1976
In 1976, Roger and Susan joined the partnership just in time to launch into the summertime preparations. One item literally on the To-Do List before the summer started was "build dining hall." The addition of the dining hall and kitchen to the campsite concentrated more activity at that end of the farm. Rog and Susan lived in the campsite in a tent with their German Shepherd, Adam, for the entire summer. Each couple took one day off a month and one evening a week off. Vehicle inventory this summer was a Chevy pick-up truck, a VW bus, and a big blue van with a total of two seats.
The enrollment that summer increased to about 34 kids in each session. 1976 also marked the purchase of the International 574 tractor and the rotovator, the usual complement of pigs and goats and chickens, and the arrival of 16 Black Angus cattle. The only hired hand that year was a guy who went by the name of Cags. He was a carpenter and offered up weaving as an activity. In those days kitchen crew went for two straight days. Kitchen crew would often have a skit or song to offer at dinnertime. Activities of note were: the first Longacre Olympics, which included the trailer backing contest, the Rush to the Outhouse Relay, Corn Eating, and Tomato Box Making contests, a trip to a military re-enactment at the Gettysburg Battlefield, the creation of the compost pile, a lot of foosball, a (very unscheduled) huge cow manure fight in the barnyard, and the cultivation and harvesting of 6,000 tomato plants. Rainy day activities included popsicle stick lamps.
In October the Smiths broke ground for their new house. Rog substituted at West Perry and waited on tables. Susan waitressed at Wonderful Wanda's Warehouse: she wore a black jumpsuit and a red beret. When they weren't working they worked on the house and moved into it in April 1977. Mel moved on to become a laborer at the Farm Show complex in Harrisburg. Chris landed a job as the Director of Guidance at Camp Hill High School, a prestigious suburban school district that was a suburb of Harrisburg.
Details of these early years are a little sketchy. Each day the projects and activities were kept on paper plates and discarded at the end of the day. It was only until 1979 that we started keeping records in the "Black Book."