You often hear the comment, "It runs in the family."

Such is the case with Kelly Hower, daughter of Blair and Amy Hower, of Kreidersville. She has farming in her blood.

"I grew up around farming and I remember being impressed with my dad's garden. I helped with planting, weeding and harvesting. It was fun helping," Hower said.

Her grandfather worked the family land adjacent to Indian Trail Road. This is the same homestead where her dad was raised. The property is located less than a mile from where Hower and her family live.

Hower's parents bought the farmhouse and barn located a bit west of the preserved Kreidersville Covered Bridge when Hower was 6 years old.

"I remember that I was in first grade when we moved to the farm," Hower said.

In 2011, Hower graduated from Northampton Area High School, where she was a member of multiple clubs including several shooting sports groups. She also was and still is a very active 4-H member, although after this year, she will be too old for regular 4-H membership. She attended the weeklong Northampton County Junior Conservation School which is held each July at the 4-H property north of Nazareth.

"The 4-H Club was a really big part of my life. I will miss taking part as a 4-H member. I plan to be a junior leader and hope to become an adult 4-H leader. But it is a different view as a leader. I will really miss competing at the Farm Show. Being in 4-H really changed my life. Taking part in 4-H was great," she said.

She is in her second year attending classes in business management at Northampton Community College's Bethlehem campus. She plans to finish at Penn State University in State College, continuing in business management with a concentration in horticulture and business production.

Her brother Andrew attends PSU. He is majoring in agriculture studies.

Hower's father is an agronomics inspector with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. His duties include walking through farm fields identifying seeds, weeds and bugs that should not be there. He reports back to the farmers with recommendations for remedying various agricultural problems. Hower describes her mother, a nurse, as a "city girl."

Hower started planting and harvesting pumpkins on a portion of the family farm in 2006 and expanded to vegetables in 2010.

"I like pumpkins," Hower said. "They're neat, every pumpkin is different. I remember a pumpkin hanging from a tree at my grandmother's house. It was real big. The vine had climbed the tree and the pumpkin hung from the vine. I would check on it every time we went to visit. It finally fell and broke. I didn't see it fall."

Hower said she uses her farm profits to pay for her college tuition and books.

Hower also bought a mini greenhouse called hoop house with part of her profits. The hoop house will allow her to start her vegetable planting earlier in the growing season and extend the vegetable harvest beyond damaging frosts.

She works at the vegetable stand and helps harvest potatoes on the Hunsicker Farm south of Bath. She also works at the Geiger Farm in Danielsville and tends to an additional quarter acre of her vegetables.