Happy Halloween

Oh behalf of our resident pumpkin artist, Jeff Wienski, Happy Halloween from Wagner Farm!

An interesting costume

We have seen a lot of costume around town lately but this one struck me as very interesting. This is little Sara Purscell as Farmer Todd Price.

A great day at the farm

Today was the Glenbrook Harvest Festival at the farm and it was stellar. Over 500 visitors came to participate in games, hay rides and good entertainment. At 3:30 the last cans were placed on the structure bringing the total number of cans to 59,840.

The old record has been passed!

Breaking news! The old New Zealand record of 57,000 cans has been broken and we are now on our way to setting our own record. The team hopes to place the last can at around 3:00 pm today. Come and watch Glenbrook set the new record!

Taking shape

The high schoolers had a good day and have place over 50,000 cans on the ground. The structure is really starting to look like hands. The plan is for the construction to continue tomorrow while the family harvest festival is going on at Wagner Farm. If you are in the area you really should stop by and see how neat this project is!

Morning of day two

Progress continues on the can structure. The hands that hold the one large can in the center are starting to take shape.

Day one

The students worked hard today and have about 18,000 of the 60,000 cans placed. So far the effort has been to construct the main structure in the center that is to represent a can of food. The crew is hoping that by tomorrow they will be able to start working on the hands that hold the big can. Check back often as I will keep updating the blog and adding pictures.

Getting started

The high school kids have started building the can structure. The idea is to have two hands outstretched holding a single 8' tall can. The Engineering Club has taken the lead on todays construction and figured out that if they place a can a second it will take 16 hours to build the model that they have designed.

60,000 cans

Wagner Farm is partnering with Glenbrook North and South High Schools to help with a massive effort to bring awareness and food to the Northfield Township Food Pantry. The plan was conceived by Bob Dunne to not only get food for the Pantry but to try to break the Guinness Book of World Records in the attempt. The current record is held by a group from New Zealand with a structure containing 57,000 cans. The Glenbrook students decided to raise the bar and go for 60,000. Today we unloaded the truck with the cans (2,500 cases!) needed to break the record. Thursday the students will start construction!

Another milestone for Wagner Farm

Today was a huge highlight for me. When I started at the Farm I wanted to do a program that would go out to the schools and not only promote Wagner's programs but also introduce kids to agriculture. In 2004 or 05, I can't remember anymore, Pete Noll, Sarah and I started planning an outreach program but bigger. Our program would be more "doing" and less "talking". Today it finally happened. All the parts were finished, the program written and it was time to hit the road. Jim, Carlin and I headed off for Locke Elementary in Chicago at 7:00 am. We set up three stations that the students would rotation between. Carlin demonstrated cider pressing, Jim ground wheat and I took the kids for a wagon ride. The overall theme of the program was how fall is harvest time on a farm. Farmers either harvest fruits and vegetables or grains. Then the tractor was key to the demonstration of the use of power on the farm and how it has changed over time. We saw all 5 sections of Locke's first graders so the program took the entire day to get through. I have to say that it was so much fun. These kids loved the program. We got to take something to a group of people who had little exposure to the subject. I actually had to start my part of the program by introducing them to what a tractor is. Farming and the pieces that are associated to it were a foreign concept or at least things that they had only seen in books. This program hit the mark dead on and for an educator it was a dream come true. A thousand teachable moments. I got something else out of going to Locke that I haven't gotten before, hugs from the kids. Really, what a great day.

Wagon Done!

Congrats to Jim on the completion of the outreach wagon. I tasked Jim to design a wagon that would like just like a period spreader but be able to haul people in a comfortable and safe way. It turned out just great and looks even better.

Windmill supports

We didn't let a little rain slow us down yesterday. With the help of Andy the four piers for the legs of the windmill got poured. The trickiest part was all of the supports had to be precisely the right distance from each other or else the tower will not have a place to bolt into once it is stood. While the concrete was still wet we gently seated the metal supports in just the right location. I'm not sure how the concrete is curing since it has done nothing but rain since.

The wall

In 2005 Julie from the marketing department created a metal event sign for the site that gave more information on the happenings at the farm. It was a big hit so every year we have new one made up. After the first year I wasn't sure what to do with the old one so I decided to hang it in the stairwell as decoration. Now the wall is full it means a lot more to me than just decoration. Each one of the events on the posters has a story. A little something that makes it stand out, worth remembering. There was the dairy breakfast that was so cold that we couldn't keep the food warm from the tent to the benches. Of course, the next year was so hot that we had to pass out water to the folks standing in line. This year's breakfast will go down as the year the farm looked more like an island with all the flood water standing around. There was the first bonfire in 2007 that went a little crazy. We made up zip lock baggies with s'more supplies for 300. For a first year event we thought that would be plenty. When the gates opened that night and the line stretched into the parking lot we figured we were in trouble. I grabbed everyone I personally knew and sent them out for more supplies. I drafted Glenview Park Board members, Chuck the Executive Director, spouses of our staff, even my poor wife who was dispatched to buy every last Hershey bar in all Glenview and Northfield. Despite the chaos it was so much fun. At the end of the night we had seen almost 1,500 people. I remember last years barn dance because I actually wasn't there. I was back home in Iowa with my Dad while he was fighting the devil's disease. After 8 years and over a quarter of a million visitors I have to say it has been a blast. The heavy lifting has been worth it. Sometime we get wrapped up in looking at these events and programs and only see the numbers and the costs. The other day I was checking out a blog by a friend of the farm and it really helped put into focus the real goal. "My son (22 months) and I are * addicted * to the farm LOL and tromp down there about once a week! We love each event and have made every one the past two years!" If you are reading this blog you likely have something to do with the farm and I want to thank you for what you do.

Wagon update

Jim is approaching the final steps to getting the outreach wagon ready for the road. Our first trip is going to be on Oct. 27th to Locke Elementary School. Next step is to reinstall the seats and put on the John Deere decals.

Corn Harvest Festival

For the whole week leading up to the event the weather was nothing but rain. In this business, just like in farming you are so dependant on the weather for success. At 4:30 a.m. on Saturday the rain finally lifted. Other than the mud the day was just great. Our visitors got to pick corn from the field, do crafts and press cider. We also did wagon rides with both horses and a period tractor. The 4-Her's helped out the Northfield Township Food Pantry by raising over $500 in their haunted maze in the basement of the heritage center.

Old Crow

This one is for the bird lovers.

When I first came to Glenview in 2001 one of the animals you were sure to hear in the trees around the farm were the crows. There were thousands of them. Then West Nile hit and they totally disappeared along with the blue jays. Yesterday on my way back to the office after a meeting I looked up to hear the "cawing" of a crow on top of the heritage center. My phone doesn't have a zoom option so the it is hard to see but if you look at the top ridge of the building one the left side you will see our new friend. Welcome back to Glenview

Doggie workout

Here's a fact I bet you didn't know. The first treadmill was made around 1875. Of course it wasn't meant for people but animals. When the critters would walk on the treads it would make a line shaft rotate and that could then power a belt that would be hooked up to machines like butter churns. Some treadmills were so big that they could take a team of horses that would drive threshing machines. For our outreach program in the spring we are going to focus on livestock and how they were used on a farm. To illustrate their use in supplying power we found a mint condition treadmill. I wanted to see if my dog Carly could power it but she is no Astro Jetson so it was bust.

First Frost

This week the farm got it's first kiss from Jack Frost. While fall is my favorite season things look so ugly right after the frost first kills the green. I thought it was interesting how all the flowers but the hold out in back called it a season.

Pastport to the 1920's

One of my favorite programs we do at the farm is the Pastport offering. It takes a little long and cost a bit more but for what the kids get to do it is just so neat. The program is targeted at the mid to upper elementary age group. When they come to the farm we have them imagine that the bus was a time machine that took them back in time to 1920. They now have to do the chores that would be expected of a family member on the farm. The class divides up into 3 groups and each gets to tackle a task. From milking cows to washing clothes to making their noon meal the kids get to really take part in the work not just hear about how it was done. One of the strengths of living history is the opportunities for hands on activity and this program is chock full of great experiences.

Buttercup's baby

We received word from Golden Oaks that the veterinarian made the barn rounds and through an ultrasound found out that BC will be having a bull (boy) calf come May. Everything else looks good.

Broom corn part IV

This week Andy has been sorting and tying the broom corn bundles and then hanging them so they'll dry. Each bundle should make a broom if all goes well.