Blog Archives

Zook's Corner Farm Market Closes

4/26/2013

Riverside Farm stand sign announces closing.e

Riverside Farm Market with chain across driveway.

I was sitting at my desk at work when the news broke: the Riverside farm stand at Zook's Corner east of Eden has closed.

For real? The farm stand where the farmer arrived each morning on sun time driving a team of horses pulling a wagonload of the sweetest, the most fresh local sweet maize? They also grew asparagus, red beets, sweet peppers, onions, green beans, spinach, and beautiful strawberries; and sold eggs from their own chickens and all kinds of local fruit from Kauffman’s in Bird-in-Hand, and Jersey blueberries (that’s pretty local), as well as pickles and preserves. CLOSED?

(Trying not to have a cow here).

I found a phone number on the web and left a message on the barn phone. The call was soon returned by Aaron Zook, a grower for Lancaster Farm Fresh, an organic, community-supported agriculture (CSA) cooperative. He said although he has no business connection with the Riverside stand, and didn’t know why his number was listed for it, he knew a little about the circumstances. He said Levi Stoltzfus and his family had rented the Riverside farm, but now have bought a farm of their own near Elizabethtown. Over the years a progression of Stoltzfus children grew up and into different responsibilities with running the farm and the stand. Some of his children are still farming Riverview but don’t have the time to run the retail side of the farm, so it’s been closed. Yes, that includes the summer Saturday morning chicken barbecues.

The Stoltzfus family posted a sign thanking their customers and inviting them to visit their new farm stand after they’ve settled in and had time to get growing (see photo above). The address is 1595 Maytown Road, Elizabethtown.

That’s out of my rambling range. Oh lucky E-townians!

Thank you, Stoltzfus family, for years of delicious, close-to-home, good food.

One Clique Too Many

4/23/2013

Immediately following last week's bombing in Boston, innocent people were harmed who were not in the marathon nor anywhere near it.

In an act of mobbing, people on a social media website misidentified some people as suspects. Roughly 272,000 people accessed the website that was involved, according to BBC news. Within no time families were being harassed and frightened, on-line and by telephone; their homes surrounded by media vans.

Management of the website later issued an apology to the people who were wrongly targeted, and their families.

This was just one of the ways that due process was disregarded following the tragic bombing. Looking at the photos of the two misguided young people who caused death and injury for so many, I see two children. They were old enough to know better than to kill, yet they acted like children.

I look at the photos of the armed men in the assault vehicles that hunted them down, and wonder, what’s our excuse? Can we let law enforcement do its work without baying for blood like a wolf pack? And law enforcement, can we make due process an absolute requirement?

Technology allowed us to zero in on these two children like omnipotent parents with 360-degree vision. That’s not a bad thing. However, we let our love of technology ride us straight into summary execution. We have the infrared cameras, the surveillance cameras, the laser-sighted guns, the massive assault vehicles, the bullet-proof carapace, the helicopters -- and the animal desire to kill creatures which run (could that instinct be part of the Tsarnaev brothers’ targeting of runners?).

And if you couldn’t actually be in Boston, you could go on-line and pile on in a monstrous click-mob. Click somebody’s life into deadly chaos without even revealing your name. Virtual murder.

We are free to rise above the mob instinct and set a better example. Technology enabled law enforcement to quickly catch the suspects; even to instantly convict them of the crime. Now we are free to imagine the possibility of restoring Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to life without lusting to take his life. It’s been done before. We are free to affirm life in honor of those whose lives were wrongly taken. The technology to overcome bloodlust is within each one of us, controllable as the click of a mouse button. It’s the right way to live.

Battle for Swatara

4/14/2013

Lock 5 of the Union Canal feeder at Swatara State Park

Even though Dave Ravegum had warned us the tree was about to fall, and made sure we were all clear, when that distinctive, ripping crackling sound split the air, I instinctively ran.

Behind me was laughter from the other Friends of Swatara State Park volunteers who were working to clear brush and remove trees growing in and around Lock 5 of the Union Canal's feeder canal at Swatara State Park.

The following week we returned to continue the work. A family of hikers stopped to ask about the canal. Ravegum is the right person to ask. He's working on a book about the canal's history.

What a rich history it is! William Penn is credited with first proposing to connect the Susquehanna and Schuylkill Rivers. The project gained traction as a way to increase shipments to Philadelphia which otherwise would have headed down the Susquehanna to the port of Baltimore. George Washington attended the groundbreaking ceremony. A feeder branch was built to harness water power from the Swatara River to boost the canal through the high point at the famous tunnel north of Lebanon. Above are photos of Lock 5 of that branch, which carried coal and timber from Schuylkill County to Philadelphia.

Note the vernal ponds in the lock. FOSSP volunteer Dick Light pointed out egg masses in the pond laid by wood frogs and marble salamanders.

Preserving the locks, and the history of the Swatara canal and railroad days, is important work. Securing the area from motor vehicle traffic was a major step in the process.

While I was taking a break, perched on a boulder next to the DCNR pick-up truck, a mountain biker stopped to talk. He said he and his father used to fish at Lock 5 when he was a boy. He said he was amazed by the huge stone works: how they were cut with such precision, and how they were hauled to the remote site, and from where? He remembered the cabins that used to be there when the land was privately-owned. Today, he said, he sees much broken glass and vandalism.

Every time I ride or hike at Swatara I pick up beer and soda cans and bottles. For a long time this was a place where some people came just to drink. Two years ago I found ugly graffiti spray-painted just north of the Appalachian trail bridge, depicting the President being lynched. I went directly to Memorial Lake State Park and reported it to the head of maintenance, and it was painted over.

Old State Road (Bear Hole Road) is now closed to motor vehicle traffic, but Ravegum said people on ATV's in the park are still a problem. He said they tell him it's their park because they've been riding there since they were children. Ravegum said he tells them he's been working there longer than that.

After our work session was finished I rode bike from the Bear Hole parking lot to Swopes Valley Road to Sand Siding. Near the Suedberg church was a pile of garbage someone had dumped from state route 443 down the embankment into the park. A trailer tire was part of the pile.

I lifted the tire and bounced it around to get the muck out of it. Then I pulled down some grape vines, knotted them around the tire, got on my bike and pedaled out to Swopes Valley Road dragging the tire behind me. I propped it against a road sign, figuring a township truck would drive by and pick it up.

On my way out several hikers and bikers watched as I passed. More and more people are discovering and appreciating the park. Soon restrooms are going to be built near the intersection of routes 72 and 443 -- wow! A few years ago some said it couldn't be done; that vandals would just destroy it. But good change is happening. The DCNR has done a commendable job of rebuilding the trails and constructing new bridges. As more people become aware and active in using the park in positive, healthy ways, the destruction will gradually become history. We may even see a new Civilian Conservation Corps that would give young people constructive employment in our state parks and forests, and put veterans to work teaching them discipline and self-respect. This is a great opportunity.

Sweet Spring

4/11/2013

Cold weather is the sweet that balances hot weather's sweaty salty.
The promise of the changing seasons is a form of beauty. Heat will burn and then fade.
Cold will restore.
Snow will purify. Spring will return.

Give thanks for beauty in many forms.

Chauffeur Hero

4/5/2013

This morning I was driven to work by a hero driver. One afternoon last fall he suddenly stopped the bus in the east lane of North Queen Street near Ross Elementary, jumped from the driver's seat and disembarked. What on earth? From the window I saw him lift a black garbage bag lying in the west lane. Except it must've been an extra hefty bag because as he moved it I saw it contained concrete blocks. One can only imagine what could have happened if not for his quick action. A few minutes later when we got to my stop I phoned the county dispatcher and told him about the driver's heroism in quickly recognizing and handling the highway hazard, and asked that someone remove the blocks, which the bus driver had moved to the curbside. The dispatcher said he would have someone take care of it.

A bus rider's work is also challenging, not as much as the driver's, but at times one wishes for an avatar to stand and wait roadside for the bus, breathing diesel soot and getting dust in your eyes, sometimes for half an hour or longer. Even if you are standing right next to the highway, you must look sharp -- blink and the driver could blow right by you, especially if visibility is poor, or if they are running late.

Better ways are in the works. The electronics company Philips has designed a system using smartphones to flag bus drivers that passengers are waiting. The bus route is flexible, changing according to where people need to be picked up. The same technology can tell riders where their bus is, and whether they have time to read the paper until it arrives.

That's a ride everybody can get on board with.