Fun on the Farm! CLT's 2019 ! DAIF
There's nothing like it in town. The 7th Annual "A Day at Ives Farm" was amazingly amazing! Just about 900 visitors came out to historic Ives Farm on Saturday, September 21st to have some fun.
They came to see Westledge Petting Zoo, Blue Moon Raptors' owl meet & greet, go for a pony ride with Cheshire Horse Council's stunningly beautiful horses, play old-fashioned games, and listen to bluegrass from 81 South (with banjo-playing band member and new Cheshire resident, Dan O'Keefe). There was also Jane Oswicki, who spun yarn from her own sheep farm and Terry Tougas, artist and wood carver.
But, wait - there's more! There was facepainting and crafts. Once inside the barn, Quinnipiac Valley Audubon (Riverbound Farm Sanctuary) had a hit on their hands with a collage table for the littlest kids. There was also a table set up with furs and skulls for learning about local wildlife. The Cheshire Historical Society also draws a lot of attention, as does Grandma Dell's Letterboxing table. New to the barn displays this year was the Pollinator Pathway table, manned by a partnership of Hamden and Southington Land Conservation Trusts and the Cheshire Land Trust. Gail Cameron and Shari Guarino gave out free milkweed and flower seed packets, butterfly and bee pins and information about each town's Pollinator Pathways projects.
Out to the food station, Pastor Ritchie returned as grill master this year with an able assist from Rob Bryden (2nd shift grill boss). Our sincere thanks to the wonderful Oasis Church members for helping DAIF. They really are the nicest people you'd ever meet.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the excellent and tireless work of our volunteers from Cheshire High School, Wilcox Tech and huge debt of gratitude to super-volunteers from Quinnipiac University's Alpha Phi Omega chapter. Shout out to Mackenize Bundt and Karishma Harjan.
Cheshire Land Trust has put together this free event as a way to promote the land trust and our mission of conservation. It all starts in our own backyards, you know.
DAIF is also a way for us to celebrate an amazing gift from Betty Ives. This historic farm is CLT's largest holding at 165 acres. Farmland is disappearing at an alarming rate. Ives Farm, we are proud to say, is still a working farm. It's a good thing to be able to source your food locally, to know where and how it's grown.
Please support the all-volunteer Cheshire Land Trust with your membership, so we can continue our work.
Thank you for sharing the day with us! We hope to see you next year!
