American West Heritage Center

Baby Animal Farm Days

Farm Building- by Debbie Pike

(Located in Wellsville, Utah)

Frank and I drove to Cache Valley April 11, 2015 for a school assignment 

The center is located just a bit off the main road in a rural area. Once we left the parking lot there were not many modern distractions, I say not many because I had my cell phone in my pocket, a water bottle in one hand, and my camera strap around my neck.

We first stopped in at the welcome center to buy our tickets, $5.50 each, and a destination map to find our way through the property.

Antique Farm Equipment- Taken by Debbie Pike

Our walk from the welcome center down the gravel road was an adventure in itself because of all the antique farm equipment that lined the roadway. It was an almost perfect spring day with hazy clouds and a little wind, but that didn’t stop the many visitors that were happy to be outside on one of the first nice days of the year. 

Pony rides appeared to be the favorite attraction with quite a line of kids waiting their turns. Here I realized that this adventure would have been more fun with some grand kids along. 

Baby colt with mare- Taken by Debbie Pike

There were several rules for riding the ponies for the safety of the visitors as well as the horses.

 We passed by the large covered picnic area with a few families were having lunch at the tables. Next to the picnic area is a Kettle Korn Concessions stand which also sold bottled water. The popcorn smelled yummy as we continued to the old fashioned buildings to the left. I would have liked to go inside the Wood Wright Shop and Millinery but it was locked ... I tried. .

Old Fashion Tractor- by Debbie Pike

Antique Tractor- by Debbie Pike

Right next to the wood shop was a Historic Tractor Display, which my husband loved, it is hard to imagine having to work with such equipment but, I can imagine how excited farmers were to see new tools and tractors to ease their burdens. I had to ask what several of the tractors were for since it wasn’t easily apparent to this city girl. 

 We also walked past the train ride with an equally long line. The 1917 Farm Site is a grassy area with two early 1900’s houses, a smoke house, an underground cellar, and a blacksmith shop.

Smoke House Replica- by Debbie Pike

I’ve never seen a smoke house before. This picture shows the fire place dug underneath the building to smoke the meat hung inside. We were able to walk through one of the homes which was completely furnished with everything I would expect to see in a farm house in 1917. Also inside the house were two women, dressed in period clothing, available to ask questions about the lives of women and children and about the items in the house. The two women were students from U.S.U. and knew quite a bit about the furnishings and life styles of early farmers. 

Laundry tub -by Debbie Pike

  There was another woman outside washing laundry in an old 

fashioned laundry tub. There were several children gathered 

around trying to wring the wet clothes out using the hand operated equipment. 

Now the part I’ve been waiting for, the baby animals. Visitors were 

able to hold the baby chicks and ducks, and were able to walk inside 

the pen with the goats to pet them. We walked past the chicken coop 

as did the other visitors around at the time.

The horses were larger than the usual horses I have seen before and a few other smaller horses, and in the back pen a mare with her new born colt. He was so young he was having trouble keeping his balance.

Mare and colt -by Debbie Pike

  The farm belonged to the Wyatt family in 1917 and was bought by Ronald V. Jensen and donated it to the Utah State University in Logan and is called the Jensen Living Historical Farm. Going to the farm was a fun adventure and I recommend it to anyone who wants to spend a fun day outside with their kids.

 Before I went to the Historical Farm I visited the website which has visitor information about park hours and upcoming activities. The website also provided more information than I learned from the actual visit. There is an interactive farm complete with farm animal noises in the background such as pigs and ducks. Visitors can click on different items on the farm and a window opens with information of what the item is and how it is used. There is an Agricultural Quiz which asks questions about the information given in the several short video clips that are very entertaining and educational, and I love quizzes! There are also several educational programs that I want to take advantage of when I am a school teacher. One program is called the Traveling Trunks which is a large trunk filled with historical items surrounding a theme; such as the Shoshone Indians or the Fur trappers’ trunk. The trunks can be checked out and taken to the classrooms for free with a refundable $50.00 deposit. Schools in the area can bring their students to the farm as a field trip and camping sites can be rented for family reunions too.

 

Works Cited

“American West Heritage Center.” Utah State University. Wellsville, Ut. 11Apr. 2015.

https://www.awhc.org/index.php/historic-adventures/

Mid-Day Rest

Artist: William Frederick Witherington, 1785-1865

Title:     Mid-Day Rest, Harvest

Work Type:      Painting

Date:    ca. 1840

Material:   Oil on board

Measurements: 8 x 11 1/2 inches

William Frederick Witherington, born in London in 1785, painted Mid-Day Rest in 1840. It is an oil painting on board. The painting depicts a harvest where many people are working together. The brush strokes are nearly invisible when viewing a picture of the painting. Witherington usually painted with short brush strokes and with thick paint but there is no description of this painting. The colors are soft and muted, yellows, and gray-blues, with a little touch of red. Some of the laborers are resting in the forefront, a man is drinking from a cask, a woman is holding a baby, and in the background some figures are continuing to work. There is a pile of what might be shirts or coats that have been discarded during the day. The clouds are darkening; a storm appears to be coming that produces a certain feeling of pressure to finish the work. Bundles of wheat or grain are tied together in the center of the painting. The horse, cart, and driver is gathering the bundles slowly. The laborers are men, women, and children, though their faces aren’t detailed. 

The painting reminded me of the early pioneers in America though the artist is British and the unknown subjects are peasants.  I chose this painting because it depicts the values that I think farmers still possess today; hard working people with their families and children, all laboring together until the job is done. The values of a farmer are reliability and honesty and their children grow up with a strong sense of family and hard work. 

Works Cited

Witherington, William Frederick. Mid-Day Rest Harvest. 1840. ARTstor Collection: Yale Center

 for British Art. Paul Mellon Collection. Access 28 Mar. 2015

Agricultural Film Review

A Thousand Acres (1997)

Director: Jocelyn Moorehouse

USA

Running time: 106 minutes

Summary: The film is based on the novel, A Thousand Acres, written by Jane Smiley. The novel was based on Shakespeare’s King Lear. The story is set in 1980 and is about Larry Cook and his three adult daughters, Ginny, Rose and Caroline. The oldest two girls and the father each have a house on the one thousand acres in Iowa. Caroline is a lawyer and moved away from the farm, but visits often. Cook is proud and quick to remind people that the farm has been in the family for three generations. The family attends a gathering at the neighbor, Harold Clark’s, house to celebrate the return of his son. At the party Harold shows off a brand new tractor. Cook surprises his girls by announcing that he is ready to retire and divides the land into three equal parts giving it to his daughters and their husbands to manage. Soon after the transaction is complete Cook begins acting irritated and regrets his decision. Ginny’s husband and Rose’s husband search for Cook one night when the girls suspect their father is drinking and driving. Cook, drunk and belligerent, argues with the two men and stumbles off into the dark during a storm. The fight over the property divides the family as Caroline sides with Cook combating against Rose and Ginny. The hearing reveals the possibility that the aging Cook might have memory problems and he and his daughter, Caroline, loose the law suit against the other two sisters and Cook moves in with Caroline. There is underlying tension from Rose and Ginny as they discuss their father and sexual abuse they experienced in their teens. Rose’s husband dies in a car accident and Rose reveals an affair to Ginny, who also had an affair with the same man. Ginny leaves the farm and her husband. She ends up working as a waitress and lives in the city in a small apartment. Ginny returns when she finds out that Rose is dealing with breast cancer for a second time.  Rose asks Ginny to take her teenage daughters because she realizes she isn’t going to survive. Ginny and Caroline are forced to sell the farm and Cook dies of a heart attack the next year.

Analysis: The setting is typical Iowa farms with fields of corn and wheat rising and falling on the horizon. The film feeds into the cliché of the American ideal of farming with the families all living in white clapboard houses with large porches and shady yards. There is an excess of over-sized shirts and flowery print dresses. The men drive trucks and the women cook and clean while wearing aprons.  Cook is obviously upset when Harold, the neighbor, shows off his shiny new tractor. The tractor represents the advancement of farming on a larger scale and is a forewarning that change is coming. During the 1980’s farmers in America experienced high debt loads and low crop prices.  The results were catastrophic to family farms. The Cook family experiences their share of the farm crises of the 1980’s and eventually loses the farm selling it to pay off debts. One underlying theme of the movie is the sexual abuse of Rose and Ginny, by their father, that triggers strong emotions that cause more turmoil for the family. At the end of the film Ginny reveals that the houses will be torn down to make way for more fields  which epitomizes the end of an era of wealthy farmers as small farms are being bought up by large corporations using more modern methods of agriculture while pushing out the old-fashioned farmers.

Works Cited

A Crisis in Agriculture on the Great Plains. NebraskaStudies.org. accessed 15 Mar. 2015. Web.

A Thousand Acre. Dir. Jocelyn Moorehouse. Perf. Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange. Mill Creek Entertainment. 1997. DVD.

The Farm Bill and Me

  Created in 1933 the Agricultural Adjustment Act provided subsidies to U.S. farmers during the Great Depression and became the basis for what is The Farm Bill today (Snap). There was a surplus of seven main crops and the government paid farmers to stop growing these crops in hopes that the demand would increase the price of the staple crops and thereby help farmers make a profit. The Act also made provisions to support farmers during droughts and other difficult times, and included legislation on conservation and storage of surplus (Snap).

picture from SnaptoHealth.com

 Food Stamps and Child Nutrition is the largest part of the Farm Bill. Over 79% of the Farm Bill budget goes to Food stamps and nutrition, part of that is the school lunch program (Farm). Low income families are eligible for reduced price or free school lunches. It supports the food banks and provides job training in hopes that the families can eventually support themselves. I am concerned about the children that are not getting enough to eat. Food Stamps and School Lunches are essential programs to help people that are struggling. These programs are for occurrences and not as a means of life-long support. My mom found herself alone with eight children at home and no income, no child support. She was a stay at home mom and hadn’t had a job since high school 24 years earlier. She acquired two part time jobs and food stamps and tried to support her family in that way for a few years… It wasn’t working. My mom applied for college grants, kept her part time jobs and started going to school in her forties. With-in five years she had a job as a school teacher and was able to support our family without any government help. She is a welfare recipient success story!  This is how the program is supposed to work. I am proud to say that during her 26 year career as a school teacher my mom paid off her house, and is debt free and is now retired.
The Farm Bill was set up to help Americans when the need arises. Food Stamps do help families and

I think more needs to be done to help low income families to support themselves.                    

 Works Cited

Snap to Health. Farm Bill and USDA: Frequently Asked Questions. Aetna Foundation. Access 27 Feb. 2015. Web.

Dart Otto Bybee's Branding Iron

This is Dart Otto Bybee’s personal branding iron that he used on his horses and cows. The markings on the brand are a “D” and an “O” and a quarter circle underneath the two letters. The D.O. stands for Dart Otto. “Brands are registered like trademarks or copyrights and are monitored, taxed and regulated. So if an owner failed to pay the brand tax, the brand could no longer be offered as “evidence of ownership”’ (Stamp).          

Dart Otto Bybee's Branding Iron

               

The brand was passed from Dart to his daughter Darthel and her husband Frank Jensen Pike. Frank and Darthel gave the brand to their youngest son Frank Bybee Pike because out of all his siblings and cousins that worked on the farm he was the best help his grandpa had. Frank loved to help his Grandpa Bybee with the horses the most. Frank said that he helped on the farm from the time he could walk until they moved to the city. Frank also said that his grandpa was a “horse trader” and that he was always looking for a deal and that grandpa Bybee was the best trader in town.

In the 1960’s and early 70’s Grandpa Bybee put little Frank on a horse that wasn’t broken, which means it wasn’t ready to ride because it was wild, and Frank would ride it, without a saddle in a small circular coral, while his grandpa was talking to someone who was interesting in buying the horse. The horses were gentle with Frank and grandpa Bybee sold the horse and little Frank would jump off.

The brand is Folklore because it is passed on from generation to generation and Frank looks forward to passing it on to his son. The brand is also Farm Folklore because it was used to mark the horses and cattle. Each brand is original and personal and there is pride in Frank’s eyes as he tells me about the branding iron. Frank loves to tell stories about growing up on the farm. Farming and families go hand in hand, Frank and his eight siblings and numerous cousins worked on the farm every day after school and most days during the summer. “The vast array of combinations made possible by  these characters and variations ensures that unique and identifiable brands can be created –hopefully without repetition– using only limited formal language” (Stamp).

Smithsonian.com

      

A few accepted variations on the letter A. From left to right: Crazy-A, Flying-A, Lazy-A, Walking-A (image: Texas Brand Registration) 

Works Cited

Stamp, Jimmy. Decoding the Range: the Secret Language of Cattle Branding. Smithsonian.com.          30 Apr. 2013. Access 15 Feb. 2015. Web.