In 1997 the trust learned that Faulkner Farm, a river valley landmark, was offered for sale, but further investigation revealed that it was in escrow. But within months that deal failed, and the farm “was ours,” said Yee. “We paid full asking price for it and got the draft horses, reindeers, train... we still have 150 wheelbarrows. It was a match made in heaven,” although the previous sale of the Hansen property delayed the closing of the deal.Now the trust supports the Ag Future Alliance and the Master Gardener programs, among others, and in the 1990s set a goal to have a “garden at every school and use the farm as the base of operations for agricultural education. Now 160 of the 190 schools” in Ventura County have gardens.Faulkner Farm might also be the scene of a future Ghost Walk benefiting the Santa Paula Theater Center. “We’re seriously considering it, as well as considering” the Rotary Club reviving the Pumpkin Patch, “a long tradition in this community, and we had every intention to bring it back.”
Faulkner Farm: Grand Dame of River Valley flourishing under Hansen Trust
February 14, 2007
Santa Paula News
The Grand Dame of the Santa Clara River Valley - Faulkner Farm - is flourishing with facility upgrades and an expansion of farm friendly programs, Santa Paula Rotarians learned at a recent meeting.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe Grand Dame of the Santa Clara River Valley - Faulkner Farm - is flourishing with facility upgrades and an expansion of farm friendly programs, Santa Paula Rotarians learned at a recent meeting. Lawrence Yee, the director of the 14-year-old Hansen Trust, told Rotarians that the Hansen Agricultural Learning Center at the historic Faulkner Farm has undergone capital improvements so that the farm can be “ideally used for both research and education.”And perhaps a revival of the famous Pumpkin Patch, which Yee said he has discussed with Incoming Rotary President Mitch Stone, and which is now being studied by club members. Rotarian Henry Vega is an Advisory Board member of the trust.When longtime Santa Paula resident Thelma Hansen passed away in 1993, her dream of a trust benefiting agriculture “came into fruition... she was a graduate of Berkeley” who spent her life farming. At her death Hansen’s fortune topped about $12 million, the result of careful stock investments and an “extremely frugal and thrifty” lifestyle, noted Yee. Hansen made the University of California Agricultural & Natural Resources Cooperative Extension of Ventura County her beneficiary, with the caveat that the funds be used to support and sustain agricultural research and education.
