Seasons of Change

My favorite thing about life on any farm is the change of the seasons, magnified here by the human activity that follows it.
Nature puts on the big show every spring. Lilacs, iris, apples, chesnuts, maple trees, and roses burst into bloom, as the buses unload their energetic occupants to explore the chores and privileges of pioneer life. Summer is less exuberant, more focused, with events and tours for adults and families, camps that allow children to explore more of pioneer life, and long quiet days of availability to local guests and tourists from around the globe.
  Fall is beautiful here, and in some ways the best time to see the Farm. The gardens and orchards are full of fruit, and the Farm throbs with history. This is when the pioneers arrived in great numbers, and their stories are full of autumn foods and autumn weather. In winter, the mud and cold take over the place. Humanity overcomes it with a burst of Christmas cheer, and then settles in to persevere the wet drizzle that prequels the abundant verdance of spring on the Farm.

Meet Amber

Amber Milmore is the newest face of Philip Foster Farm. She and her three children have been volunteering since spring of 2011, and the board recently asked her to take over management of the store and the remainder of our events for the year.
Amber loves people, history, and crafts, is a Girl Scout and AWANA leader, and most recently worked on the committee to organize Gresham's Relay for Life event, with the help of her husband Benno and children Mariah, Alex, and Anna.
We recommend you buy a Barn Dance ticket and come down to meet the whole family!

Charging Admission

A few of our loyal Cider Squeeze fans have asked about our new admissions policy, so here's a brief look at the efforts we've made to keep the Philip Foster Farm accessible for as many people as possible.
We have always charged for scheduled tours, and have traditionally been free for events and drop-in guests through the summer. The financial reality is that schoolchildren have been our major source of funding for the last 15 years, while our major expenses center on staying open in the summer and managing events (not usually as lucrative as you might think). As part of our longterm plan to improve the site, provide better customer service, and put more opportunities for history education in your hands, we needed to have a consistent source of income in the summer.
Charging admission to our drop-in guests for summer hours and events has raised our summer income significantly, without lowering our visitor numbers. We are still not covering all the expenses related to staying open, but every little bit helps.
We have enjoyed being a free resource, and strive to be as accessible as possible. Memberships in the JZH Historical Society are very inexpensive, and volunteers can earn them with only 10 hours of work.
The volunteer board that maintains the farm literally donates thousands of hours and hundreds (sometimes thousands) of dollars in cash and in-kind contributions to keep the Farm moving forward. Please join their efforts to preserve and maintain our little piece of Oregon's heritage by visiting the Farm, becoming a member of the Historical Society, or volunteering your time and skills.

Dutch Oven Cookoff

The Barn Dance was a blast, but we're already moving on to September 11th, when we'll have our Dutch Oven Cookoff and Blackberry Jam Acoustic Music Festival.

The cooks are getting their registrations in this week, preparing to cook up a tasty little competition. Judges are eagerly waiting to see whose breads, main dishes and desserts are the best. Musicians will be bringing their instruments to jam between 11:00 and 4:00.

Admission for the day is only $5.00 per person or $20.00 for a family of any size. Musicians get in free with an instrument. More information for cooks at http://philipfosterfarm.com/cookoff.html

I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. See you there!

Barn Dance!

The band and the dancers are all practiced up, the food is ready, and all we need is YOU! Come on down to the Philip Foster Farm for great food, folk dancing, country music and fun times with new friends. The silent auction has some awesome items from Dave's Killer Bread, Real Good Food, Alexandra Farnham's glassworks, and more. There's even a Hawaiian condo stay. Don't miss out. You can come at 5:00 for dinner, or wait until 6:00 and just come for the dancing. More info at http://philipfosterfarm.com/barndance.html

Real History. Real Fun. At the Philip Foster Farm...

Summer Volunteers!

It's time to check out your calendar and let us know what you'd like to do around the Farm this summer. Here are some of the ways you can help us preserve and explain our local and state history to the many guests we'll have this year:

1) Event help: We need craft demonstrators, collectors, food handlers, money handlers and guides to help with Father's Day at the Farm on June 20th, Mary Charlotte's Garden Party on July 18th, the Pioneer Dinner and Barn Dance on August 28, Dutch Oven Cook-off and Acoustic Music Festival on September 11, and Cider Squeeze on September 25th.

2) Daily help for tours, camps and drop-in guests. Sign up for one day per week to staff the farm. Under twelve must have an adult, but all ages are welcome. Learn job skills, make friends, build your resume, and get your hands on history! we are open seven days a week from Father's Day to Labor Day and Saturdays in June, September, and October.

3) If you have a pioneer craft, including textiles, woodworking, fine arts, animal husbandry... you can share it with our summer campers. Camps run June 28-July2, July 12-16, July 26-30, and one day camps on July 8, 22, August 5 and 12. Crafters give a short lesson to small groups in the morning and invite kids to come back and spend more time in the afternoon on the skills they want to develop.

If you're not available, but know of someone who might be interested in these opportunities, please share this information.
Thanks for helping us keep history alive!

Our Teeny Tiny Video

Real History. Real Fun. Come see for yourself!

In Pursuit of a Dream - OR Premier

This is one wagon train that never made it to Oregon City. Their last stop was at the Philip Foster Farm, where they built a log cabin, planted an apple tree, and set up an Oregon Trail marker to commemorate their historic and well-documented trip. These modern teenagers experienced the Oregon Trail and created an educational video to introduce more students to the hardships and benefits of this traumatic journey. April 10th at 7:00 will be the Oregon premier showing at Oregon City High School's theatre. $15.00 admission benefits the Clackamas County Historical Society.Here's the trailer:

Heritage Trees at the Philip Foster Farm

Joanne Broadhurst, Foster descendant, describes the Philip Foster Farm's Heritage maples, horse chesnuts, and 1842 lilac, our Clackamas County Heritage Trees:

Historic Camellia Transplanted from Estacada

An heirloom camellia finished its three and a half year jouney to the end of the Barlow Road this week.
It was donated to the Philip Foster Farm by Dr. Mike Malone of Estacada in 2006, but the Farm was undergoing changes in its facilities at the time.
Volunteer Sam Morse began digging the huge root system  on Labor Day weekend of 2006. It soon became clear that the job was bigger than Sam's shovel.
Willy Rademacher of Estacada Bark and Nursery joined in the digging, bringing a large tractor to pull out the shrub and load it into Sam's Toyota pickup for the trip to Linda Bonner's garden in Eagle Creek, where it rested in the shade for three years.
On February 16th, 2010, Sam prepared a hole at the Philip Foster Farm. The next day, Bill Patterson's Nursery of Eagle Creek donated equipment and labor to haul the camellia to the Farm and settle it into its new home. Juan Manuel Reyes and Antonio Guzman did the last bit of expert shoveling.

Local businesses and volunteers continue to make the Philip Foster Farm a beautiful and authentic heritage site for all our guests.

1852 Fiddling

I found this video while researching music for the Philip Foster Farm Song Book to be published this spring:

Candace Johnson's Award

Summer campers from 2009 will remember Candace as the popular counselor in the 1890's day dress. Last month she won an award from the Sandy Library art show - 1st place for an acrylic painting called Drained. Candace's work has also shown up on Foster Farm posters and flyers. .Congratulations Candace! We love your work!

Merry Christmas from the Philip Foster Farm!

Did you know that the year the first wagon train arrived in Oregon (1843) was also the year that Christmas began making its comeback in England? The holiday had been divided between debauchery and religious observance to such an extent that many Christians refused to celebrate it, considering it a sacrilege to combine the elements of spiritual devotion with the merrymaking and pagan influences of the solstice.

Meanwhile, in London, Charles Dickens persuaded his readers that grumpiness was not a virtue in his classic A Christmas Carol, and an enterprising printer created Christmas cards - colorful postcards to acknowledge the season - the same year.

How did your family handle this transition? Make the time to ask those questions this year as you gather with older friends and relatives. Annual traditions are an important part of your family history, and a window into your family's values.

If you find anything interesting, please do comment here. And have a very Merry Christmas!

Oregon Trail Unit Study Resources

Last month, "Jamin" posted some links to great online resources for families wanting to learn more about the Oregon Trail. You can see her blog post at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jaminacema/731949/.

Thanks, Jamin, for connecting families with hands-on learning opportunities!

This is Jamin in front of the memorial at Donner's Pass.

June 4, 1852

Excerpt (30 seconds) from a Trail Diary at Windlass Hill in Nebraska:

Twin Falls, Idaho on the Oregon Trail

Twin Falls is proud of its heritage as an agricultural town on the Oregon Trail. Watch for the Oregon-California Trails Association marker just like the one at the Foster Farm.

Composing Trail Music

Interesting comments and musical illustrations of those who traveled in wagon trains.

Tom Marquette takes to the Road

Foster Farm volunteer and Oregon Trail reenactor Tom Marquette  in the News.

Ezra Meeker's Book available online

If you are interested in Oregon History first-hand accounts, the Gutenberg project has posted a book right up your alley. Ezra Meeker's book, The Ox-Team Days on the Old Oregon Trail, first published in 1922, is now available for free download at http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4381. Meeker took the Columbia river, while his friends took the Barlow Road route, so this book doesn't mention Philip Foster, Eagle Creek, or Laurel Hill, but it's a good primer on the hardships of the trail and the promotion that went into keeping it "famous" after its use was superseded by railroads.