Would you like to supersize that? These young french-fry cutters sliced their way through a ton of poataoes during a recent fund-raising auction for the Clinic for Special Children in Strasburg, Pa. The non-profit insitution focuses on children with metabolic disorders, and gets a funding boost from its annual auction. This year 1,700 registered bidders competed for, among many other items, 79 donated quilts. Lancaster Farming reporter Michelle Kunjapu attended the auction, ate a few fries and took this photo, which appears in our current edition.


     All dried up...that's a good thing. Food and Family Features Editor Anne Harnish spent a few hours recently in the kitchen of Janice Bowermaster, who has been putting up dried fruits and vegetables for more than 40 years. She's done everything from apples to zucchinis (although she's not quite happy with her zucchini efforts) until, has won blue ribbons at local fairs and state competitions, and plans to keep her dehydrators running for the foreseeable future. Anne's story on the master dehydrator is in this week's Section B.
     

     A gourd-ious time of year. Do our headline writers have a sense of humor? What do you think. Check out the photo of gourds and men on page one, then go to the Home on the Range feature for wealth of seasonally appropriate squash and pumpkin recipes.
     
     Also worth reading: Chris Torres' story on the impact of funding cuts on Pennsylvania's animal lab system; Andrew Jenner's take on an EPA TMDL hearing at James Madison University; and Charlene Shupp's story on the poultry industry's search for alternatives to antibiotics. See our print edition, or go to http://lancasterfarming.com.