The next pictures
in my inventory are from the Maple Syrup Festival (March 22, 2009). Their website describes it thus, "Take a short walk to the maple grove and
look for sap in the buckets hanging on the maple trees. Then wander to the
fire to watch the sap boiling in the large evaporating pan. Taste the sweet
sap and syrup. Warm up inside the Visitor Center with some hot chocolate,
purchase some maple products and enjoy the nature art such as woodcarving,
painting, photography and Native American wood flutes and beadwork on exhibit
by local artists."
A major motivation
in my going to the Fenner festivals is that they are free. There are
those, in organizations I have belonged to, who feel you must put an admission
price on something in order for people to value it. I understand where
such a philosophy derives its roots in our money obsessed culture, but I have
long disagreed with this, and the attendance at Fenner events has seemed quite
good on the occasions when I was visiting, as will be evidenced by the photos
within these pages. Even though the Fenner property is owned by the
city of Lansing, its operations now fall to the "Friends of Fenner." I pray their general and volunteer support will be adequate to keep the events
free.
There is quite a bit going on inside the visitor center as well as outdoors
during the Maple Syrup Festival. The photos will start inside, followed
by a section where we will join a group hearing a guided history and explanation
of maple syrup gathering and processing. It is rounded out by a few
shots simply wandering the grounds on our own. And, in the last two
sections of images from the festival, we are back next to the visitors center
where they have some feeders attracting both large and small birds. I took a lot of turkey pictures, but have whittled them down to a few, to
keep you from getting too shell shocked. I particularly liked the gents
who started strutting their stuff (or more specifically puffed right up) when
some ladies showed up. Hmmm, sounds just like us humans — imagine that.
|