Dr. Bill Peinhardt at the Dingler Cabin in the farm’s east pasture / W.C. Mann
We’re really blessed, because we’ll have as many as 200 volunteers involved Saturday. It’s not just us; we’ve had a lot of good support from the good people of Cullman.”Dr. Bill Peinhardt
CULLMAN – It’s October, and pretty much all of Cullman knows what that means. Yes, the temperatures are finally starting to drop, and yes, it’s time to start carving up pumpkins. But in Cullman, it also means that Peinhardt Farm Day is almost here again!
For more than 20 years, the Peinhardt family and numerous volunteers have opened the old homestead farm to the public for a day of education, entertainment and general fun for all people and all the senses.
This year’s event will include all the old standards:
- Museum collection
- Historic buildings and artifacts collected from around the region
- Live farm animals
- Picking in the garden. According to children’s coordinator Sabrina Peinhardt Hudson, this year’s crop includes potatoes and other foods
- Tractor parades in the morning and afternoon
- Wildlife presentation
- Woodcrafts in the east pasture, including 500 free birdhouses for kids to build on the spot
- Hands-on activities for kids with traditional farm and frontier tools
- Honey bees and honey
- Blacksmith shop
- Broom making
- Wood carving
- Chair caning
- Quilting
- Open fire cooking
- Weaving and cloth dyeing
- Pumpkin painting
- Grist mill
- Sorghum syrup making, using cane harvested from Peinhardt’s own field
- Live music, featuring Chuck Carpenter, Buddy Campbell, Mountain Melodies and the Morgan County Dulcimer Club
According to Sabrina Peinhardt Hudson, new attractions this year include a display of antique firearms, attended to by Cullman’s Willy Hendrix. Hendrix will be disassembling the weapons to show how they worked. Also, Farm Day T-shirts will be available to the public this year.
Dr. Bill Peinhardt is always excited to see the day come around, despite the extra stress of putting on such a big event. As one of four Peinhardt siblings, he also spoke happily of the next generation of his family coming into the business.
When asked what keeps him doing this, he replied, “Part of it is because the next generation has stepped up. My brother’s three daughters- Jennifer, Tamarin and Sabrina- have taken over a lot of the responsibility. My daughters, Rachel and Laney, both contribute. So there’s five of the next generation that are stepping forward. And then the next generation: several of the grandchildren are helping, now.”
Peinhardt is proud of how the event has grown over its 20-plus years, and feels that its current scope offers something for everyone.
Walking out to the 1840s-era Dingler family cabin, he shared, “We’ve got 40 acres here that we open up for Farm Day, and it’s hard to see all of it. The part I get involved with mostly is this east pasture, and it’s got both history and children’s activities, everything from splitting logs and crosscut sawing that kids can do, to demonstrating old woodworking techniques. The Cullman Woodworkers’ Guild brings 500 birdhouses out that they let the kids finish putting together, so they built them a birdhouse. And there’s open-fire cooking down there. Just in this pasture, there’s a lot going on.”
All of the farm’s buildings will be open Saturday, along with the school house at the gate. Just outside the gate, the North Alabama Agriplex will also be home to displays and activities, along with live entertainment.
Such an event does not happen with just one family, no matter how dedicated it might be. A small army of volunteers will help the Peinhardts put on Farm Day.
According to Peinhardt, “We’re really blessed, because we’ll have as many as 200 volunteers involved Saturday. It’s not just us; we’ve had a lot of good support from the good people of Cullman.”
When offered the final word, Peinhardt stated, “I’ll just brag on my Peinhardt father and grandfather for coming here and starting farming in this area. My dad went to Auburn for two or three years and in 1933 he came back here and started scientific knowledgeable farming, up-to-date for 1933. He tried to always keep up with the latest trends in farming, was active in soil conservation in 1930s; that’s when all the hillsides were washing away because they were plowing up and down the hills. He was involved with terrace rows, cover crops and all that kind of thing that changed farming in the 1930s. So I’ll brag on him, and all he had to do with agriculture in Cullman County.”
Peinhardt Farm Day will take place Saturday, Oct. 21, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The farm is located at 1711 Talley Ho St. in Cullman. Admission is $7 for ages 13 and up, $5 ages 5-12, and free for children 4 and younger. For more information about Peinhardt Farm and its programs, visit www.peinhardtfarm.com or www.facebook.com/Peinhardt-Living-History-Farm-143889342328949/.
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