Latest News

April 11, 2015

SAVE THE DATE: Ag & History Tour Bus Trip April 11, 9am to 7pm, to National Museum of the American Coverlet in Bedford, the Somerset History Center, and the historic Jean Bonnet Tavern, details and registration to follow soon.

February 19, 2015

Thank you for your interest in planning our newest installation. Despite the cold weather and snow covering the garden site, we will meet to dream about spring planting. Focus this week will be on reviewing programming direction, drafting work plan and timeline, and defining general concepts for each garden bed. We have heat, coffee and hot cocoa. Join us, bring a friend and your favorite garden catalogs and reference books!

January 22, 2015

1840s Kitchen Garden, first meeting scheduled for Thursday evening Jan 22 at 6pm to 7pm at the museum. We will discuss plant selection and project plan. Bring your garden catalogs and plant suggestions for herbs, fruits and vegetables that would have been found in kitchen gardens in the region. We plan to represent culinary, medicinal, and dying plants that would have been in at the kitchen dooryard in the early to mid-1800s. Join us Thursday Jan 22, 6pm. No need to RSVP, do bring a friend! Note that in the event of inclement weather, meeting will be rescheduled; we follow the State College Area School District closure announcements.

January 12, 2015

See us at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, Harrisburg PA. An exhibit by the Pasto Agricultural Museum located in the Pennsylvania State University College of Agricultural Sciences booth will change each day throughout the show, and hands-on presentations Mon, Tue, and Wed Jan 12-13-14 at 1pm.

November 30, 2014

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The last in a series of fall open houses at Penn State's Pasto Agricultural Museum, from 1 to 4 p.m. on Nov. 30, will feature an ice cream social and collections of antique cookie cutters and vintage aprons.

November 16, 2014

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The sixth in a series of fall open houses at Penn State's Pasto Agricultural Museum on Nov. 16 will feature a special exhibit from the Ecosystem Science and Management Department's bird and mammal collection.

November 2, 2014

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The fifth in a series of fall open houses at Penn State's Pasto Agricultural Museum on Nov. 2 will look at historic logging and timber production.

November 1, 2014

Sunday, November 16, 2014 at 1-4 pm Join us for hands-on exhibits and special guest Dr. Margaret Brittingham with the Ecosystem Science Management Bird & Mammal Collection! Identify animal pelts, age deer, identify birds and more!

November 1, 2014

Sunday, November 30, 2014 at 1 pm. Creamery Ice Cream and cookies (while supplies last), hands-on activities, with take-home crafts for the whole family. Free and open to the public. Bring a friend!

October 26, 2014

Special guests from local craft guilds will share their expertise and demonstrate spinning and weaving techniques, according to curator Rita Graef. Members of the State College Weavers Guild will exhibit traditional methods, and Centre Spinners will bring spinning wheels and hand cards to show the old-fashioned way of preparing wool to spin.

October 1, 2014

We are designing a kitchen herb garden that will include culinary and medicinal plants typical of the 1840s. This outdoor space connects with our 1840s kitchen and hearth exhibit inside the museum. Developing displays will discuss the flavorings and remedies housewives of the time would have kept at their dooryard. Working with Centre County Master Gardeners we hope to develop programming that uses the garden for workshops. With the help of Ag Advocate students, this Saturday at 9am we will install simple frames and plant cover crops for over-wintering.

September 21, 2014

With the theme, "Meat the Past: Historical Preservation Techniques," Catherine Cutter, professor of food science and Penn State Extension meat safety specialist, and colleagues will highlight methods and materials used over time to preserve meat.

September 7, 2014

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The first in a series of fall open houses at Penn State's Pasto Agricultural Museum will focus on canning and food preservation through history. The event is scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7.

September 2, 2014

On our first open house of fall 2014, Sunday, September 7, What’s Old is New Again! – A Look at Home Food Preservation through the Years we will talk about canning with Penn State Extension's Sharon McDonald, Nutrition, Health and Food Safety Educator. Visitors can make “Friendship Soup” where dry ingredients are arranged in a pint canning jars and instructions for completing the soup are added with a ribbon and tag. A presentation at 2:30 pm, with ongoing demonstrations and discussion will answer visitors questions about canning and food preservation.

September 1, 2014

Visitors will have the opportunity to “make & take” paper examples of the technology that pre-dated the movie: Thaumatropes, Phenakistiscopes, and Flip Books. “Fans of old films and early farm life -- and people who are interested in film production -- will want to see the Pasto Museum film fest that marks 100 years of Cooperative Extension, according to Rita Graef, Pasto Museum curator. "Silent and black-and-white films and film clips will display early cinematic techniques and demonstrate how humor was incorporated with the content to highlight the 'new' technology on the farm and in the home," she said. "The films were shown to rural families in the early part of the 20th century and today give a glimpse of life during that time period." Following the films, Jan Scholl, an extension 4-H curriculum specialist and associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education, will lead a short presentation and answer questions about how Cooperative Extension began as a University outreach initiative that continues today. Scholl has published many articles on the history of Cooperative Extension, and she was the first American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Centennial Scholar.

September 1, 2014

Sunday Afternoon Open House, 1pm - 4pm on home football weekends September 7 “Putting By” canning & food preservation September 21 “Putting By” meat preservation September 28 Early Extension Movies Matinee October 26 Fabulous Fibers spin, weave, sew, quilt... November 2 Forest & Trees wood and timber November 16 WILD! with special exhibit from the Ecosystem Science and Management Bird and Mammal Collection November 30 Annual Celebration & Ice Cream Social Farm Show, see us in Harrisburg PA, January 10-17, 2015 Blue & White Weekend, Oregon Trail, Sunday April 19, 2015 Master Gardener Spring Festival & Plant Sale, Saturday May 16, 2015 Pennsylvania Timber Show 2015, June 5-6, 2015 Ag Progress Days 2015, Tools & Tool Making for Agriculture, August 18-20, 2015

September 1, 2014

The second Sunday Sept 21, 2014 is all about Meats Preservation Then and Now–Venison, Jerky, Sausage, and Canned Meat Products –with Penn State Extension's Jonathan Campbell. With information drawn from his Cooperative Extension Workshop: Venison 101, the afternoon should appeal to home cooks and hunters who have an interest in expanding their knowledge of processing venison, and preparing delicious venison for friends and family.

August 12, 2014

The timber frame shed will be available for purchase through the Pasto Museum silent auction. Running Tuesday and Wednesday, the annual silent auction is the museum's single biggest fundraiser, and this year proceeds will support installation of new exhibits for the dairy and poultry collections.

August 12, 2014

Outside the museum during Ag Progress Days, a timber-framing demonstration will occur. Over the course of the three-day expo, the Friends of Ohio Barns and the Timber Framers Guild will hand-hew timbers, cut mortise and tenon joints, and assemble a garden-shed-sized timber frame structure.

August 2, 2014

Hello and thank you for your support throughout the year! The museum has much to celebrate this Ag Progress Days, From new exhibits to exciting demonstrations…. And so many of YOU are a part of making these kinds of programs possible. * Please join us as we take a sip of coffee and a bit of something sweet to thank you for your great support and effort.

May 1, 2014

Saturday May 17th 9am to 3pm: Find a new plant for your garden. Attend a free workshop. Taste locally produced food and shop the stalls of two dozen vendors. Visit the Pasto Ag Museum! We’ll be making jump ropes this Saturday…Turn the crank and see the effort it takes to make rope -- critical to the work of agriculture!

May 1, 2014

Join us this Sunday afternoon, April 13th 2014 from 1pm to 4pm as we open the season, extend Blue-White Weekend, and look at the items that would have been packed in the wagons of early pioneers. See and touch personal and household items, tools, tin ware, cast iron, wooden utensils and more! Try on an oxen yoke! Understand what food was required for the 6 month journey, how it was preserved, and prepared. Appreciate the decisions that would have been made by those setting out – expecting never to return – about what to take and what to leave behind

March 1, 2014

Though we are closed for the winter, there is much happening as we prepare for a busy 2014 schedule of programs and events. When you visit the museum, you will find new exhibits with more photos and stories that relate the collection to its agricultural and rural past. You’ll find hands-on examples of the technological developments that have changed agriculture over time. We are planning activities and demonstrations that highlight different parts of the collection and connect to the present day. Be sure to plan a visit this season! The museum is OPEN mid-March thru mid-December on Tuesdays and Thursdays 10am to 2 pm, and by appointment. Special events for your 2014 calendar: Blue & White Weekend Spring Open House, Sunday April 13 Spring Festival & Master Gardener Sale, Saturday May 17 Ag Progress Days, August 12-14 Home Football Sunday Open House Series: September 8, 15, 22 October 13 November 3, 17, 24

November 1, 2013

Listen to WPSU Public Broadcasting about stories of early farm life and eat creamery ice cream.

November 1, 2013

The first record of a mechanical continuous revolution lathe is in the form of a sketch by Leonardo da Vinci, C.1480. It depicts a treadle lathe with a crankshaft and a rather large flywheel constructed substantially from wood. This weekend, the museum’s own 1873 treadle powered lathe will run for short periods with the help of craftsmen from the Nittany Valley Woodturner’s. On a newer lathe, we will demonstrate spindle and bowl turning. Special exhibits and interpreters will provide information about how these shapes would have been fabricated and used. All visitors will receive a hand turned wooden top to decorate and take home. The Nittany Valley Woodturners is an organization dedicated to promoting woodturning through education while encouraging safety, providing a place for fellowship and for skill development on a continuing basis. Founded in 2010, the club meets monthly at the State College High School South Building. Demonstrations on a variety of subjects including identifying wood, making pens, turning natural edge bowls, turning ornaments, learning safe turning and more. The club provides opportunities to learn the basics of woodturning as well as advanced techniques. At the monthly meeting, members have an opportunity to showcase their fine work. All skill levels are encouraged to join at http://www.nittanyvalleywoodturners.org/.

November 1, 2013

Demonstrations by local craft guilds. Hands-on displays, fiber samples to touch, rope making, witness methods old and new…at the Pasto Agricultural Museum, where we connect the science and history of agriculture with the present day.

October 15, 2013

“Your museum provides lots of great sound!!” says Emily Reddy, producer of local StoryCorps stories broadcast on WPSU 91.5 public radio. During Ag Progress Days 2013 we collected over 20 interviews about agricultural and rural life. Additionally, we collected the clanks and clicks, snaps and groans of the museum’s collection and share this “noise” with the listening public. This special story will air on 91.5-FM at 6:51am and 8:51am on Friday 11/1.

October 7, 2013

The Pasto Agricultural Museum Planning Meeting will be at the museum on Monday October 7th from 6:30-8:30 pm. Coffee, tea and cookies will be served. We have organized the ideas generated at our Spring Annual Meeting, and will prioritize projects and detail short term and longer term plans for the museum. Each Volunteer Committee Chair will help expand our thinking and plan action steps. For detailed list of ideas generated at our Spring Meeting, please see the attached. Our agenda includes discussion in the following areas: Programming Volunteer Recruiting and Training Fund Raising Silent Auction Collections Management Special Exhibits Publicity We look forward to seeing you at the Pasto as we develop the plans for our upcoming calendar year and into the future!