Mike Shucha, Jim Elvekrog, Dan Plendl and a number of Dane County Parks staff and volunteers helped to remove and burn 15 piles of invasive and exotic brush over the past few months in the north savanna. It's not always easy to discern all the work that happens on the land in the winter months, but the results will be evident in years to come. To increase biodiversity and groundcover on the slope, we'll be seeding native grass and wildflowers into the cleared areas of the savanna on Tuesday, February 23rd. Check out the website page for more details if you'd like to help out.

Our Chicken Wrangler program is a big hit every year. This past year, however, the wranglers' service was even more relevant, creating a welcome and safe outdoor distraction for people to relax and spend time with the chickens. It was obvious from notes jotted down in the weekly wrangler journal that the number of visitors was notably higher at the park this year. The word cloud below is a compilation of the most used words and phrases expressed by the wranglers during their chicken care duties. Excellent job once again to all our Chicken Wranglers!

The Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) was created in 2000 to identify and document America's significant cultural landscapes. The 11th Annual contest challenge was 'Vanishing or Lost Landscapes', with the greatest threats to these cultural landscapes being development pressure, neglect, and climate change.

Megan Turner, our 2018 summer garden intern, submitted a site report on the Henry Schumacher Farm to the HALS challenge and won 3rd place in the competition! The report was also accepted to the Library of Congress under the record number WI-19, which signifies one of only 18 other historic landscapes that have been previously catalogued in our state. Now that's pretty impressive!

Megan estimates she put in about 80 hours of work in researching and assembling the report. She received help from Barb Johanningmeier to access relevant archival materials and the excellent eye of Rona Neri for site-specific photographs.

Many, many thanks and congratulations to Megan and all involved for achieving this incredible accomplishment and honor. You can read the HALS report here. *Note that the Library of Congress now owns rights to this report and reproduction or publishing is not allowed without proper citation. Once the report is officially filed, it can be accessed directly from the Library of Congress.

The month of February at Schumacher Farm Park would normally involve a gathering in the historic farmhouse to huddle together around the cozy woodstove for one of our popular classes, Woodstove Cooking. Given the ongoing precautions with the pandemic, we unfortunately will not be providing this farmhouse-focused workshop this year.

As an alternative offering, please see this recipe list of some of our favorite soups from past years' workshops. Much gratitude to Chef Steve Keip for sharing them with us, as always.