but first….a message from our sponsor!
You’re invited to the inaugural Barbecue Fundraiser to help SAVE the Miller Red Barn! The Western-themed BBQ is being held Sunday, June 29th , from 4 to 8pm at the Gilroy Demonstration Garden (on Eigleberry St. between 6th & 7th).
There will be great grub donated by Fire4Hire, refreshments, a silent auction and raffle. The menu includes: USDA Choice Angus Tri-Tip; Grilled Chicken Breast marinated in garlic and citrus; Organic Mixed Greens with Fresh Strawberries, Feta Cheese, and Honey Dijon Dressing; Grilled Corn on the Cob;
Baked Beans; Grilled Garlic Bread; Watermelon Slices; Apple Cobbler and Peach Cobbler with Vanilla Ice Cream.
All proceeds go toward preserving the Miller Red Barn as part of our agricultural heritage! Only 100 tickets available at an advance donation only of $45 each. Tickets are available at:
• The Nimble Thimble (7550 Monterey Street (open late Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday, also open Saturday and Sunday)
• The Chamber of Commerce , 7471 Monterey Street
• Bay Sierra Properties, 22 Martin Street, next to OD’s
If you decide to buy tickets, email me at
ph******@gm***.com
and I will deliver them to you!
If you would like to help sponsor this event, contact Kathy Chavez @ 408-847-0807or email her at
sa******************@gm***.com
.
Don’t let the sun set on the Miller Red Barn!
San Jose
In 1962, Emma Prusch gave 87 acres to the City of San Jose at the intersection of King and Story Roads (http://www.pruschfarmpark.org). Formerly a dairy, a park was created from 47 of those acres. The deed requires the City make a place of relaxation, recreation, and enjoyment in a rural atmosphere.
You’ll see the original Prusch farm house and other historical structures. What may be the biggest wooden barn in California is used by local 4H’ers to raise their steers, goats, sheep and pigs. Open to the public during certain hours though, for safety, touching or feeding of animals is not allowed. There are fruit orchards, a plant science center, community gardens, pollinator and butterfly gardens, lush green lawns, a forest with trees from around the world, a home composting demonstration, and a small farm animal enclosure with chickens, pigs, and rabbits (chickens, guinea hens, ducks, geese, and peafowl are also free to roam the park).
Emma’s Kitchen Heirloom Garden contains 17 plots dedicated to plants with a German heritage. A hand-operated pump in the garden lets visitors pump water for the free-roaming critters; but a vintage Aermotor windmill with a depth of 440’ also draws up water. The Veggielution Community Farm is a nonprofit farm on about 8 acres, and produce that doesn’t sell at its stand is donated to food banks.
The Native Plant Garden shows how we can utilize drought-tolerant native plants in our gardens. Signs explain how plants attract butterflies, birds, bees, and beneficial insects to our yards.
Cupertino
The McClellan Ranch Preserve (http://www.cupertino.org/index.aspx?page=1006), is an 18-acre natural preserve park in Cupertino. Once a horse ranch, now it features a nature museum (volunteers will help you meet and learn about the animals) and community garden (a 60+ plot organic garden, each plot rented and maintained by Cupertino residents), the original ranch house, milk barn, livestock barn, a replica of a local blacksmith shop, and a water tower.
A list of things to do at McClellan Park includes: hiking, viewing more than 100 species of birds, going on a naturalist-led hike, meeting animals at the Nature Museum, volunteering to help with habitat restoration, learning about the area’s history, catching a glimpse of a deer, coyote or bobcat, following the Stevens Creek Trail to Blackberry Farm, and enjoying the sparkle of Stevens Creek.
McClellan Ranch is open from 6:00am to dusk; the nature museum is open Fridays from 3:00pm – 5:00pm and Saturdays from 11:00am – 3:00pm.
The Blackberry Farm is adjacent to McClellan Park in Cupertino (http://www.cupertino.org/index.aspx?page=199). Closed for nearly two years, the park has been restored to improve natural habitat for trees, animals, and fish. Pools have been updated, there is a new water slide, new bocce and horseshoe courts, and upgrades to the picnic area.
Fremont
Ardenwood Historic Farm (http://www.ebparks.org/parks/ardenwood) is a farm originally owned by George Washington Patterson, a ‘49er who came west to seek gold, but made his fortune in the fertile fields of the East Bay. The City of Fremont acquired the property and it has passed to the East Bay Regional Park District to operated it as a functioning historic farm to make, “…a journey back to the time of a prosperous, 19th-century country estate with a beautiful Victorian mansion and elaborate Victorian Gardens.”
The farm grows the same produce as in the last century, using equipment ranging from horse-powered to horse-power. Volunteers, in Victorian dress, guide visitors through the house, demonstrate farm chores, and explain what life was like in the early 1900s.
Ardenwood is a working farm, so no two visits are quite alike. From December to mid-February monarch butterflies overwinter here. The farm doubles as a bird refuge, over 99 species have been spotted, and the website has a guidebook,A Guide to the Birds of Ardenwood Historic Farm, you can download
Park attractions include:
• Arden and Deer Park Stations: you can board a horse-drawn train for a ride amongst volunteers dressed in period costume.
• Victorian Garden: like gardens near the turn of the 20th century.
• Patterson House: home to three generations of the Pattersons, beginning as an 1857 bachelor farmhouse, expanded in 1889 with a Queen Anne addition.
• Animal Farms: you will see sheep, pigs, turkeys, chickens, rabbits, goats, and cows.
• Blacksmith and Equipment Shops: a blacksmith working at a forge, vintage equipment, farm animals, and farmcraft demonstrations.
• Naturalist Programs: on weekdays, naturalists lead activities of a turn-of-last-century farm for school and other groups (call 510-544-2797 for information).
• Non-reservation weekend programs include planting, tending and harvesting organic crops, farm chore demonstrations, and hands-on family experiences.
• Special events: including an old-fashioned Fourth of July celebration, a Harvest Festival in October, music concerts, recreations of Victorian social events, and Victorian Christmas in December (visit EBparks Online to browse programs or register online, or visit the website’s Special Events page).
Ardenwood Historic Farm is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, year round, including Labor Day and Memorial Day; closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. There is no parking fee, though dogs are not allowed.
