Thank you to our sponsors, listed below, and the artisan vendors that set up booths for the event.

And of course, a grandstand thank you to all the individual volunteers that gave their time and talents during the planning stages and on the day of the event. As Elvis Presley said, "It really is a gift to give".

Alex helps maintain Schumacher's natural areas, leads educational restoration work parties and contributes to our main annual events. As most of our volunteers, he wears many hats.

Best of luck and success in your new role, Alex! We look forward to hearing all about it when you return.

With the help of Dane County Parks staff last week, volunteers collected spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) and shooting star (Dodecatheon meadia) seeds at Schumacher Farm Park, both native plants of Wisconsin's prairies. Seeds collected will be cleaned and distributed into mixes for new and ongoing prairie restoration projects across Dane County Parks system. There are a number of upcoming seed collecting dates scheduled at various parks. Find these other opportunities posted soon on the DCP event calendar.

Unusual Find!

Finding unusual artifacts in the barn is exciting. Hidden in the upstairs of the Schumacher barn was a

pair of marsh or bog skis donated by Mary Ellen Kearney for Nick Miller of Waunakee. The skis were

made by him in the late 1930s or early 1940s and used during hunting and trapping in the Waunakee

Marsh. They helped him slide through the cattail bogs because of their curved front tips. He used forms

and steamed the skis in boiling water to bend them at the tips. They are 8.5 feet long. Historically it is

uncertain who first crafted marsh skis for duck hunting, but there is little argument that they sprang up

in Wisconsin because of the state’s boggy marshes. The hey days of the marsh ski was the 1920s to

1950s.

-Barb Johanningmeier

The historic park marker sign that was blown over in a windstorm this past winter has been replaced and relocated to greet visitors as they drive into the park. This spring, staff from Dane County Parks took the sign back to their shop and secured it to new posts and then returned it to the park this week. The sign is now facing the main paved drive into the park, where people can read it as they walk into the historic farmyard from the parking lot.

Thanks to Ryan Schwab and Dane County Parks staff for getting that sign back in place!

"For me, each summer night brought a moment of shock that no child is subjected to today. Built in showers with their warm sprays were yet to be known; wash basins, with two quarts of water at most, were the order of the day.

Like other kids, I went barefoot from spring until fall. So each night before running upstairs to bed, I sat on the floor of the porch and carefully placed the half filled enameled wash basin on the ground. Then came the brief but awful moment of shock when I plunged my feet into those icy waters of the waiting pan."

Marcella Schumacher Pendall, Papa, Mama, and Me, 1993.

Several garden work parties or 'frolics' are scheduled for the summer and early fall. On these dates, volunteers are invited to stop out and help weed and maintain the Heirloom Garden and other farmyard gardens for about an hour. After the work, we'll take a little time to explore prairie wildflowers in bloom, check on fruit in the orchard or tour other areas of interest in the park.

No registration required. We'll meet at the Heirloom Garden at 2:00 pm.

Happy summer to all!