The Preservation Alliance of Minnesota recently visited the AP farm with the purpose of determining if they could hold classes at the farm, to teach people how to preserve old plaster and windows. We will win by having professionals working on the house. They found that the plaster in the house contained horse hair, which means the plaster is original, 152 years old. It is very good condition- under about 6 layers of wall paper.
A number of wooden storm and screen windows were found. They will be measured and documented with the hope that we can return them to their original locations.
On another topic, the University of Minnesota Resilient Communities project sent three more classes our direction. One is in Scandinavian tourism/literature. They just happened to be reading the Moberg Immigrant books. The professor wasn’t aware of the connection with Andrew Peterson, until she met us. We were invited to speak to the class about how the students might help us increase Scandinavian tourism to the farm. The class will be taking a trip to the farm in the next few weeks.
A conference call connected us to a second class. They will be working to determine the optimal location for a driveway off of Parley Lake Road, and a location for a parking lot. we would like to be able to give visitors the experience of walking down the driveway, but a driveway to the south would mean putting in a second driveway near the north property border. Rolling land, causes a challenge when looking for a location for a parking lot.
A project is being undertaken by another student who is making the farm the focus of his Masters Thesis for Archaeology.
Stay tuned, soon we will be starting work on the north barn.
