Bring your family this 4th of July weekend 2010 to the Kline Creek Farm and see a blacksmith show how people used to use a hammer and anvil to repair metal tools. Kline Creek 
Farm is a drop-in time machine, a restored farmstead where demonstrators in period costumes show how a DuPage County farm worked in the 1890s. Watch your kids’ jaws drop when they learn about 19th Century farm chores.
Thursday, July 1
Children’s Farm Chores — Kids, learn firsthand how 1890s children helped around the house and farm. On Mondays, help with mom’s chores; on Thursdays, dad’s. 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. at Kline Creek Farm, 1N600 County Farm Road in West Chicago. Free. Registration not required. Call 630-876-5900.
Saturday, July 3
Blacksmithing Demonstrations — Stop by the wagon shed to see the blacksmith repair equipment and demonstrate the tools and techniques of the trade. 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. at Kline Creek Farm, 1N600 County Farm Road in West Chicago. Free. Registration not required. Call 630-876-5900.
Celebrating the Fourth — Experience one of the country’s first holidays through 1890s games, music, and speeches, including the reading of the Declaration of Independence. Bring a picnic, help make ice cream, and see the launch of a homemade hot-air balloon. 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. at Kline Creek Farm, 1N600 County Farm Road in West Chicago. Free. Registration not required. Call 630-876-5900.
Even more: There are tours of the restored farmhouse, on the hour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with talks on baking, canning and quilting. You can also see cute recently born calves.
Depending on the time of year, staff and volunteers plant heirloom fruits and vegetables in the kitchen garden, tend to the orchard, work in the wagon shed or cure sausages in the smoke house. Percheron work horses help plant and harvest crops of corn, oats, and other small grains; and resident livestock, such as the farm’s Southdown sheep, Shorthorn and Angus cattle, and chickens, occupy the farm’s coop, barn, fold, and pastures.
Kline Creek Farm (1N600 County Farm Rd., West Chicago; 630-876-5900, dupageforest.com).
Hours of Operation
The farmstead and visitor center are open Thursday through Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The center is closed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and select holidays. Admission is always free.
