Sea Lions Visit Stauffer-Will Farm
/The Sea Lions took a fabulous field trip (our last one of the year!) to a farm that was part of the Aurora Colony, a cooperative community established in 1856 by Dr. Keil, a German immigrant who led a group of pioneers along the Oregon Trail, purchasing several hundred acres and making a safe place for additional pioneers to settle. By 1870, the colony was about 19,000 acres. The community was based on the following principles (which the Sea Lions thought sounded an awful lot like their classroom):“From each according to their abilities: to each according to their needs” and “Love one another”.
It was fabulous to get a real taste of what pioneer life must have been like! We sawed wood in the barn with a buck saw and crosscut saw. In barn 2, we tried our hand at shake splitting and candleholder drilling. In the house kitchen we baked bread and then went upstairs to try our hand at quilting and in the chicken coop we dipped candles that sat nicely in the holders we had made. What a perfect way to make the life of the Oregon pioneers come alive!
