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| NEWS from Sanborn Mills Farm |
NEWS from Sanborn Mills Farm
August 25, 2015
Summer eNews from Sanborn Mills Farm
Like other farms in New England, Sanborn Mills Farm has been busy this summer with haying and harvesting vegetables.
SMF haying crew.
Farm Educator Tom McQuade grew an experimental wheat and rye field this year and in keeping with our interest in exploring low-fossil fuel options, Tom and his crew harvested the grain using hand scythes. The skills of sharpening a scythe, swinging it in a smooth arc, and stacking the wheat in stooks to dry, are all important to preserving this traditional agricultural knowledge.
Farm intern Elaina Enzien with a stook of wheat.
Tom McQuade scything wheat.
The Farm’s commitment to sustainable agriculture includes a new Seed Saving Garden this year. Please join us Saturday, August 29 from 10am to 12 noon at our Magic of Seed Saving workshop.
Workshops at the farm continue through September and October. In response to the growing interest in blacksmithing, we added another 3-day Beginning Blacksmithing workshop – September 25-27. This is the last opportunity this season to learn the basics of blacksmithing and spaces are still available!
A Bring Your Own Cattle workshop is slated for September 24 & 25 and w
orkshops on working in the woods with draft horses and oxen start up in October. Come learn from our master teamster Tim Huppe and his excellent group of instructors and enjoy the company of other people interested in draft animals.
Tim Huppe (left) teaching the Oxen Basics workshop this August.
Beginning blacksmithing workshops cover basic forging skills.
For more information on the 2015 workshop schedule, click here.
For more information on our talented group of instructors, click here.
In mid-September Sanborn Mills Farm will be partnering with the
Gary Millen Foundation and
Arnold M. Graton Associates on a community project called
“
Bridge the Gap
.” The Farm’s oxen will be used to pull a 36-foot town lattice covered bridge across a gully at Kennett High School (KHS) in North Conway, connecting several athletic fields and improving access for students and spectators.
SMF’s young oxen team Dan & Duke.
Graton covered bridge destined for the Kennett High School campus.
The unique covered bridge was originally built by the Graton family for New Hampshire’s showcase at the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Following its display at the 2000 Hopkinton restaging, the bridge was installed at Heritage New Hampshire-Story Land, which recently donated the bridge to KHS.
Questions?
Email info@sanbornmills.org or call 603-435-7314 weekdays from 9 am to 3 pm.
Banner images (left to right):
Rye ripening in Sanborn Mills Farm field; Ray St Piere sharpening a scythe; stooks of wheat set up to dry. Photos by LMG.
Sanborn Mills, Inc.
A traditional working farm and nonprofit organization dedicated to creativity, sustainability, and preserving traditional folklife and agricultural knowledge so that the best of the past can help shape our future.
NEWS from Sanborn Mills Farm
NEWS from Sanborn Mills Farm
NEWS from Sanborn Mills Farm