If you saw our post yesterday, then you know that USBCHA stands for "United States Border Collie Handlers Association" and that they have sanctioned trials going on this weekend at the UC Hopland Research & Extension Center. Of course the actual sheep dog trials take place on the open rangeland, but the "homebase" where we gather for the record-keeping, to get warm, and consume the wonderful 4-H breakfast and lunch food is an old historic barn.
Vassar Barn, pictured here, was built in 1932 as a working sheep barn. Originally built as a "post-and-beam" box with a redwood-runner-plate foundation, it has been modified over the years, and upgraded with a concrete foundation. The Vassar family, for which the barn was built and hence named, was an old pioneer family that had the acreage during the first part of the 1900s. If you come to be a spectator at this weekend's sheep dog trials, then you will partake in activities in this old historical barn that reminds us of the past "hay-days" of commercial sheep flock ranches throughout the North Coast.
