Sharing stories across the generations

Imagine a Medford where farms covered what are now neighborhoods and businesses; where the power lines stopped at the city limits; or where a local band of Native Americans might trade with a youth for a better cowbell.

When you listen to Hildegard Kuse you have a chance to visit the Medford of her youth.

On Sunday, Kuse turned 96-yearsold. She will tell you how she arrived on what was her parent’s second anniversary and at the time they were working on what would be the family’s home at W6219 Allman Ave, on property the family has owned since 1881.

She will tell you stories of the trees in the yard, speaking of them as fondly as one would of old friends. She will tell the stories of the people whose names are on street signs around the community and who helped lay the foundation for what Medford is today.

Her family’s home and property is now part of the Kuse Nature Preserve. The property is just outside the city limits and adjacent to the campus of Medford Area Senior High School and Medford Area Elementary School.

On Saturday, people gathered to celebrate Kuse’s birthday with a Fall Color Walk including wagon rides, cupcakes and apple cider.

While part of the land is still used for crops, volunteers maintain trails surrounding the fields keeping up the battle against invasive species while protecting the more than 60 species of trees and more than fifty vines and shrubs, many wild flowers and heritage plants and the animals that live in this habitat.

Shinrin-yok is a Japanese phrase meaning “forest bathing.” It is a form of relaxation by going into and surrounding yourself with nature. On the wagon ride from the trailhead by the elementary school to the Kuse home, Kuse Preserve board member Dick Czerniak used that phrase to describe the relaxing nature of walking the trails through the progression of the seasons. The trail system is used by individuals, families and local schools as an educational and community resource.