County's brochure features scratch 'n sniff manure ~Super Princess~

LEBANON - So, you want to buy a house in the country?

Some Lebanon County officials want to warn you that it might stink.

To drive the point home, they are developing a brochure that features scratch 'n sniff manure.

"Farming sometimes means late hours, fertilizer, pesticides and manure," said Angie Foltz, natural resources program specialist for the Lebanon County Agricultural Preservation Board. "This is to educate people that if they have a farmer for a neighbor, they might have manure smells."

The scratch 'n sniff smell, which Foltz called "quite pungent" is coming from a company in Chattanooga, Tenn., called "Print a Scent." Its Web site lists more than 150 scents for sale, including anchovy, toothpaste and ashtray as well as familiar fruits, flowers and foods.

Curtis Kulp, South Lebanon Twp.'s manager, said he thinks the brochure is a good idea because his office gets calls when farmers spread manure in the spring and fall.

Some people "are not aware of what it's like to live in the country," he said.

Richard Kreider, who farms 350 acres in South Lebanon Twp. with his son, said few people complain when he spreads manure, except as a joke, in passing.

"If you move to the country, you take what the country has to offer, and that includes manure as well as wide open spaces," he said.

Robert Wilhelm lives in a small development next to a farm but said the smell has never bothered him.

"Maybe I'm a little more tolerant than most," he said. "I just grin and bear it."

Foltz will base the brochure on a similar one distributed in Ottawa County, Michigan. It tells prospective homeowners they can help farmers by "refraining from unwarranted complaints to local, state or federal governments about generally accepted farm management practices" and "refraining from filing frivolous lawsuits."

The Michigan brochure was co-sponsored by several real estate companies. Aside from making the brochures available at the Lebanon County Planning office and the Lebanon Area Fair, Foltz said she hopes real estate agents will hand them out.

But several local real estate agents said they are unlikely to give prospective clients a brochure that says their new home might smell.

"That's pretty odd," said Kathy Morrissey, sales manager for the Century 21 office on Quentin Road in South Lebanon Twp. "I don't think any Realtor would do that. It's not going to happen here."

Bonita Gettle, a Realtor with Century 21, said the subject never comes up.

"It's just something people know when they get in the country," she said. "It's just common sense if you move next to a farm."

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