Life On The Farms

Our final stop at Old World Wisconsin is at the Life On The Farms area. This section includes three German farmsteads. The first, The Schottler Farm features some very handsome pigs. The house, made of cedar logs, rye straw and clay, was originally built in the late 1830’s near Germantown. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

On the The Schultz Farm they have sturdy-looking horses and oxen to pull the ploughs. Although we didn’t get to see an actual demonstration this time, it was nice to just walk around the barns and fields, see these beautiful creatures and listen to someone telling a story about life on the farm.

The Koepsel Farm house was built in 1860 by an immigrant from Pomerania and was originally located near Salter. It was donated to the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1969 and was then relocated at Old World Wisconsin. It has also been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

If you would like to see more about Old World Wisconsin, please follow the links to my other blog ‘Getting the Picture’ where you will find recent posts on Old World Wisconsin, Crossroads Village, Shoe Shop And The Four Mile House, and Scandinavian Homesteads.

Henry Vilas Zoo

On our recent trip to Wisconsin, we decided to stop in at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison. It’s one of the few admission free zoos in the country. As with any visit to the zoo, it was a hit or miss thing as far as photo opportunities were concerned and since it was rather a hot, sunny day, most of the animals were hiding in the shade. This was our first-time visit and I was impressed by the variety of creatures and their spacious enclosures in this community supported zoo.

Several of the areas were undergoing cleaning and maintenance so some of the exhibits that I had hoped to see were not on view. But there were still plenty of things to hold our interest.

It’s not often that I venture into zoo buildings where birds are flying around, but this time I decided to risk it and was quite proud of myself for getting so close to the macaw, even without the zoom lens, with no glass in between us. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have screamed and fainted if it had landed on my shoulder but luckily it stayed at a safe distance.

Henry Vilas Zoo is definitely worth a visit, if you’re looking for something to do in Madison. The picture that I was most pleased with, however, was taken not in the zoo but in a field across the road. A pair of magnificent sandhill cranes were strolling around by the water’s edge and I was able to sneak up behind a conveniently placed tree and get a close-up shot.

If you haven’t done so already, and have the time, you might like to visit my blog ‘Getting The Picture’ where you will see another interesting place to visit in Wisconsin. Just follow the links. Old World Wisconsin and Crossroads Village.

Art At The Arboretum

Last week, while the weather was fine, we took a trip to the Morton Arboretum in Lisle to see a new art exhibition called Of The Earth. The show consists of five creations by Polish American artist Olga Ziemska. The first, entitled Stillness in Motion, is made from reclaimed branches with a steel armature and is 6ft tall.

The artist used reclaimed materials from the Arboretum’s 1,700 acres to create her works. The next sculpture, Hear, is 5ft tall and 6.5ft wide and made from thousands of smooth river rocks. A nearby sign tells us to close our eyes and be still. It asks, can we hear what nature has to say? I can hear redwing blackbirds shrieking nearby, which makes me very nervous!

The exhibition’s intention is to remind us of the human connection to nature and the earth, and the setting, amid the trees and fields of the Arboretum, is ideal for this purpose. This piece is entitled Strata, is 8ft tall and 45ft long and is made with layered river rocks encased in a wire mesh and steel armature. It considers the human body as part of the landscape, emerging from the earth.

Oculus is 10ft tall and 9ft wide and is made of Arboretum logs and mirrored stainless steel set in a metal armature. It explores the idea of shared vision and collective sight and I can see a little mini-me standing in the field behind me.

The final sculpture, Ona, which means “she” in Polish, is 14ft tall, 20ft wide and 22ft deep. The eyes are open to reflect the surrounding scenery. I think this was my favorite piece. Apparently we picked the right week to go, weatherwise, as we are now getting some much-needed rain.

June At The Botanic Garden

Last week, as a break from working in my own garden, I decided to spend a morning at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Their new Welcome Plaza is now open and their current theme is Love in Bloom. And where better to celebrate Love in Bloom than in the Krasberg Rose Garden?

This 3-acre Garden is filled with more than 5,000 roses, and there’s nothing quite like the perfume of roses in June first thing in the morning. Heavenly! It’s no wonder this is one of the most popular spots in the Botanic Garden.

Not surprisingly, this is one of the largest rose display gardens in the United States, with more than 150 varieties of roses on show along with companion plants such as peony, catmint, alyssum, boxwood, northern bayberry and lavender.

From the Terrace Overlook to the shade of the Arbor or the Rose Garden Viewing Terrace, where you can sit, surrounded by these gorgeous blooms, this is a rose-lover’s paradise.

Set amid a lush green lawn is the Rose Fountain. Shaped like the five petals of a rose, the center spray is surrounded by 50 jets of water timed to stay tight like a rosebud in the morning then slowly opening like the flower throughout the day.

Sunshine And Orchids

What a difference a few days make. Today we are recovering from yesterday’s ice storm, but on Monday the weather was nice enough to allow for a trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden and the annual Orchid Show.

Heading indoors for the Orchid Show, we found the place packed, not surprisingly, as it was Presidents Day. The theme for the show this year is ‘Orchids Magnified’ and the layout featured some interesting displays that included large magnifying lenses and small, hand held magnifying glasses with which to get a closer look at the blooms.

Although the magnifying lenses were an interesting concept, they were something of a challenge to photograph and, with the place being so crowded, it wasn’t always easy to maneuver in order to get the best shot.

Thankfully, much of the exhibition was sans lenses and so the camera was able to capture a clear image of some beautiful blooms.

The Orchid Show runs through March 26 so there’s still plenty of time left to visit. I would like to go again, perhaps when it’s not quite so busy, to take a less hectic look at things without feeling rushed to move on.

There are special hours for photographers to enjoy the show on Tuesdays from 8:15am to 9:45am. And there will be a post-show plant sale on March 30 from 9am to 4pm when many of the orchids in the show will be for sale.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Messages

The theme for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, suggested by Donna from Wind Kisses, is Messages. If you take a hike around the Giant City nature trail, you may see some messages carved into the huge sandstone bluffs that tower over the pathways in this State Park near Carbondale, Illinois.

Many of these messages, worn with time, are not easy to find, but others, more deeply etched, are still easy to read, some dating back to the time of the Civil War.

There is evidence of human habitation in this area from as early as 10,000 years ago, but European settlers didn’t move into this region until the early 1800’s.

The cliffs and canyons were used as safe havens for both the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War and one can imagine weary soldiers carving their names for posterity on these massive stones before going into battle.

The State of Illinois acquired more than 1,100 acres of land in Union and Jackson counties in 1927 and dedicated the area as Giant City State Park.

Walking in Spring Valley

As I mentioned in my previous post, Monday was my first visit this year to Spring Valley Nature Center in Schaumburg. So far, we have had a reasonably mild winter and it was nice to be able to get out and walk around the Center instead of the usual, boring trek around the track at the local gym. They had cleared quite a lot of the growth on the prairie near the entrance and things had a much different look from the last time I was there.

Over by the lake, I noticed that they had replaced the viewing platform. It is much steadier now, which certainly helps when photographing the surrounding scenery.

Further along the path there was evidence of some freshly cut trees, no doubt victims of the high winds that we experienced just before Christmas. It’s somehow comforting to come upon the remains of an old tree that is no longer growing. I’m glad they left it there. It makes a good nesting place for the woodpeckers.

Walking up towards the farm, I was surprised to see this area open. It is usually closed off during the winter months. There weren’t any animals about, but the red barns always make a good shot.

On the path back to the cabin, there was another area that had been cleared of densely growing shrubs and undergrowth. It looked like they had installed a nesting box high in a tree. I’m not sure what they expect to entice there, something fairly big I imagine. Maybe a woodpecker or flicker.

At the little pond by the cabin, our three mallard ducks from the previous post were swimming around and generally enjoying the sunny weather.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – Sycamore

This week, Cee has chosen anything made from wood as the theme for her Black & White Photo Challenge. This gives me a good opportunity to share some pictures that I haven’t used before. On our way to DeKalb, back in October, we stopped off in Sycamore to visit the DeKalb County History Center. We looked in at the little museum they have there, but what really caught my eye was the old barn outside.

Water, Water Everywhere – At White Pines Forest

Now that the winter weather is starting to settle in, it’s nice to be able to look back on some of the trips that we made when the temperatures were still warm enough to make walking and lingering to take in the view enjoyable. The last outing, of any significance, that we made this autumn was to White Pines Forest State Park near Oregon, Illinois. Most of the pictures that I captured there seemed to be suitable for Jez’s Water, Water Everywhere Challenge.

Spring and Pine Creeks wind through the park and in order to drive around the park you have to cross four fords that span them. Although the first one seemed shallow enough, the next one was running quite high and it didn’t seem advisable to risk going through it in a brand new car so I did the rest of my exploring on foot.

The park covers 385 acres and seems to be an ideal spot for fishing, hiking, picnicking and camping and there are several bridges that allow you to cross the streams without getting your feet wet.

White Pines Lodge has 23 guest rooms and there are more than 100 camp sites in the park if you want to stay longer than just one day. White Pines Forest is quite near Castle Rock State Park and one or two other interesting places so there’s plenty to see in the area.

A Piece Of The Rock

A few weeks ago, we made a two-hour drive to Castle Rock State Park in Illinois, only to find out that it was closed! There was, however, a sliver of the park, between Route 2 and the Rock River, that was accessible, so the trip wasn’t a total loss. In fact, this may well have been the most scenic part of the entire park.

The Rock. a tributary of the Mississippi River, is the river that runs through Rockford, as mentioned in the previous post. I was also interested to learn that the Sauk and Fox Indians used to call it the Sinnissippi River, which accounts for the park of that name in Rockford.

A little further down the road, we came upon a promising sign and upon investigation it yielded another nice view of the river at ground level and, after much stair climbing, an excellent view of the surrounding countryside.