Pennsylavania - The Keystone State

Pennsylvania… from inner city Philadelphia, “Hang on to your wallet ma’am” to small town, rural flavour. Pennsylvania, from what we have been exposed to so far, does well at recognising and promoting its productive agricultural sector. They have several organisations that work for producers and wider agribusinesses to gain favourable policies and the all important funding.

It was very interesting to meet a woman that works at the State Capitol in Harrisburg, advocating and working on behalf of agricultural or educational related businesses. She pointed out that getting a bill through the legislature is mainly about votes and money – though she has a very strong focus on relationships, not just with the power brokers but with the staff. All applications are delivered by hand with a couple of trays of Starbucks coffee!

Speaking about the capitol, this has been voted the best in the country. It is a purposeful statement of the ideals of the state, in a most grand and eloquent way. As we walked into the top of the viewing gallery of the House of Representatives I couldn’t help but repeat, “Wow…” several times. The chandeliers weigh a couple of tons each, the paintings are stories in themselves and the gold leaf is real! You truly can only get a small idea from the photos I have above…

The photo above is looking from the capitol steps - towards the completely frozen over, wide Sasquehanna River that Harrisburg is sited on - not something we from Downunder see often!
I’m writing this in the hotel bar with the rest of the group contributing thoughts. One said he feels like he is being recruited for Penn State Uni – though being hosted by someone that works there may have something to do with that!

 In fact it is more than just Jean’s influence – the history of the land grant universities and the inherent mission to benefit the communities they serve is evident. Then place that along with how the commonwealth of Pennsylvania is very proud of its place and its people – they see themselves very much as a net contributor of food to the very large East Coast populations that are in close proximity and respect the distinctive flavour of the Amish and Mennonite communities.

Speaking of which, we visited a machinery dealer based in a small town in the heart of Amish country – had to pass a couple of horse and buggy gigs on our way. The name of the settlement is Intercourse, which got a few ironic laughs. I was interested to hear that one of the scenes in the movie The Fugitive was filmed on the main street.
It really is farming heartland – it was amazing to look around and see farm buildings at such density – one of the team thought it looked like a city of farms!

One of our missions is to lift our French teammate’s, Baptiste, English in 6 weeks. Today we have got him to change his introduction from “I am a farmer of cows meat and cereals” (which is a difficult word to pronounce!) to “I farm beef and crops”! He is a willing learner, which is fun. We discuss equivalent phrases, pronunciation and word order… just like being back at RELA.
Our first day started in the city of Philadelphia… which required driving at peak time… in a 12 seater Chrysler van that is too long to fit in a standard park… on the wrong side of the road. Trying to follow Jean made it quite an adrenaline rush I have to say. Our designated drivers are doing very well really – we haven’t had any “What is that car doing?! Oh, we are on the wrong side of the road!” incidents.
We met passionate people doing “Urban Ag” - connecting people in the city with where their food comes from. This is manifested in a variety of projects, with a variety of partners in each.

We still have to ask about tipping – for what, how much… consensus in the group is that we’d prefer the hospitality sector to pay better wages and eliminate the whole thing!
I'm writing the fina installment of this now - Saturday. We've had a double bonus today of being hosted in folks' homes twice - for lunch with our host and guide for our tour of Gettysburg Battlefield (and we got to see his American Simmental stud operation too - though I was surprised to find that here they are either black or brown, not the Simmentals I expected!) - and for dinner with Nina Redding, a woman we met yesterday that works in Extension, and her husband Russell, Secretary of Ag for Pennsylvania State (and with whom Jean used to work).
It was great to see another peice of history brought to life at Gettysburg; I enjoyed the old style 'cyclorama' at the visitor centre - where the largest painting on canvas wraps around 360 degrees and depicts the action at gettysburg with varied lighting highlighting different spots through a narration.

By the way our accomodation is in the Gettysburg Hotel, Est. 1797, address 1 Lincoln Square... rather historic in itself!

The close of the day was a highlight of hospitality as we were told we weren't allowed dinner until we had got our blood circulating playing table tennis or going for a bike ride. I did the latter, though in the low cloud and drizzle, we didn't stay out long. Nina served up pumpkin pie for dessert after a wonderful, 'dishes-filling -the-table' homestyle meal. Before we left we even did a quick whizz on a mini toboggin on the last remaining snowy slope at their place!

Tomorrow we head off to Washington DC...