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News from Garfield Farm |
What: Prairie Walk with John Engstrom
When: Saturday June 25th at 10 am
Who: Garfield Farm Museum
Fee: $6 per person
Where: for GPS only: 3N016 Garfield Road Campton Hills, IL 60175 Contact: 630 584-8485 or info@garfieldfarm.org
On Saturday June 25th at 10 am, John Engstrom,
Natural Areas Manager of Garfield Farm Museum will give a guided tour
of the prairie and savanna at Garfield Farm Museum.
With the full arrival of summer, the native
plants of Northern Illinois are beginning to express their lush, robust
growth of an exceptionally most spring. With a good moisture regime
through the summer, many of the tallest plants may reach their maximum
heights before summer's end.
The many noticeable pools of water in
farmer's fields reflect the fact that much of Illinois prairies were
seasonally wet. Only with the advent of tiling fields after the Civil
War, did wet areas that had not been broken in the first 30-40 years of
settlement, finally fall to sharp ploughshares. Farmers would dig
trenches leading from the nearest creek to wet field areas and lay clay
tile end to end and reburied to create a drainage line. This dried out
marshes and wet prairies so they could be cultivated in the spring and
harvested in the fall. Only during heavy or sustained rain fall does
the evidence of once large wet areas reappear in spite of extensive
modern plastic tiling of farm fields today.
John Engstrom has been working for the museum's
Campton Historic Agricultural Lands, its nonprofit land preservation
agency, for 3 years. He has been battling invasive species of plants
like European buckthorn and false chervil which are the greatest
threats to CHAL's natural areas, the Mill Creek Prairie and Savanna and
the Garfield Harley Ephemeral Pond and Woods. He will point out both
the challenges and successes in these effort while showing some of the
over 125 native species that can be found at the museum.
The natural features of Garfield Farm Museum
are a vital key to understanding how farming developed here as part of
the overall history of America's development. The deep roots of the
fire, winter, and drought resistance plants created an exceptionally
rich soil for food production. As a continent settled by
colonists seeking the unheard of promise of land ownership, democracy
was ultimately chosen to guarantee the rights to own land. Farming
colonists founded a nation of farms that today is our source of food
and the roots from which of our freedoms grew.
Attendees should wear long legged pants
and good walking/hiking shoes. Lighter colored clothing attracts fewer
mosquitoes and hats for sun are suggested. The walk is $6 and will
continue until noon. Reservations are required by calling 630 584-8485
or e-mail info@garfieldfarm.org. Garfield Farm Museum is located five
miles west of Geneva, IL off Illinois Rt. 38 on Garfield Road in
Campton Hills, IL.
Garfield Farm Museum is the only 374 acre
historically intact former 1840s Illinois prairie farmstead and
teamster inn being restored as an 1840s working farm by donors and
volunteers from 37 states and over 3000 households. Over $8 million of
frugally invested donations have been spent to date and $3 million is
being raised to completely restore the 24 structures found at the
Timothy Garfield's 1840s farm and his 2nd youngest son's (Edward
Garfield) 1859 farmstead. Preserving the farm and its history and
environment offers an unparalleled laboratory for teaching lessons
learned to the young and future generations.