ESLC’s Party to Preserve
REGISTER NOW for our annual fundraiser, the Party to Preserve, from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014, at Daffin House Farm in Hillsboro. The focus of the party’s auction will be experiencing the Eastern Shore – and beyond.
Spend a week at a guest house at the edge of Grand Teton National Park in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and watch moose and elk in their habitat. The house includes a queen bed and space for a child or two. A treehouse provides additional fun. Package includes a round of golf for two at the Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis Club and a docent tour of the National Museum of Wildlife.
Birders can bid on a migratory bird banding at Foreman’s Branch Bird Observatory at Chino Farms and lunch at the Imperial Hotel. A late spring morning just after a warm front passes will produce a bounty of neotropical migrant birds in their finest mating plumage. These jewels are caught in ultra-fine mist nets, taken to a banding lab where they are weighed, aged and banded. Then, they are released unharmed to continue the northward journey to their habitual nesting areas.
The Nature Conservancy Maryland/DC Chapter will provide a guided kayak trip for four on Nassawango Creek with a conservationist. This preserve is one of the northernmost remaining examples of a bald cypress swamp. The Nature Conservancy has protected 9,953 of swamp and upland forest along this creek. Stop along the way to enjoy wine and cheese among the water lilies and cypress.
Prefer a history lesson? Join Dr. Scott Wing, head of the Smithsonian Institution’s Paleobiology Department, for a tour of the National Museum of Natural History. The paleobiology department focuses on fossil plants and the history of climate change between 70 and 40 million years ago, the last part of the Mesozoic (dinosaurs) period and the first part of the Cenozoic (early mammals) period. The tour includes lunch.
Or stay as close to home as possible – don’t even leave. Bartlett Pear Owner and Chef Jordan Lloyd will prepare dinner for eight in your home. Wishing Well’s Philip Bernot will provide wine pairings for each course. Lloyd’s philosophy is to keep food local, natural and wholesome. Zagat rated Bartlett Pear Inn a 28 out of 30 for cuisine, and it made Washingtonian’s list of Top 25 Restaurants.
The silent auction tables also will be full of fabulous opportunities. A Bellevue/Oxford Weekend getaway for two includes a stay at a beautiful cottage on Plain Dealing Creek, a pass for the Oxford Ferry, a treat at Highland Creamery, bicycles to get around, and fine dining.
Goose hunters can bid on a hunt at Brick House Farm in Cecil County. Owner Steve Isaacson will lead the hunt and 
prepare lunch.
Water opportunities include a day aboard a Horn Point research boat with a biologist and students and a day with five friends on a work boat crabbing on the Little Choptank with poet and waterman Fred Pomeroy aboard his Chesapeake Deadrise, Liza Jo.
Sports fans can bid on four tickets and a parking pass to the Dec. 14 Ravens game versus the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Popular auction items return, including a combine ride, Nationals and Orioles tickets, a waterfowl decoy, and an all-day guided bird walk with Jared Parks, expert birder and ESLC land preservation specialist.
This year’s Party to Preserve theme is “Tuckahoe Turnout.” Owners John and Karen Jaeger lovingly restored Daffin House, the oldest home in Caroline County, to its original character.
A post-and-beam barn is the heart of the farm and of our party. Warm yourself by the stone fireplace, enjoy music from the Lions of Bluegrass. Bid on paddle trips, getaways, local dining and sporting experiences, and other fabulous auction items.
Enjoy a glass of wine or a cold beer to complement the award-winning barbecue from Barbecue and Beyond, owned by Eric Frase of Preston.
This farm was preserved forever in 2002 with a conservation easement held by ESLC and Maryland Environmental Trust. The 268-acre property borders Tuckahoe Creek along 13,000 feet. In addition to restoring Daffin House, the Jaeger family also has completed extensive conservation restoration, including creating meadows full of native species.
The house was built in 1783 by Charles Daffin, who received a patent for the land in 1784, under the name Daffin’s Farm. Originally a one-and-a-half story brick house, it expanded over the years. The largest portion of the house, built later, was influenced by Georgian and Federal architecture.
For tickets, visit eslc.org. For sponsorship opportunities, contact Carin Starr at 410-827-9756, ext. 171, or cstarr@eslc.org.