Dear Family and Friends,
Winter holiday time is here and whether you are celebrating St. Nicholas Day, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s, or Three King’s Day, we send you our very warmest wishes for joy during this season. At the farm we have been enjoying the cool, rainy, short days and long nights around the fireplace.
This past year was eventful. We were saddened by the discovery of Harriet’s struggle with cancer. We rejoiced in Harriet and Ted’s celebration of 50 happy years of marriage. And we drew closer together in another Pope Family reunion. It was a year in which we heard over and over again how wonderful it is to belong to a family that loves each other and embraces that notion of family in its broadest sense.
Mom (Harriet) passed away on November 1st. How fitting it was that she passed on All Saints’ Day or “Dia de los Inocentes.” On the Day of the Innocents we remember saints known and unknown as well as children who have passed away. On November 5th, a memorial was held at The Church on the Hill in celebration of her life. And what a life she led!
In the last year, with the same zeal and love for life that characterized Harriet, she pursued her dreams. At the reunion and the anniversary party, she celebrated her love of people. Then as fall began, she traveled to places she’d always wanted to go. In September, in the company of her sister, Sue, and her friend for over 50 years, Marlene Gaynor, she went to Williams, Arizona and rode the Grand Canyon Railroad to the south rim of the Grand Canyon National Park. Later they traveled to Sedona where they marveled over the beautiful southwest landscape. After being home just a few weeks, she journeyed to New England to see the fall color. Ted, Marlene and Ann traveled with her to Boston where she met Aunt Sue, Uncle Mike and Aunt Wendy. There she explored the city in a trolley and went on a tour of the Christian Science Mother Church. Thea met up with the group and they all (except for Ann) boarded a Holland America
Cruise to Nova Scotia and down the St. Lawrence River to Montreal. She reveled in it all. When she returned from her travels, family and friends gathered to hear of her adventures.
Over the past year, Harriet and Ted completed a long-term project of planning for the future of the farm. The first phase, completed in 2010, was the purchase of 310 acres of the farm by The Nature Conservancy. Except for the 40 acre homestead and surroundings, what we referred to as the Gahr Farm is now part of the Nature Conservancy’s Yamhill Oaks Preserve. The Preserve is significant, as it represents a part of the 2% of remaining prairie and oak savanna habitat that once dominated the entire Willamette Valley. Here the Nature Conservancy seeks to protect more than 25 at-risk species, including the endangered Fender’s blue butterfly and Kincaid’s lupine. Conservancy ecologists and volunteers are conducting biological inventories and developing a management plan for the preserve. Restoration activities include controlling invasive species, thinning encroaching trees and planting grasses and wildflowers, including Kincaid’s lupine and other butterfly-friendly species. The Gahr Preserve Endowment provides the financial support for these activities. We thank the many of you who supported the endowment with your contributions in memory of Harriet.
The second phase of this long-term plan is setting up the management of the 40 acre homestead, which includes the main home and the two bed-and-breakfast cottages. The farm is now managed by an LLC board comprised of Ted, Brian, Ann, and Tim. Though that may sound a bit formal, be assured the Gahr Farm will remain a place for family and friends to gather. We will continue to be available to the community for
educational projects that correspond to our goals of understanding the natural world and our place in it.
By necessity our communication style is evolving. We sorely miss Harriet’s role as grand central communicator. We will start with this newsletter to provide seasonal updates from the Gahr Farm. We’ll be in touch through email, Popemania, the Gahr Farm website, and, for those of you who request it, by U.S. mail. Of course, you can contact us through any of those means or by phone or visiting. In a family and among a group of friends with so many diverse talents and backgrounds, we encourage all of your input as we find our path.
Sending our love and blessings on your winter holidays,
Ted/Dad, Brian, Ann, and Tim