UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The second in a series of fall open houses at Penn State's Pasto Agricultural Museum Sept. 20 will focus on food preservation.
In addition to displaying old tools used in historical food preservation from the museum's collection, Centre County Master Gardeners will be present to help museum volunteers close its garden beds for the season. "We are ready to harvest the corns, beans and squash that have been overgrowing their bed in our Three Sister's garden," said Rita Graef, museum curator.
"And the herb bed has been lush and full of fragrant leaves and flowers. Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer your questions about how to harvest, dry and preserve herbs, as well as how to clear the garden plots and ready things for the winter."
Penn State Extension experts will be available from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. to answer visitors' food preservation and canning questions. Extension publications will be available free to visitors.
"Our home football game open house series is a great time to experience the Pasto Agricultural Museum. We feature a different part of the collection from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. each Sunday after home football games, so the experience for visitors is different each weekend," said Graef.
Other open houses this fall at the Pasto Museum, which is part of the College of Agricultural Sciences, will feature the following themes:
--Sept. 27: Forest and Trees
--Oct. 4: Focus on Fibers
--Oct.11: Penn State Herbarium
--Nov. 1: Penn State Arboretum and Penn State Master Gardeners
--Nov. 22: Ice Cream Social Celebration, which will feature dairy and animal science and the Penn State Berkey Creamery's 150th anniversary
Graef said the open houses help the public appreciate the time when energy for work was supplied by the power of humans and animals.
"By seeing and touching tools and equipment used in early agriculture and rural life, people will connect the science and history of our agricultural past to the present day," she said.
More information on the museum and its open houses is available here. To receive information and event reminders via email, send a message to PastoAgMuseum@psu.edu. Graef can be reached at 814-863-1383 or by email at rsg7@psu.edu, and the museum can be found on Facebook.
Located on the Ag Progress Days site at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs, 9 miles southwest of State College on Route 45, the museum features hundreds of rare farm and home implements from the era before the advent of electricity and gasoline-powered engines.