Local History with an educational twist. 
The Heckler farmstead dates back to the mid 1700's and features an outdoor bake oven , a Pennsylvania German four square kitchen garden and a rare Rhine Valley Bottom Barn which predates the american revolution.  Our hands-on history events enable visitors to experince history by living history.  Antique tools are used to produce flax and card wool in the barn during festivals and colonial education days for area school children.  The outside bake oven  is fired and fresh pies are made.  The garden is authentically maintained and early growing practices are followed.     This historic farmstead is located at Landis & Morris Rds., Harleysville, Pa.            A interesting note:   While doing photos at the May 1st, 2010 show and talking to one of the craft vendors, he mentioned to me about the slot type windows in the colonial barn, I walked up with him and showed him the inside.   Heres a puzzle for you.   He says the window slots were made that way for gun ports (they are small slat like opening on the outside, but wider angled on the inside, him saying the shooter could go side to side, where someone shooting in had less of a opening), our president: Joan DiMaria says they're just for ventilation.   That the indians of this region (Lenape) were basically friendly.  I agree with the crafter --- gun ports, as the indians where not the only hostiles to the colonist, they may have been put there to help fend off the brittish.

What We Do

    The Heckler Plains Folklife Society has been in existence since 1975, originally started as  BluePrint '76.  The organization, staffed by volunteers, host groups of grade school classes who spend the day in true colonial life, performing such chores as candlemaking, butter churning, sherensnitte, tin punching, wool carding, and flax hetcheling.  The garden is authentically maintained and early growing practices are followed.

 My wife and I will be attending a symposium on colonial cooking at Pennsbury Manor on Feb 27, 2010.  This may bring some interesting insite into what we can do at Hecklerfest, when we have our colonial demonstrations.  This is past history now, this was a really interesting day, they had workshops set up for friday and sunday, but because of the new snow, friday got scratched.  Saturdays symposium had talks about what colonial people were eating, backed up by a student going to University of Penna., as a vet and anthropologist.  By studying bones found in some new digs in the vicinity of the Liberty Bell and independence hall areas, she shows us that the colonist ate a great many foods that we have around today.  But turtle soup was a big gala event, which they often sold tickets for, a well to do, society craving.  Other notable foods were  Catfish,Waffles and Coffee (all at the same time).  The symposium also included talks on Butchering and Meats in colonial times.  We tried a good many items that were prepared using colonial recipes, and I think we will try to bring some of this out at Hecklerfest, so that the public may get a chance to sample some of these items.  One of the things that was noted, that I find interesting, is that the colonist used Salt Peter for both cooking and for curing meats, this is used in gun powder, which makes a person think, what were they doing?