Threshing

It has been a couple years since we had a good enough oats crop to actually get the threshing machine out and fire it up. We plant oats every year as the nurse crop for hay. All this means is as you put the hay seeds in the ground you also put oat seed in. The oats will grow faster and provide shade and moisture for the hay that will later take over the field. Bad storms have destroyed the crop for the last two years so it was a small success that this year we were finally able to see the crop through from planting to harvest.

The machine that we use to remove the seed from the stem and chaff is called a thresher. The Minneapolis Jr. machine that we use is over 100 years old and on loan from Dave Sniader. Basically what you do is hook the threshing machine up to a power source like a tractor and then feed bundles of oats into the machine. Inside the thresher the oat plant is struck hard enough to separate the seed from the left over material that is called straw. The seed falls into bags to be used for feed and the straw is blown into a pile that will be used for livestock bedding. It was a very dirty job but a fun one since we had such a good yield.

Kiss the Pig Contest revisited

In the spring I did a post on the high school's kiss the pig contest. I guess this thing is catching on since we have been called on to do a second one. This time we went up to Grayslake, Il and helped with a fundraiser that pitted the Village Mayor, fire chef, community service officer and high school principal. The person who raised the least amount of money after a two week campaign had to kiss the pig. The big looser ended up being the high school principal. She was a good sport and puckered up and gave the pig a kiss. The pig liked it so much that my helpers, Allie and Cassie thought they too needed to kiss the pig.

By the way, I told you that we were still waiting on Cassie to come up with names for the pigs. For some reason she has officially named them Penelope and Johnny.

The second concrete pour for the windmill

We got one step closer this week on our windmill project with the completion of the pad that the tank will sit on. It was a great day and I even had a little helper that day (and I don't mean Jeff)

Norma Morrison's service

This past Sunday the farm hosted a celebration of the life of Norma Morrison. Norma was a long time Glenview resident who lead a life marked with distinctions and achievements. She had interests that ranged from photography to politics. It was in the political arena that she made many contributions to our community. She was the first women to be elected to a Village council seat in the whole Chicago North Shore. In the 1990's she and a handful of other folks formed a group called Citizens Organized for Wagner's or COWS. This group helped to promote the idea of preserving Wagner Farm instead of letting it become one more sub-division. In 1998 the Village went to referendum and secured the farm's future.

Norma's friends and family had beautiful August afternoon to remember and celebrate her life on the farm that she helped to save.

Excitement on the new exhibit

It has been a while since I gave an update on the truck farming exhibit that Jim has been working on. This week huge steps forward have been taken with the dismantling of the exhibit so it can get painted. With Carlin assisting they took chains and hammers to the wagon to distress the wood and make it look like it has been on the farm for awhile. Next they painted the box with a base brown color. On top of this was streaks of black and then they will paint the final coat of blue . When it is finished is should look like a well worn farm wagon.

A big days work

When you start filling the barn you know that fall is on it's way. Today we unloaded a semi truck of about 500 some straw bales. It took a big crew but the nice thing was that the temperature never went above 80 all day. Usually when you are working straw it's about 100 outside.

Contrary to what some might think, animals do not eat straw. Instead it is used as bedding on the floor of the barn so that we can more easily clean. At Wagner we also sell a lot of bales for fall decorations.

Fall piglets

Cassie and I went up to Wisconsin and picked up a couple piglets for the farm. These guys are only about 40 some pounds so they are pretty little. I have given Cassie the job of coming up with a name. Since they are of the York breed I was trying to get her to name the barrow Alvin. You know, Alvin York the hero of WW 1. She wasn't too impressed so we'll have to see what she comes up with.

My 100th post!

The Wagner blog started as a little project that I wanted to do so that folks who like the farm could find out what was going on when they weren't there. Working at Wagner has so many different facets and tasks that it really is a place where no two days are the same. In the months that I have been blogging I must say that I really have liked sending out the little blurs about this or that in the life of the farm and what I am personally seeing. Looking back some of my favorite posts have been about the kids having fun, the 4-H club and the seasonal life cycle of the farm. I hope you haven't minded that I also put in things about my home and family. They both mean the world to me and shape me to this day. In celebration of my 100th post I'm going to put in a picture of one of my favorite things to do on the farm, working with animals, especially the horses. The day this picture was taken was really great because I was getting to also work with my best friend Brett.

Thanks for following the Wagner Feed. Todd

Crop report

The crops are look alright. While the cooler weather has been great for people it has made the growing season a little slow on the farm. The farmers market farmers claim that we are about 2-4 weeks behind where we should be with the fruits and vegetables. Our corn is really pretty sad this year. About half of the field looks like it was too wet and that corn is somewhat stunted. The corn that was on higher ground is much better.

I put a picture of one of my favorite fruits, peaches. Our little tree in front of the heritage center is finally starting to yield.

Half done with the slab

Work continues on the pad that we are planning on putting the water tank on. Once we are done with the other half then we will start working on the footings for standing the windmill. Great progress!

Upgraded housing bovine style

Boo and her daughter Madison got to make the move from the barn to the shed that the other 4-H animals had been using. This seemed to be appreciated by the girls since it provides more room and has very large fans above the pens. For most of the day I noticed Boo just stood under the fan and looked as carefree as a cow could look. What a life!

Traveling in Style

The staff at Wagner Farm had a fun little treat today. Jim, one of our programmers, happens to have a fabulous hobby collecting antique automobiles and farm equipment, and he brought two of them by the farm to share with us. We all got a ride in his 1908 Buick Model F. This is a 5 passenger touring vehicle that sold for $1250 back in the day. If you wanted the top on it, that would have cost you an additional $100. The 2 cylinder engine is located underneath the drivers seat. Sitting in this car makes you appreciate just how special those "long drives in the country" were to those who could afford this luxury.

Pickle Canning

A very important job on the farm is canning any leftover vegetables and fruits to use during the fall and winter months. One such vegetable that can be made into many flavorful foods is the cucumber. Cucumbers are most commonly made into pickles which can be made into a variety of flavors and preserved for a long time. Danielle and Carlin spent the bulk of last week making and canning pickles. The process begins by slicing a cucumber and lining it in a dish with salt. Then you put another layer of cucumbers and another layer of salt, and so on. The salt draws out the water from the cucumber which creates a brine solution. After the cucumbers sit in this they are soaked in a vinegar and spice mixture overnight. Next the jars are sterilized in boiling water, the pickles are poured into the glass jars, the lid is placed on top, and then you place the jar in boiling water again to seal the lid. When finished, place it in your cupboard and you'll have pickles to enjoy throughout the year!

A Little Parlor Music

One of the best aspects about Wagner Farm is the chance visitors get to interact with our staff and physically use the artifacts we keep around the site. This was wonderfully demonstrated the other day when a visitor walked into the farmhouse and immediately sat down and started playing our antique pump organ. Staff and other visitors were treated to an impromptu concert that must have lasted a good hour. What a nice ending to the day!

Step One

Every farm has a list of tasks that they have to get done. Then there is the other list of things that fall into the "if I had an extra moment". Well we are finally getting the time to tackle one of those projects, the windmill. A while back we got approval and the permit to stand a 1920's windmill on the farm. While the 18 acre patch that we currently farm does not seem to have ever had a windmill, the commonality of them on farms of the period is profound.

So here is step one, level the site and prepare for footings. This will be a fun project for us and I will keep you posted.

Pictured are Tim and Andy.

Honor for the Glenview Park District

The Park District just found out that they were one of four finalists for the award of excellence in the United States. Final word comes in October.

Putting it all away

So I really fell down on the job and did not get much for postings on the second half of the fair. If you ever want to see "time fly" sign up for the 4-H club and try keeping up. While we did work hard it is also a lot of fun. In every single barn we did better than we had ever done before. One of the highlights would have to be Julia O'Brian's pig going for the grand championship in the open swine show. Pretty cool for a group that had never even had a class champ in all the previous years.

Life at Wagner seems a little strange with so many of the animals gone. On Monday we took the heifers up to their new home at Golden Oaks. As a final salute to the year we had the kids paint one of the inside walls of the 4-H barn and sign it as a little mark of the year that was. Thank you to the parents and the other leaders Lynne, Anita and Julie for the great effort and hard work that you put in.