Friends of Deer Hollow Farm

The mission of Friends of Deer Hollow Farm is to preserve Deer Hollow Farm as a working homestead, and support the historical and environmental education program for the benefit of all in our community.

Deer Hollow Farm (DHF) is an educational farm located in the Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve (here is a map). Rancho San Antonio Preserve is the most visited in the open space district because of the unique setting including the farm and adjacent county park. The program offers school year classes in Farm and Garden, Ohlone Native Americans, Wilderness, and serves as a summer day camp. Approximately 5000 local children reap the benefits. The farm is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday from 8AM to 4PM, with the exception of Wednesday afternoon when it is closed from 1-4PM. If you are interested, here is a photo album showing the spirit of the farm.(The album is a PDF file.)
To reach the staff at Deer Hollow Farm, email DeerHollowFarm@mountainview.gov or call 650-903-6430.

Friends of Deer Hollow Farm formed in 1994. The six member board of volunteers and the many generous donors of time and money all believe that the working homestead and its environmental education program should be preserved as a San Francisco Bay Area resource. The City of Mountain View, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District and Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation share in this vision and are our funding partners. For more information, email info@fodhf.org. Also, please see our brochure.(The brochure is a PDF file.)

WHERE YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION GOES. Friends of Deer Hollow Farm is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. Funds are raised from individual donations and corporate and community organization grants. In addition, we sponsor special-event public fund-raisers: Fall Ohlone Day and the three Spring public Farm Tours. Friends also sells merchandise such as hand-made note cards, plant and animal identification cards, bookmarks featuring original photos of the Farm and Preserve, T-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs and many other farm-related items.

Our 2011-2012 budget expenditures are projected at $71,000. The largest part of that is a directed donation of $35,000 to support general operations of the farm.

Spring Farm Tours: Meet the Animals Visit Deer Hollow Farm's new farm babies in one of three public 2012 Farm Tours. Trained docents will lead small groups through the pens, explaining animal care and what life was like on a homestead farm.The public tours are offered on three Spring Saturdays: March 17, April 21, and May 19 from 10 am to 12:30 pm. The last tour starts at 12:30.

The Farm will have many farm babies including lambs and kids. They'll join the other Farm animals: a cow, pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, sheep and goats. Spend some time with these animals on one of the last remaining homestead farms in the Bay Area. Walk through century-old farm buildings, a large organic garden and orchard, and learn what daily life was like just 150 years ago, when most Americans lived on homestead farms like Deer Hollow Farm.

The tours include a short award-winning film about Deer Hollow Farm called 'Lessons of the Land'. For more information, read the 2012 Farm Tours flyer (the flyer is a PDF file).

Ohlone Day: A Living History Festival Friends of Deer Hollow Farm's 2012 Ohlone Day fund-raiser will be held in October 2012 at Deer Hollow Farm's replica Ohlone Village from 1 pm to 4 pm.

The festival offers a chance for the public to spend an afternoon in the Farm's Ohlone Village normally closed to the public. Step into the daily lives of the original Bay Area inhabitants, the Ohlone, who lived here for thousands of years. The replica underground sweathouse and Tule shade and sleeping structures will be open, and trained docents will provide short talks on how the Ohlone lived. For more information, read the 2011 Ohlone Day flyer (the flyer is a PDF file).

Nature Center Open. Come visit Deer Hollow Farm's Nature Center and see a preserved and mounted mountain lion as well as a deer, bobcat, fox, owls and hawks. Besides these exhibits, there is a popular "Touch Table" for hands-on learning about animals, birds, trees, and plants indigenous to Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve. The Nature Center is open on the third Saturday of each month from 9 am to 12 pm in the summer and 10 am to 1 pm in the winter.

Exhibits include animal skins, field guides, and skeletons. Learn about the Ohlone, the Bay Area's original inhabitants for thousands of years and see the tools they used for daily living. The Nature Center walls are covered with original photos of the Preserve's animals and birds taken by volunteers. Friends of Deer Hollow Farm volunteers staff the Nature Center. The Nature Center also features a booth with many homemade items such as bird houses, laminated animal and wildflower ID cards, bookmarks, and a Grant Pioneer Family History Booklet. See the enclosed flyer.