The Formal Side of the Park District

Some people may not know that Wagner Farm is owned and operated by a government body, the Glenview Park District. While the Park District as a whole has hundreds of employees and dozens of parks and facilities, it is ultimately overseen by a seven person board. The board members are elected for six year terms. Theirs is a volunteer position and they are directly responsible to the electorate.

Board meetings are held on the third Thursday of every month. For the April board meeting, I was asked to come and speak about our trip next week to Washington DC. I did a brief presentation on special invitation Wagner Farm received to participate in the Smithsonian's Garden Fest May 6 and 7.

As diversified and talented as our board members are, they needed a little schooling in truck farming, which is the program we will be presenting at Garden Fest. I really enjoy these interactions with our board because they are always so supportive and positive about the educational work we do at Wagner Farm.

I'd like to add a special thank you to long-time board member Judy Beck, who after 32 years of dedication service, is retiring from her board seat. This was her last board meeting. Thank you Judy for your tireless actions to help us here at the farm. You will be missed in the board room, but please stop by and say hello anytime. The welcome mat will always be out.

The hogs are home

Yesterday we went to Josh's to pick up the pigs for this years 4-H swine project. It is amazing how fast these little pigs grow. With about 90 some days until the county fair they will put on about 200 pounds. The kids will have quite a bit of work between now and then. Besides all the feedings and pen cleanings they will take their pigs for walks, give them regular baths and even apply sun block!

Sunshine and happy critters

This weekend it was so nice to see a little sunshine. It wasn't just the kids that enjoyed being out and about. I flip videoed Mata and her baby Daisy out getting some exercise and also some of the lamb kids just hanging out with their animals after the weekly pen cleaning.

young shepherds

Kubota time

One of the most used pieces of equipment we have on the farm is our utility vehicle. In 2003 we purchased a Kubota to help do a lot of the little jobs around the site. We thought it would cause less of an impact on the site and save fuel compared to driving a pick-up truck around. Over the years the Kubota has done about every job you can think of on the farm. Jeff and I were so impressed by the machine that we started a savings account to put a little money away in every year so that when we needed a new one the funds would be there. After about 700 hours of use we decided to trade out old gal in for a new one. The new "Bota" came yesterday! Welcome to Wagner Farm.

New Driveway

To the north of the Heritage Center we have started a new construction project. The old gravel is getting torn out and we are putting down a concrete driveway. While we liked the gravel it proved to be hard to maintain when it came to snowplowing. It also didn't hold up to the hundreds of school buses that use the drive as the drop off point for the students coming to the farm. Now we just need some good weather to keep the project rolling.

Alright, who forgot to turn off the windmill last night?

First outreach for the year

One of my favorite farm programs we offer is the school outreach. There is nothing like seeing the faces of the kids when we pull up with a trailer full of fun. This week we did our first one for 2011 at a pre-school in Northfield.

A morning surprise

Today when I got up to do chores I was quite surprised to see a blanket of snow on the ground. It was only yesterday that the kids were in shorts playing outside. Days like this are somewhat typical for spring but cause a lot of trouble when trying to keep your livestock healthy. So far everyone is fairing pretty well.

4-H overnight

This past weekend the Glenview Clovers had their annual sleep over. I still don't know why we call it a sleep over since the kids really don't seem to sleep much. Still it is a really good time and the members get to learn a lot in the workshops that take place on Friday night. This year we had some really good parent lead workshops on cake decorating, scrap booking, tye-dyeing, rocket building, small engines, battle robots and building a pine wood derby car. The workshops last until about 10 and then it is movie time. We wake the kids up by bringing a rooster in the heritage center at 6:30 and then start working on the morning chores. With 40 plus kids chores don't take all that long. Then to a hearty breakfast and on to racing the pine wood derby cars and launching rockets. We manage to pack a lot into a short time.

A special visitor

This week a special visitor came to Wagner Farm. Dr. Temple Grandin who is a professor at Colorado State University did a program on best practices in livestock care and handling. It is an interesting story on how this all came about. Julie Tracy, one of the leaders of the Glenview Clovers 4-H club actually just picked up the phone and called Temple. After a couple conversations Temple made plans to visit the farm and meet the kids in this unusual urban 4-H club. During her presentation she talked about how wonderful it is to see a place that kids can actually learn about agriculture. She also spend a good deal of time instructing on proper methods of livestock care and handling. Temple's work in this field is amazing. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2010. The other part of Temple's remarkable story is she has done all this while dealing with autism. She talked about how being autistic actually enhanced her ability to be a visual thinker. When she looks at a livestock environment she is able to see what the animal see and then she can offer suggestions to improve it. In 2010 HBO made a movie about Temple's life and it won 7 Emmy awards and was selected for archieving in the Library of Congress. Meeting Temple was definitely a huge highlight and a great learning opportunity.

The lambs are here

The first of the 4-H projects for the summer have started to arrive. On Sunday we took the lamb kids down to Indiana and met with Kelly Hoffman. On Kelly's farm they specialize in raising show lambs. Like in years past, Kelly talked to the kids of a while about what to look for in selecting a lamb. Then the kids get in the ring and make their choices. The real highlight was when we came back to the farm and let the lambs out in their new home. This year we will be taking 10 market lambs to the Lake County Fair.

A lost picture

The main office of the Glenview Park District has been really busy lately getting ready for their upcoming move. The administration team will be moving operations to the old police station while the building at 1930 Prairie gets redone. In one of the boxes, in the back of the dank basement there was a box of dusty old pictures that were about to be tossed. Luckily someone went through it and found some really great shots of the Glenview Park District. There were two that got sent to me with Wagner as the subject.

The first is of one of Pete's old Holstein cows. There is a couple of things that I really like about the picture. To start with, the cow has horns. These days most cattle have their horns removed not long after they are born. And yes, cows can have horns - not just bulls. The reason most farmers remove the horns is because when the cattle are up at the bunk eating they often knock each other in the head and with horns it is just like your mother used to say, "it's all fun and games until someone looses an eye."

The other picture is of the Wagner barn sometime in the late 1970's or early 80's. The pile of bricks on the right side of the picture is part of an old garage that the Wagner's had on the property.

If anyone out there has pictures of Wagner Farm and would like to share them we have a historic archieve that chronicles the history of the farm and the Wagners.

Spring work

This is the time of year to start getting the fields ready for planting. Step one is adding nutrients to the soil. Good thing for Wagner Farm we have plenty of that laying around. Jeff and Andy have spend the last couple days spreading manure. If the weather holds, they might get the job done by the end of the week. The work has been sped up with the aid of the new Bobcat and the newly restored Massey-Harris tractor. The guys have promised to give special walking tours for anyone who wants to learn more about the finer points to spreading "it".

Daisy

Our newest little girl is really enjoying coming out of the barn and meeting people.