July 20th, 2007 | Category: General
SAVING LANCASTER FARMS ONE ACRE AT A TIME
Posted by: Turkey Hill Team
Since so much of the milk that we use to make our ice cream comes from farms located right here in Lancaster County, we wanted to take some time to talk more about those farms and the struggles they face.
Did you know that 99 percent of Lancaster County farms are family owned? Starting as a family-owned business ourselves (Turkey Hill is still run by some of the family members who founded the Dairy 75 years ago), we can relate to these farms and the network that they’ve created. They’re our friends and neighbors. We support them and they support us.
Unfortunately, Lancaster County loses 1,000 acres of farmland every year due to development. Don’t get us wrong, progress and development can be good, but the dissapearance of farmland is scary because these farms and the hard-working core values they represent are the cornerstones of this part of the Pennsylvania. It’d be a shame to lose much more of that heritage.
As many of you know, Turkey Hill sometimes uses the phrase “Where we make it is why it’s good” to describe our ice cream. We truly believe that and it’s also why we’re an active supporter of the Lancaster Farmland Trust, an organization that preserves Lancaster County farms before they can be overtaken by development. We do this by donating portions of all the sales of our All Natural Ice Cream line to help them in their fight to save Lancaster’s farms.
Don’t get us wrong. If done right, development can be a wonderful thing, but we also have to also be respectful of the families and industries that built this county, and that’s what the Trust is fighting for.
To date, they’ve saved over 13,000 acres of farmland, which represents more than 200 area farms. That’s pretty impressive and they’re working every day to save more land and more family-run farms. To learn about the Trust and how you might be able to support them, visit www.lancasterfarmlandtrust.org.
We’ll leave you with a great photo of Lancaster County. To those of you who aren’t lucky enough to live in the area, yes, this is pretty much a standard scene around here!
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If you’ve got a technical question about the ice cream making process or some other inquiry about the nuances of America’s favorite treat, chances are Ernie has the answer. He might not be able to answer all questions, but he’ll try his best and some may be featured on the Ice Cream Journal.
30 Comments
Thank you for taking the interest in caring for your neighbors there in Lancaster County, in preserving their farmlands and the beautiful countryside that attracts so many visitors annually! As to the previous fellow NJ resident comment above, we are more than happy to assist our neighbors as well in our township as well as in the county of Burlington. We likewise are tired of the big developers, who are there just gain big profits, and build cheap houses or mini shopping centers. Also, Thanks for caring enough to make such delicious but high quality dairy products for all of us to enjoy weekly or daily, given the interest of the customer!!!
July 30th, 2007 at 12:52 pmUGGGHHHH!!! overdevelopement is a BAD thing! they have ruined long island with it!!!! that’s why i love lancaster county-it’s so beautiful-it’s my escape. PLEASE don’t let them ruin it.
July 30th, 2007 at 11:33 amI live in Lancaster County. It’s a nice place, but in the short years I’ve lived here the land has been becoming developed. It’s so sad to see more than twenty houses outside your bedroom window where there used to be just a few. [shake head] It’s so sad.
Saddened Mint Chocolate Chip fans unite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 29th, 2007 at 5:17 pmTops closed which the only source for Turkey Hill ice cream. Emailed Giant Eagle requesting they consider carrying Turkey Hill. How pleasantly surprised I was to see it in the ice cream section
July 26th, 2007 at 11:52 amI don’t know why most places don’t save some land, not only farm land. It is great what the people are doing there. I should bring this up at our council meeting. I wonder if we have any land we can preserve.
Thanks for the idea.
July 25th, 2007 at 11:07 amI love Lancaster County so much I’ve moved BACK here three times! It’s the people, it’s the landscape, it’s the downtown city life so close and yet so far from the farmland country spread. Turkey Hill is an important part of this culture - it goes together with Lancaster County like peas and carrots!
July 25th, 2007 at 9:19 amWe made our first family trip to Lancaster County in 1989–and have been coming yearly ever since (sometimes twice a year when we can) We love everything about the area and are already planning our Fall trip. The area is so beautiful and peaceful! Your photo makes me want to be there right now! We had our first Turkey Hill ice cream in 1989 at a “make your own sundae night” poolside, at the Bird-in-Hand Family Inn. Now, happily, we can buy Turkey Hill ice cream here on Long Island, but that’s not stopping us from coming to Lancaster! (Just got your new Duette flavor today–soft vanilla ice cream with cherry italian ice mixed in and I’ll be sampling that as soon as I submit this comment!!! )
July 24th, 2007 at 8:47 pmIt looks lovely. Perhaps we’ll take a family road trip one of these days. If a visit to Turkey Hill Dairies is on the itinerary I’m all for it.
July 24th, 2007 at 12:29 pmAbsolutely beautiful picture. Would love to live close enough to drive past and photograph myself.
July 23rd, 2007 at 7:50 pmI care about the cows that are producing all this milk used for various products. I want to see that they are being treated decently and are made to graze in open fields and not just warehoused milk machines. These sentient animals should be treated humanely for all they do for us!
July 23rd, 2007 at 7:49 pmGreat photo!!!
July 23rd, 2007 at 2:08 pmIt’s not surprising that such delicious products comes from such a beautiful part of the country!
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:41 amwe’re hoping to keep the farm life strong
July 22nd, 2007 at 9:02 pmbit by bit we’re bringing some of the
fallow fields back to fertile here in our N.E. state…nothing like “real, fresh foods”
What a wonderful thing Turkey Hill is doing,, trying to preserve the farms in Lancaster! I wish more companies and corporations would follow your example. It’s terrible to see these plans of HUGE houses going up where there used to be beautiful rolling acres of farm land! I’d much rather see corn growing or cows grazing than see these plans of homes. I live in Allegheny County and it’s happening all around us,,, the farmers are selling off their property to developers. It’ such a shame
July 21st, 2007 at 11:08 pmNot only do you make the best ice cream, but Turkey Hill is also doing a great job to preserve our farmlands and support Lancaster Farms. Thanks for all you do!
July 21st, 2007 at 9:07 pmI’m a native of PA, now transplanted in Salem County, NJ. Farmland preservation is an active program here and I’m glad to hear Turkey Hill is doing their part in Lancaster County. But is the government doing anything to help or are they helping the developers? Keep up the good work. We need the open spaces to calm our souls.
July 21st, 2007 at 12:55 pmAmen. Farms are the cornerstone of America. It is important to keep the privately owned farms viable, so that the local guys don’t get swallowed up by the big corporations.
July 21st, 2007 at 8:25 amit is sad the amount of farms that have gone away
I travel from Pottsville to Lebanon a lot and the amount of farms that have disappeared over the years is just unbelievable!!
So glad to see those little signs pop up “Preserved” I only wish there were more.
In our area there were 8 dairy processing places when I was little, now we have 3!!
July 21st, 2007 at 7:13 amUnbelievable
Most beautiful land in the world. I love it.
July 21st, 2007 at 1:20 amWe certainly could be the food basket for the world. If only we would stop those huge developments that waste land and our resources.
July 20th, 2007 at 10:08 pmI hope I don’t see the day when we have to import more of our food supply. We already import too many of the fruits and vegetables that you see in the market.
the county i live in no longer has any dairy farms. Glad you are trying to protect those in your area.
July 20th, 2007 at 8:39 pmI visit the PA Dutch country twice a year. It is sad to hear that 1000 acres are lost to development every year.
That area is the most beautiful and peaceful place. I am so glad you do your part to support the farms.I will visit the website to see what I can do.
Thanks for the wonderful work!
July 20th, 2007 at 8:25 pmJust Beautiful!!!! It makes me proud to live in central Pennsylvania!!!
July 20th, 2007 at 3:17 pmI to believe we should do all that is possible to save our farms.
July 20th, 2007 at 2:33 pmSome day Turkey Hill may have to make ice cream out of something from the ocean if we dont have farm land
It’s wonderful to know that Turkey Hill is a responsible business dedicated to saving our farmland. I grew up in New Jersey, and visiting the dairy farm down the road was one of our favorite activities. After my daughter was born, we moved back to the area and our visits to the farm were special. Now the dairy farm is gone and the area looks less like the “Garden State” I remember. Housing is important, but maintaining our enviroment and our food supply should be top priority. Thank you for doing your part.
July 20th, 2007 at 10:54 amI know here in Ohio we have some type of farm presevation. I somewhat rememeber there was a program to help farms of 500 acres or more. I’m not quite sure but I believed the farmer had to committ to a 10 year plan. I’ll have to do some searching on the web to see what Ohio is doing now. We used to love going to Hartville, Ohio. They had the farms, open flea market and the occasional Amish Buggy. It’s really becoming so commerial that you have to fight the crowds now. It’s a shame, we still like to go for fruits, veggies, and cheese but it’s just not the relaxing little trip it used to be. There’s many new homes and fewer farms …oh well…:(
July 20th, 2007 at 10:48 amI miss the days you could see fields of corn and or just trees etc. I am not that old either!! Keep saving the farmland!!
July 20th, 2007 at 10:39 amI have been visiting the Verdant View Farm since 1985. they are a dairy farm, family owned, bed and breakfast. the owners are the greatest people I know,
hard working and kind.
we have learned much from them about farming, milking and Lancaster County.
we have seen the development that has happened since 1985 and personally, if they want the tourist to come, they better stop now.
July 20th, 2007 at 10:02 amI’m glad that you’re doing your part Lancaster, and PA Dutch Country are living histories on what and where we were in our history. I remember how this impressed me as a little girl. Keep up the great work!
Tianna
July 20th, 2007 at 10:01 amWe have farmland preservation here in NJ. Our township has an extra real estate tax of one or two cents to save open space so we have trees to convert CO2 into oxygen. I hear complaints from some residents about how much is paid to the farmers for their development rights then I ask them do they prefer the corn field or a big box store. That usually shuts them up. Lets keep our farms since China’s population does not make exporting food easy.
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