I rode from Muster Field Farm Museum as clouds squeezed the remaining rain from its overcast blistery sky. Three days of torrential rains left creeks rushing with delight and lake shores spilling over soggy leaf embankments. Wet pavement is bad enough, add rotting wet leaves and it’s just plain dangerous to ride on, and I would not ride on, if not for the horseshoes Roger Robertson sends from the BlackSmith Shop (www.theblacksmithshop.net) But we safely clip clopped down the shiny black pavement with color still clinging to the Oaks and Maple trees over head. From our 3 day stop at historic Muster Field Farm to the Sutton School where children spilled out the doors like pouring rain from the sky. They’d taken a moment to wish us farewell.
History resounds in this part of the country. It leaps at you from Federal Colonial homes and mossy stone walls. It whispers to you from enchanting cupola’s, narrow twisting country roads and weathered grey barns.
There is high regard for heritage,how could it not be so? After all, did it not begin here?  The concept of democracy took shape here, the foundation set, the lines drawn. The pot got stirred, the cake got baked, America’s beginning took place here. I think what so surprises me is how much has been preserved. How great the attempt has been to retain the natural beauty of the countryside, to keep small farms intact. Living in a 200 year old home is not uncommon. To me I see a high level of citizenship, a concern for the “welfare of community” and less on the individual. Although people are very tolerant and deverse. But I do see a greater effort to find a “common good for the all” that I have not seen anywhere in my travels. Historical events are pressed between the cracks like ghosts that keenly remind these New Englander’s, again and again, of OUR heritage.

#########################################################################

Muster Field Farm is like a jewel in the community of Sutton and Sutton is a jewel in New Hampshire both wrapped in layer after layer of precious history.

Robert S. Bristol, the founder of Muster Field Farm, stipulated in his will that a working farm always be in operation and that the museum work to support and preserve the agricultural traditions of rural New Hampshire.

Today’s farm produces vegetables, flowers, hay, eggs, and fire wood. Ice blocks are cut from Kezar Lake in the winter and stored until summer in the farm’s ice house. Over 200 of the museum’s 250 acres are under a conservation easement with the Society for the Protection of NH Forests, and a program of selective cutting and sustainable forest management maintains diverse stands of mixed hardwoods and softwoods.

The large, flat and open fields, where militias mustered during the 18th and 19th centuries, are used to demonstrate farm operations and equipment during Farm Days in August. They also produce a large amount of hay that is used on the farm to winter-over the cows and other animals.

Steve Paquin, the farm manager and seasonal helpers are always hard at work. The farm specializes in vegetable production, with the best fields producing a wide range of vegetables (including Steve’s specialty, sweet melons of all varieties). Extensive flower beds exhibit an ever-changing display of texture and color.

The farm’s produce stand is open daily during the summer from noon to 6 pm, generously supplied with all types of vegetables, herbs and a beautiful array of cut flowers. It sells to both local visitors as well as supplying neighboring restaurants and food markets, and is open on event days for our visitors.

The farm also maintains a small but varied population of farm animals which round out the farming operation. Pigs, cows, and chickens are always to be found on the grounds.

Agriculture is alive and well at Muster Field Farm in North Sutton, as it has been for parts of the last four centuries. We hope you come and see for yourself what a “working farm” really means.

©2011 Muster Field Farm, all rights reserved.
Design by Gina Gerhard | Photographs by  J. Bradley

Herstory….
Nearly one hundred years ago as my grandmother Francis taught in a one room school house on the wild and windy eastern slopes of Montana’s Rocky Mountains her sister Linda graduated from Harvard. The first woman to graduate from Harvard with a certificate equal to that of a man. Adventurous women to say the least.
When asked the other day, “what has been the most interesting ride you have done?” I replied, “this one.”
We are nearly finished with our first year out on this “husky” 8000 mile journey, hard to believe.

 
########################################################################################

Saint – Gaudens National Historic Site is in Cornish, New Hampshire’s back Yard!!

Pam Mills whom I met in Sunapee, N.H. gave me a memorable tour through the gardens. It is breathtaking to say the least….Please if you have time check out the website.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), created over 150 works of art, from exquisitely carved cameos to heroic-size public monuments. Works such as the “Standing Lincoln” monument and the Shaw Memorial, continue to inspire people today and his design for the 1907 Twenty Dollar Gold Piece, is considered America’s most beautiful coin. Over 100 works of the sculptor are exhibited in the galleries and on the grounds at Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site.  park.

Belgian Meadows offers wagon rides for all occasions, a pumpkin patch, an off beat guest cabin a place for ANY festivity be it weddings or birthday parties, it will accommodate your needs. But what the card/brochure will not tell you is the old world charm and hospitality you will meet at this farm. Owned and operated by Steve Collins for over 20 years Belgian Meadow Farm is very, very busy this time of year. I came thru North Rochester riding north on old hwy 125 when I sensed my position was off I had missed a turn and stopped to ask for help…at Town Line Pizza, umm I thought ” maybe they’ll have a slice of pizza?” I met owners Brenda and Lynn – had a fabulous sub-sandwich instead of the slice of pizza. Well an hour later I meet Steve Collins who just happen to stop in to say hello…. Belgian Meadows was on my route across Maine. And so here I had a much needed place to gather myself for the ride over to the Atlantic and regain my composure coming back as it was very emotional and very hectic in Wells, Maine. I’ll be giving a talk this evening then heading out in the morning. MORE FRIENDS, oh my goodness I do like the people over in this part of our country, the accents and casual flair to them they are as colorful as the leaves falling in the fall breeze.

October 8th we rode into Wells, Maine a bustling ocean beach town. We made it, the Atlantic Ocean….thrilling.

Neither one of the horses have seen the ocean, its sound, it’s smell. The crashing of waves receding then dashing back at them as their nuzzles sniff with curiosity.How must the bigness of it all that I feel, feel to them? I must admit I was moved to tears at the sight of the ocean, at the sight of my two Fjord Mares who so bravely walked and endured the miles with me stepping into the crashing waves. So many of you ask about their health and care and well you should. They are the true champions of the rides. Essie and Spirit are having a much deserved rest here at Riverhurst Farm. Pete and Elaine have been managing the facility for 17 years. Its lovely, old world, quaint..the barn is 200 years old!!! Once a dairy barn now providing motel space for equine guests the farm has a soft, gentle feel to it, very nice. Parson Beach is a 1/4 mile from the farm.

Here is a bit of history that goes with the old barn. In 1812 the old barn provided a safe haven for soldiers of war. According to the Lewiston Journal illustrated magazine august 1937. The Wells Homestead, now a part of Riverhurst, “Sheltered Soldiers in the War of  1812. It was august 9th, 1813 an exiting day in the history of Kennebunk.  An American privateer, the Alexander of Salem, mounting 18 guns and commanded by Capt. Crowningshield, came up the coast pursued by the British ships.  Before it fell into the hands of the enemy the company were lodged in the Wells home over night , the officers in the house and the seaman in the big barn pictured here. As I said earlier the New Englanders are not short on history, they are submerged in it.

Last night we were lulled to sleep by the sound of the Atlantic Ocean, the reward after so many miles- months of arduous travel.  We have been here for 3 days and leave in the morning.  Our heads will be shaded from the sun each morning as we face the westward sky. The horses welcome the cooler weather, then so do I, we are all northern bred girls. Thank you Elaine and Pete.

Riverhurst Farm
Rt. 9 Kennebunk
Maine, 04043
207-985-3348
Peter and Elaine King  

We all – Essie, Spirit and I alike need a rest, it’s good to be here.

########################################################################################################################################

Wells, Maine was an excellent choice to make my east coast landing. The roads leading into town were not terribly busy and for the most part the New Englanders have been courteous. I know that I am a nuisance to most drivers and I do my best to stay over and off the road surface, but still there you are another distraction for people driving down the road with other thoughts on their minds. It is dangerous without doubt.

Eleanor Vadenais, executive director of Wells Chamber of Commerce helped facilitate my visit to Wells. I have over the years worked with many  Chamber of Commerce and have always been very glad I did. Eleanor helped arrange newspaper interviews, camping spaces and the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge visit. I rode in feeling lost and furlong, dirty and tired of it all. The town was busy,  far too many people stopping to ask the usual what – where – why questions, all had me pushing the limits. Ahead I could make out a figure jumping up and down waving arms. “Oh, I thought “wonderful, its Eleanor, someone at least has come out to greet me.” Hope rose within me. But as I drew closer I could see it was not Eleanor it was Cathy Schloeder and her husband Mike…FROM MONTANA good friends from Montana!!!

Oh my goodness how could this be??? I knew they were in Maine, vacationing, but that we actually were able to connect was nothing short of miraculous and on this day of all days when I most needed a hearty, familiar hug from back home. Cathy was so confident she would find me she’d purchased a lobster roll for me. I felt as if they carried with them a car load of encouragement, smiles, love and hugs from dear friends and neighbors still back in the Northwest corner of Montana, greeting me at this important junction of my ride. I so needed it.  I so very much needed those hugs that day.

With the help of Moores Hardware whose home and place of business we so rudely interrupted Thursday afternoon October 8th – The Moores had land a mile north of where all the shouting and laughing began, I had a perfect place to camp. Eleanor worked her magic, got my next night secured at Riverhurst and the Rachel Carson visit arranged. A full moon presented itself as I ate the food Cathy and Mike left me. I no longer felt alone, what a day…..what a day.

################################################################

Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge

http://www.environmentandsociety.org/exhibitions/silent-spring/overview
http://www.fws.gov/refuge/rachel_carson/

This part of my ride has been dedicated to women. As readers following my rides you know  this year we in Montana  celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote.  Following a number of stops at women’s historical sites earlier this year – Susan B. Anthony, Elisabeth Cady Stanton, Matilda Joslyn Gage – their homes and grave-sites.  Women whose focused, enduring determination gave me as a woman not only the right to vote but the idea of equality.

I thought how fitting to end this years travels  by paying homage to yet another woman, Rachel Carson she also wrote a new chapter into our history. Facing ridicule and formidable opposition as did the other women she persevered and today her legacy lives on. To her as to all those women who significantly altered the course of history by demanding liberty,  equality she was an individual  committed to changing society.

Biographical entry courtesy of Carson biographer © Linda Lear, 1998, author of Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature (1997)

Rachel Carson, writer, scientist, and ecologist, grew up simply in the rural river town of Springdale, Pennsylvania. Her mother bequeathed to her a life-long love of nature and the living world that Rachel expressed first as a writer and later as a student of marine biology. Carson graduated from Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham College) in 1929, studied at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, and received her MA in zoology from Johns Hopkins University in 1932.
She was hired by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries to write radio scripts during the Depression and supplemented her income writing feature articles on natural history for the Baltimore Sun. She began a fifteen-year career in the federal service as a scientist and editor in 1936 and rose to become Editor-in-Chief of all publications for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Disturbed by the profligate use of synthetic chemical pesticides after World War II, Carson reluctantly changed her focus in order to warn the public about the long term effects of misusing pesticides. In Silent Spring (1962) she challenged the practices of agricultural scientists and the government, and called for a change in the way humankind viewed the natural world.

Carson was attacked by the chemical industry and some in government as an alarmist, but courageously spoke out to remind us that we are a vulnerable part of the natural world subject to the same damage as the rest of the ecosystem. Testifying before Congress in 1963, Carson called for new policies to protect human health and the environment. Rachel Carson died in 1964 after a long battle against breast cancer. Her witness for the beauty and integrity of life continues to inspire new generations to protect the living world and all its creatures.

################################################################

LETTER FROM THE GUILD

Dear Bernice,

Often times those who strive to enrich the lives of others never take the time to realize the tremendous long term positive impact they create.  Your journey will serve as a tiny seed, the true results of which may not be fully know for many years.  Perhaps a child you meet will one day tell her grandchild about the woman on a horse who changed her life via a magical journey?  Thus the Guild’s support mirrors your own actions and acknowledges the purity of your mission. Likewise, the Long Riders flag represents all of us who protect, preserve and promote the ancient art of equestrian travel. Protect its message. Carry it with pride and ride well Long Rider.

CuChullaine,
September 1st, 2014  Toucy, France

http://mountaintimes.info/lady-long-rider-travels-the-country-on-horseback/