Ice Fishing Derby and Family Fishing Fair

Did you know our lot is filled with cars all winter long? At least every day that the ice is safe. The ice fishing is usually excellent on Sylvan Lake and public access to the ice is through the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site.

To celebrate this traditional pastime, on February 6 we are hosting an ice fishing derby plus a fair for beginning anglers with free family-friendly activities.

Derby
Check-in: 6:00am – 7:00am
Derby: 7:00am – 11:00am
$3.00 (pre-registration recommended)
Prizes will be awarded in multiple categories and participants can have fish identified by DNR Fish & Wildlife experts.

Family Fishing Fair
8:00am – 11:00am
FREE
Guests who want to warm up may enjoy the fishing activities in and around the Carriage House. Beginners to expert anglers may browse ice fishing equipment, learn how to identify unwanted species, try their hand at ice fishing games and discover the unique fish that reside in Sylvan Lake.

Tournament Rules:

1. This is an open event and everyone is welcome. Fishing totals will be based on the overall catch per individual.
2. All anglers under 17 years of age must be accompanied by an adult.
3. All anglers must register to be eligible for prizes.
4. All Indiana fishing laws and regulations apply. Anglers 17 and older must possess a valid state fishing license. Licenses are not sold on site.
5. Entrants must park in the designated visitor parking lot. An unloading site will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis for easy access to the lake.

Prize Categories:Adult (17 and over):

Most Fish Caught
Longest Total Fish Measurement
Largest Total Weight of Fish Caught

Junior (16 and under):
Most Fish Caught
Longest Total Fish Measurement
Largest Total Weight of Fish Caught

For other events scheduled in 2010, check out the GSP website.

A Dream of Beauty Holiday Walk

"Our Christmas was a dream of beauty," wrote Gene Stratton-Porter about her 1917 Christmas in The Cabin in Wildflower Woods. Come join us as we celebrate a 1917 Christmas on Saturday, November 21 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Draft horses pulling a wagon will meet you in the Visitor's Lot and make regular trips around the site. After dark, the site will be lighted with luminaries transforming the woods into a place of magic.

Your first stop will be the Carriage House where you can purchase your wrist band for $3 and browse the Gift Shop. I'm really impressed with the variety and quality of items for sale, especially for you gardeners and nature lovers! And there is a special 10% discount on the day of the Walk. Decorations used at the site in the past will be for sale in the presentation room. (I'm planning to make a stop there early in the day because these are beautiful decorations.)

Upstairs in the Carriage House will be homemade cookies and candies. There will be two crafts in the Carriage House (corn husk dolls and pine cone bird feeders).

On the way down to the Cabin, stop by the Garden Shed and see a tree decorated with dried flowers from the Garden. In the Garden Shed you can also do a flower transfer craft.

On to the Cabin where I will greet you at the entry (OK so that may not be the high point of this stop). Get your senses ready for this experience. Music by Nancy Blough and two other musicians. She loves people to participate, whether with rhythm instruments or dancing the jig. Quick breads baking in the kitchen with one to take home. And Gene's dream of beauty decorations.

Here are some pictures from two years ago.

I hope to see you this Saturday and let me know if you read about the Holiday Walk on this blog.

Nature Writing Workshop

The day after the nature poetry program for students, Joyce Brinkman led a program for adults at the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site. Gerard Manley Hopkins and, to a lesser extent, Mary Oliver were given as models for "inscape" or more than surface descriptions of nature. We were instructed to select an object and delve deep into its essence, using word combinations, even made-up words and internal rhyming. So these are not finished poems, but the beginning of poems.

Poplar Seed Pod by Steve Ferguson

Splotch-brown, mold-white stripes
Delicate grooves, banana-bruised
Densely pregnant
With
Ten Ten thousand trees
The breeze sighs and rising,
Frees
The babes to sprout, grow
Destiny fulfilled.


The Nursing Log by Martha Ferguson

You beckon me,
With slanted sun skimming you
As you sink into the soil.

Bright red in the sun, out of shady dark brown.

You're cracked, perfect squares, rectangles.
All linear where once you were round
Invaded-insects, your only round now.

No long gray-barked, but green-mossed
No long standing, but supine
No longer green-leafed, but feeding tomorrow's green.

Westview students visit GSP on Sept 18th for Poet Laureate Joyce Brinkman's postcard poetry program

Photos courtesy www.aceofimages.com

Chautauqua 2009!

Miss Limberlost samples "Crackers Spread with Cream Cheese and Fresh Flowers" prepared by Kathy in the Herb tent in the gardens. Have I mentioned how awesome the food is at this site? Fit for royalty...

And Martha's Chicken?.....FABULOUS!

At left are the The Gospel and Folk Weather Girls providing entertainment on the second floor of the Carriage house for those enjoying a bit of birthday cake in honor of Gene's birthday.

A Plein Air painter takes advantage of the lovely afternoon as seen sketching a southeastern view of the arbor.

One of the rescued birds of prey saved by Soarin' Hawks Raptor Rehabilitation welcoming visitors by the front gate.

Photos courtesy www.aceofimages.com

June 2009 Mother Daughter Tea

June brought gorgeous days at the Gene Stratton Porter Site and, as a newcomer to the area, a chance to take my first tour of Gene's home on Lake Sylvan. Visitors (including a few gentlemen!) motored in from neighboring counties to attend the Sunday Mother and Daughter Tea on the 7th.

While final preparations were being made for the main event, I slipped into both guest tours of Gene's home. Upon first entrance I found myself surrounded by gorgeous woodwork with the owner's intials expertly worked into the dark wood's design. Having grown up in a turn of the century home in Sherwood, OH, I expected the typical cream and dark wood color schemes

but was very impressed by how she really did build this home as she saw fit and in accordance with her vision of the perfect lake home. Our guide pointed out the many amenitites included in the house that we present day take for granted but that Gene insisted upon...and received. From the icebox tucked conveniently yet out of the way in the far southwest corner of the kitchen, to the famed bay window with the "million dollar view" of Lake Sylvan (and a darkroom- yay!), the cabin's design is a testament to Gene's impecable sense for blending the pragmatic with artistry. Of course, anxious youngsters in attendance enjoyed the room containing the nature collection the most, while we old and dusty adults wishfully awed at the walls of elongated windows sagged with age but still stunningly showcasing a relaxing view of the gardens. After everyone had gotten comfortably used to each other and allowed themselves to look around and take in the elegant subtleties of Gene's design, our tour came to a close; all filed out eagerly to head up to the visitor's center for the main event.

Ascending to the top floor of the visitors' center, guests were greeted by Victorian era melodies courtesy of Indiana's own Weather Girls. With Nancy Blough (founder of the Northeast Indiana Folk Music and Instrument Gathering, Inc.) strumming a mountain dulcimer while Lois Loucks provided accompaniment on autoharp, participants found their place cards and settled in for an afternoon of turn of the century food and entertainment.


In a true Victorian tea atmosphere complete with a cute little table reserved and already occupied by teddy bears and dollies among the decor, some of the nicest Hoosiers I have met to date began serving mint garnished tea and delicacies onto eclectic, but oh so charmingly ornate, china.



And the food!!!!!! The pictures should speak for themselves...it was art and, if you can fathom, it's presentation to one's tastebuds was even greater than to the eye. Bravo volunteers!




Guest speakers, jokes, and audience members joining the Weather Girls for a few numbers rounded out the afternoon. Finally, guests with bellies full and faces smiling parted ways taking fond memories home, perhaps anticipating next year ...or at least the Autumn Tea.




(Be sure to your spot this fall for the noon, Monday, October 19th festivities!)
-Alaina Carnahan, blogger/photographer/volunteer

Photos courtesy www.aceofimages.com

Dedication of Camp Big Island

Here's a nice article in the Sunday Journal Gazette about Camp Big Island or, as the locals call it, Boy Scout Island. It is directly across a small inlet from the site and can be seen from the window in the parlor, which Gene called her "million-dollar window" because of the view. You can see part of the site across the lake in the third picture of the chapel amphitheater. We are very pleased with the conservation of this unique natural place.

The staff at GSP has been hard at work following the mandate to "spruce up" the site in anticipation of the dedication of Camp Big Island this Wednesday, attended by several dignitaries including the Governor. It has been a challenge sprucing up 120 acres, the Cabin and Visitor Center, the one acre garden, and new construction sites with erosion fabric still in place, especially since there are only one full-time, 3 part-time, and 1 every-other-weekend employees. (A year ago there were 3 full-time and 6 part-time employees.) So I better head off to work to trim the shrubs and trees in the area of the dedication ceremony.