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PAGE 6 - WESTSIDE MESSENGER - <strong>August</strong> 8, <strong>2021</strong><br />
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Celebrating 40 years on the farm<br />
By Rick Palsgrove<br />
Groveport Editor<br />
History will be having a birthday party<br />
down on the farm.<br />
Metro Parks’ Slate Run Living<br />
Historical Farm. - located at 1375 State<br />
Route 674 North, Canal Winchester - will<br />
celebrate its 40th anniversary with an “Ice<br />
Cream Social and Anniversary” program<br />
on Aug. 21 from 1 to 3 p.m. The farm will<br />
also be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. that day.<br />
There is no cost for admission or for the<br />
activities at the working farm, which is a<br />
historical representation of a typical Ohio<br />
small farm in the 1880s.<br />
“There will be games and activities representative<br />
of the time,” said Ann Culek,<br />
farm program manager at Slate Run<br />
Living Historical Farm. “We are delighted<br />
to welcome storyteller Adele Browne, who<br />
was one of our original volunteers, to provide<br />
some entertainment.”<br />
Culek said the event is an ice cream<br />
social, so enjoy a scoop!<br />
“Sorry, it’s not homemade,” said Culek.<br />
“We hope visitors appreciate the advantages<br />
of <strong>2021</strong>, when you can just run to the<br />
grocery store and buy a gallon of ice cream<br />
to keep in the freezer for whenever you<br />
want it. In the 1880s, ice cream was a special<br />
treat.”<br />
Consider all the steps necessary to<br />
make ice cream in those days.<br />
“First, a trip to an ice house for a chunk<br />
of ice harvested from a local pond or canal<br />
from the previous winter to crush, then<br />
milking the cow and skimming the cream,<br />
getting eggs from the chickens to add into<br />
custard cooked carefully over a wood burning<br />
cookstove, and then cranking the ice<br />
cream freezer for about an hour before you<br />
enjoyed the treat,” said Culek. “Hopefully<br />
everyone will enjoy their visit here, but,<br />
along with the fun we hope you have and<br />
the memories you make, the farm can get<br />
you thinking, just a bit, about how you live<br />
now compared to then.”<br />
The concept for Slate Run Living<br />
Historical Farm came about after Metro<br />
Parks purchased the land for it over a period<br />
of years in the 1960s.<br />
“The idea of a living historical farm<br />
started to form around the American<br />
bicentennial in 1976 and, after research<br />
and extensive restoration, Slate Run<br />
Living Historical Farm opened to the public<br />
in 1981,” said Culek.<br />
According to Culek, Metro Parks<br />
opened the farm so the public could compare<br />
how land in Central Ohio was managed<br />
through time.<br />
“Many Ohioans lived on farms throughout<br />
the 19th century and the time period of<br />
the 1880s was chosen as a time of great<br />
transformation in how farming was done<br />
and before the large migration of people to<br />
the cities,” said Culek. “It gives visitors a<br />
glimpse into lifestyles, technology, and<br />
choices available to a central Ohio farm<br />
family in the 1880s and a way to compare<br />
the way we live now with those some who<br />
came before.”<br />
www.columbusmessenger.com<br />
<strong>Messenger</strong> photo by Rick Palsgrove<br />
Metro Parks Slate Run Living Historical Farm workers Natelle<br />
Ball (left) and Donna Abel working at the cast iron stove in the<br />
1880s era farmhouse kitchen.<br />
Workers at the farm try to show that change is a constant and<br />
all people from all eras and backgrounds adapt to it.<br />
“Sometimes changes improve our lives, some aspects complicate<br />
it,” said Culek. “It makes me chuckle to hear visitors lament<br />
how life in the 1880s was so hard and they would never have survived,<br />
and it was very different in some aspects compared to ours.<br />
But the people who lived on this farm were so proud of their modern<br />
lifestyle: a cook stove versus a fireplace, the new fangled<br />
steam engines and improved steel farm equipment that made<br />
their lives far easier than those of their grandparents era.”<br />
When asked how the farm has changed over the past 40 years,<br />
Culek said it has gotten better with age in many ways.<br />
“When newly opened, the trees were immature, the land bulldozed,<br />
and new fences installed,” said Culek. “After 40 years it<br />
looks settled and I think very realistic. Even with 40 years of<br />
knowledge about a family farm in the 1880s, there is always something<br />
new the staff and volunteers learn to compare and contrast<br />
the lifestyles of those from the past to share with modern visitors.”<br />
She said especially helpful is original source material like<br />
newspapers and books available on the Internet.<br />
“The staff once spent hours at in-person auctions and antique<br />
stores and now we find many items on eBay or through online<br />
searches,” said Culek.<br />
The farm is an good place to bring people of all ages as there is<br />
something for everyone to enjoy and learn.<br />
“The toys and games, the no admission charge, and the animals<br />
are some of the main draws,” said Culek. “It is generally a quiet<br />
place that offers a break from your electronics and a chance to be<br />
outside and engage with your friends and family. It is heartening<br />
to see how much fun some families have just shelling corn, poking<br />
through the garden, and playing on the swing.”<br />
Culek said a favorite aspect of the farm for all the staff and volunteers<br />
who work there is the connections made with visitors.<br />
“Sometimes it is the ‘light bulb’ moment of realizing milk is<br />
warm when it comes out of the cow,” said Culek. “It is fun to see<br />
people try something for the first time, like digging a potato out of<br />
the ground. We also learn from our visitors who come from all<br />
parts of the community, from around the United States, and sometimes<br />
the world. Their stories and experiences will be part of history<br />
some day. We feel it is a privilege to have the opportunity to<br />
work at Slate Run Living Historical Farm and to have so many<br />
positive interactions with visitors.”
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