Small Staff and Volunteers
Turkey Run is staffed by a small paid professional staff, supplemented by volunteers (mostly pre-teens and teenagers called apprentices) who demonstrate 1771 farm life, including field work, crafts, cooking, and other special activities. Staff (including volunteers) use "first person" to demonstrate living history.
The farm has also cooperated with Fairfax County in providing work-release parolees with court-required employment. And on a 1771 farm, this means labor.
The highlight of the year is the Market Fair, held the third weekends of May, July, and October. The Market Fair is enhanced by the participation of a cadre of long-time volunteers who man the stands, including the blacksmith, the cabinet maker, millinery, plants, toys, scriptorium, puppet theatre and, most importantly, the tavern. The importance of the tavern in Colonial life is captured on the sign displayed therein: "Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy. —Benjamin Franklin."
Many of the participants are members of American Revolutionary War re-enactor groups and appear at other Colonial historical events. The gathering and threshing of wheat and the preparation of the tobacco crop are annual events. A Colonial Wassail, including the blessing of the orchard, is the final event of the season, in mid-December.
Read more about this topic: Claude Moore Colonial Farm
Famous quotes containing the words small, staff and/or volunteers:
“As a small child, I felt in my heart two contradictory feelings, the horror of life and the ecstasy of life.”
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)
“Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.”
—Bible: Hebrew, 1 Samuel 17:40.
“Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another?”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)