Crane Fest and Cranberries

Cranes and cranberries. Two great reasons for me to take a day trip to Necedah to attend the Crane Fest this weekend. On Saturday, the whooping cranes were flying early in the morning, practicing behind their “foster mom” ultralight airplane, and showing off for the crowd that gathered to watch their wing formations. Then in the afternoon, it was the cranberries turn to attract attention.

Cranberries are nearly ready for harvesting in central Wisconsin. We toured the Cranberry Creek Cranberry Farm just north of Necedah, and got a close up view of acres and acres of commercial cranberry marshes. The cranberries are planted in 4 acre beds which are laser leveled so there are absolutely no low spots that might collect water. The plants flower in late June-early July. (The flower resembles the head of the Sandhill crane from which the name cranberry is derived.) The plants bloom for 3 to 4 weeks and are pollinated by commercial honeybees. Soon after, the berries begin to develop and the cranberries ripen in 75 to 100 days.

The harvest is planned for the first week in October. The beds will be flooded to raise the cranberries for picking and then a circular beater will move through the plants to remove the berries from the vines. The cranberries are then pumped out of the bed, cleaned, and packed into semi-trucks and taken to a nearby processing plant. It’s really an elaborate process, but the berries look great right now.

I’ve been spiking my drinking water with cranberry juice instead of lemons for the last year. Seems like the least I can do to support the cranberry growers. After all, they are number one in the country.

Wired! Black Crowned Crane

The International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI maintains a collection of captive cranes, including several black crowned cranes, which helps their work in crane preservation: captive breeding and reintroduction into the wild. Their work also demonstrates endangered species management for the public, and facilitates breeding and education information elsewhere in the United States and abroad. It is the only place in the world where you can see all 15 crane species.

Black Crowned Crane

When I visited the Crane Foundation earlier this month, this crane was especially interested in my camera, and made several attempts to get a little too close. Maybe I didn’t ask for the appropriate model release!

The Black Crowned Crane is indigenous to the Sahel region of Africa. The ICF in coordination with Wetlands International has coordinated a conservation plan for these birds. There are approximately 40,000 Black Crowned Cranes in existence, and their numbers are declining.

The most serious threats to this crane species are illegal capture for the pet industry. An ancient tradition in West Africa to keep domesticated cranes in the household compounds persists to this day. But an additional threat is an intensified international trade in the birds in the last 30 years. Also degradation of the species’ habitat – the wetlands and grasslands of West Africa due to drought, destruction of tree cover and overgrazing – is a factor in their declining numbers.

A regional African program has been set up to provide alternative income opportunities for crane traders and for distribution of community-based information and conservation methods in Nigeria and the Sudan.

The Crane Foundation is currently in a re-building program, and many of the exhibits are closed. The new exhibits will open next spring.

A Frank Lloyd Wright Treasure for Rent

The Seth Peterson Cottage sits on a bluff overlooking Mirror Lake near Lake Delton, Wisconsin. It was one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s last commissions, and was completed in 1959, the year of Wright’s death. Very little was published about this building when it was originally constructed. However, when the building was rehabbed in the late 1980s, the work was acclaimed as one of Wright’s most architecturally significant designs.

The cottage features a combined living room/dining room with a central fireplace, a tiny kitchen, a small bedroom and bath. The main room feels amazingly large since it features a sloped roof. The room’s height measures only 6 feet 8 inches at the wall behind the sofa, but rises to 12 feet on the opposite wall of windows.

This cottage, tucked in a quiet spot in Mirror Lake State Park is open to the public for tours on the second Sunday of each month, and can also be rented for overnight use . Although the cottage is booked months in advance, it is a popular destination for Frank Lloyd Wright admirers who want to actually “reside” for a day or two in a Frank Lloyd Wright home.

— Bo Mackison is a writer and photographer from the Madison area, and a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture. She recently discovered the Seth Peterson Cottage and plans on spending a winter’s night there in early 2009. Visit her galleries at Seeded Earth Photography to see more Wisconsin photos.

Heirloom Gardening at Old World Wisconsin

I love gardens. All kinds of gardens. Flower gardens, community gardens, butterfly gardens. And a recent visit to Old World Wisconsin near Eagle, Wisconsin sparked an interest in yet another type of garden – the heirloom garden.

Old World Wisconsin , one of the ten Wisconsin Historical Society’s sites throughout the state, sprawls on nearly 600 acres of rolling countryside in the Kettle Moraine area, about 35 miles southwest of Milwaukee and 55 miles east of Madison. It features a slice of life out-of-doors museum re-creation with working farms and settlements established by immigrants to Wisconsin in the mid- to late-1800s.

It was a perfect summer’s day when I went exploring last week-end. Old World is a great place to go when you want to both get in a little outdoor exercise and visit a museum. Though there is tram service to the various areas, I chose to walk the paths and managed to add nearly 4 miles to my pocket pedometer. And I discovered my favorite parts were outside, too – the thirteen heirloom gardens that sported colorful flowers and vegetables, and looked like paintings right out of the 19th Century. All of the gardens in the museum are typical of those found in the historical period from the 1850s through the 1890s.

Heirloom gardens use only plants that are cultivars that were commonly grown before large scale agricultural practices were introduced. Most vegetable plants have kept their traits through open-pollination and fruits are propagated by grafts and cuttings. Often these varieties have become less prevalent because plants are now chosen for their consistency, their hardiness to tolerate shipping and storage, and their tolerance to drought or pests. Though necessary qualities, these plants may not be the best nutritionally or taste the finest.

In the last decade, the heirloom gardening movement has been increasing. The gardens at Old World Wisconsin provide some mighty incentive. The vegetables and fruits I sampled tasted great and the gardening techniques were quaintly fascinating.

— Bo Mackison is a Madison area photographer and writer who has always loved history and gardening, and now loves historical heirloom gardens, too. Visit her galleries at Seeded Earth Photography to see more Wisconsin photos.

The Blocking – A Photographic Response

I received a creative response from a WisconsinNative reader and photographer to a question in my last post regarding art in Milwaukee. Marty Knippel sent me a photograph to make his point regarding the steel orange sculpture, The Calling, and its potential conflict with the extra-ordinary view of Calatrava’s architectural sculpture known to most Milwaukeeans as the Milwaukee Art Museum.

In his photograph titled The Blocking, Marty gives his succinct opinion. Behind his close-up photograph of the sculpture, The Calling, are the barely visible wings of the Art Museum.

What do you think?