Oregon State Fair

Martha’s Farm Makes the News

Janet Fisher2 Comments

With Martha’s Farm gaining Sesquicentennial status it’s making the front page news.

Drew Winkelmaier, reporter for The News-Review in Roseburg, Oregon, came out to the farm in Kellogg last week and put together a nice story for the Sunday edition.

That’s me on the porch, photo by Drew. We talked awhile then went down to the old barn that has stood on the property since the 1930s when my father bought the place from his great-uncle and had the barn built.

From there we visited the hazelnut orchards, our newest crop on the farm, which had been a prune farm since 1895 when Martha’s son Cap planted the first prune orchard.

With the prune market turning iffy and a burgeoning hazelnut market we began making the switch in 2011 when we planted our first hazelnut trees.

Drew’s story delves into the history from our discussion as well as information I had put together for the Oregon Century Farm and Ranch Program, much of it based on my research for the book I wrote about Martha, A Place of Her Own. When I took over the farm in 2008 I became another woman in the family to own the place and thought there might be a story in that. And yes, Martha had far more story than I ever imagined.

My family got together at the Oregon State Fair last Saturday, August 24, when fourteen farms were honored for Century status and two, including ours, for Sesquicentennial status. We received lovely certificates at the presentation when short narratives were read about each of the farms with photos on a screen above the stage.

After that we did what everybody does at the state fair. We visited the animals, including a competition among elegant horses in the historic horse barn. And the poultry and pigs and sheep and goats and cattle. Oh, and the beautiful family of huge black draft horses. Such magnificent creatures! And we saw exhibits of photography and artwork and ate too much fair food.

And on the way out we enjoyed strolling through the rides as the skies darkened and the lights came up.

Exciting times for Martha’s farm.

Martha’s Farm Approved for Sesquicentennial Status

Janet Fisher4 Comments

The Martha A. Maupin Farm which I now own has been approved as a Sesquicentennial Farm, having been in the family for 150 years. In fact it reached the 150-year mark in 2018. Martha purchased the farm in 1868. But this year I finally went through the process of applying for the Sesquicentennial status through the Oregon Century Farm & Ranch Program.

The families approved this year will be honored at a ceremony at the Oregon State Fair this month on Saturday, August 24 at 11 am in the Columbia Hall on the staged area. Fourteen families have been approved for Century status and two for Sesquicentennial status for 2024. Photo highlights for each award winner will be presented at the ceremony with a desert reception afterward.

The photo above shows Martha and her family in their early years on the farm in front of the house she had built soon after her 1868 purchase. That’s Martha standing on the front porch, her eldest son Cap on the horse. Cap became part owner with his brother Tom when their mother sold it to them in 1886. Then Cap became sole owner when he bought his brother’s share in 1894. From Cap it went to my father Eugene Fisher, Cap’s great-nephew, and my mother Marian in 1934, then to my sister Nancy and I, and finally to me when I bought my sister’s share in 2008.

Part of the application involved finding the documents to verify all those transitions, which can be a challenge. I had obtained some documents, like Martha’s original purchase, when I researched my book about her, A Place of Her Own.

But I was missing some of the documents, which took me back to the Douglas County, Oregon, County Clerk’s office to find the missing links.

The application also required a two- or three-page narrative of family history, including the transfers from one generation to another. My research for the book helped on the early part of that history. Memory served on later events, but I had to scour some local histories and the newfound documents to bring in the middle. The local histories had also helped with my book research.

Martha’s place has been a Century Farm since the 1960s, and I have been pleased to know that this was one of the few Century Farms in Oregon named for a woman, which seemed especially sweet since I’m the second woman to be its sole owner. Now it’s an Oregon Sesquicentennial Farm named for a woman.

I do love history, so it was an intriguing process, and I have a clearer view now of the farm’s history.

The sample of Martha’s purchase document shows the flowery writing one has to pore through in order to glean what you want to know.

In addition to the legal documents and narrative, the application required maps, and requested photos. I also sent a copy of my book about Martha, which the Program Coordinator said they would be very happy to have.

I’m excited to honor my great-great-grandmother Martha for her historic achievement of founding this treasure when it wasn’t easy for a woman to do such a thing.

Below are a couple of photos from the farm, our new hazelnut orchard and the old 1930s barn that still stands on the hillside, looking down to the river bottom. For more on those hazelnuts, see the story here.

Robin Loznak photo