Berks County Farmers Enjoy Getting Away for a While on Trips Organized By Vista Grande Tours, but They Don’t Stray Too Far From Things They’re Comfortable With.: A Different Breed of Vacation

By Bruce R. Posten, Reading Eagle, Pa.

Mar. 27–HOW YA GONNA keep ‘em down on the farm after they’ve seen seaweed harvested, sheep milked, maple trees tapped and lobsters trapped? No problem really. Berks County farmers don’t want to escape from the land they love, certainly not forever. Like most everyone else, they just need a spring break. Tied to farming responsibilities 24 hours a day, seven days a week, some Berks farmers, especially in the last 10 years, have traveled to dairy farms and other agricultural-related sites throughout the United States on vacation, mostly in the company of a busload of fellow farmers. But it’s not like they are traveling to gay Paree or Timbuktu or exploring anything remotely foreign. They seem to prefer that which is land-based or as comfortable and familiar as a prized cow, perhaps with just a hint of the unusual. But always, the trips are educational. They may even be classified as domestically quirky, offering travelers a chance to observe the milking of water buffalo, elk breeding operations or the manufacture of Bag Balm, a highly effective salve used to soften cow udders. “Farmers don’t gallivant around a lot, but these days more of them want to take a little time to get away, see what other farmers are doing and learn about different aspects of the agricultural industry,” said Phoebe Bitler, 50, of Vista Grande Farm, Richmond Township. Travel business Besides operating a dairy farm, brokering cattle and managing a custom harvesting operation, Bitler, a former Penn State Cooperative Extension agent, and her husband, David, 50, and their son Jesse, 21, operate Vista Grande Tours, a niche market travel business aimed at planning trips for farmers — or anyone interested in agriculture or agriculture-related industries. The vacations are designed to allow travelers to hit the highway and leave their farming worries behind. Bitler arranges the lodging, food, bus transportation and tours for one flat fee ranging from $450 to $780 per person, depending on the number of days of vacation (usually three to five). And that apparently is the way the farmers, ag-businessmen and educators and even veterinarians like it. This spring, Bitler, who is in charge of planning trips, will take a busload of 50 people on what has been billed a four-day “Extreme Dairy Tour” to New England that includes farms where cows are milked and fed by robots, elk are bred and wind up on the menu at a Cow Palace Restaurant and the milk from Vermont-raised water buffalo is used to make mozzarella and yogurt. In the past, she has organized jaunts where vacationers saw tobacco, mule and horse farms in Kentucky and Tennessee, dairy expositions or conventions in Madison, Wis., and Toronto, Canada, and a salmon fishery on Prince Edward Island, Canada. “We didn’t do much traveling in our 41 years of dairy farming, but now we are,” said Darlene Younker, 60, of Richmond Township, who said she and her husband, Marty, 65, are going on their sixth trip with Bitler. “I didn’t retire,” Marty said. “I just sold my cows (about 85 head) to my son about seven years ago.” Still help The Younkers still help their sons, Brian, 43, and James, 39, with farm chores, but they aren’t tied to the farm as in years past. “The thing is we like to see what other farmers are doing to get new ideas,” Darlene said. “On these trips, we also make many friends and we meet people with similar interests.” Would they be traveling outside of Berks County by themselves if there weren’t Bitler’s organized farm tours? “Probably not,” Darlene said. “We never traveled much, and we don’t know where these places are that Phoebe finds. She does a good job of organizing everything and we like that.” On a 100-acre dairy farm near Morgantown with 58 cows, five children — ages 2 to 18 — and three pet dogs, Arlan J. Kurtz, 47, and his wife, J. Louise, 40, decided this is the spring they wanted to finally get away after about 20 years of farming. “We’ve gone on short little day trips nearby, but nothing more extended like this,” said Arlan, who puts in long days from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. on farm chores. “It’s hard to get somebody lined up to take on responsibilities around here. But we have two older sons now and they will watch the younger ones. We also have a neighbor who sometimes helps.”"I always wanted to go up to the New England states.” said J. Louise, who learned about Bitler’s farm tours in a farming magazine. “It seems it will suit us.” Educational aspects The Mennonite couple, not from a conservative sect, said they have no religious prohibitions on travel but are looking forward to the educational aspects of a trip. Other longtime farming couples, Ray and Barbara Bicksler, 71 and 64, respectively, of Tulpehocken Township, and Alton and Joan Rohrbach of Perry Township, both 66, discovered the joy of traveling even though, for years, farming duties kept them tied to Berks County. “We’ve been on four trips since our son took over our farm,” said Joan Rohrbach. “Before that, not much (traveling). Even in the winter (a slower time for farmers), you couldn’t get away because you’d be afraid of a bad storm, the electric going out, the care for the animals — a lot of headaches.”"There’s not enough money for me to milk a cow again,” said Barbara Bicksler, who said she and her husband sold their dairy herd in 1996, but still live on the farm. “I absolutely love these trips. When we were farming, you just didn’t make enough money to pay anyone to help you so you could get away.” She said her husband, who loves farming, still helps his brother with farm work. “Ray enjoys being at home and he drags his feet a little when you want him to go somewhere,” Bicksler said. “I think he just likes to get me going, but I can get him to go on Phoebe’s trips. “He always says when I get a letter from Phoebe on an upcoming farm trip, I don’t let it get cold before I have to open it.”

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Copyright (c) 2006, Reading Eagle, Pa.

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