Groups that facilitated specific activities included Village Center of Waunakee, Friends of Waunakee Library, Waunakee FFA, Waunakee 4-H and Door Creek Orchard.

Our Heritage Fest Sponsors: One Community Bank, Village of Waunakee, Town of Westport, Wisconsin Kenworth

Maybe it was the mild weather or maybe families just needed to get out and about, but we had a record attendance - about 1,200 people came to this year's Halloween! Based on those numbers, next year we will plan for more candy, more s'mores, and more interactive stations. As our most well-attended event, it required the convergence of many volunteers to set up props, park cars, manage the admissions booth, drive tractors for the wagon rides and perform select Halloween characters. Many thanks to all committee members, individual volunteers and groups that made it happen.

Participating community volunteer groups: Rotary Club of Waunakee, Waunakee High School Gymnastics, Waunakee High School Drama Club, Deforest High School Drama Club, Waunakee High School Orchestra, Scout Troop #46, Friends of Waunakee Library

Halloween Sponsors: One Community Bank, Village of Waunakee, Town of Westport

In addition to our intrepid restoration volunteers that do brush removal, weed pulling and seed collecting, there was also a handful of volunteers this year collecting data on wild things in the park. Much of this data is submitted to national organizations that use the information for long-term research studies.

Volunteers involved with the Caterpillars Count Project found 91 different insects and 11 arthropod groups on trees in the park. Only 2 caterpillars were found, but as they say, even no data is good data. Some of the insects noted were leafhoppers, beetles, spiders, springtails, lots of ants and a walnut husk maggot fly! For a full list of insect groups, see this document: Caterpillars Count! Survey Chart.

The Monarch caterpillar presence in the park was also recorded for the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project. Volunteers checked milkweed plants for the caterpillars and their different growth stages. The data is used to determine ongoing habitat needs and threats for the Monarch life cycle. And in case anyone is wondering, we were not graced with a large roost of Monarchs this fall as we did a few years back. We'll keep tending the butterfly and pollinator gardens in hopes that they will surprise us again.

And from the Bluebird Trail this year, monitors counted 5 fledged bluebirds this year, down 1 from 2020. Notes from other monitored areas have indicated bluebird populations have declined a bit this year. Progress, however, is slowly being made in dissuading house sparrows from taking over the bluebird homes.

Thanks to all citizen scientists from this past summer that contributed to a better understanding of the wildlife that make Schumacher Farm Park home.

The mural is on its way! The full-size drawing has been done by artist, Alicia Rheal, and sections of the painting began in October with help from students in the art department at Waunakee High School. Painting of the panel sections should be finished by the end of the year, with prospective completion on the east wall in the Center for Rural History for early 2022. Photo: Sue Manske

On October 10th, we had our annual volunteer appreciation picnic. About 35 people attended, a good mix of veteran volunteers and a handful of new recruits from 2019-2020 seasons. The skies threatened a storm, but board members were able to get everything grilled up and onto people's plates with time to spare.

As alluded to in the above articles, our volunteers provide the vitality and endurance to our events and programs. For those who didn't attend, much gratitude goes your way for doing all the things, great and small, that you do. It all matters in making this park inviting, engaging and beautiful!

Gift idea from Schumacher Farm Park! Native prairie plant photography prints by Steve Roffler of Madison.

Betsy Tuttle, Steve’s wife, donated about 90 prints from her husband’s prairie plant photography collection to Schumacher Farm Park with permission to sell them to benefit the farm. The unframed prints are 11 ¾” x 16 ½ “ and 13x19 and are being sold for $30 each. Some are signed.

Steve Roffler was a software engineer, teacher and political and community activist who died

from cancer in 2007. His hobby was recording the

natural world in photographs, especially composition close-ups of native prairie grasses and wildflowers.

“Taking a photograph is the attempt to put a frame around whatever it was that caught my eye,”

he explained. “I suppose in a way I would like to show people what is just immediately around

us, so that perhaps, we don’t think we have to travel all over around the world to see beauty.” Steve Roffler.

To take a look at the prints and purchase, please contact the park office.

Staff Highlight

The goal of this workshop series is to offer land managers and stewards advanced educational support and current best management practices. The workshops are provided in collaboration with land managers and scientists from throughout the Midwest and Great Lakes region.

Workshops will be virtual, via Zoom. Link to be sent to registrants ahead of time.

Register HERE

This summer, the Healthy Parks, Healthy You initiative launched a Dane County Parks Passport to encourage our community to explore more of the County Parks system.

If someone visits five Dane County Parks before the end of the year, they can check them off on the Passport and submit it to the Foundation for a chance to win a $100 gift card! A winner will be drawn at random in January 2022. Passports must be submitted by December 31, 2021 either by email to foundationfordanecountyparks@gmail.com,

How did cranberries become such a popular food item for the holidays? Indigenous tribes of the Northeast introduced the berry to colonists and they've been used in holiday meals ever since. Native Americans used them in meals and medicinally. They also dried the berries to put into concentrated fat and protein 'power' bars for winter, known as pemmican. The name cranberry is derived from the colonists term of 'crane berry', referring to the small pinkish red blossoms on the plant that resembled the head and bill of the Sandhill crane.

Football games were put on hold during most of World War II era due to so many men being drafted to military service. The exception was the1943 season, when the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers combined teams to fill the roster. The team was nicknamed the 'Steagles'.