FAULKNER FARM TO BE AGRICULTURAL LAB, CLASSROOM.

Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

There are few agricultural sites more dear to Ventura residents than Faulkner Farm, a picture-perfect spread where people from around the county and even Los Angeles have come year after year to buy their Halloween pumpkins and Christmas trees.

So when the Hansen Trust, associated with the University of California Cooperative Extension, sought an embassy for agriculture, the storybook farm, with its landmark Victorian house, cornucopia of fruit trees and real red barn, seemed a perfect site.

``There's lots of name recognition. There's a lot of good feelings about the place,'' said Larry Yee, the Ventura County director of the cooperative extension and a Hansen Trust board member. ``There's a lot of history and tradition that we want to preserve and enhance.''

The trust was established by a longtime Ventura farmer, Thelma Hansen, who died in 1992, bequeathing her estate of $10 million in cash and $2 million in real estate to the University of California to promote and sustain agriculture in Ventura County.

``Part of her vision when she gave the endowment to the university was that it be used for a world-class research and education center,'' said Sheri Kittich, program administrator for the trust. ``She envisioned experts from around the world coming to speak on agriculture and . . . the latest research findings.''

Faulkner Farm is where that dream will take root. The idyllic site, framed against surrounding mountains, came complete with existing infrastructure - a gingerbread Victorian house that is listed as a historic landmark, a fire-engine-red barn built in 1890, even a miniature railroad once used to harvest sugar cane.

The site also is home to rows of vivid green Christmas trees, an orchard of persimmons, apricots, grapes, plums and apples, and fields that just a month ago gleamed orange with pumpkins. It is home to a small herd of domesticated deer and to several Clydesdale horses, known for their broad backs, huge hooves and tufted fetlocks.

And lest anyone question whether it's really a bona fide farm, it came complete with two barnyard cats - an orange tabby and a gregarious black-and-white tom.

The Ayres family, which had owned the site, leased it back this year for pumpkin and Christmas tree season, Kittich said. The trust will continue the pumpkin patch next year but will probably stop farming the trees, she said.

Instead, the trust plans to transform it from a working farm into an enclave for agricultural learning and experimentation.

Researchers might test different citrus varieties there, investigating strains of mandarin oranges that could replace some Valencia crops, Kittich said. They could try out new types of avocados, Yee said, or graft an array of different tree tops to bottoms, testing the best assembly of roots and branches.

Although there are 18 or 19 such agricultural research centers around the state, this will address the unique needs of Ventura County, Yee said.

Farmers interested in learning new pest management practices, soil science techniques or orchard cultivation tactics could attend workshops and seminars on the farm's findings, he said.

Not only that, but community members could take advantage of the site to learn more about the food they eat and how it's grown. Plots on the site could be made available for students in Future Farmers of America or 4-H Clubs, said Craig Mason, a Hansen Trust board member and lemon and avocado grower in western Ventura County.

Schoolchildren from around the county will be invited to the site on field trips as part of curriculum segments on agriculture. The trust already has a training program to help local teachers use agriculture in lessons on science and math, said county Superintendent of Schools Charles Weis, who is also a board member for the trust. So far, 150 teachers have attended the summer seminars, he said.

``Our overall goal for these programs is that students will understand where their food comes from,'' Weis said. ``And by that we don't mean the supermarket.''

Ultimately, trust members hope the farm will smooth the relationship between the urban and agricultural communities that coexist, sometimes uneasily, in Ventura County.

``It brings agriculture and the larger community closer together,'' said Toby Winer, assistant vice president for administration for the division of agriculture and natural resources of the University of California.

``If there's a place where urban people can come and learn more about agricultural projects and problems and practices. That always enhances relationships, when there's a better understanding of what you do and why you do it,'' Mason said.

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Photo

PHOTO (color) Faulkner Farm's scenic structures appear behind rows of Christmas trees.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News