By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
April Hickman and her family—Bard, James, Esmé and Fox—spent part of Saturday celebrating the harvest and enjoying activities at the Carter Historic Farm’s Heritage Farm Fest.
The Hickmans, who live about a half mile from the Wood County Park District’s Depression-era working farm and living history center, are frequent visitors.
“The farm fest is such a sweet family activity,” she said after losing a sack race to Fox. “This is a full-circle experience for us, because we come over often and get to watch the farm through the seasons. We watch the crops get planted and see them grow throughout the season. And now, we get to see them harvested.”
They were among the nearly 500 people who took advantage of the perfect fall weather to visit the farm and experience a Depression-era harvest celebration.
Guests stepped back in time to nearly 100 years ago. Park district staff and volunteers, most dressed in attire of the times, shared various aspects of farm life during that period.
A farm-to-table meal of bratwurst, potato salad, baked beans, cornbread, and sauerkraut resembled the spread of a harvest meal using homegrown food as the basis for the menu.
Some of the work on the farm was demonstrated, allowing visitors to shell corn from cobs and press apples into cider.
There was old-time music wafting through the air as the Root Cellar Old Time String Band performed in one of the barns.
“This music was pre-bluegrass and often played in kitchens as people sat around,” fiddle player Lucy Long explained.
They were sometimes called play parties, “and they said they were not dancing; they were singing and moving to the music,” she said with a smile.
As a man sat listening to the tunes, he recalled listening to, singing and playing, “Skip to My Lou,” as a child. “Did you know that Abraham Lincoln liked that, and it was played at his house when he was growing up?”
Carolyn Powers of Toledo showed off her blacksmithing skills and educated listeners as she heated a stick of iron to neon orange temperatures of about 1,300 degrees.
“What do you need to build the fire?” she asked. Some of the answers were wood, coal and oil. “Those are fuel. What does a fire need to grow? It needs oxygen to live, just like we need oxygen to live.”
Powers, who started blacksmithing as a stress relief from her job as a lieutenant at a maximum-security prison, now educates the public most often at Toledo Metroparks and similar events such as Heritage Farm Fest.
The schoolyard of the Zimmerman Schoolhouse, which sits down a stretch of gravel road from the farmstead, was filled with old-time games. From egg and pumpkin rolls to sack races and farm chores, participants tried their hands and skills to win prizes.
The schoolhouse doors were open and desks ready for students of all ages to experience education in a one-room schoolhouse. Adding to the atmosphere was volunteer Gaynelle Predmore who played tunes from the era at the piano that is in the classroom.
Nancy Kovacs and Pam Hammond were in the farrowing house with their hands and feet busy at spinning wheels. Seated side-by-side, the Black Swamp Spinners Guild members chatted between themselves and with visitors about the work of spinning wool into threads and yarn.
The park district’s Facebook page announced the winners of its Scarecrow Contest:
- 1st Place: Fishing Scarecrow – Wood County Auditor
- 2nd Place: Scarecrow Sam – Wood County Veterans Service Office
- 3rd Place: Willow Everleaf – Wood County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board
The scarecrows will be on display at Carter Historic Farm, 18331 Carter Road, until Oct. 8.
