Emandal, a Farm on the Eel River

For a week, my son’s class spent time at Emandal Farms.  

History of Emandal: In 1908, Em and Al Byrnes opened up their home to friends and acquaintances in  the Bay Area who wished to vacation on the magnificent Eel River  and get away from the everyday hustle and bustle of city life. (Yes, there  was hustle and bustle in 1908!) All the fruits and vegetables  served in their dining room were grown on the farm, as were the meat and  eggs. Em baked all the bread.

Since 1946 the Adams family has continued the tradition of country vacations with farm grown and home cooked  meals.  Today Tamara Adams, following in the footsteps of her in-laws, Clive and Jessie Adams, and her late husband, Clive Adams, Jr., operates Emandal’s Family Camp in the summer months, Environmental Education for school groups in the spring, and hostsspecial events and groups at various times throughout the year.   Her children and their partners/spouses, Buffalo Adams and Claudine Williams, Zarya (Adams) and Mike Plessas, Kashaya Adams, and Malanyon Adams, return periodically, to augment year-round and seasonal staff with various projects and special events.

Our main naturalists was Wick who made sure we followed their schedule.  At 8AM, kids and their chaperones had chores.  Then at 9, we all had breakfast, then an activity like hiking on the 1,000 acres land combined with learning about the land.  How the Hutchna tribes used the plants surrounding the area for food, medicine, etc..  Other hikes/lessons were about how pilgrims built their cabins, we learned about the birds and animals, and one day, we had an all day hike to the river and up the mountains.  Kids loved it and so did the parents on the trip.  There were 8 chaperones and 2 teachers.  Two chaperones were responsible for 7 to 8 kids per cabin.  We made sure they woke up in time, got ready for their chores and behaved during the activities.  We had a rough start with disciplining the kids but once we learned some “Aurora” techniques, everything ran smoothly.  Thanks to Josh for his help, support and know-how in dealing with the kids.  His calm demeanor is a trait I tried to emulate and it worked.  It turned out to be one of my most rewarding and memorable experience.  I know my son enjoyed his stayed tremendously and so did all 33 kids.