Howell Farm invites visitors of all ages to get a grip on history by grabbing a shovel, saw, drawknife, or cant hook when helping hands are needed to plant trees, cut firewood, make barn pegs and ready logs for the sawmill.

The work will begin at 10am when farmers use a portable sawmill to make floorboards for a new barn. Visitors can help by using spud bars to de-bark logs and cant hooks to roll them to the mill. Hands are also needed to stack the finished lumber, and to load slabwood onto wagons for transport to a bucksaw where farmers will cut firewood using a circa-1910 gas engine.

Those who like working the old-fashioned way can use a two-man saw to cut rounds that will then be split into firewood, wheel chocks and barn peg blanks. Mallets, froes and draw knives are among the tools that visitors can try. Youngsters can make and take home a barn peg like the ones used to hold together a timber frame barn. Very young helpers can carry wood shavings and kindling into the farmhouse for use in the cook stove…where the noonday meal is being prepared.

Beginning at 1:00pm, visitors can help farmers plant trees to replace the ones that are used for building materials and fuel. Shovels, picks and shale bars will be on hand for those who want to help by digging holes for the new trees.

Children's craft program: Mills Game
Place: At the Visitor Center on a walk-in basis (Groups of eight or more must pre-register)
Time: 11:00am to 3:00pm
Approximate time to complete project: 20 minutes
Materials fee: $3.00