A Good Or Bad Idea?

[Eamonn]

Not far from my home there was a farm that I tried to buy but lost it to a group that is into antique farm equipment.

They bought the land about 15 years back.

Back then there was as you might imagine a lot of excitement and activity.

They have a saw mill and using local cut wood built all sorts of buildings: A meeting room /small house type building, all sorts of sheds to house a fair sized collection of old tractors and a blacksmith shop. Along with an area built for tractor pulls.

Their seventy or so acres is next to a couple of fields that I own.

 

In all the time we have been neighbors we have never had a cross word.

They have always been very helpful and can never do enough to help me with all sorts of things.

I am a fee paying full member of the organization which is listed as a charity.

They list their aims as Education, Preservation and Awareness.

Everyone involved is a volunteer.

 

The one guy who seems to be always there is a rough looking fellow.

Kinda like Grizzly Adams. He has a shave and a haircut every spring whether he needs it or not!

He calls my dogs "Meathead" His manner is very rough and gruff but he has a heart of gold.

I truly like and enjoy him.

 

After all this time the founding members, who weren't spring chickens when they bought the place are now either very old or dead.

While in the spring and summer they have a handful of guys show up on Thursday evenings to work in the blacksmith shop their volunteer base is falling.

They only have two big events a year. A spring plough day, where they plough the fields using old tractors and teams of mules horses and other horse like animals. I as a rule have a walk around and it seems to me that I see the same old faces only fewer of them and the faces are older.

When OJ (My son) was a little fellow we would bring carrots of the animals.

Sadly now I rarely see any young people and the animals are cheated out of the carrots.

In the summer they have a Farm Show.

It used to be great with all sorts of demonstrations, homemade ice-cream (Which OJ could devour in vast quantities and ended up costing me an arm and a leg.) Live music even an open air R/C Mass.

This year there was none of that.

I went to pay my annual dues and buy my tickets for the annual tractor raffle.

The Lady Membership Chairman went on and on saying how few people had turned up and how hard it is to get new members.

 

Other then these two events the rest of the year only sees the local farmer who leases some of the fields for growing corn and soy. A couple of older fellows who turn up to mow the grass before the big events, Grizzly Adams (Patsy is his real name.) and me and my dogs.

They used to make money hosting tractor pulls but one night a part flew off a tractor and someone got hurt so the pulls have been few.

 

I have no idea how much money they have or what their financial situation is.

But watching what is happening my guess is that if they don't get some new blood in the very near future the chance of them continuing is kinda slim.

 

All of this brings me to an idea that I have been mulling around for a little while.

I have been thinking that they would make an ideal chartering organization for a Venture Crew.

They have a wonderful knowledge base and could offer a varied program of activities.

The down side is that a good many of the members are not what you might call young people friendly.

These are a group of old farmers who are very much set in their ways.

 

While I would be willing to serve as a leader I have to admit to not knowing very much about what might be offered.

I have never fixed or worked on a tractor, never used a plough, never done anything to do with blacksmithing.

Still using this as a base I'm OK with doing the more traditional Scouting type activities if that's what they might to do.

 

So far this is very much all in my head and I have not spoken or talked to anyone.

I don't in anyway see this as saving this organization.

They will stand or fall on their own merits.

I haven't really kept up to date with the changes in Venturing, but I don't see that as being a big deal.

 

So I'm asking is this a good idea or a bad idea?

I welcome your thoughts, ideas and comments.

Many Thanks.

Eamonn     

[WAKWIB]

Maybe a first step is to get a group of Scouts/Venturers to visit the place and attend one of their events. You probably want to see if there is a significant interest among the youth in the area to support the idea.

[walk in the woods]

Might be a better fit for a local FFA or 4H chapter to adopt the old guys.

[SSScout]

Farm Mechanics Merit Badge? 

  

And do they know Eric Sloane?  

 

Any possible connection to the local County Parks Department?  Our County Park & Recreation has a "Agricultural History Farm Park"  that is very popular.  It is used by local Scout Troops for hikes, Blue Grass festivals, threshing festivals, birding clubs,  it is the headquarters for the County Extension Agent and the 4H too.  They have an "old timers" club that built a big barn to store equipment in, work with the county fair.  I would say there is some public event there at least once a month thruout the year.  http://www.montgomeryparks.org/facilities/ag_farm.shtm   Kids, both young and not so, love to watch the saw mill cut big maple logs , powered by a belt driving Case tractor engine....

The only thing we haven't seen there is Cub Scout Day Camp, because of we have a superior site on which to hold it, and therefore haven't seen fit to ask!   Camporees are out, there is a policy against overnight stays on the property, so the manager says. 

[mattman578]

I am going to tell you to try it and see what happens tell them you will invite some of the local cub scout packs and boy scouts to there events

[qwazse]

@@Eamonn, it's just the stupidest, craziest thing I've heard in a while.

 

And it might just work.

 

You could tell kids it'd be like Minecraft or some other world-building online game, 'cept they'll be moving more than their thumbs.