlier this year, the topic of urban chicken farming hasn't flown the proverbial coop just yet.Schirlyn Kamara-Sabur, whose birds now live on a Conestoga-area farm, said she has worked for the past several wee......
2009-05-29 01:49:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
The state on Thursday denied Daniel P. Esh a license to continue operating his large-scale dog-breeding kennel in Leacock Township, but his attorney vowed to take the issue to a higher court."Daniel Esh will definitely appeal," said attorney Jeff Conrad of the firm Clymer & M......
2009-05-28 19:59:00
LINDA ESPENSHADE
Count them: Seven, eight, nine worms.Third-grader Davion Abrante holds the mass of wiggling worms in his hand.He watches over his classmates' shoulders as they dig holes, planting green beans, lettuce and pumpkin plants outside Buchanan Elementary School — snatching up the......
2009-05-25 00:03:00
ENELLY BETANCOURT
Successful scouting is not easy, and hardships with equipment failures and transportation breakdowns can be expected.It takes a strong commitment to the program and the participants."My responsibility is to see that these kids become law-abiding, good citizens. I have had some ......
2009-05-22 09:42:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Lancaster County farmers have done a variety of things to stay profitable in an increasingly challenging global market. And people are taking notice of their efforts — even halfway around the world. Japanese farmers are reading six stories this week about U.S. farming in the Japan Ag......
2009-05-21 22:02:00
ROXANNE McROBERTS
Mother Nature has been doing more than her fair share this spring to keep my lawn and perennials happy with rainfall. It wasn't until I planted the flower boxes along my porch and put together a few planters under the overhang of the house that I was reminded I liked the idea of a rainwater c......
2009-05-19 10:05:00
AD CRABLE
The county waste authority is buying 51 acres of land from Frey Dairy Farm in Manor Township for more than $1 million. The three parcels, which adjoin the Frey Farm Landfill and Turkey Hill Dairy, will be used to satisfy setback regulations for a proposed wind-turbine project at the landfill an......
2009-05-17 00:11:00
JON RUTTER
In the 1950s there was the Red scare. Now there's the green scare. It's circulating in the form of Internet alerts claiming that Congress, prodded by agribusiness and biotechnology companies, is about to outlaw organic farming and backyard gardening. It's sowing fear in......
2009-05-10 00:11:00
JON RUTTER
When a Georgia writer meets a globe-trotting ABC News correspondent there's talk of romance. At least that's what happened here Saturday afternoon. "Nightline" correspondent David Wright visited the Amish Farm and House to interview Cindy Woodsmall, who pens enticingly successful Amish rom......
2009-05-08 11:04:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Then there were three. In what's being called a win for farmers and preservationists, Upper Leacock Township Supervisors Thursday night created a 388-acre agricultural security area. That leaves just three townships in Lancaster County without the designation designed to protect farmin......
2009-05-04 00:01:00
LORI VAN INGEN
Reba C. Miller doesn't throw away old wool coats or skirts. Instead, she turns them into beautifully designed hooked rugs."When I was a teenager, my grandmother (Amanda Witmer) did it, so I did, too," the 87-year-old Landis Homes resident said."I thought I wouldn&......
2009-05-03 00:06:00
DENNIS LARISON, Business Editor
The world's got milk, and then some. And that oversupply has put Lancaster County dairy farmers in a real squeeze. The break-even point for Scott Kreider, who milks several hundred cows at his family's East Drumore farm, is $15.50 a hundredweight for Class III milk. In January, the......
2009-05-01 11:12:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Lancaster General is getting a new name and a new look. The health care system will be called Lancaster General Health. It also will have a new logo, an orange, blue and green star. The star will replace the familiar blue-and-white image of two hands forming the outline of a person's figur......
2009-04-30 19:56:00
CLAUDIA W. ESBENSHADE
It's gardening time again, and many people are taking to their yards and flower gardens — including senior citizens.There are special precautions that should be taken by older people when they garden, said Jerry Rush, a physical therapist with CPRS Physical Therapy in Lancaster....
2009-04-22 09:45:00
TIM MEKEEL
It's double or nothing. The developer of a Columbia agri-tourism attraction needs two favorable state decisions so his $14 million project can go forward. And he needs them soon. Bill Roberts must obtain a stream-channeling permit and a prevailing-wage exclusion in time to start const......
2009-04-15 11:25:00
JACK BRUBAKER
A mental health court in Allegheny County has reduced the length of time participants spend in the county prison. A courtroom inside the Dauphin County Prison has expedited guilty pleas. Sentencing technical parole violators to house arrest with electronic monitoring has saved space and do......
2009-04-09 01:40:00
PATRICK BURNS
A mini-Giant will come to Lancaster County next week.Giant Food Stores announced Wednesday that it will open the company's first free-standing convenience store in Manheim Township.Giant To Go, which will have eight gas pumps, will open Wednesday at 601 Richmond Drive near Richm......
2009-04-08 00:04:00
ROCHELLE A. SHENK
Manheim Borough is proposing a $10 tax to fund property improvements and an $8 per capita levy for the operating expenses of Manheim Central Recreation Commission.The proposal outlined by Bonnie Martin, council president, was debated at the March 31 council meeting and will be presented to......
2009-04-05 00:07:00
MANDY STOLTZFUS
"The most important thing, when you are around a skidloader, is to stay back," Sherry Sensenig said Saturday. "My grandpa always told me that and I listen!" Grandpa would be proud that the New Holland 12-year-old attended the annual Farm Safety Day hosted by the Safe Kids Coalition at Leol......
2009-04-05 00:06:00
DENNIS LARISON, Business Editor
Spencer Advertising & Marketing is breaking new ground with its latest client. Literally. The Mountville advertising agency has experience promoting lawn and garden products, as well as baseball, said Kevin Tufarolo, vice president and creative director. But the Yankees Sod, Ya......
2009-04-05 00:04:00
STAFF
The Humane Society of the United States and renowned natural horsemanship trainers Pat and Linda Parelli will join forces to spotlight the trainability and intelligence of rescued horses: this time in Harrisburg. The HSUS is working with Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue, Glenville, to help a hor......
2009-04-02 11:52:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Back in 2002, when he was in his late 70s, Constantine "Gus" Kermes had a retrospective of his work at the Lancaster Museum of Art. But anyone who thought Kermes was coming to the end of his creative energies was quite mistaken. Now, seven years later, Kermes has returned with......
2009-03-31 00:51:00
MICHAEL YODER
Whenever a tornado carves through a populated area, shots of wrecked trailer homes seem to follow, and they stick in the collective mind.A tornado struck Clay Township Sunday afternoon, bringing 95 mph winds and causing three injuries and millions of dollars in damage.The storm dama......
2009-03-24 10:12:00
CHAD UMBLE
For years, the Lancaster County Planning Commission has preached the merits of building homes closer together in some areas to help leave room for farmland in other areas. On Monday, county planners looked at housing proposals — in Millersville Borough and Earl Township — that would......
2009-03-20 11:10:00
CHAD UMBLE
The breeze at Turkey Point along the Susquehanna River is strong enough to keep a planned $8.25 million wind turbine project there moving forward. This morning the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority board approved an application for a $175,000 state grant to help pay for continue......
2009-03-20 09:29:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
He's the prolific author of 28 books, the winner of the Salvation Army's highest honor, and also a veteran teacher and instructor. And next month, Henry Gariepy of Lancaster will add another honor to this list, that of speaker at the Lancaster Good Friday Breakfast. Gariepy, who tw......
2009-03-19 00:40:00
MICHAEL YODER
Gene Baur has been on a crusade for more than two decades to make sure sick farm animals do not end up in the human food supply.His odyssey has taken him to Washington, D.C., but it began at the former Lancaster Stockyards.The president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary rescued a she......
2009-03-19 00:23:00
PATRICK BURNS
Local businesses say summer job opportunities exist for students in Lancaster County despite the economic recession.However, some expect high school students will face increased competition from older workers who've lost their jobs and from returning college students.The economi......
2009-03-18 09:50:00
RYAN ROBINSON
The fight against global warming could soon put dollars in farmers' pockets. Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is launching a carbon credit trading program in eight pilot counties, and hopes to expand it to Lancaster and many others within the next year. "It's an opportunity for the farmer to get s......
2009-03-13 05:00:00
MARY BETH SCHWEIGERT
Welcome to Wilson Alvarez and Natasha Herr's mansion. All three rooms of it. The furniture came from the trash. The bed is nothing more than a nest of blankets on the floor. But it sure beats weathering an upstate New York winter in an 8-by-10-foot wall tent. Alvarez and H......
2009-03-08 00:21:00
JON RUTTER
You know the economy's trashed when people toss out less waste. And they've been doing just that, said James Warner, executive director of the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority. The amount of refuse entering the authority transfer station at 1299 Harrisburg Pike ......
2009-03-06 00:41:00
P.J. REILLY
Despite having its farmland preservation state funding cut 25 percent from last year, Lancaster County still was awarded more than any other Pennsylvania county in 2009.The state Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Farmland Preservation is allocating $23 million this year to counties......
2009-03-05 12:11:00
TIM MEKEEL
The more Frank Bewersdorff learns about the local farming community, the more he believes that others will want to learn about it too. Now he's planning to give them that chance. Bewersdorff wants to create Lancaster Farm World, to tell the story of local agriculture "in an edu......
2009-03-05 12:05:00
TIM MEKEEL
Frank Bewersdorff recognizes the irony of his situation. Here he is, a German-born businessman who's never lived on a farm, developing a tribute to Lancaster County agriculture. "In some ways, I questioned myself," acknowledged Bewersdorff, 49, of Hummingbird Drive, Lititz....
2009-03-05 11:54:00
DAVID O'CONNOR
There's never quite the same crowd for a Manor Township meeting as when the words "Wal-Mart" or "Letort Manor/Perth Hills sewers" are on the agenda. And while it wasn't a large turnout for Wednesday's township zoning board meeting, a plan for a retirement village adjoining Funk's Farm Market di......
2009-03-04 02:22:00
BRIAN WALLACE
A former member of the Amish church has sued the church, its charitable organizations and church officials, claiming they conspired to ruin his business and seize his home when he did not follow church teachings.Daniel Stoltzfus of Kirkwood claims he was shunned by the church after Amish m......
2009-03-02 10:30:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Ephrata Township does not plan to build a road through a popular organic farm. Township Manager Steve Sawyer's phone has been ringing off the hook with calls on the matter, and he wants to set the record straight. He said a few residents have been going door to door telling neighbors a roa......
2009-02-26 01:08:00
MICHAEL YODER
You know you're from Lancaster County if you can tell the difference between the odors of cow, pig and chicken manure — and you have a preference between the three.Now, new regulations going into effect Friday are intended to lessen the amount of barnyard odors coming from large-......
2009-02-23 00:04:00
MICHAEL YODER
Mill Creek runs through the heart of some of the most productive farmland in Lancaster County, and in turn it's seen its share of agricultural pollution.But the many farmers who harvest their bounty along its steep banks have taken measures for several years to stop erosion and limit c......
2009-02-23 00:02:00
JAMES BUESCHER
Even in a global economic crisis, it's a little unusual: three Lancaster County bed and breakfasts all hitting the market at the same time, and all of them landing on the desk of Lancaster Realtor Lisa Naples."Having managed a B&B for several years, I enjoy working with innkee......
2009-02-19 10:20:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
A year and a half after announcing the plan, Lancaster developer John Hogan is "more so than ever" committed to his dream of building a retirement community near Millersville. "The interest that we're getting, because of how we're putting the project together, has been very, very uplifting," Ho......
2009-02-18 00:17:00
DAVE PIDGEON
He's a stocky former sheriff raised on an Ephrata-area farm who turned his career toward finance.Now Craig Ebersole is the new chairman of Lancaster County Republican Committee.Ebersole, currently in the middle of his second four-year term as Lancaster County treasurer, defeated......
2009-02-16 10:56:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A rendering company has delayed its plan to stop collecting some 7,000 dead cows each year at Lancaster County farms. Valley Proteins, which is the main renderer of dead cattle here, had planned to end its decades-long practice of collecting bovine on local farms on March 1. That decision,......
2009-02-12 22:38:00
Tim Elkner & Daina Savage
Plant passion. Searching for Valentine's Day gift ideas? Your local garden center can help with a lasting impression. Try cyclamen, primrose, forced tulips or amaryllis in shades of red, white or pink. Or indulge in a delicate orchid.If you choose potted plants for a g......
2009-02-08 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The economy is sinking like a lead balloon. Understandably, people are watching every penny they spend these days, because you never know when it might be your turn to stand in the unemployment line. If you're looking for something to do this week that won't cost you an arm and ......
2009-02-06 00:17:00
MICHAEL YODER
Running outreach programs for the local agricultural community takes dozens of staff members, hundreds of volunteers and thousands of hours of dedication.Those same educators and community members took stock of a year of accomplishments as they celebrated the 96th annual meeting of the Pen......
2009-02-01 00:06:00
DENNIS LARISON, Business Editor
There's no mistaking the smell of chickens when walking into the new building at Kreider Farms' egg operation in Mount Joy. It takes a lot of hens to produce the fresh eggs consumed by the 60 million people who live between Boston and Richmond, Va., and nearly 10 percent of them are housed in K......
2009-01-31 00:38:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County commissioners on Wednesday committed just more than $7 million to the county's farmland-preservation program for this year.That's down from the $8 million dedicated last year — the most by any county in Pennsylvania.Despite the $1 million reduction, of......
2009-01-29 00:31:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
Former state representative Tom Armstrong had the floor Wednesday when he asked a local club to give convicted sex offenders a "well-deserved second chance.""I don't mean to bring sympathy their way, but a lot of these sex offenders will never get out of prison. It's......
2009-01-29 00:28:00
MICHAEL YODER
Stricter standards on farm pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed take effect in less than a year. State agencies are looking for innovative ways for Pennsylvania to meet them.That's where Bion Environmental Technologies Inc. comes in. The New York-based firm received a $7.8 million......
2009-01-28 10:52:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Americans eat more cheese on Super Bowl Sunday than on any other day of the year, but dairy farmers won't feel like celebrating this year. The prices they receive for their milk — used to make all that cheese — are already plummeting, something that typically doesn't happen ......
2009-01-28 10:05:00
AD CRABLE
When Jesse Wood showed up for his first board meeting of the Lancaster Area Refuse Authority in 1978, he found a tin shack off Harrisburg Pike and a table and four chairs. He quickly learned that if you came late to the meeting you didn't get to sit. Wood, 75, recently retired from the ren......
2009-01-23 00:35:00
JENNIFER TODD
Eighteen local businesses have been issued warning letters from the Pennsylvania Department of Health because they may have violated the state's smoking ban.Bars and restaurants are among them, but so are an antiques shop, farming and manufacturing firms and Park City Center.Let......
2009-01-21 00:51:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
Consumers who recently bought raw milk from an Ephrata dairy farm are at risk of salmonella contamination and should discard it immediately, the state Agriculture Department announced Tuesday.Tests of raw milk samples taken Jan. 12 from Conestoga Valley Dairy Farm in Ephrata showed the pre......
2009-01-18 00:19:00
JON RUTTER
On a bitterly cold morning last week, the rising sun cast a yellowish glow over tidy, white barns and stone houses. Buggy wheel tracks led down gravel drives and newly washed smocks and shirts fluttered in the breeze. A scooter leaned outside a recently built schoolhouse. They're ......
2009-01-18 00:07:00
JEANNETTE SCOTT
Susie, a Suffolk ewe lamb, munched Pringles potato chips waiting for her turn in the spotlight. Susie, owned by Jeff and Deb Bollinger, Blue Spruce Farm, Reinholds, was a contestant in the sheep competition at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Saturday in Harrisburg. Judging of sheep and goats an......
2009-01-17 00:31:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Friday was a good day for Manheim as the Pennsylvania Farm Show swung into its seventh day.Of the seven dairy cattle battling it out for the title of supreme champion, two were born and bred in the Manheim area. Both had already taken top honors in their individual breed categories.......
2009-01-17 00:14:00
P.J. REILLY
Sam Allen was standing on the shore of Muddy Run Recreation Lake Tuesday afternoon, dressed in his insulated coveralls, fishing for trout.A year ago, the Lancaster angler would have been fishing his favorite winter spot a short distance away — Muddy Run Reservoir, which is connected ......
2009-01-17 00:01:00
The annual Pennsylvania Farm Show ends today. It's time to write an editorial, as we do every year, that marvels at the 400,000 visitors, the million-square-foot building, the imposing 900-pound butter sculpture.It's time to write an editorial that congratulates our crop of local w......
2009-01-16 09:41:00
RYAN ROBINSON
In his photograph at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, curly-haired Dontae is smiling like he just hit a jackpot. The 8-year-old's biography next to the 15-by-18-inch photo tells a different story. The boy waiting for someone to adopt him has cerebral palsy and autism, and he is legally blin......
2009-01-16 00:48:00
MICHAEL YODER
The work is sometimes back-breaking, so farming often has been thought of as a manly vocation.But women always have played important roles on family farms. Nowadays, they also play an increasingly important role in agricultural policy.Women have been on center stage at the Pennsylva......
2009-01-15 21:11:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Correction — Guests of the Washington Plaza Hotel who purchased a two-night package through the Pennsylvania Democratic Party will receive a complimentary bottle of Rhapsody in Blue, produced by the Bainbridge-based Nissley Vineyards & W......
2009-01-15 09:49:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Tristan Hunter, 11, of Harrisburg, steps up and down to power an 1887 foot-powered, wood-turning lathe. Nearby, 3-year-old Michael Bishop of Harrisburg impresses his mother, Michelle, by running along a dog treadmill that turns a butter churn. There's an adventure and learning......
2009-01-15 01:03:00
MICHAEL YODER
Few people have the patience or skill to sit at a spinning wheel or a weaving loom and make a handcrafted creation.But for participants in the 30th Pennsylvania Farm Show Sheep to Shawl Competition, patience, skill and speed all come into play in a contest that tests the abilities of some ......
2009-01-15 00:51:00
MICHAEL YODER
Robert Barr believes the traditions and advancements of agriculture are too important to keep from future generations of Pennsylvanians, so he is looking to create a unique experience.The president of Agrarian Country, a nonprofit group that plans to build a one-of-a-kind agricultural tour......
2009-01-14 10:00:00
RYAN ROBINSON
John High demonstrates the use of an adz — the ax-like tool early American builders employed to roughly dress timbers. At his booth in the main hall at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, the 47-year-old Narvon man shows onlookers a section of an old barn beam hewn by such a tool....
2009-01-14 09:59:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Going once, twice, SOLD! The sale of junior market steers, swine, lambs and goats dominated a busy day Tuesday for county exhibitors at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. 4-H and FFA children worked hard all year raising an animal, and those who were lucky enough to finish high enough in competit......
2009-01-14 01:12:00
MICHAEL YODER
Without farms and farming families, there'd be no food to put on the world's dinner plates, so it's just natural to celebrate cooking, baking and food production at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.Tuesday's edition of the annual show featured several food contests, from competin......
2009-01-13 12:25:00
RYAN ROBINSON
It doesn't matter if you prefer potato doughnuts or milkshakes. The rodeo or horse-pulling. At the Pennsylvania Farm Show, all 400,000 visitors do one of two things before they leave the mega-complex: Ask for directions, or wander around as disoriented and lost as a cow out of its......
2009-01-13 10:14:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
Modern western square dance club members Carol and Barry Shirk want to keep a good thing in full swing. In an era where clubs in general are becoming a casualty of economics, changing tastes and busier lifestyles — and square dancing may be considered, well, somewhat square among the y......
2009-01-13 01:13:00
MICHAEL YODER
Lancaster County has been known for generations for its livestock herds dotting the countryside, so it would stand to reason that local farmers should make a strong showing during "Livestock Day" at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.Cattle breeder C.J. Furlong of Mount Joy helped to kee......
2009-01-13 01:06:00
MICHAEL YODER
Teagan Pfautz was a little nervous going into the sales arena of the Pennsylvania Farm Show under the eyes of thousands of spectators, but he tried not to be too anxious at the chance of being named grand champion.The 12-year-old from Ephrata was in contention in the competitive Junior Mar......
2009-01-12 12:20:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A 15-year-old Willow Street boy is feeling OK two days after being knocked unconscious riding a bull at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. A 1,000-pound bull bucked Alex Kuhl in three seconds in his first ride Saturday at the Pennsylvania High School Association rodeo. Kuhl stayed on his second b......
2009-01-12 10:55:00
RYAN ROBINSON
The threat of a snowstorm and slick roads on Saturday cut crowd numbers significantly at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, but clear skies Sunday brought visitors out to the nation's largest indoor agricultural event in droves. Exhibitors clipping and washing their animals had to constantly ke......
2009-01-12 10:16:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Given the large number of exhibitors, Bo Perez is not likely to show the grand champion swine today at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg. But with the help of his pigs this year, the Penn Manor ninth grader achieved much more. Perez, 15, of Creek Road, Millersville, credits his work......
2009-01-12 00:05:00
MICHAEL YODER
Ever since Jade Zimmerman started raising Ed — her Southdown sheep — she's been receiving daily kisses from him.And on Sunday afternoon, after she finished fifth in the purebred Southdown market lamb heavyweight and was named master showman in her class at the 2009 Pennsylv......
2009-01-12 00:03:00
MICHAEL YODER
Six members of the Manor FFA sat huddled around a small television set in the Exposition Hall of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex on Sunday afternoon, watching the Philadelphia Eagles beat the New York Giants in the NFL playoffs.And if those students from Penn Manor High School have thei......
2009-01-11 11:07:00
Vinny Tennis
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2009-01-11 00:18:00
JON RUTTER
The average Farm Show visitor is plugged in, networked and high def-ed to his eyeballs, and about as far removed from tilling the soil as a human being can get. So why is he there? What's the big deal with this old-timey uberfair that makes superstars out of steers and sheep? Poul......
2009-01-11 00:15:00
JON RUTTER
Going to the Pennsylvania Farm Show is always an education. This time around, it's also a lesson in feed bills and fuel bills and dollars and cents. Times are lean down on the farm, too, farmers say. And it costs a lot of money to grow crops and raise livestock. "It's har......
2009-01-09 10:36:00
TIM MEKEEL
Although his office is in Chester County, Kevin Lahn knows Lancaster County pretty well. He's going to get to know it even better. Lahn's company, shopping center developer R.J. Waters & Associates, and an unidentified residential developer together made the top bid on a hig......
2009-01-09 01:24:00
MICHAEL YODER
Justin and Ben Welk are the caretakers of several pigs with personality on their family farm in Strasburg.Butterscotch, a 260-pound Yorkshire and Hampshire crossbreed, is the boss of the lot. She munches on marshmallows and keeps Miranda, named for country singer Miranda Lambert, and Jana,......
2009-01-07 00:48:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
The long legal battle over Daniel P. Esh's kennel violations was finally resolved Tuesday.Esh, owner of Scarlet-Maple Farm Kennel, 68 Clearview Road, Ronks, originally faced three misdemeanor charges of housing more than 400 dogs and puppies in unsanitary conditions. The charges stemme......
2009-01-05 09:59:00
RYAN ROBINSON
It's almost here. The 93rd annual Pennsylvania Farm Show kicks off Saturday and runs daily through Saturday, Jan. 17. Organizers expect more than 400,000 people to visit the Farm Show Complex & Expo Center in Harrisburg for what's billed as the largest indoor agricultural event......
2008-12-25 00:02:00
CARLA DI FONZO
The rain didn't put a damper on the 22nd annual Lancaster County Project for the Needy."We did as well as last year," Tom Fasnacht, project chairman said Wednesday. "We gathered up 1,200 boxes of food last year, and we received the same amount today."And whil......
2008-12-04 01:22:00
TOM KNAPP
A former dairy farm now surrounded by pricey residential developments in East Hempfield Township was rezoned Wednesday for a limited commercial use over the objections of numerous neighbors.Township supervisors rezoned the 2.56-acre tract at 2348 Harrisburg Pike from R-1 residential to C-4......
2008-12-04 00:44:00
P.J. REILLY
Each resident of Lancaster County generates about 1 ton of trash per year.That's according to Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority officials, who base the figure on the fact the authority takes in about 500,000 tons of waste each year and there are about 500,000 county res......
2008-12-03 00:31:00
MICHAEL YODER
For 33 years, Don Ranck only worried about two products from his cow herd: milk to sell and manure to dispose of.But the owner of Verdant View Farm in Paradise Township fears that in the near future he and other farmers may have to worry about another emission from their animals — gr......
2008-12-02 18:27:00
KRISTY BULLER
With the holidays just around the corner, the time for entertaining friends and family also draws near. Although extravagant dinner parties seem impractical in unyielding economic times, pinching pennies doesn't have to conflict with your social calendar."Entertaining doesn't ......
2008-12-02 00:43:00
LORI VAN INGEN
Lancaster County residents of the past felt there was something special about this place. Modern residents can feel that, too, thanks in part to the work of Lancaster County Planning Commission.The commission was formed 50 years ago. Because of its work since that time, "this is one o......
2008-11-30 00:05:00
PAULA WOLF
There are fewer and fewer large farms in Lancaster County these days, and one of them sold Wednesday at auction for $2.98 million. The 163½-acre Manor Township farm — which is zoned agricultural and in the process of being placed in agricultural preserve — brought $18,200 an ......
2008-11-30 00:02:00
DENNIS LARISON, Business Editor
Christmas tree growers were bracing themselves last week for the beginning of a hectic holiday season, given that there are just four weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year instead of five. "We've been cutting [pre-tagged trees] all week," said Jackie Bowser, co-own......
2008-11-27 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY
For years, the owners of Nissley Vineyards in Conoy Township have fought nearby development projects in the name of preserving the bucolic atmosphere surrounding their farm.On Wednesday, Lancaster County commissioners voted to forever protect the vineyards from development.The Nissl......
2008-11-25 01:13:00
MICHAEL YODER
Thanksgiving is a few days away, but the bountiful year-round harvest of Lancaster and York counties is being promoted and celebrated in a new guide.Lancaster-York Heritage Region, a nonprofit organization that raises awareness of the cultural and economic character of the two counties sep......
2008-11-20 12:17:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Does your brother — you know, the guy who has everything — really want that tie you're thinking about getting him for Christmas? Oh sure, he'll tell you he loves it and then, like the argyle sweater you got him last year and the World's Greatest Brother coffee mug fro......
2008-11-13 00:53:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Politicians from Lancaster County remembered Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll on Wednesday night as a woman who smashed gender barriers yet treated even her toughest political opponents with respect.Knoll lost her four-month battle with cancer Wednesday at the age of 78, ending an accomplish......
2008-11-06 00:48:00
MICHAEL YODER
In 1993, Ronks farmer Jack Coleman was struggling to make a decent profit with his herd of 60 dairy cows and was looking for extra income.He read a magazine article about Midwestern corn mazes and the rise of "agri-tainment" — the blending of traditional farming with entert......
2008-11-03 00:59:00
TOM KNAPP
He provided the bowls. She found a way to fill them.Empty Bowls, a first-time event in Lancaster but an ongoing tradition in other cities, is a creative way to raise money to fight hunger.Kevin Lehman, a potter with a workshop and studio at 560 S. Prince St., organized a First Frida......
2008-10-29 18:36:00
LINDA ESPENSHADE
For Ted Houser's Christmas gift last year, his brother-in-law gave money toward a microloan that would help a fledgling business in a developing country.Houser, of Lancaster, wasn't the least bit disappointed that his brother-in-law didn't spend the money on him. After all, it ......
2008-10-29 00:53:00
P.J. REILLY
Twenty years ago, Ryan Meck's father gave his son a couple packs of vegetable seeds, a section of the family farm and the chance to get his hands dirty.Meck managed to coax a few radishes and zucchinis from the soil, but they weren't pretty."It didn't start out too ......
2008-10-27 00:01:00
KRISTY BULLER
When David and Peggy Fogarty-Harnish moved to their farm nine years ago, David continued his family's 10-generation legacy of Mennonite farming in Lancaster County.But on Oct. 11, the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, much of the work at Scarecrow Hill Community Farm, 76 E. Mohler Church ......
2008-10-23 02:10:00
MICHAEL YODER
With family farmers looking for new ways to make a profit and stay in business, the convergence of Pennsylvania's two biggest industries — agriculture and tourism — may be the key.Department of Agriculture officials, business owners and farming promoters gathered Wednesday ......
2008-10-22 09:24:00
MARY BETH SCHWEIGERT
Margaret Ryan grew up on a farm, where she plucked vegetables from the field and put them straight into a pot. She still does her share to support local farmers, driving three miles down the road every harvest-season Thursday to claim a cardboard box bursting with freshly picked produce....
2008-10-14 19:11:00
LINDA ESPENSHADE
Everything served at the recent slow food dinner held in the Philadelphia Alumni Writers House at Franklin & Marshall College was grown locally except the wine, salt, sugar, pepper and balsamic vinegar.Slow foods — food that is raised locally and allows farmers and consumers to d......
2008-10-13 00:03:00
MADELYN PENNINO
More than 10 years after Tim Mayers had the notion of writing a mystery novel, it's finally down on paper and getting noticed.Mayers, an English professor who teaches composition and creative writing at Millersville University, recently was named the 2008 winner of the Paradigm Novel C......
2008-10-13 00:01:00
KRISTY BULLER
Volunteers took Lititz by foot Sunday, asking residents an important question: Is your drinking water safe?Although it's a query some locals have heard before, it's one that members of The Sierra Club and The League of Humane Voters of Central Pennsylvania think is worth posing aga......
2008-10-08 01:40:00
P.J. REILLY
A historic milestone is fast approaching.When the Lancaster County commissioners meet this morning, they are expected to authorize the preservation of a 124-acre crop-and-dairy farm in Bart and Colerain townships owned by Bart Township supervisors chairman Calvin Keene and his wife, Valeri......
2008-10-07 10:47:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
Judy and Larry Roth remember when they used to take their children to the petting zoo and other kid-oriented things at their favorite fair. Now, those kids are grown and take their own kids to see the animals at the Manheim Community Farm Show, the Roths said on a chilly Monday night. &quo......
2008-10-07 02:27:00
CARLA DI FONZO
Somehow, the three contestants in the Manheim Community Farm Show's Queen Competition managed to brave the chill Monday evening without resorting to jackets.Still, their formal gowns weren't ideal clothing for the temperature, which dipped into the 40s.It was only after Loni......
2008-10-07 02:06:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Investigators said an autopsy will be performed this morning to determine if a Philadelphia man was killed as a result of a head-on crash with a tractor-trailer in East Earl Township Monday afternoon or if a medical problem just before the wreck played a role, investigators said.A passenge......
2008-10-03 10:59:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
Like people who wonder how they lived all those years without air-conditioning or a microwave, Manheim's Tracy Zimmerman doesn't know how she'd exist without a computer. Only she's not talking about keeping up on work e-mails — she's chair of the annual townwide extrav......
2008-09-29 00:41:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
A 19-month-old Earl Township boy died in an apparent drowning Sunday after he fell into a watering trough on his family's farm, officials said.Eli Stoltzfus was playing in a horse barn on 233 Peters Road when he fell into 2 feet of water about 6:30 p.m., police said.Lancaster County......
2008-09-26 10:20:00
RYAN ROBINSON
The largest livestock show in the eastern United States kicks off Saturday at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg. The 52nd annual Keystone International Livestock Exposition will run daily through Oct. 5 at the complex at Cameron and Maclay streets. This year's expo featu......
2008-09-24 00:27:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Tuesday afternoon was a lazy day for some two dozen hogs taking part in the 90th annual Ephrata Fair.Secured in their pens in the livestock tent at Tent City in Ephrata's Grater Park, most were dozing, despite occasional snores and grunts from neighboring pens, where other porkers also......
2008-09-20 00:32:00
LORI VAN INGEN
As burgers sizzled on the grill, hungry Lancaster residents lined up at Water Street Rescue Mission's Community Cookout to sink their teeth into the tasty meal Friday afternoon. ...
2008-09-18 01:16:00
MICHAEL YODER
Lax state oversight of large-scale livestock farms in Lancaster County is abetting the pollution of the Susquehanna River, an environmental advocacy group charges.More than half of the county's industrial farms, known as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, are out of comp......
2008-09-16 11:24:00
TOM MURSE
Animal-rights advocates and local tourism officials called on legislators to crack down on abuses by commercial dog kennels today, saying the state has earned a shameful reputation as the "puppy mill capital of the East." "Abusive breeders should be put out of business immediately and permanent......
2008-09-15 00:24:00
PATRICK BURNS
Two weeks ago, Jeff Shabbir discovered the gas he sells at his Terre Hill service station contained no ethanol.That's when Shabbir decided to advertise "ETHANOL-FREE GAS" in block letters on the sign outside his Main Street store."My customers say they don't w......
2008-09-14 00:20:00
GIL SMART
What might be the most valuable land in Lancaster County is going on the market. Belmont Farm, three parcels of about 92 acres straddling Fruitville Pike in Manheim Township near the Red Rose Commons shopping center, has a reported asking price of $25 million. It includes several historic ......
2008-09-12 02:20:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
It might have been one of the quickest mistrials in Lancaster County history.Leacock Township kennel owner Daniel P. Esh's trial for alleged state dog-law violations already had been delayed a day because of a host of pretrial motions flying back and forth. On Thursday, when it finally......
2008-09-11 20:42:00
Tim Elkner & Daina Savage
Drought damage. Saturday's soaking rain and Tuesday's storm brought much-needed moisture to our gardens. Still, any newly planted trees and shrubs won't be out of danger yet. You'll need to monitor them for the first few years and be ready to supplement rainfall i......
2008-09-05 01:36:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
It was just another steamy Thursday in Columbia's historic Market House — until the Secret Service surrounded the building and a presidential candidate dropped in.Sen. Barack Obama made an unscheduled stop at the market on his way to a rally at Buchanan Park.Within minutes......
2008-08-30 01:02:00
PATRICK BURNS
Scarcely a morning went by in July that state police in Ephrata didn't take a report of a burglary at a Brecknock Township business.But Trooper Chad S. Roberts' phone isn't ringing near as much these days, thanks in part to a clumsy suspect who police said left his cell phone a......
2008-08-28 12:47:00
KATHLEEN DAMINGER
What could be better than a roasted ear of freshly picked Lancaster County corn? How about a roasted ear of freshly picked Lancaster County corn dipped in batter and deep fried? "They're really good, really good,'' says Kristen Dressler, director of fun at the Cherry C......
2008-08-21 12:33:00
KATHLEEN DAMINGER
Last year in Lancaster County, well over a half million people attended one of our seven local fairs —that's almost ten times the population of the entire city of Lancaster. It seems folks here like getting back to their rural roots. As this week's opening of the Elizabeth......
2008-08-21 07:08:00
MOLLY STIEBER / Manheim Township graduate
Cherry Crest Adventure Farm is truly a unique place. Famous for its popular Amazing Maize Maze, the farm has a lot to offer every age group. The farm offers more than 50 fun activities — 32 included with admission. Some popular attractions include the Giant Ball Arena, the Barnyard J......
2008-08-21 00:37:00
DAVE PIDGEON
If votes can grow out in the fields of rural Pennsylvania and across the nation, presidential contenders John McCain and Barack Obama are hoping for a plentiful harvest this fall.Both campaigns drew attention to the rural vote Tuesday as a retired state senator from Lancaster joined the Mc......
2008-08-15 02:11:00
MICHAEL YODER
Kenneth Myer has been part of the Elizabethtown Fair since the first one, 35 years ago.The president of the annual event, which began as a small carnival to support the Jaycees, said the weeklong slate of happenings has turned into a homecoming of sorts, bringing back former Elizabethtown ......
2008-08-14 00:39:00
STEVE SZKOTAK
(AP)At the wholesale produce market in this Mennonite community, farming families arrive by horse and buggy and pallets are stacked high with freshly harvested Shenandoah Valley onions, corn, green peppers and squash. ...
2008-08-12 01:40:00
MICHAEL YODER
A local animal-rights and environmental group has adopted the cause of monitoring issues surrounding the Lititz watershed, including nitrate levels and farming operations.The League of Humane Voters of Central Pennsylvania on Monday morning debuted its Web site, ...
2008-08-07 11:04:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
For the seniors, it's affordable, one-stop produce-shopping, right outside the front door. For the teens, it's a chance to grow by growing. As residents of Lancaster's Church Street Towers and Farnum Street East senior housing high-rises swirl around produce stands set up in......
2008-08-05 00:50:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
East Lampeter Township supervisors don't want to create an agricultural security zone, and they are taking their fight to Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court.By a 3-1 vote, the supervisors decided Monday to appeal a decision rendered last month in Lancaster County Court.The controve......
2008-08-02 01:16:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Four people — three of them tourists — were injured Friday morning when a buggy in which they were riding overturned.The incident occurred as a horse-drawn buggy, owned by Amish Farm and House, 2395 Lincoln Highway East, was traveling along the dirt-and-gravel lane to the popul......
2008-07-31 01:20:00
JOHN WALK
Cows in Manheim will have a new place to call home this fall, at least temporarily.That's because cattle featured in the Manheim community farm show in October will be in a new livestock barn that will be built before the show opens, farm show committee member Marlin Becker said....
2008-07-31 01:12:00
STAFF REPORT
Schedules for Lancaster County fairs in 2008 are:35th annual Elizabethtown Fair: Aug. 18-23, Elizabethtown Fairgrounds, East High Street, Elizabethtown.27th Denver Fair: Sept. 9-13, Denver Memorial Park, Main Street, Denver.59th annual ...
2008-07-30 01:41:00
MICHAEL YODER
Just before Lloyd Kreider left for his cabin in Juniata County on Saturday, he remarked to his wife, Mary Lois, that he had never seen their farm looking so perfect.Most of the crops on the 12-acre farm near Kirkwood bristled with produce. Sweet corn was in abundance; tomatoes hung heavy o......
2008-07-28 19:24:00
JAMES BUESCHER
It's a section of Route 30 that's seen as a "gateway" to Lancaster County: an area stretching from the East Towne Mall to Route 896 near Rockvale Outlets, a place that, at one time, was celebrated for its rolling hills, Amish farmsteads and idyllic streams but is now better know......
2008-07-27 00:04:00
JON RUTTER
If Lancaster's new Sierra Club group were a person it would probably wear sensible hiking shoes. The group has an altogether practical name — The Lancaster Group —and a disarmingly single-minded mission: improving air quality. Lancaster County Sierrans have long worked informal......
2008-07-24 01:18:00
P.J. REILLY
David and Ruthie Blank want to become part of Lancaster County's next generation of farmers. Since 2001, the couple has rented a 70-acre farm in Salisbury Township from David's parents to run a 52-cow dairy. Thanks in part to a government loan program, the Blanks soon will own that......
2008-07-23 00:04:00
CLAUDIA W. ESBENSHADE
Unlike other fruits, stone fruits do not sweeten after they are picked, said Phyllis Shenk, manager of Cherry Hill Orchards in New Danville. The business offers the pick-your-own experience for cherries through the last week in June and peaches in August."Although they will ripen more......
2008-07-19 01:09:00
CARLA DIFONZO
Agriculturists are advising Lancaster County tobacco farmers to be on the lookout for blue mold. The first case of blue mold reported this year was confirmed July 11 near New Holland, where 85 percent of a five-acre field was infected. Since then, several blue mold cases throughout the cou......
2008-07-16 01:07:00
CARLA DI FONZO
Brad Igou grew up in Lancaster County, but he never got to know his neighbors — namely, the Amish."I went to college in New York, and it wasn't until I graduated and came back to Lancaster that I actually met and got to know some Amish residents," he said. "In publ......
2008-07-15 02:03:00
MICHAEL YODER
A Little Britain Township farm was touched by tragedy for the second time in less than a week when an Amish teenager was killed Monday afternoon during a barn raising.The 17-year-old male, who was not identified pending notification of his family, apparently fell while attempting to put a ......
2008-07-13 00:04:00
THE ECONOMIST
Corn blankets eastern Nebraska in the summer. Straight roads glide over the hills, dividing the fields like measuring tape — in the 19th century the Homestead Act sectioned the land into neat plots for new settlers. Patty Coady's family did not get their farm from the act, but they are ha......
2008-07-11 00:01:00
MICHAEL YODER
Buying and eating locally produced food is more than just a healthy lifestyle decision for Robbie Roberts — for him it's a way to build a healthy community.Roberts, who serves as manager and chef of Dosie Dough coffee shop on Lemon Street in Lancaster, spent Wednesday afternoon p......
2008-07-06 00:14:00
MARTY CRISP
Correction Appended
Green is the new black. It's the hip, "now" color of the planet's environmentally challenged future. And "Go Green" is ......
