Nap time at the farm

This time of year when the first spring sun comes out the animals really enjoy soaking up the rays. More than once we have had a frantic visitor come into the farm to tell us "all the animals are dead!". As funny as it may sound I'm being totally serious. So please don't fret, the farm critters are just having an afternoon nap.

Chick update

The brood of chicks are looking great. Everyone is healthy and really growing. This week their pin feathers on their wings have started filling in. Size wise they look like they have almost double in the last week and a half.

Starting to garden

I know my last post was about the snow storm that went through here on the weekend but I have good news, spring is officially here. Today Joyce started work in the house garden clearing some of the dead stalks from the asparagus and straw from the berries. Another sign of the passing of winter is that huge increase in walkers past the farm. I bet there are a lot of really happy dogs with the coming of spring.

Chicago weather

So yesterday it was 68 degrees and today we are in blinding snow and it's 34. What a day it was.

Check out our chicks!

Our friends the Bensons have been good enough to again hatch out some of the eggs from the farm so we can have replacement hens. Kevin, Karina and Lauren are really experts at this since they have an incredibly high hatching rate. The other impressive thing is they can name and recognize every chick they hatch. So here is the brood for this year. The names are;

Grover ~ The chicken with the band-aid on its legs. Blond with black stripes down back and head Percy ~ The oldest chick. Brown with white speckled head. Feathers farthest along
Snowball ~ Pure white/yellow. Smartest (also pecks allot)
Venus ~ White, a little gray on head
Scraggles ~ Dark brown with ruffled feathers. 2nd youngest
Cloud ~ White with gray on back
Pluto ~ Dark brown / black
Persephone ~ Brown with black /dark brown stripe down back
Helen ~ Light brown (hard to tell apart from Percy and other browns)
Penelope ~ Same looks as Helen and Percy
Athena ~ Blond with black stripe down back and head
Harry ~ Blond with black stripe down back and head (head stripe thicker than Athena or Grover's)

Because these chicks will grow fast if you want to come and see them swing by the heritage center. Jeff rigged up a special brooder exhibit for them. Extra credit for anyone who can figure out where the inspiration for the names came from.

All About Corn

On Friday I got the chance to be one of the guest teachers at the Cook County Ag Day. The event which was put on by Farm Bureau was held on the south side of Chicago at the High School for Agricultural Sciences. About 450 4th graders were invited to come and learn about Illinois' contributions in farming. While I did the corn section there were also classes in everything from cattle and pigs to careers in agriculture.

Going in, I was a little nervous because corn is such a big subject but it ended up being a really fun day. Instead of giving the presentation in a lecture format I made a game show out of it with the boys against the girls. With each question I got to give a little bit of background. You can really motive kids to participate when you include a prize at the end!

Fundraiser help needed

When I was a kid and was active in 4-H and Cub Scouts I learned a valuable lesson that was not considered part of the official curriculum. I learned that I am not the type of guy who likes doing sales. Do you remember being asked to go door to door selling stuff like candles, cookies or calendars? I tell you this because I'm about to do something very uncharacteristic for me. I need your help with something.
As most of the country knows, the State of Illinois is in a total crisis financially. It is one thing to read about it in the newspapers, it is another when it actually starts to effect the services that you take advantage of. At Wagner Farm one of the most popular programs we work with is 4-H. If you are a regular reader of this blog you know that we have a very active and large club that participates in the Lake County Fair and does many community service projects in Glenview. This program is run through the University of Illinois which gets it's money from the State. See the problem? To save Extension (this is what the University calls the programs they offer that aren't at the campus) they have decided to consolidate and close many of their offices through out the State. This will mean a dramatic reduction in services that will be offered to the people of the county. One of the ways the University will decide which offices it will close is by the local support that the county has. One of the biggest markers of this support is seen in the level of donorship the county office receives. As the chairman of the fundraising committee of Lake County Extension Council it falls to my group to try to make a difference in the bottom line.
So here's the pitch - This Saturday from 9-11 AM we are having a fundraiser at Wagner Farm where we are asking people to bring in any jewelry, coins or just plain cash that they are willing to donate. With the price of gold extremely high we are going to take the jewelry that we collect and sell it. We already have multiple appraisers lined up to help us once the items are all collected. If you bring something in we will give you a donor letter that can be used as proof of a charitable donation for your 2010 taxes. This is our chance to let the University know that we stand behind our kids and this program. Any help you might be able to give would be so appreciated. Thanks

The last suppers

This weekend marked the last of this years farmhouse dinners program. We were both a little sad that it was over and happy to be heading in to what looks to be a great school tour season. Over the past four years we have done almost 160 dinners. The way the program works is people can call ahead and book up to 10 seats at the table. Because the food is served family style they get to pick between three different menus that are all prepared using historic recipes and methods. Someday I should figure up how much beef we have cooked. Of the 160 meals I would have to guess about 145 of the meals have featured pot roast. The other two options that people can pick from include a turkey dinner and a traditional German meal with all the fixings. We often hear, "this is just like going back in time to Grandma's house". From the food to the way the house is decorated to the clothes we are wearing we want it to seem like it is 1920. Besides the meal we also give a tour of the house and barnyard and play period parlor games.

This weekend Sarah and I were happy to have the help of Kristen and Tamera. Thank you, ladies.

A couple of wild and crazy guests

At this weekend's Farmhouse dinners program we had some guests that took "going back in time" seriously. This was the first time in all our dinners that we had visitors dress in their old time best. What a great night!

Tidying up

This week we have spent a good deal of time getting the building and our equipment ready for the spring rush. A new coat of paint on the exhibit really helps freshen up the look of the exhibits. Jeff has been working on the yearly job of putting all new hoses on the milking station. Not that we wear out the milk machine but the constant use of bleach does shorten the life of some of the plastic lines. Check another job off the list!

Boo is back

The world famous bovine Boo is back at Wagner Farm. Last June Boo gave birth to Madison and so began her life in the milking line. Because Wagner Farm skips milking during the winter the gentlemen at Golden Oaks help us out by milking her for us. With spring here and programs starting up again it was time to return Boo to the farm. With the help of Nate and Ethan we loaded Boo up for the trip back south. I'm not sure what went through her mind when she got off the trailer but one of the first greetings she got was from her daughter Madison. We plan on milking Boo until sometime in early June and then let her take a break until the birth of her next calf. At that point, Buttercup the Jersey, should be ready for her first run in the milking line. If you would like to see a cow milked just come to the farm at 4:30 in the afternoons. (The only day we don't do demonstrations is Sunday. We also reserve the afternoon milkings some days for school classes so you might want to call ahead to check the schedule)

Best buds

When I was back home this past weekend I got a kick out of how our neighbors pets were keeping warm.

Updating the office

Not all the excitement happens at the farmstead. This week we just got the final installment of our new office furniture. Besides tons of storage we are really happy to finally all have mail boxes bulletin boards. We're an easy crowd to please around here.

My Grandma, a centenarian

This weekend my family and I gathered back in Iowa to celebrate Grandma Mary's 100th birthday. It really is amazing when someone makes it to one hundred. One of the things we did for the party was make a slide show. Going through the old pictures I was struck by how much of my professional life has been spent studying and attempting to replicate the settings and actions of the people and places in the pictures. As a historian, I have largely specialized in three periods of history, the decade surrounding the turn of the twentieth century, the 1920's and the war years of the 40's. While I read countless books about the period, Grandma Mary was a witness to the entire span. Her story runs parallel to the dramatic shifts this country saw in every facet of life from transportation to medicine to the rise of America on the world stage. In fact, it would be hard to find a period of time when the world changed more that it has in Mary's 100 years. Here's a fact the really is staggering, Mary has lived through 41% of the Presidential administrations (Taft was President when she was born).
While her life has shared similarities with many people her age there have been some experiences that have set her apart. Despite living in a very rural part of Iowa, her family spent time traveling and even lived a couple winters in California. When most of her counterparts ended their education at 8th grade she was able to continue from the one room school house to high school, then Stevens College for ladies and finally to Iowa State University. That's where Grandpa Russ came into the picture and the rest is....history. So here's to a Happy Birthday Grand Mary!

First trip with new wagon

We took the new wagon out for its maiden voyage and it checked out perfectly. Bring on the crowds!

Our next restoration project

Thanks to our friend Lloyd, we have a new project at the farm. Not so long ago our forefathers dealt with snow in a very different way. Instead of plowing and salting they packed and skated. To do this they used equipment that is very different than what we have today. To start, they would use huge heavy rollers that were pulled behind horses to compress the snow as tight as they could. Then to travel on the road they would use sleds instead of wheeled wagons. Once the roads were compacted they would actually last quite a while since it would turn to packed ice. You might ask, didn't the horses have trouble walking on the ice? They solved this by taking old metal rasps and drill bits and busting them into very small pieces and then flux welding these pieces to the shoes of the horses. These jagged pieces of metal gave the traction the horses needed to pull the sleds.
Our new sled will be used during the winter to give rides around the farm and to give the ponies another winter work-out on the farm.