Beautiful Victorian Boyd-Gate house, the home of the Marin History Museum (MHM), has a brand new exhibit and it was packed to rafters with party-goers celebrating on Thursday evening. The exhibit focuses on the farm families of the Marin past connecting them with the present-day growers. (click photos to enlarge)
Farming in Marin, especially West Marin, has been a way of life since the 1800s. Family-run and owned cattle and dairy ranches stretched over large areas of grasslands and hillsides providing locals with abundant food. The stories of those farmers, along with photographs, have been brought to life at the MHM.
Some of the farms are still run by descendants of the original owners as in the case of Kevin Lunny. Lunny, a third generation West Marin farmer, owns an organic beef cattle ranch out on Point Reyes and also farms oysters there.
There is a concurrent exhibit running at Falkirk Cultural Center; The Fine Art of Marin Agriculture: Landscape and Portrait Photography by Ken Smith. Additionally, the MHM produced an oral history project where students at Dominican University conducted oral interviews with leaders in the local farming industry.
Guests milled about sipping wine while admiring the exhibits which were scattered throughout the old house/museum. Downstairs and next to the kitchen in the multi-media room, a continuous loop of the 
documentary, Hidden Bounty of Marin: Farm Families In Transition was airing. This doc focuses on local farmers and the challenges they face, as well as how they managed to make the local foodshed efforts a success.
There were also delicious hors d'oeuvres provided by Stacy Scott
Catering. In keeping with the local, organic and sustainable farming
theme, Scott said she created appetizers from locally grown food.
Guests nibbled on polenta topped with chard, deviled eggs, beet latkes,
cheeses and beautiful tender, almost sweet lettuces. A soup made of
heirloom squash and roadside fennel was pretty amazing.
But not surprising considering it was farmed locally!
Looks and sounds like a wonderful event! We will make it over to the museum soon to see this new exhibit!
Posted by: Kris Strong | February 16, 2009 at 07:36 PM