Lusscroft Farm holds holiday benefit

WANTAGE — Every year around this time, the Heritage and Agriculture Association holds a Holiday Event at the 600 acre Lusscroft Farm.

This past Saturday and Sunday, visitors got the opportunity to explore the Turner Mansion and manager’s Home, enjoy a bake sale, live animals and pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus, and shop among farmers and vendors. All proceeds contribute toward the ongoing restoration project.

Newly re-elected President of the H&AA Sue Gerber of Frankford has served in that position nine of the 12 years the organization has been affiliated with Lusscroft. She also served as president of the Sussex County Horse Show for 11 years. She says this year, the H&AA has taken a new step in fundraising, looking at smaller projects instead of Lusscroft as a whole.

Gerber said that even with the events the H&AA holds to raise money, it still has to pay for auditors to satisfy the IRS and the state.

“The money we need in large amounts is not what we are able to raise in the events we do,” she said. “They keep the organization going and pay to repair the tractor and buy the generator for the barns, but when you are looking at a $300,000 bill to repair a roof on something, that’s a different story.”

Last fall, the Northwest Jersey Horse Show Association held its first event at Lusscroft after building the new horse ring on the property. This past July, Herrmanns’ Royal Lipizzan Stallions Performing Tour appeared at Lusscroft. The event attracted more than 1,200 people.

“We demonstrated we could easily manage traffic flow, ticket-taking, parking and handicap seating. Everybody had a ball,” Gerber said. “It brought people to Lusscroft who had never been here before, and the NJHSA donated over $1,000 to our organization on that event alone.”

There also were two other horse shows held at the farm this past September and October.

Gerber said one of the things the H&AA hopes to get off the ground this year is acquiring a grant for having a long-range plan of intended goals written.

"First, we need to develop the plan, then hire professionals to write the final draft," she said.

The next set of priorities on the H&AA’s list includes getting the main well on the property functioning and rebuilding a new septic system. “Even if we had them both, we couldn’t use them because we have to update the plumbing,” Gerber said. Outlook Lodge, constructed as a hunting lodge in 1930 but since neglected, is “dangerously close to being lost” according to Gerber, who says the cost to stabilize the roof and windows of the building is $300-$350,000.

On a lighter note, Gerber said the biggest accomplishment this year was “getting water to the stables.” Last fall, the organization hired Willco Air Conditioning of Branchville to test the submersible pump in the stable well, which had gone unused for a decade. Testing revealed the pump not only works, but pumps 15 gallons a minute.

“We had a generator connected in early July to power the stable well pump,” Gerber said. “As a result, the two water hydrants on the farm work. We can water the Medicine Wheel Garden that was installed in 2009 and provide water for horses.”

Also present at the event was author and illustrator Leesa Beckmann, who has written four children’s books inspired by her domesticated pet Sebastopol goose, Oliver. She has had Oliver, now 3½, since he was 6½ weeks old. Oliver wears a diaper, plays piano and takes rides in the car.

“He has imprinted on me and does not know that he is a goose,” she said.

Her books include: “Oliver’s Search for Miss Matilda and her Murky Mud Puddle,” referring to the Mastodon bones discovered by Gus Ohberg in Highland Lakes, N.J. in 1954, “Oliver’s Dandelion Wishes,” “A Million Monarchs Munching Milkweed and a Goose!” and “You Can’t Potty Train a GOOSE!”

-Photos by Gale Miko
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