Welcome & Thanks For Stopping By!

July 14, 12-3 & July 15, 9-12: Metal Casting Class at Newfield Campus; teens from Bangor will be learning this traditional art from instructor Peter Grant of Orrington. The public is welcome to come and watch as there will be other activities in play including a Silent Movie Festival on July 15 & 16.

July 1, 2, & 3, 10-4. Colonial Militia Encampment at Newfield

Six Weeks of Blacksmithing and Knife Making at Fields Pond.

Students will learn foundational skills in coal-fired forging. They will learn and create a series of projects in the first three weeks of the class that cover, heating, shaping, and cutting of steel. In week three students will begin shaping a blade and tang out of spring steel. The class will involve hardening and tempering the blade. Students will file, sand, & polish blades. They will prepare the tang to receive two hardwood scales and brass rivets for a handle. Tools supplied except a 2 to 2 1/2 pound hammer. natural fiber clothing. Safety glasses. Gloves optional. Tuition: $395. First pay first serve. For more information: Call: (207) 205-4849 To register, call: (207) 745-4426

–PRESS RELEASE–

For Immediate Release–Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond (372 Fields Pond Rd., Orrington, ME)–Monday, June 26, 2017

For More Info. Contact:

Robert Schmick, Museum Director, Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond & Newfield

Tel: (207) 205-4849 – thecurranhomestead@gmail.com

The Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond, 372 Fields Pond Rd. , will host a number of events during Old Home Week from July 14 –July 23. Appointments are now being taken for 10-minute sittings on July 14, 15, & 16 for old fashioned Silhouette Portraits at the Curran farmhouse. On-the-spot framing of your portrait is available. See more details at: curranhomestead.org/silhouetteportraits. To make your appointment, call: (207) 205-4849

Also, July 14, 12 noon – 3 p.m., and July 15, 9 a.m. to 12 noon, there will be a metal casting class in progress at the Village. A group of high school students, from Bangor’s Carleton Project, an alternative, experiential high school directed by Christopher Betts, will be participating in the class but the public is welcome to watch at a distance the class taught by Orrington resident Peter Grant.

On Tuesday, July 18, these teenagers will make pickles and do some baking and cooking on a wood stove in the Curran farmhouse kitchen with Carol Dandura of Addison. On Friday, July 21, they will learn letterpress printing in a workshop led by Mark Matteau, owner of the Dunstan Press in Scarborough.

The Giant Yard Sale on July 21-23, 8 a.m.-1 p.m., will include just about everything , including a kitchen sink, plus books, furniture, tools, restoration projects, sleighs, household items, children’s items, and more!

On Saturday, July 15 from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. and Sunday, July 16 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. . Curran Homestead Village hosts its first Silent Movie Festival. This will include features and shorts shown in either the Curran barn or on the back lawn. These include on Saturday The Haunted Castle (1896), Frankenstein (1910), Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1912), Charlie Chaplin’s One AM (REEL film), Buster Keaton’s The General and The Paleface, Douglas Fairbanks in The Thief of Baghdad, The Enchanted Drawing (1900), Little Nemo (1911), Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), A Boy and His Elephant (1913), and Nosferatu. On Sunday, there will be Stan Laurel in West of Hot Dog (1924), Dr. Pykle and Mr. Pride, Mud and Sand (1922), Lon Chaney in Phantom of the Opera (1925). Buster Keaton in The Blacksmith, The Boat (1921), Love Nest, The Balloonatic. Also, Douglas Fairbanks in The Prisoner of Zenda. Recorded music will accompany the showings. Popcorn and candy will be available. $5 Admission.

On Saturday, July 22, from 3-7 p.m. visitors can enjoy Bluegrass music with a variety of local musicians including our own banjo picking board member Jim Leighton. Enjoy our Bean Supper also on the July 22^nd from 4:30-6:30 p.m. $10 Adults, $9 Seniors, $8 for children under 12, and under 6 is free. All proceeds to benefit Curran Homestead Village.

Curran Homestead Village participates in Open Farm Day on Sunday, July 23, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. The public is invited to come and see our new developments, including a new timber frame workshop and major renovation to early Orrington resident Peter Field’s house that was recently lifted and placed on a new foundation; it will house restrooms and serve as a visitor’s center for the developing museum village. There will be hands-on activities, farm animals to see, and an old fashioned barbecue. The Old Home Week Citizen of the Year will be announced at 12 noon. Come and enjoy a week at the farm.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN JUNE & JULY AT OUR MUSEUM CAMPUSES (Scroll Down):

See our June, 2017 Newsletter here.

FIELDS POND CAMPUS:

The Peter Field House has a new foundation. The building will be picked up with a crane (That’s 44 tons of house) and placed on the new foundation the first week of June.

Spring Clean-Up is underway. Let us know if you are interested in volunteering. (207) 205-4849.

Sign Up Now. Starting Tuesday, July 11, 6-9PM Tuesdays and Thursdays. SIX WEEKS OF BEGINNING BLACKSMITHING AND KNIFE FORGING CLASS OFFERED AT FIELDS POND. This class will include three weeks of foundation skills for coal fire forging. After three weeks students will work at forging a knife blade and tang. Grind, File and polish. Quench in oil and temper. Make your first knife blade. First pay, first serve. Call: (207) 205-4849, (207) 745-4426 to register. Tools & Materials Provided. Tuition: $395

JULY 15-23 OLD HOME WEEK AT CURRAN HOMESTEAD VILLAGE AT FIELDS POND

• Three Day Giant Yard Sale: (Sat., July 15-Monday, July 17, 10-3PM)
• Make a Reservation Now for A Silhouette Portrait done by Jean Comerford, Artist, from Hardwick, ME. Portraits will be done on July 14, 15 & 16 at Curran farmhouse in Orrington, 372 Fields Pond Rd. See details at: curranhomestead.org/silhouetteportraits
• Charity Bluegrass Music (Sat., July 22, 3-7PM)
• Bicycle Rally Race, A Ten-Mile Circuit of Orrington, Maine (July 15, 9 AM-11AM and 12Noon-2PM.

Register for one or both races at the Bangor Letter Shop, 99 Washington St., Bangor 04401, (207) 745-4426, or at Pat’s Bicycle Shop,

The Registration Fee is $20 which entitles you to T-Shirt that commemorates the bicycle event. Specify your size on this registration form. Please register by July 10 so we can produce your t-shirt. The fee also includes a donation to the nonprofit museum. Visit: curranhomestead.org/bicyclerallyrace  Find our cut out and mail in registration form here

The route traveled is from in front of the Curran Barn onto Fields Pond Rd. going West (Right Turn from Curran Property located at 372 Fields Pond Rd.). Peddle approximately 2.5 miles to Bob’s Cozy Corner Market. Peddle Up Johnson MIll Rd. Continue on Johnson Mill Rd. to the intersection with Center Drive. Turn right onto Center Drive. The Center Drive School is located on the left hand side of the road. You have completed 5 miles of the race at this point. Return the same way you came to complete 10 miles.

Checkpoints are at the Orrington Fire Department on Johnson Mill Rd. and the Center Drive School Parking Lot. Bikers will return the same way they came stopping solely at the Orrington Fire Department on the return. There will be people patrolling the route to insure safety and in cases of emergency.

Bicycle Rally Race Prizes:

• 1st, 2nd, 3rd Finisher Ribbon and Prize for 12 and Under
• 1st, 2nd, 3rd Finisher Ribbon and Prize for Ages 13-17.
• 1st, 2nd, 3rd Finisher Ribbon and Prize for Ages 18-54
• 1st, 2nd, 3rd Finisher Ribbon and Prize for Ages 55 and Above.
• Best Vintage Bicycle ( Older than 25 years and Under 100 years old)
• Best Antique Bicycle ( Over 100 years old)
• Best Unusual Bicycle
• Best Kid’s Bicycle

• Bean Supper at Fields Pond Campus (Sat., July 22, 4:30-6:30PM)
• Open Farm Day ( Sun., July 23, 10-3)

NEWFIELD CAMPUS:

JUNE & JULY, 2017 AT 19^th CENTURY CURRAN HOMESTEAD at NEWFIELD, formerly Willowbrook, 70 Elm St., Newfield, ME, (207)205-4849, or (207) 793-2784, Email: thecurranhomestead@gmail.com.

Sat., June 3 & Sat., June 10: Director’s Tours of Museum at 10AM, Noon, & 2PM. Close 4PM.Includes carousel rides 10,Noon, & 2PM. Country Store Open. Admission: $12 Adults, $8 Children. 6 & Under: Free.

Sat. July 1 & Sun., July 2, 9AM-4PM Blacksmithing Class: Forge a Knife. Sign up for this beginner’s class with instructor Frank Vivier. Use propane burning forge and blacksmithing methods. With spring steel form blade and tang, grind, file, & polish, quench in oil, and temper. Fit handle scales, rivets and epoxy. Walk away with your first knife. Tools & materials provided. $195 First pay, first serve. Limited to 5.

Sun., June 11, Director’s Tours of Museum at 10AM, Noon, 2PM. Close at 4PM. Carousel Ride, Country Store Open.

Sat., June 17 Director’s Tours at 10AM, Noon, and 2PM. Close at 4PM.

Sat., June 17.FATHER’S DAY SPECIAL BEAN SUPPER 4:30-6:30PM. Includes a variety of bean dishes, salads, bratwurst, kielbasa, hot dogs and homemade desserts. Adults: $11, Seniors: $10, Under 12: $9. Call to Reserve. (207) 793-8191 or (207) 793-2784, Please leave a message. Pay to reserve. You can reserve at the Country Store at Museum, 10-4 on June 3, 11 or 17 before 3PM.

Tues. & Thurs., June 19 & 21, 6-9PM: Blacksmithing Class: Repair Metal Objects. With the assistance of our blacksmith in residence you can repair objects that you bring to class. Coal fired forging, forge welds, & fabrication of a new part. Steel and wrought iron. Over the two days learn basic blacksmith skills. Tuition: $125. Let us know what your project is. First pay, first serve. Limit: 6

Sat., Sun. & Mon., July 1-3: Colonial Encampment Re-Enactment from 10-4. Director’s Tours also at 10, Noon,& 2PM. Carousel Rides: 10, Noon & 2PM. Hands-On Activities as well.

Mon. thru Fri., July 24-28, 10AM-3PM: Summer History Camp for Ages 8-13. Contact us now about getting your child in this wonderful educational experience, and it’s fun! Limited number of participants.Tel. (207) 205-4849, (207) 793-2784. Leave a message, (207) 745-4426. Details at curranhomestead.org Tuition: $185. Siblings: $175 Snack provided. You bring your own lunch. Payment:Call to Pay by Credit Card: (207) 793-2784, or (207) 205-4849, Please leave a message. Please make checks payable to: “Curran Homestead, Inc.”. Mail Checks to: Curran Homestead Village, P.O. Box 28, Newfield, ME 04056 with the following information as well.

Activities:

• Fiber Arts: Weaving and Felting, Machine and hand sewing projects
• Electric Old School: Making Batteries and Electric Fixtures
• Make a Lumber Scaling Stick
• Blacksmithing (Safe)
• Pickling, Cooking, and Baking in a Victorian Kitchen
• Metal Casting: Make a Mold and Cast an Object in It.
• Letterpress Printing: Print on several 19th Century printing presses, other early writing & printing techniques explored.
• Telegraphs & Morse Code
• Simple Machines
• Photography
• Silent Movies
• Penny Rugging
• Curating Artifacts
• More…

Sat. & Sun., July 29 & 30. Civil War Re-Enactment. An artillery battery will perform multiple authentic Civil War cannon firings. The 6^th of Maine will be encamped for two days at the museum. Camp life. Many family activities. Hands-on programming. Director’s Tours: 10, Noon & 2PM. Close 4PM. Country Store Open. Carousel Rides: 10, 2 & 4. Admission: $12 Adults, $8 Children. Under 6: Free.

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Saturday, April 29, 9AM-4PM. Metal Casting Class. & Sunday, April 30, 9AM-2PM. Make a Propane Metal Casting Furnace or Blacksmithing Forge Class (FIELDS POND)

This is a two day class in which the fundamentals of casting aluminum, brass and high temp metals are introduced. We cover materials, fuels, equipment and methodology. Two projects in aluminum are facilitated using a sand casting method. For the furnace making, you will create the interior form in a metal shell to receive castable refractory cement rated at 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. The class will include a 10PSI regulator and a black metal pipe with a gas release aperture suitable to creating a flame wand to melt or heat up metal. The furnace will be completed and ready to fire after the refractory cures. All materials and tools provided. $400

SCHOOL FIELD TRIP IN MAY & JUNE AT CURRAN HOMESTEAD VILLAGE at NEWFIELD- 1156 students registered so far!

• Visit our web page: www.curranhomestead.org/oldhomeweek2017 for details about Old Home Week at Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond, July 14-23.

• Visit our web page: www.curranhomestead.org/blacksmithingclasses for our current blacksmithing and metal casting offerings at both our Fields Pond and Newfield campuses.

Saturday, March 18, 10-2, Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond, 372 Fields Pond Rd., Orrington, ME is offering a Family Maple Syrup Event and Irish Celebration.

There will be maple sap boiling in the sugar house with some maple syrup available for purchase. We’ll have maple syrup in collector glass decanter bottles for sale in addition to other choices. There will be banjo music in the farmhouse to sit, sing-along, if you like, and definitely tap your foot to as well as lots of neighborly conversation.

The Curran farmhouse kitchen will have the heat pouring out of the woodstove, as it has had for nearly a century with a batch of Irish stew made with grass-fed beef from Wee Bit Farm in Orland cooking, Irish soda bread baking, and other samples of sweets and savories flavored with maple syrup available for you to sample. Don’t miss ginger ice cream with syrup drizzled on it. There will be a hands-on wood working activity for ages eight and above involving some early hand tools that you walk away with a coat rack. There will be an egg hunt around the museum campus that will result in some prizes.

John Boyce of Lee will have his team of Belgian draft horses pulling a hay wagon for rides. Some new artifacts in the collection will be on exhibit. Visit the blacksmith shop. The beginnings of a spring cleaning has will produce a large bonfire to see. This is what New England maple syrup season was always like; come join us for a step back in time.

Admission includes all activities including food samples and a horse drawn hay ride. Members/Donors: $8 Adults, $5 Child Under 12. Maximum Family: $25; Non-Members: $10 Adults, $6 Child Under 12, Maximum Family: $30. www.curranhomestead.org, 207-205-4849, 207-745-4426, thecurranhomestead@gmail.com

Saturday & Sunday, March 25 & 26, 10-2, Curran Homestead Village at Newfield‘s Family Maple Syrup Event and Irish Celebration.

There will be maple sap boiling in an outdoor wood-fired evaporator with some maple syrup available for purchase. We’ll have maple syrup in collector glass decanter bottles for sale in addition to other choices. The museum’s Victorian Kitchen will have the heat pouring out of the newly restored Crawford woodstove with a batch of Irish stew made with grass-fed beef from Wee Bit Farm in Orland cooking, Irish soda bread baking, and other samples of sweets and savories flavored with maple syrup available for you to sample. Don’t miss ginger ice cream with syrup drizzled on it from Frank’s Bake Shop in Bangor.

There will be a hands-on wood working activity for ages eight and above involving some early hand tools that you walk away with a coat rack. There will be an egg hunt around the museum campus that will result in some prizes. Tom Bragg of Kennebunk will have his team of Belgian draft horses pulling a carriage for rides. Visit the smithies where Blacksmith Sam Smith will be striking while the metal’s hot.

This is what New England maple syrup season was always like; come join us for a step back in time. Admission includes all activities including food samples and a horse drawn carriage ride. Members/Donors: $8 Adults, $5 Child Under 12. Maximum Family: $25; Non-Members: $10 Adults, $6 Child Under 12, Maximum Family: $30. www.curranhomestead.org, 207-205-4849, 207-745-4426, thecurranhomestead@gmail.com

Sat., March 18, 10-2, Sugaring Off Event and Irish Celebration at Fields Pond

This family friendly annual event will include hands-on participation in tapping a tree, collecting sap buckets , and boiling sap down to amber colored syrup. The sap is already running at this point, Feb. 23, so we hope to have some syrup on hand to sample. Our sugar house will have a wood burning evaporator going full tilt In the Curran farmhouse kitchen we will have much food for purchase including choices flavored with maple syrup as well as Irish stew and soda bread in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. We plan on a horse drawn sled or carriage depending on snow conditions; this will be $5 per ride. We will have an EGG HUNT with prizes for all entrees.

Sat. & Sun., March 25 & 26, 10-2. Sugaring Off and Irish Celebration at Newfield.

Tapping a maple tree with a bit and brace.

This family friendly annual event will include hands-on participation in tapping a tree, collecting sap buckets , and boiling sap down to amber colored syrup. The sap is already running at this point, Feb. 23, so we hope to have some syrup from the site for sampling. We will have syrup from local sugar houses for sale. Our sugar house have a wood burning evaporator going full tilt.  In the Victorian Kitchen, with our newly restored Crawford kitchen stove, we will have much food for purchase including choices flavored with maple syrup as well as Irish stew and soda bread in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. We plan on a horse drawn sled or carriage depending on snow conditions. We will have an EGG HUNT around the museum village campus with prizes for all entrees. Samples of food, sled/wagon ride and activities included in admission.

  Sat. February 11, 2017, 10AM-3PM, Snow or Shine,Ice Harvest  on the Mill Pond, Newfield

We will be doing a free family event at our NEWFIELD campus this Saturday, weather permitting. Families can do hands-on participation with antique ice harvesting tools in this picturesque Maine setting. We will have an outdoor wood fire. We will have two teams of Belgian draft horses onsite pulling bobsleds for rides. Rides are $5. We will have a warming station at the Red Barn Building next to the Newfield Post Office where you can purchase a bowl of Madge’s famous chili and corn bread muffins. We will also have for purchase some goodies, hot cocoa, and coffee. Come to this first event of the season for the new 19th Century Curran Homestead Village at Newfield, 70 Elm Street, Newfield, ME 04056. For additional information, call: 207-205-4849 or 207-745-4426.

Genevieve sawed her own ice cake for our ice harvest at Fields Pond; you can do that too at the Mill Pond in Newfield. Hands-on learning at its best.

This rig was actually restored at the Newfield campus last year bu women from the Women’s Re-Entry Program of Maine State Corrections in Alfred under the supervision of Chuck Hayden. John Boyce of Lee pulled this with his Belgians right onto Fields Pond as the ice was perfect. We have good ice as of today at the Mill Pond in Newfield too.

SAT., FEB. 4, 10-2. ICE HARVEST AT FIELDS POND!

Press Release:

Saturday, February 4th, 10-2, 19th Century Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond, 372 Fields Pond Rd., Orrington, will have its 8th Annual Family Ice Harvest on Fields Pond. The free public event includes family hands-on participation with antique tools in cutting ice cakes from the more than 15 inch plus thick ice of Fields Pond. “We’ve been looking forward to this event for some time because it embodies our hands-on learning and experience by doing mission like no other event”, said Curran board treasurer Irv Marsters. The Currans, the original donors of the farm property, that includes the pond and properties owned by the Fields Pond Audubon as well as the property owned by the Curran Homestead Village, harvested ice regularly on the same site into the 1930s and maybe as late as the 1940s to refrigerate the milk and butter they produced on their farm. Some of the same tools used by the Currans at that time, in addition to others donated for the purpose of hands-on history, will be used.  In addition, this event will feature the museum’s antique John Deere Model 50 tractor, fitted with post World War II AARPS half-tracks pulling a traditional log scoot. There will be two draft horse teams pulling bobsleds at the event. Rides on either the eighteen foot sled pulled by John Boyce of Lee’s Belgian team or the Marsh Hay Sled pulled by Sonny Richards of Windham’s Belgians will be $5 a ride, all proceeds benefit the museum. We will have hot chili and corn bread as well as sweets, cocoa, and coffee for sale. With the recent snowfall we are pleased to present this wonderful family event to the public. For more information, call: 207-205-4849 nor 745-4426. Visit us at: www.curranhomestead.org

ICE HARVEST ON FIELDS POND!

We have changed our Ice Harvest Event at Fields Pond from January 28th to February 4th due to the weather. Check this site for up to date information about this event, or give us a call at: (207) 205-4849.

Saturday, February 4th, 10-2 (Weather Dependent: looks good with today’s snow fall and expected cold weather). 8th Annual Ice Harvest on Fields Pond. Free to the Public. Hands-On Participation with antique tools of ice. see our Model 50 John Deere tractor with an AARPS post-WWII half track attachment pulling a log scoot on the pond. Blacksmithing Demo. See our 1920s gas powered Novo Ice Saw; we hope to run that on the ice next winter after some repair is accomplished. New this year, a Marsh Hay Sled (Bobsled) drawn by draft horses for rides. We will have two teams of Belgians at this event. we will be pulling our newly re-wooded 18 foot bobsled as well! Rides $5. Homemade hot chili and cornbread, cocoa and coffee for sale.

This Marsh Hay Sled was used to take in winter fodder from the salt marshes. We will give rides with this at our ice harvest.

This sled was re-wooded last year at Newfield with the aid of the Women’s Re-Entry Program at Maine State Corrections. John Boyce of Lee, ME will be pulling this with his team of Belgians at Fields Pond.

Our annual gathering out on the pond. The ice this year promises to be thick!

This is a hands-on event that is free to the public.

Our Model 50 John Deere with AARPS half tracks pulling a log scoot will be among the things to see.

Our new mission, as adopted by the Board of Directors of Curran Homestead Village on January 31, 2017:

19^th Century Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond and Newfield is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that collects, preserves and utilizes historic artifacts and buildings for the purpose of exhibition, living history, traditional arts programming and hands-on education. The villages serve as classrooms to not only raise awareness and appreciation of life in rural Maine and New England during the emerging Industrial Age of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries but to empower new generations through sharing the lessons of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from that time to meet the challenges of the 21^st century . Our goal is to help to nurture future inventors, scientists, mechanics and agriculturists through individual awareness and discovery.

For Immediate Press Release

On Mon., Jan 16, at 11:30AM, Curran Homestead Village of Fields Pond & Newfield will hold its’ Annual Meeting and Recognition Luncheon at Jeff’s Catering, 14 N. Littlefield Way, East-West Industrial Park, Brewer.  Highlights of the luncheon will include State Representative Dick Campbell sharing a proposal for a state bill to preserve Maine heritage collections. Curran board members will present a review of this banner year in the organization’s history. The nonprofit organization’s new full-time museum director will also share highlights and the importance as an educational resource a recent gift of property, buildings, assets and the collections of the former museum 19th Century Willowbrook Village in Newfield, Maine to the Orrington/Holden based museum. The Curran plans to run programming at the Newfield site this year and in the future while a major development of the Fields Pond campus is underway to eventually receive the collection. The board and director will be kicking off a five year fundraiser for accomplishing  renovations and new construction already underway at the Orrington/Holden campus.Sponsored by the Bangor Letter Shop, there’s no charge to 2017 museum members,donors, and honored guests. The public is invited to the luncheon at $15 per adult and $8 under 12. RSVP required by Jan. 14. Call: 207-947-0749 or 207-745-4426.

8th Annual Ice Harvest on Fields Pond

• Saturday, January 28, 10-2PM; this is a weather permitting event.
• The event is free to the public.
• Fields Pond, 372 Fields Pond Rd., Orrington
• Hands-On Activity for the whole family; we use antique ice harvesting tools to take in ice cakes. In years past these were more than two feet thick!
• We will have at least one team of Belgian draft horses for sled rides. These horses will pull a traditional bobsled with fixed benches on it for you to sit; $5 a ride. All proceeds go to support the museum and pay for the use of the horses.
• Homemade hot chili and cornbread will be for sale. Hot beverages and sweets too.

Ice Harvest on the Mill Pond at Newfield

• Saturday, February 11, 10-3.
• The event is free to the public.
• 70 Elm Street, Newfield, Maine
• Hands-On Activity for the whole family; we use antique ice harvesting tools to take in ice cakes. In 2015, the ice was 19 inches thick!
• We will have rides on traditional bobsleds drawn by draft horses; there will also be a pair of draft ponies pulling a smaller sled.
• Homemade hot chili, cornbread and other goodies will be available.

There are very exciting happenings going on at the Curran Homestead!!! 

The Curran Homestead is very excited to announce that we are now partnering with the Maine Poultry Connection Junior Grant Program!!!!  The MPC Junior Grant Program was created last year by Scott DeMoranville .  If you have been to a Curran Homestead event, you may have met Scott and some of his delightful chickens at the farm.

This wonderful group has been created to establish funding for at least two lucky Maine children, 12 and under, to receive an entire Chicken coop set up, along with chickens, equipment and feed. Our goal is to ensure the future of fowl fanciers by donating this set up to a youth that would otherwise not be able to experience the joy of keeping chickens and all the benefits, life lessons and responsibility that go with it.  To be considered, the child will write a short essay describing why he/she would like to raise chickens. As the the leading essays are narrowed down to a handful, those children and their families will be interviewed and 2 winners will be selected.

The Curran Homestead is thrilled to be able to work with the people at the MPC Junior Grant Program, to help spread the word about this wonderful program that brings children and agriculture, in this case poultry, together.  We will continue to update you about the fundraising efforts for this program, as well as when it is time for the essay portion of this program, as well as who the winners are.  If you would like to support this program, or are interested in helping in any way, please let us know.  Thanks!!

We are now taking students for our Beginning Blacksmithing Course starting on Tuesday, March 14, 6-9PM. Register ASAP for the class for six students as it fills fast.

For Registration, Contact: Robert Schmick, Museum Director, (207) 205-4849, or Email: thecurranhomestead@gmail.com

Classes meet Tuesday & Thursday evenings, 6 – 9 p.m. beginning Tuesday, March 14, 2017 Tuition for the six-week course is $395 and includes all materials, plus a copy of Lorelei Sims’ useful book, The Backyard Blacksmith Enroll now; space is limited!

Dwight King added detail to the course curriculum to include: safety discussions, materials and tools of the trade, fire starting and maintenance, heating the work, hammer blows and hammer control, measuring and marking, tapering to a square point, drawing out metal, forging square to octagonal and round, bending, twisting, forging a basic Shook, a drive hook, screw-in/nail-in hooks, making a chisel, a punch, a drift, punching holes, flattening and spreading, forging a spoon, simple leaves, nails, rivets, tool handles, door handles, scrolls, preparing for welding, forge welding a ring, butt hinge and riveting as well as working on personal projects.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: Dwight King has been passionate about moving metal around with hammer control for more than 12 years. His work runs the gamut of functional, handcrafted items to garden and lawn sculptures, and he’s crazy about forging botanicals like leaves. He has been a frequent volunteer at the Curran Homestead and Leonard’s Mills and is always willing to communicate knowledge of the craft. Dwight says, “Never stop learning, when you rest, you rust!” Blacksmithing is NOT a Lost Art at The Curran Homestead Living History Farm & Museum 372 Fields Pond Road • P.O. Box 107 • Orrington, Maine 04474  Six Week Course (36 Hrs.) – Limited to only 6 participants; first-come, first-serve.

Contacts:

Dwight King, Instructor, The Curran Homestead Beginning Blacksmith Course Email: dwightwking@gmail.com or (207) 825-3829

Robert Schmick, Museum Director, Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond & Newfield. Email: thecurranhomestead@gmail.com or (207) 205-4849.

Irv Marsters, Curran Homestead Village at Fields Pond & Newfield Treasurer. Email: irv@bangorlettershop.com or (207) 745-4426

Congratulations to our 2016 winner of the Fall Harvest Festival Scarecrow Contest – Orrington Trail Riders!!!

Be sure and follow our Blog, called Preserving the Past at http://preservingthepast.bangordailynews.com/

 Preserving The Curran Homestead ensures for future generations the values and customs of rural America, representing a time when family, self-reliance, cooperation, and hard work were honored traditions. The Curran Homestead enriches the lives of our children, offers our community many opportunities for wholesome family fun, and serves as an excellent educational resource through hands-on activities and programs. As a cultural organization, our primary focus is the historical preservation of life on the Maine family farm at the turn of the 20th century.