February 14, 2000
Oak Glen, California

Dear Friends and Family,

A few weeks ago, there was a break in the clouds to the south of us, even as the rain kept falling on Wilshire peak to our north.   The result is the rainbow you see on the right.   I rushed out the side door, digital camera in hand, and snapped the picture.   That evening, I received an e-mail from Down Under.   An American engineer who had been living in Australia since the early 1970s was looking for a farm in Oak Glen.   He wrote that he and his wife currently lived in the foothills of Mt. Pisgah.   I thought that oddly coincidental, since there is a Pisgah Peak in Oak Glen as well.   I sent him back my rainbow picture and told him about our own "Pisgah."   

The rainbow startled him.   He wrote back an even longer letter, detailing the role rainbows had played in his own migrations.     Prior to each move, he had seen a rainbow in his path!  

Perhaps, we'll have a new neighbor soon. 

Meanwhile, our Living History Field Trips have begun in earnest again.   A bright, active group of fifth graders from Rancho Cucamonga visited our farm on February 8th, and they were treated to a new member of our living history family--Richard Hannah, playing the part of George Washington.  (Pictured in the center of the group at the left.)  Mr. Hannah, a Pennsylvanian by birth, comes from Revolutionary stock.    One of his Connecticut ancestors raised a regiment of Continental soldiers at his own expense.    When I first met Mr. Hannah he told me, "when I was a boy, if you didn't know about George Washington in 4th grade, you didn't make it to fifth."

Mr. Hannah, in real life, received the Purple Heart for wounds received during his service at Guadalcanal, as a Marine in World War II.     

We're proud to know him.    

And he looks like George Washington.   Doesn't he?

Your Humble Servant,

James Riley

P.S. For the sake of those "web portals" constantly browsing the internet to update their search engines, we include the following boiler-plate. (Feel free to read this, if you're new to our site.)

Riley's Farm is a working apple orchard and living history farm in the Oak Glen area of Southern California. In addition to farming, we love history and we have provided a venue for re-enactment units comprising many different eras. The farm regularly hosts banquets, birthday parties, weddings, and office parties. Every year, literally thousands of students participate in one of our school tours, where they experience everything from weaving, candle-dipping, and cider pressing to the drill and muster of a Revolutionary War or Civil War battle. Our farm has appeared on the History Channel and in the recently released feature film, Amistad, as well as many other film and television productions. (We even try to get the producers to include us as on screen talent, but that's another story.) On selected weekends throughout the year, we offer "farm-stay" weekends, where families can experience--clothing, wood stoves, muskets, and all--the life of an 18th or 19th century American farmer. We grow sweet corn, apples, raspberries, pears, and sunflowers, just to mention a few of our crops. Our nephew, Devon, keeps some beautiful Belgian draft horses for country hay-rides. We love America--its traditions, its people, its history, and its cherished heritage of liberty in Christ. Have we said enough? Well, one more thing: In the fall, thousands of families make an annual pilgrimage to the farms of Oak Glen to experience the closest thing to a New England fall California has to offer. Why don't you stop by and say hello?