The Historical Collection Committee took a tour of the Rowley House Museum in Middleton this year, and

worked on docent tour scripts for the granary, farmhouse and mural in the Center for Rural History. We are

proposing the use of the PocketSights computer application for self-guided tours of the buildings and outside displays. We also worked on exhibits in the granary, and will be restoring the farmhouse porch with 1920s-30s balusters and support columns donated by Sally Leong to be more historically accurate. For Harvest Fest, we invited Peggy Prilaman Marxen, a Wisconsin author of The Farm on Badger Creek to speak in the farmhouse.

A big thank you to Dennis Petzke and Gary Herzberg for restoring some of the items listed below and the green

apple orchard wagon belonging to Marcella Schumacher Pendall.

Additional non-artifact donations:

Book, Threshing Days and two prints from the book for framing from Gary Herzberg. Waunakee German/English dictionary from Nancy O’Neal, Madison. Dish towels from Sylvia Batchelder, Dane.

Special thanks to John Butters, AZ, a member of the Marcella Schumacher Pendall Board of Trustees and a

personal friend of Marcella for his donation of children and adult books and games.

Historical Committee wish list items: Machinery from early 1900’s: buck rake, cultipacker, manure spreader, silo

filler, stone-boat, single disc harrow.

-Barb Johanningmeier, Historic Committee

We cannot extend enough gratitude to all our volunteers for their time, talent, creativity and ambition in keeping our programs and events going strong and resilient with the past year's challenges. As we continue to say, we couldn't do near as much as we do without YOU! Every little action makes impacts that ripple down the line to contribute to greater ideas and initiatives. Everyone makes a difference within this ambitious and gracious farm park community.

Here's a rundown of 2022 volunteer hours by program type;

The grand total comes to almost 3,000 hours! And to reiterate as I do every year, this is just the hours I was able to get on record. I have no doubt that there are a significant number of hours that volunteers contribute that don't get into the books. This count includes all 32 park events and special volunteer groups from the community; Operation Fresh Start, Blackhawk Church, Madison Diocese - Love Begins Here, Edgewood High School and SSM Health.

A quick nod to the chicken wranglers, who successfully tended all the cheeky chickens and a handsome rooster this year and collected 400 eggs!

-Amy Jo Dusick, Friends Administrator

We held two wonderful workshops this winter, exclusively for kids; birdfeeder and birdhouse making workshops. Participants were given a short introduction to area bird species (supported by Rona Neri and her incredible photographs) and then assembled and decorated their own birdfeeder or birdhouse, guided by Mike and Mary Mason. They also went home with bird seed, a "Best Practices for Feeding Birds" guide, bird pictures, and a copy of Schumacher Farm Park coloring book. We are so pleased to be able to host creative events like this for area kids and families. Special thanks to facilitators Mike and Mary Mason and Rona Neri to creating and leading such a special workshop. See our photo gallery for more pics from Rona Neri.

*Funding for these educational programs made possible by American Girl's Fund for Children and the Foundation for Dane County Parks.

Reminder of the Annual Friends Meeting coming up soon. Agenda items will include Board of Director elections, reports from current board members and staff, highlights of 2022 accomplishments and upcoming projects for 2023. Lots of features to share with members.

Hope to see you there!

Mike Shucha and John Kessler preparing to hand sow native grass seed along north savanna slope, February 2023. Photo: AJ Dusick

Another round of brush and tree removal this past winter has brought the north savanna slope closer to the desired open canopy for a savanna ecosystem. Volunteers spread native grass seed along the cleared areas again this winter to encourage native groundcover establishment that will reinforce slope soil stability (photo above).

Staff at Dane County Parks also recently broadcast seeded the 17 acres of native prairie expansion in Field 1a (see map here) with a seed mix collected from other park restorations. Thanks to all the seed cleaning volunteers over the fall months that helped process the mix. Supplemental seed species are on order and will be hand sown by Friends volunteers in the near future to create drifts of native prairie flower and grass species. Members will be notified to help out with the specific sowing date once the seed is acquired.

We're all very excited to have more prairie to provide opportunities for wildlife habitat and nature exploration!

-Amy Jo Dusick

Our Women's Wellness Workshops started with the 2022 Fall Equinox, and have continued to be extremely popular! The evenings include a gentle yoga session, guided meditation, journaling, and bonfire. There are still tickets left to the next workshop on February 21st, get tickets here.

Our annual garage sale will be May 10-12. The Historical Committee will be collecting donations later in the spring of housewares, antiques, collectibles, some furniture items, etc. Please keep this in mind between now and then. If you have any questions in the meantime, please direct them to Rosa Ropers via email.

Want another easy way to donate to the Friends of Schumacher Farm? If you make a donation to a charitable cause directly from PayPal, it does not take out any fees.

Just hit the donate button, look up Schumacher Farm Park as your charity and away you go. Works like a charm!

Thanks to Dennis Petzke, Board Treasurer, for the tip.