Farm Museum

Lounging in lawn chairs, Susan Plitt and 14 other family members had the Carroll County Farm Museum in Westminster almost to themselves yesterday afternoon.While waiting for last night's fireworks show, the Plitts, from different parts of Carroll County, grilled hamburgers, ate chips, drank cold sodas and listened to a country music band.The heat -- according to thermometers in a vendor's booth it was 112 degrees about 2 p.m. -- kept the crowds from the farm museum's Old Fashioned Fourth of July Celebration yesterday afternoon.

The Carroll County Farm Museum is again putting on its finery to present visitors with a holiday treat."A Gathering of the Greens" tours will begin Saturday at 10 a.m. at one of the county's most popular tourist attractions.Dottie Freeman, administrative marketing specialist for the Farm Museum, said this will be the 26th year for decking the farmhouse halls."These holiday tours have been taking place since 1967," said Mrs. Freeman. "This is a time when we can experiment and incorporate fun ideas.

CHRISTMAS is coming. If you haven't found evidence of this in the shops and malls, I recommend the perfect place to find Christmas.The smells, tastes, sights and sounds of an old-fashioned Victorian Christmas will be filtering throughout the entire Carroll County Farm Museum complex from Saturday through Dec. 3.Hours will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and Sunday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is $1; children under 6 are admitted free. Every day, Santa will be on hand in the broom maker's house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering candy canes to children.

There's a chill in the air, and with it comes the first real feel of the holiday season.On Thursday, Thanksgiving will bring many families together.Tables will be filled with wonderful foods -- turkey, dressing, vegetables, salads, fruits, breads, pies and cakes.Televised football games will command the attention of most sports fans, while those less interested will catch a nap or linger over a second piece of pumpkin pie.As the day comes to an end, thoughts will turn to the beginning of the Christmas holiday.

THE CARROLL County Farm Museum's Antique and Collectible Show, scheduled for June 1, will offer visitors a chance to step back in time.The authentic turn-of-the-century motif of the museum, coupled with the antiques show, will make visitors feel they have entered another era.Vendors are being accepted for the event. Interested parties are asked to call Linda Butcher at 410-848-7775 or 410-876-2667 to secure a contract. The fee for a 24-by-24-foot space is $30.Visitors to the show can stroll through the grounds and relax in the Victorian atmosphere of the museum.

There is a harmony In Autumn, and a lustre in its sky, Which thro' the Summer is not heard or seen.$ Percy Bysshe ShelleyAutumn in Maryland stirs the impulse to get out there, a restlessness likely sprung from rural roots. Not so many generations ago, this season called our ancestors urgently to the fields -- to get in the crops, to stock up for the coming of harsher days.But autumn also has a celebratory air, a crisp sense of survival, accomplishment and appreciation of nature's grace. No wonder, then, that fall in Maryland brings forth a rich crop of events -- such as the annual Fall Harvest Days being held this weekend at the Carroll County Farm Museum.

Carroll County Farm Museum is offering lessons in basket weaving and other 19th-century arts tomorrow, during a day of classes celebrating the post-Civil War period.Smocking, basket weaving and chair caning will be taught from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Students are invited to bring a lunch.Patricia Blank of Westminster will teach smocking. Students will learn how to create a hand-smocked insert that can be framed or used as a focal point on a pillow top. The class costs $30.Basket weaving, one of the farm museum's most popular classes, will be taught by Carolyn Freitag of Eldersburg.

The Carroll County Farm Museum will play host Saturday to several orphaned Russian children who are visiting through a Frederick adoption agency. The six children, ages 6 to 10, will visit the farm museum in Westminster from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. to see the grounds, buildings and farm animals. They will make lemonade and homemade ice cream. The Cherry Orchard Project, an adoption program of the Frank Adoption Center in Frederick, brings Russian orphaned children to the United States. The children, who speak primarily Russian and have not been told they are candidates for adoption, are on a holiday to see life in the United States.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the 10th annual Maryland Wine Festival at the Carroll County Farm Museum.For the fourth year in a row, my husband and I and some out-of-town friends spent an enjoyable afternoon in the beautiful park setting of the Farm Museum.As we walked the grounds, I found myself thinking about the activities held by the Farm Museum throughout the year and what a job it must be to promote its many events.Then I thought about Dottie Freeman, whose name, for me, is synonymous with the Carroll County Farm Museum.