This farm is so beautiful, we made it our banner.
The Laudenslager Farm is an excellent illustration of how good stewardship, scenic beauty and working agriculture can co-exist. Powell’s Valley itself, with its rolling hills and intermittent woodlands, is a picture of rural agricultural beauty. The Laudenslager farm epitomizes this, as it offers an open vista and scenic blending with Peter’s Mountain behind it, as well as being a state-of-the-art working farm, where no-till farming has been the norm since the 1970’s and the yields are some of the best in Dauphin County. Powell’s Creek runs through this property, and a riparian buffer is protected along it. Murray and Rhonda Laudenslager have already collaborated in a project to allow handicapped fishing access on their portion of Powell’s Creek. The conservation easement they placed on this property in 2007 will protect this land for farming in perpetuity and will ensure that it is stewarded well.
The farm has been in the family for five generations, and the Laudenslagers’ decision to protect it for the future shows thoughtful foresight, as it is one of the few protected farms in the immediate area and development pressure is increasing. Wayne Township, near Halifax, currently has no zoning. Manada Conservancy is very proud to have been able to facilitate the protection of this farm and the agriculture it supports.
