Ardenwood Historic Farm

It's almost Spring and we have new pigs at the farm. Longer days, fresh green grass and lots of MUD make for some happy pigs!

In honor of Women’s History Month, today we recognize Emily Jordan Vrooman, who planted one of the first successful walnut orchards in Northern California. Until the 1920s, 95 percent of California’s commercial walnuts were grown south of Santa Barbara. Emily’s orchard proved that this crop could be successful in colder climates. Emily came to California overland from Ohio as a 12-year-old with her family in 1859. Her husband, State Senator Henry Vrooman died suddenly in 188...9, leaving her a widow at age 42, with 3 young children. Emily purchased land in Santa Rosa and planted 60 acres of Franquette walnuts, a recently introduced variety from France. This variety produces leaves later in the growing season than the soft-shelled walnuts that were commonly grown in southern California, offering superior frost hardiness in colder areas of the state. In the 1920s, Henry and William Patterson, sons of George and Clara Patterson, planted Franquette walnuts in the orchard at Ardenwood. See more

In honor of Women’s History Month, today we recognize Maria Moreno, the first female farmworker hired as a union organizer in the United States. Following devastating floods in the winter of 1958, Maria was spurred to activism as she saw her children go hungry after being denied food assistance by Tulare County, where they had been working. Soon after, the AFL-CIO hired Maria to recruit members for the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, a fledgling farmworkers union ...agitating for basic rights such as a guaranteed minimum wage, overtime pay and social security. When the AFL-CIO later withdrew their financial support, Maria’s co-workers voted for her to be their sole delegate to the 1961 National Convention in Miami, where she spoke alongside President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King. In an eloquent speech, Maria, who had left school after second-grade, persuaded union leaders to restore funding for the AWOC. In 1966, the AWOC merged with the National Farm Workers of America to become the United Farm Workers Union. To learn more about Maria Moreno’s life and work, see filmmaker Laurie Coyle’s PBS documentary, Adios Amor: The Search for Maria Moreno, available on YouTube. See more

Celebrate the season’s return of warmth and color with one of our Spring Wool Craft Kits. Take part in two farm traditions of felting a small wool ball and crafting your own small wooly lamb as you follow along with our tutorial in an online video. Kits will include wool from our Ardenwood sheep, a blended mix of colored wool and Ardenwood wool, pipe cleaners, and ribbon. Register by March 19 for a craft kit; kits will be mailed by USPS to US addresses only; limited quantitie...s available; tutorial video will be posted to Ardenwood's Facebook page on April 2, 2021. Additional materials required from home to complete the craft: warm water, dish soap, medium bowl/bucket, scissors (optional). Fees: $6/craft for Residents; $8/craft for Non-Residents plus $2 for mail order processing fee. Registration Required. 1-888-327-2757, option 2 (Reservations Department is open Monday-Friday, 10am-3pm, closed Holidays) or click https://anc.apm.activecommunities.com//search/detail/35891 If you are on your smartphone and can't click "Register Now", please click the upper left icon to see the menu and click "full site" to enroll. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience while we correct this error.

See how apples are made into sweet cider and learn why cider was once the most popular drink in America.

Ardenwood Historic Farm is reopening by reservation only on November 18th! We are excited to welcome visitors back to the farm. Advance registration is required. Reservations can be made up to two weeks in advance of the date of your visit at ebparksonline.org, beginning November 4th. To maintain a safe environment for all, please be aware: Per state guidelines, face masks are required for all guests ages 2 and up. ... Animal feedings and other hands-on activities are currently cancelled. We are open limited hours: Wednesday-Friday 11am-4pm and weekends 10am 4pm. Entry times are limited to single household groups. More information is available at registration: ebparksonline.org. Reservations may be made online on the day of your visit, as available - no transactions will be made by park staff. Park amenities and prices will reflect winter operations (no train rides are currently available, and the café will be closed until further notice). Contact us with any questions at 510-544-2797 or [email protected]

SOLD OUT Friday, October 30, 7:00 pm Join us for the classic 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz (PG), at a drive-in movie night at Ardenwood Historic Farm. Registration includes parking for one vehicle and a snack kit, good for two, with Ardenwood-grown popcorn, two pumpkin lollipops, two wrapped candies, and boxed water. Additional snack kits can be ordered during registration. This event will be enjoyed entirely from the comfort of your own vehicle. Fees: $10/car, includes a snack kit for 2 people; $2/additional snack kits for 1 person each. Registration required, course #32266: 1-888-327-2757 (888-EBPARKS) or ebparks.org.

Learn how to make delicious old-fashioned ice cream in a hand-cranked freezer.

October is just around the corner and that means pumpkins, apple cider and cutting back your milkweed! Here’s why this helps the monarch butterflies: Many of us have planted milkweed to help the monarchs, including those known as tropical milkweeds for their ability to remain green year-round. And, while milkweed is essential for the monarch butterfly to survive - it’s the only plant their caterpillars eat, after all growing tropical milkweed during the fall and winter c...ould actually be hurting the monarch population. That’s because the parasite known as OE (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha) can build up on tropical milkweed plants and infect the caterpillars that eat it. Heavily OE- infected monarchs are too deformed to fly, but a light infection is almost worse in that butterflies can continue to spread it. Cutting back the plants - ideally before Halloween - helps keep the OE parasite levels low. Native milkweeds that grow in the Bay Area, for instance Narrow-leaf milkweed, (Asclepias fascicularis), will die back at this time of year and regrow in the Spring, naturally controlling the OE, and don’t need pruning, which is why they are the first choice for monarch conservation. But what will the caterpillars eat? Don’t worry the monarchs that migrate to the California coast are adapted to live through the winter without reproducing. In fact, it’s key to their survival as a species! Once you’ve cut back your milkweed, if you’d like to help the overwintering monarchs even more, plant some winter blooming flowers and shrubs, such as asters, verbena or ceanothus. Please make sure you get plants from a nursery that doesn’t use systemic pesticides, which is also a growing threat to the survival of the monarchs. You’ll be supplying our winter visitors with an important source of nectar, and perhaps you’ll be treated to a visit by a monarch or two on a sunny day this winter. Asclepias curvassavica by Guérin Nicolas licensed under cc-by-sa-3.0 Gomphocarpus physocarpus (Hairy Balls) by Leonora (Elle) Enking licensed under cc by-sa 2.0

Monarch butterflies are in trouble, but there are ways you can help them and all pollinators.

Male turkeys out for an evening stroll at Ardenwood. On some the "beard" or tuft of coarse bristles can be seen sticking out from their breasts. Younger males, known as "jakes" have short beards, while mature males, known as "toms" or "longbeards" will have longer beards. Hen turkeys usually don't have beards.

A climate crisis in 1816 may have inspired the invention of the bicycle.

On this Labor Day weekend we honor the work of our farmworker brothers and sisters - essential workers whose labor is the foundation of our food and farm industry. We also recognize those who have fought for the health, safety and dignity of these vital members of our communities and whose work continues to this day.

Ardenwood remains closed due to the pandemic. We miss our visitors and hope to welcome you back soon. Until then, here's a glimpse of life at the farm.