Miller Farm:About
From Miller Farm
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Welcome to Miller Farm!
We are a rural, college-based intentional community with a focus community development and sustainable agriculture. As part of the Earlham College (http://www.earlham.edu/) campus in Richmond, Indiana, Miller Farm houses at least 9 students during the school year who are responsible for maintaining the property, the various projects it promotes, and the permanent (animal) residents.
There is a lot involved in living at Miller Farm. We are divided up into committees that oversee various parts of the farm's operation. We also hold regular events to involve the broader Earlham and Richmond community in what we do.
Gardens
There are three gardens at the farm, one in the front of the property, one in the driveway circle, and one behind the house. Traditionally the front garden has been used for community projects, the circle garden for herbs and flowers, and the back is reserved for the house, but there is little difference between them otherwise. Because of our emphasis on ecological agriculture we steer clear of any pesticides, sprays, chemicals, and other icky stuff that would be detrimental to organic farming. We aren't certified organic, but we follow many of the regulations for organic farming.
History
The first inhabitants were mound builders between 700 and 1200 A.D. Next were the Shawnee, Delaware, and Miami Indians. Joseph Holman (Halman) bought the property which is now the Miller Farm in 1849. In 1853 Holman sold the land to the Fort Wayne and South Railroad Company for $630 but the land was unsatisfactory ore, the company went bankrupt and the land was sold back within the same year. Supposedly there are still traves of the never completed railroad about half a mile northwest of the Miller Farm near Clear Creek. The property changes hands numerous times and was eventually sold to John C. MIller in 1920 for $5000. The Millers first began to rent the farm to Earlham in 1936. Maggie Miller, John's wife, continued to manage the farm until 1963 when she died at age 91. V. F. Bickford encouraged Earlham to buy the farm from Maggie in 1942 for $30,000 to $50,000. Since the property was only valued at $28,000, the transaction never occured. But, in 1963, the College did buy the farm for $225,000. The fields on the north side of Abington Pike are planted in corn and soybean and used for hog production by a tenant farmer. There was a house on this section of the property. It was burned to the ground about eleven years ago (Editor's note: when was this written?) because it was in need of great repair. The larger house on the south side of the road eventually became student housing in 1976 for students involved with the Earlham Farm Project and the AG living and learning course.
The farmhouse appears on a map in 1856 implying that there was a house on this very spot which belonged to the Holmans. The barn was probably built between 1880 and 1855. Painted on the vertical timber between the two pairs of sliding doors on the north side of the barn is the date "82" and the initials "J.S." A variant of the style of smokehouse on the farm is recorded in 1881. The outhouse is old but there is not sufficient information for exacting dates of outhouses.
Note: This information is also available as an image (http://millerfarm.org/dalbum/showimg.php?file=/0000-0-oldfarm/history1.jpg).
Contact Information
Have a question for the farmers? Send us an e-mail! (http://www.earlham.edu/webteam/resources/eav/?u=farmers)
