Last October, I was pleased to provide an “upcoming attraction” column about the opening of an exhibit at the Benjamin Temple House highlighting the Ryan family’s involvement with and care for the Temple House and its surroundings after the Temple family could no longer care for it.
And then in November, having attended the opening, and seen (and loved!) the exhibit, I shared more about the exhibit itself, the items on display, the research that was done, and the delightful presence of Patrick Ryan at the event.
But I’ve yet to actually share much about the farm itself. Some of you may remember when the farm was still in existence—perhaps even when it still served as a dairy farm.
The Ryan family purchased the house and land in 1903, and ran a dairy business for the next 50 years. Eventually the business was purchased by Johanna Farms. The house was moved in 1973 from its original location along Route 31 near Bull Run Road to make way for construction of the Interstate, to its present location on Federal City Road on the old Drake Farm.
But for those “new” to Ewing and who never saw the farm, what was it like?
Fortunately, Peter Ryan (b. 1935), the eldest of the four children who grew up in the house and on the farm, has written a brief but detailed memoir of his experience living and working on the farm, and has graciously shared it not only with the Ewing Township Historic Preservation Society, but has also allowed me to excerpt some of his descriptions and recollections.
Since prior to World War II, most of Ewing was devoted to dairy farming, I thought that his first-hand description of an active dairy farm in Ewing during that era would provide many of us with an accurate glimpse into Ewing’s past.
So, Peter Ryan writes:
“Our former Homestead (the Temple House) was located on approximately 160 acres of fertile farmland off Pennington Road bordered by Bull Run Road to the South. A large billboard located on the property proudly announced “Ryan’s Dairy Farm, home of Grade A Milk.”
“The parcel included a gently sloping meadow featuring a brook with a steadily flowing stream which provided more than adequate grazing and water supply for our dairy cattle.
“The herd numbered at least 40 – mostly Guernsey (for high butterfat content) along with six Holsteins (blended in to maintain volume). With the exception of a few very cold winter days when they stayed inside comfortably bedded down in straw or wood shavings, the cattle were released into the meadow twice a day, every day, following the twice-a-day milking (morning and night). They returned assembled in a line, much like a parade formation, and marched from the meadow into the barnyard awaiting a wholesome grain meal and milking.
“In the barn there were 20 stalls on each side of the aisle, with a manure gutter running behind each row. A person would slide in between each position and snap the stanchion shut securing the cow for milking. Sounds so simple doesn’t it? Well there is a lot of work involved to make this routine a reality, twice a day, everyday of the year.
“With the exception of the meadow, barnyard and horse paddocks, the remainder of the acreage was divided into very manageable fields for rotational crop planting of corn, oats, wheat, hay and soybeans. Some crops are more harsh on the soil, while others renourish the earth, making proper rotation essential.
“This was especially true in the days when commercial fertilizer and pesticide use was far less prevalent than today. Even spreading manure was done on a calculated basis to maximize the benefit to planned crop planting in each field. There were also approximately eight acres of woodland, and a complex of buildings, each with a specific purpose.”
Those buildings were the horse barn; the wagon house; the woodshed; the chicken coops including the hen house and the brooding house; the Spring House; the corn cribs; the pump house; the milk house; the dairy barn; the swine shed; the hay barn; the brewery grain pit; and the household itself.
We’ll “visit” some of these buildings next month.
Helen Kull is an Advisor with the Ewing Township Historic Preservation Society.
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