Got e-mail?
If you would prefer to receive your monthly meeting reminders by the much more economical e-mail route, then please inform Leslie Bauer at Labauer5@verizon.net

I Believe We Really Did It!!!!

by Howie Feaga, President Howard County Farm Bureau

Merhlyn Barnes was obviously overwhelmed and surprised when she was called forward to be publicly recognized and honored at the Howard County Farm Bureau’s Annual Legislative Dinner on the evening of Thursday, April 11th in the Lisbon Volunteer Fire Department’s Social Hall.

Typically, she doesn’t miss much about what is going on around her. But in this case, we were really able to surprise Merhlyn Barnes, the retired secretary of the Howard County Farm Bureau. For the last 30 years she has worked tirelessly for the organization. She always has had a smile on her face and was more than willing to do whatever she could, for the Farm Bureau, as well as for the Farm Bureau Women. Even after retiring, she still attended the meetings. Finally one evening "Miss" Merhlyn had to leave our Board meeting early and we seized that rare opportunity to get right to work on planning her surprise.

We knew that we wanted to do something special to honor this very special lady. We discussed many different good ideas and ultimately settled on several of the best ones that we might want to follow up on. There were so many good ideas on our list that we still had a major task ahead in narrowing that list down to ones that we should use. It didn’t take long to decide though, considering what Merhlyn Barnes has meant to us all, and considering who she is, and what she has meant to the community and to the Howard County Farm Bureau especially, we decided to follow through on almost all of those suggested ideas.

First of all, we decided to present her with a check for $3,000. One board member explained that the check represented $100 for each year that she served as our dedicated Howard County Farm Bureau Secretary, and that seemed deserving. One of the Board members suggested that we should present her with one of those symbolic "Big Checks" similar to the kind that they give to the "Big" lottery winners. So, Mike Calkins got busy and had a "Big Check" printed up for the occasion.

We also wanted to present her with a plaque in honor and recognition of her 30 years of service. So, Vice President Jay Rhine took care of that.

I contacted the Farm Bureau Women’s Committee and they had some more great ideas of their own. They went shopping and found some wonderful items to put in not just one basket, but two baskets of gifts. One of those items was a bottle of champagne to celebrate with. They topped it all off with a crown to let her know just how they felt about her. I think it goes without saying that we all feel the same way. She is truly a Queen of a lady. She was officially crowned right there at the dinner.

As President, I want to thank everyone for all their help in honoring "Miss" Merhlyn and in making these special presentations a success. Personally, Merhlyn Barnes helped me immensely when I took over as president and I will always be grateful to her for that.

There is really no way to thank someone enough like "Miss" Merlyn Barnes who has been so helpful and dedicated over the years. But as a group I assure you, we all tried our best to do just that. So to you Miss Merhlyn once again, we all truly and sincerely say, "Thank You, and Best Wishes!"

May 2013

Howard County Farm Bureau Contests

Are YOU Interested this Year In Participating?

Miss Howard County Farm Bureau
Little Miss Howard County Farm Bureau Howard County Future Farmer

Contests are sponsored by the Howard County Farm Bureau Women and will be held on Sunday, August 4, 2013 during the Howard County Fair.

• Contests will be held on Sunday, August 4th at the Howard County Fair.
• Contestants will ride in the Opening Day Parade.
• Cash awards to all contestants.
• Gifts and scholarships awarded to winners.
• Family must be a member of, or join, the Howard County Farm Bureau.
• Fun and rewarding for all participants.
• Must carry agricultural-related 4-H project.
• Must be age-eligible to participate:
     Little Miss & Future Farmer Contests: 8 to 11 years of age as of August 1st.
     Miss Contest: 16 to 19 years of age as of State Fair Contest.

• Miss Howard County Farm Bureau stage portion of contest held 3:00 pm in the Show Pavilion.

• Future Howard County Farmer and Little Miss Howard County Farm Bureau presented during intermission of Miss Contest in Show Pavilion.

Age-eligible contestants who belong to the Howard County 4-H Program will receive a detailed letter regarding these contests in early June.

Are YOU interested? Do you know someone who might be interested?

Please call or email:
Annette Fleishell at (410) 795-6119 or leishellfarm@aol.com for Miss Contest.
Mary Jean Coles at (410) 489-4717 or cmjcoles4@aol.com for Future Farmer or Little Miss Contest.

This video is dedicated to farmers, both past and present who have endured to provide our safe, affordable and abundant food. Please take a minute and thank farmers for all of their efforts.

By now, you’ve probably seen the beautiful new "Farmland Forever" sign posted on a neighbor’s farm. The sign is available to any property owner whose land is in the Howard County Agricultural Land Preservation Program (ALPP). All you need to do to let others know that you’ve made the commitment to preserve your farm is fill out a form. There will be no cost to program participants for the sign or its installation. The sign is made of aluminum and is 24" x 30" in size, and a sample of what it looks like is on the ALPP website, along with the form. The County will construct the sign post and do the installation.

If you would like to show your pride in preservation, please complete and return the on-line form to Joy Levy, ALPP Administrator, at 3430 Court House Drive, Ellicott City, MD 21043. Joy can also be reached at 410-313-5407 or jlevy@howardcountymd.gov The link to the ALPP web page is http://howardcountymd.gov/DPZ/agriculture.htm

You can go to the Maryland Farm Bureau website and join our organization with a valid credit card. Likewise current members can go to the website and renew their membership, eliminating the need to mail in the renewal notice with a check. Renewing members will need their membership number.

Just go to www.mdfarmbureau.com and click on "Become a Member Today" in the top right hand corner.