Smoke stain

posted by Todd

This week Andy and Rob are working on repainting the farmhouse kitchen. The entire house was restored in 2005 back to its 1920's glory. While we are a museum, we still use the artifacts and actually cook in the old wood stove for programs like the historic dinners and the school program Pastport. All that smoke from the wood stove has changed the color of the room over the years. Andy is actually rolling on the original paint color with the darker shade to the left being how much it has changed, kind of shocking. Tomorrow they will be putting on the last coat and we will be ready once again for the school tour invasion this spring.

4-H trip to the farm

Posted by Todd

This weekend we took a road trip with some of the Glenview Clovers to Kline Creek Farm near Wheaton, Illinois. Kline Creek is a lot like Wagner Farm in that they too are a historical site that interprets farming. It is a beautiful place tucked into the Du Page Forest Preserve. The reason for our visit was to attend a session on lambing. Even though most of the kids have done years worth of lamb projects in 4-H few of them have seen a ewe barn with day old babies. Dave, one of the Kline Creek farmers talked about all the procedures and pit falls that come with lambing. Did you know that if you were to handle a newly born lamb that the scent you leave might be enough for the ewe to reject her own young? Dave talk a lot about how they guard against this and the little tricks that they use to over come it. While we didn't get to see any lamb born during our visit there were some that were only a couple of days old. Another surprise to our kids was seeing the lambs with their tails still attached. Shortly after the lamb is born a rubber band is placed on the tail and blood circulation is cut off. After a few weeks the tail falls off with little to no wound. When the kids get their 4-H projects the tails have already fallen off. The reason for docking the tail, for a cleaner lamb. When they used to leave the tails on manure would often get packed under the tail head. Mixing this with the thick wool provided a great home to parasites that cause all kinds of infections and lesions on the lambs. By docking the tail this problem went away.

Despite the cold it was a great trip and got a lot of excitement going for the upcoming lamb project.

Good food on a cold night

posted by Todd

With the cold weather we have been having, this weeks cooking class on lentil soup was especially well timed.

Roxanne is honored

This post is by Todd

At this weeks Glenview Park Board meeting one of our own was recognized for her community efforts this past year. The following comments were made by Board President Angie Katsamakis.

"In her role as the Glenview Farmers Market manager, Roxanne Junge recognized that there were those in the community who struggled to afford fresh fruits and vegetables. Following the example of programs offered in Chicago, Roxanne helped craft a program that allowed participants in the LINK food assistance program to redeem their benefits at the Glenview market. To provide further incentive, she sought thousands of dollars in private community donations to match the LINK benefits for the users which meant that their funds went twice as far.
The Glenview Farmers Market LINK program made its debut in June 2011. It was the first of its kind in the entire State of Illinois and is being modeled in other communities.
Roxanne was active in transitioning the Glenview Farmers Market from the Glenview Metra Train Station, where it was sponsored by the Glenview Women of Today organization, to its present location at Wagner Farm in 2007, where it has grown exponentially. Her efforts to make the market accessible and welcoming to all, no matter their economic level or national origin, is a shining example of community volunteerism and support. "

Congratulations to Roxanne on a great honor.

Crafty Calves-and Families too!

Posted by Sarah:


One of my favorite winter program offerings is Crafty Calves. Children and their parents (or grandparents) can come to the farm one day each month to learn about a particular animal. This month we featured our pigs. Particpants had a chance to meet the animals up close, read a story about them, and make a piggy bank craft to take home and enjoy.
The thing I like most about this program is the child and adult interaction that takes place. I remember trips and classes I got to take with my grandparents and how special it made me feel. In the picture above, this grandmother got her fingers sticky with glue as she helped her two granddaughters make the pig craft, held their hands as they watched the pigs eat their breakfast, and enjoyed their laughter while they heard a story about pigs living in trees. It's not very often that we take the time to enjoy these special moments with our loved ones, and I'm so glad we can offer programs that encourage this shared activity.

A little help from my friends

This year I would like to change up the Wagnerfeed blog just a bit. For the last three years I have made nearly all of the postings. At times, Sarah has posted a few program related stories. This year, I would like to introduce a few more writers to the blog. Sarah, who is the program manager at the farm will be bringing in more stories about our educational efforts. Jeff and Andres are the farmers who help tend to the crops and critters. Allyson is the Wagner volunteer coordinator and she will be giving updates on opportunities to lend a hand in our efforts. There might even be a few more people signing on from time to time. When they do, they will post under their own name so you will know who it is.
While none of us at Wagner Farm are actually related to the Wagners we are a bit of a family and the work we do isn't just a job. The blog was meant to be a little peek behind the certain and I look forward to you meeting some of the outstanding folks who call this place home.
Thanks for taking the time to check out the Wagnerfeed.

Please pass the butter

This story is going to be a bit of a stretch but I though it hit the themes of history, food and what's going on with the Wagner Farm crew. Yesterday, the Glenview Park District had their Fat Tuesday pot luck. Sarah and I thought it would be interesting to make something that came out of the old cookbooks. Sarah put together all her kitchen magic to make perfect down home flaky biscuits. I put my efforts to making butter and adding in some local honey to move the biscuits from the bread station to the dessert table. When we do the dinner's program the honey butter has become a favorite. With all the talk about biscuits and butter I got to thinking about a book I recently read by Sam Watkins. Back in the 1880's Sam was asked to write down his experiences in the 1st Tennessee Regiment of the Confederate Army during the Civil War. These stories were knit together and put in book form under the name, Company Aytch. If you have seen the Ken Burn's Civil War series on PBS then you have heard of Sam Watkins as he is quoted in nearly every episode. That's Sam's picture that I posted under Sarah and I showing off our work. There is a short chapter in Company Aytch where he talks about being assigned to go foraging. This meant that he was to go buy, borrow or steal any food he could for the army. At one house, the men are able to buy some corn. After the transaction, the farmer invites the soldiers into his home for a meal the likes Sam has not seen in years. Here is his account.

"If I had ever eaten a better supper than that I have forgotten it. They had biscuits for supper. What! flour bread? Did my eyes deceive me? Well, there were biscuits and sugar and coffee-genuine Rio-none of your rye or potato coffee, and butter and ham and eggs, and turnip greens, and potatoes, and fried chicken and nice clean plates-none of your tin affairs- and snow white table cloth and napkins, and white handled knives and silver forks. At the head of the table was the madam, having on a pair of golden spectacles and at the foot the old gentleman. He said grace. And, to cap the climax, two handsome daughters. I know that I had never seen two more beautiful ladies. They had on little white aprons, trimmed with jaconet edging, and collars as clean and white as snow. They looked good enough to eat, and I think at that time I would have given ten years of my life to have kissed one of them. We were invited to help ourselves. Our plates were soon filled with the tempting food and our tumblers with California beer. We would have liked it better had it been twice as strong, but what it lacked in in strength we made up in quantity. The old lady said, "Daughter, hand the gentleman the butter." It was the first thing that I had refused, and the reason I did so was because my plate was full already. Now, there is nothing that will offend a lady so quickly as to refuse to take butter when handed to you. If you should say, "no, madam, I never eat butter," it is a direct insult to the lady of the house. Better, far better for you to have remained at home that day. If you don't eat butter it is an insult; if you eat too much, she will make our ears burn after you have left. It is a regulator of society; it is a civilizer; it is a luxury and a delicacy that must be touched and handled with care and courtesy on all occasions. Should you desire to get on the good side of a lady just give a broad sweeping slathering compliment to her butter. It beats kissing the dirty faced baby; it beats anything. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the butter, be it good, bad or indifferent to your notions of things, but to her, her butter is always good, superior and excellent. I did not know this characteristic of the human female at the time, or I would have taken a delicate slice of the butter."

For us living in the 21st century butter would have to be one of the most taken for granted, insignificant additions to the dinner table. For previous generations this was not the case. For them, to have butter meant that not only did you have a cow in milk but you separated the cream, clean it, whip it, salt it and then put it in a mold. Sam's account seems an exaggeration and he is making a bit of fun at himself in the story but it is true that farm wives were pretty particular about their butter. A women's butter making reputation carried from the table to the local store as most homemade butter was taken to town and became part of the barter and trade system for the farm family. Because some ladies butter was better than others they would trademark their offerings by placing the butter in a special mold that would stamp a unique symbol in the top so that everyone would know who's butter that was they were about to buy. These stamps were called butter molds and we found a way to tie this important part of dairy life into our heritage center building. When we commissioned our donor quilt one of the interesting features is the left and right side bars that highlight different butter stamps that were common in the nineteenth century. Two of the most common stamps that you will see in molds that survive today are a shock of wheat and a pineapple. These were considered signs of well wishes for prosperity and safe travels respectively.

Next time you think about smearing a little pad of butter on that piece of toast or bagel just think about how lucky we are to be able to live in a time and place where we can take something like butter for granted.

A big tractor

Back home they just got a new tractor (this is a John Deere 8295). This is the kind of thing that causes a lot of excitment for farm kids. However, at 300 horsepower it is far from a toy. New tractors today have additions that even a generation ago would have been unimaginable. From a fuel saving smart transmission to total GPS guidance this tractor is highly sophisticated. It is also pretty expensive with it being equivalant to about 48,000 bushels of corn. Good luck on the math.

Enjoying some February Sun

Today I had a meeting at Golden Oaks Farm and as I was leaving I noticed the little calves were out soaking up the warmth from the sun. Winter days like this are so nice.

Open up and say nay.

Bob and Sue got a visit from Dr. Koehler the equine dentist. Usually our regular veterinarian can handle the routine stuff but when he saw some of the work Sue needed he made a referral. Dental work in horses is pretty important. Unlike humans, horses jars move in two directions. The bottom jaw rotates in a kind of circular grinding motion along with being able to do the open and closing action. Because of the wear pattern, the outsides of the upper and lower molars do not make a contact and can get very sharp over time. When the bit is used it actually pulls the cheeks against the sharp edges and can cause discomfort. Both horses needed to have their molars "floated" and Sue had to have her wolf tooth pulled.

To do the dental work the veterinarian gave both horses a small dose of anesthesia to relax them. The funny thing was he gave them a very small amount with the idea that he would add more if he needed to. Despite only giving Bob and Sue a little more that what a pony would get it totally took them to lah lah land. One of the last things Dr. Koehler said, "man, those horse make a cheap date."

Kids!

This evening when Jeff was heading down to chore the old girls he was a bit surprised to find Isabella waiting for him trapped in the feed bunk. Somehow she managed to wrangle her way to the inside and couldn't figure out how to get out. With a little coaxing and guidance we were able to free her. Hopefully this will not become a habit.

My first trip to Champaign

I had the opportunity this week to visit the University of Illinois for an agricultural leadership meeting. I'm kind of glad my family wasn't with me since I, in their words, "geeked out" a little. For someone who has made a job in ag history a visit to one of the major land grant colleges in the country is a big deal. I was especially excited to see the round barns on campus. Years ago a friend of mine came across some old blue prints used to construct the round barns at the university farm. The drawings were so beautiful that they were frame-worthy. To get to see the barns in perfect condition was great. While it is no Purdue, it was still a fun trip.

The bidding process

Some readers might not realize that Wagner Farm is actually owned by the Glenview Park District. In Illinois, we have an interesting level of local government that most places don't. Instead of parks being part of the city structure they are their own municipal body. By having stand-alone park districts in each town, the preservation of open space and recreation programming for the entire community takes a higher precedent. Being part of a park district means that we are a governmental body. When we have large projects, they have to comply with the transparency laws that are common in the public sector. This week we hosted a bid opening that is interesting in its own right. To start the process plans are drafted and a public announcement is made to the newspaper that they are available for anyone to pick up. In the posting there is reference to a deadline time and date in which the sealed bids will be opened. At the scheduled time all of the bids are opened and read aloud while the contractors are in the room. For everyone, there is a little bit of drama. For the contractors they learn right away who the low bidder is. For us, we find out if the budget money we have allocated will cover the project. The job that we just bid out was for re-grading the special event area that seems to always hold water during the early summer. If the weather continues to stay mild we might be able to start soon.

Our broom maker

If you have been a blog follower then you will remember the posts back in October of last year when we harvested the broom corn crop. It is one thing to harvest, another thing to actually use the material. Now that winter has given us a couple of minutes of breathing room I asked one of our talented staff members Christine if she wouldn't mind helping us work on this project. With some training from Sarah and Lindsay and a lot of youtube videos Christine is kicking out some really nice samples. She started with small whisks and has been working up to full sized brooms. It is really neat to have something that was grown, harvested and made right here on the farm. Talk about locally grown! The other thing I like is the wide range of colors. In the old days they wanted all of the broom straw to be the same color. Jeff branched out when picking seeds in the spring and got us straw that ranges from the browns all the way to rust and red. We hope to have the brooms in the gift shop by next month. If you are looking for something unique swing by the Farm and pick one up.

And they're off.....

Last night we had an amazing planning meeting with the Glenview Clovers 4-H club. From how the livestock projects will work to potential new enrollment for the club, the kids took their job seriously and came up with some good ideas. It is one of the parts of 4-H that I really admire, the chance for the members to actually lead.

Successful Rouladen

One of the dinner's program options we offer is a traditional German meal. Over the course of the last three years it has been picked maybe 10 times. The meal centers around recipes that would have been commonly found in rural regions of southwestern Germany where the Wagners hailed from. The main course is the traditional meat dish called rouladen. To make it you get a thin piece of steak and pound it out with a tenderizer. Then smear on a mixture of cream cheese and mustard. At one end place a slice of carrot, pickle, onion and finally some bacon. Roll it up, pan fry it and then use the drippings to make a brown gravy that it will cook in for a hour or so. Having made this dish a lot I felt pretty confident in it turning out fine. Tonight's dinner was a bit different in that the guests were actually from Germany! While we did the research we were worried our offering wouldn't pass the grade. I am happy to report that we were told it was perfect. Even better, we learned that each area in Germany had special mixes when it came to what the rouladen was stuffed with. For the area the Wagners were from we got it just right, pickle, onion and bacon.

Hanging with the girls

As Isabella approaches her 6 month birthday, it was time to let her come out and play with the big girls. It is always interesting to watch the dynamics when someone is introduced into the herd. For Isabella, the first greeting came from Daisy and Buttercup. It took the rest of the afternoon before the girls were content with their introduction. In the bovine world, just like in all the kingdoms, there is a "pecking order", a process by which the leader of the group establishes their predominance over the rest. While we use that phrase in our own lives, it is actually borrowed from the chicken world. Questions like, when do we eat or who eats first and all of the answers to life's questions comes down to the bird who ends up "king of the hill". Just in case you were wondering, Isabella is last in the pecking order.

2012 Wagner Staff Meeting

Today we held our yearly staff meeting. I still get a little nervous for the multiple presentations that have to be given but it is a great time to review our accomplishments and plan for the coming year. As is common in business meetings, we started with a team building exercise. Since we all know each other we skipped the "getting to know you" stuff. This years game we had to guess each others soap opera stage name. This is arrived at by taking your middle name as your first name and combining it with the name of the street you live on for your last name. My new name is Byron Fir (I'm never going to be famous with that name). Once we had that figured out I had everyone write their new name on a note card and we divided into two teams. The teams switched cards and then got points for all the correct names they guessed on the other side. Nothing like starting the day laughing.

While a chunk of the day was spent on training in policy/procedures the most interesting section for me was led by Sarah when she unveiled our new mission and vision statement for the Farm.

Vision - To be an innovative and enjoyable museum within the Chicagoland area.

Mission - To promote an educational and memorable experience through programs and site visits that ignite the imagination, inspire our visitors, and preserve our local agricultural history.

I think this new mission and vision does a good job of telling people who we are and what we do. As the staff spends the rest of the winter working on new programs and events it will serve as a helpful reminder of our ultimate goal.