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Please pardon our appearance at the Farm, but there is work being done!
With upgrades to the water, electricity and gas and repairs to the houses, the Farm is messy. Progress! 
FOFAH volunteers are busy getting the work completed prior to the late summer programs. If you walk on the trails, you will see how the Community Garden has grown. You will want to see the flower gardens being cultervated around the Farm. You, too, can join us as a FOFAH volunteer.

Join us for the Annual Harvest Dinner & Silent Auction!
Saturday, September 5 
Gates Open at 4:00- 10:00PM                                      Dinner Served at 6:00PM

Enjoy the dinner prepared by The Country Diner and dancing to the music of The Bedlam Brothers String Band under the huge tent. Another fun part of the evening will be the "Silent Auction". 


We are requesting your help in making this an interesting, creative, and successful Silent Auction! We are seeking donations of both big ticket items of unique and fun experiences, and other goods and services as well as small, special or distinctive items.
 
Some ideas for silent auction items 

  * Suffield related artwork, antiques, books and gifts

  * Vacation packages for places far & wide

  * Restaurant gift certificates

  * Gift certificates for spa treatments or other special escapades

  * Lunch or dinner with a celebrity

  * Back-stage tickets or VIP passes for a show, concert, or sporting events

 A listing of featured auction items will be available on the FOFAH website in August.
 
You will receive acknowledgement of your donation to the silent auction in the Fall FOFAH newsletter and on the Hilltop Farm website.

Seating is limited,so, please reserve your tickets as soon as possible. Tickets are available at $60 until August 16. (Tables of 10 can be Reserved) Price is $75 starting August 17.
You may purchase tickets at www.HilltopFarmSuffield.org/events or by mail from FOFAH, Inc., PO Box 372, Suffield, CT 06078.  For more information please call (860)758-0668.

FarmFest 2015!

Come join us for a fun day at Hilltop Farm on Labor Day, Monday, September 7, 2015 from 10:00AM -3:00PM for the 12th Annual FarmFest! During FarmFest 2015, Hilltop Farm is open for a day of celebration of our regional agriculture and wildlife. 
Activities, games and demonstrations are scheduled from 10:00AM - 3:00PM. The events include the birds of prey demonstration of "Wingmasters". Learn about reptiles and amphibians from "Harris in Wonderland ".

Children's Games Activities in the Children's Barnyard, Pony Rides and the giant Sand pile. Nature lovers will appreciate the Butterfly Garden and walks along the nature trails. Everyone enjoys Blacksmith demonstrations by Jim Kent.
Entry to FarmFest is Free, with $5 suggested donation for parking.


FOFAH News
  • FOFAH was awarded $15,000 grant from the  Amiel P. Zak Public Service Fund for outside lighting at the Big Barn. This should help "light up" the walkways for events and evening parking at the Harvest Dinner. Thank You!
  • The Suffield Council for the Arts awarded FOFAH a grant to purchase a specialized file cabinet will help in the preservation of old maps, photographs, documents, posters and other ephemera affiliated with Hilltop Farm.
  • Because of the very wet weather, the  Bald Eagle Golf Tournament was rescheduled to July 26. Tee Sponsorships are available.
  • Many thanks to  Dr Marcia Lareau for 2 file cabinets for use in the FOFAH Workroom.
Moonbounce in Suffield?
By Tom Frenaye
Hilltop Farm is a great place for stargazing, and especially good for watching a sunrise or moonrise over the Connecticut River. In mid-June a couple of experimenters set up some radio equipment at the top of the big pasture to do something quite unusual - bounce radio signals off the moon so they could communicate with people around the world!

Frank Potts from Southwick and Bob McCormick from Feeding Hills are experienced Amateur Radio (ham) operators. Earth-Moon-Earth (EME) communications is a real technical challenge that was originally pioneered by the military in the 1940's and later by ham operators in the 1950's.

During their two day visit to Hilltop Farm they set up an 8' wide dish antenna on a ten foot mast that tracked the moon through the sky while transmitting and receiving microwave signals that bounced off the moon's surface and back to earth again.

During their stay they exchange reports from 35 people in 19 countries on all continents. The first person they contacted was in Slavgorod in central Russia, about 5000 miles away - but 480,000 miles away when the signals are bounced off the moon!

The technology used is a smaller scale version of what NASA uses to communicate with spacecraft headed to Mars and beyond. McCormick noted "the location surpassed all our expectations providing an unobstructed view of the moon from moonrise to moonset and was interference free."  Potts added "We now feel comfortable in taking the equipment to more distant locations.  We'd like to thank FOFAH for being such gracious hosts."

This was actually a test run for planned trips to Vermont and Rhode Island later in the year, and they were very pleased with the results. Their success has garnered additional world-wide interest in having them return to the open skies above Hilltop Farm.    


More Dates and Programs
July 26                     Bald Eagle Golf Tournament
September 5            Harvest Dinner & Silent Auction
September 7            FarmFest 2015
September 12 & 13 Suffield on the Green
September 26          National Public Lands Day at Hilltop Farm

Come to the Hilltop Farm and experience the region's natural beauty and agricultural history.

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