Focus on Hanley Farm – August 2014

We live in a beautiful place. It strikes me each time I return home from traveling how comforted I feel by the patchwork of farms and forests outlined from the air, how I breathe a little more easily passing the llamas and sheep grazing peacefully on the hillsides of Hanley road as I make my way home.

The love of the terrain here is one of the reasons I have become so involved with the work at Hanley Farm. For me, it embodies the best of what it means to live in the Rogue Valley: a connection to land and community that transcends my day-to-day concerns. It makes me feel that I am part of something larger, something that will continue to exist after my time here. A significant part of Hanley continuing to exist, however, depends on it becoming a truly vital part of the community—and this is the question that I would like to use this column to ask: what would you, you personally, like to see at Hanley Farm? What would it take to make Hanley a significant place for you?

I ask this because we have had multiple events over the past few years: music nights, dinners, children’s festivals, and yet we have still not found a formula to engage the larger community on a consistent level. We do not have the base of support to continue the efforts at the Farm without that engagement. There is a core group of volunteers, most of them seniors, who dedicate an enormous amount of time to making events happen at the farm. They make these events happen on an almost non-existent budget by canvassing for donated items and putting them together with impressive creativity. But they need help, support, and new energy: what would it take for you to become involved?

Please send your ideas and feedback to hanleyfarmadvice@gmail.com.

If you do want to come and show your support this month, we have an evening of music with The Fret Drifters happening on Saturday August 9th from 5:30-8:30pm. There will be local beer and wine for sale, farm fresh food, and a beautiful setting for the evening.

For more information about Historic Hanley Farm, please visit www.hanleyfarm.org.