The 39th Annual Apple Butter Festival

We loved this blog post by Lori in Lansing about our upcoming Apple Butter Festival and Beast of a Feast fundraiser, on the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau's Buzz Blog! Check it out, and thank you to Lori and GLCVB for writing a wonderful post!


We have a super weekend coming up for everyone in the family to enjoy and to help celebrate Fenner Nature Center and the fall harvest. The 39th annual Apple Butter Festival is on tap for October 13th and 14th.

But what exactly is apple butter? And how is it made? Wikipedia states that “apple butter is a highly concentrated form of apple sauce, produced by long, slow cooking of apples with cider or water to a point where the sugar in the apples caramelizes, turning the apple butter a deep brown. The concentration of sugar gives apple butter a much longer shelf life as a preserve than apple sauce.” I don’t generally agree with everything posted on Wikipedia, but …well today I’m giving ole Wiki a pass because they actually reference Fenner’s Apple Butter Festival in their post. The ‘butter’ is in reference to the consistency, and there is actually no butter or dairy involved. In our house, we enjoy apple butter on toast and I have added it to turkey and brie sandwiches. Delicious!

At Fenner, they cook apples over an open fire in a big copper cauldron. People take turns stirring it. I’m not sure how long it takes, but I’m going to say a loooooong time, because this festival lasts a whole two days. And I hear they’ve got some local celebrity stirrers on hand. In addition, they will have arts and crafts, games and more. Yay!

And don’t miss the newest, latest and greatest addition to this weekend…it’s a Beast of a Feast on Friday night. Call up the babysitter and then head over with your friends for some all-you-can-eat pulled pork and live music from the Whiskey Pickers. This is promising to be a great evening of socializing, dancing, eating and just plain fun. And the proceeds benefit this wonderful Lansing gem-Fenner Nature Center. So let’s stir up some great fall fun and make some memories to last a lifetime.


Beast of a Feast Fundraiser: Friday, October 12, 6-10 p.m.
$25 pre-event ticket or $30 day of the event ticket.
  
Apple Butter Festival: Saturday and Sunday, October 13-14, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. each day

Admission is free!

Check out the original post at the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau's Buzz Blog.

The People Behind the Scenes at Fenner Nature Center

In today's post, Ken Sattler writes about the staff and volunteers who make our many programs possible, and who are dedicated to keeping Fenner looking beautiful too. Consider becoming a volunteer for our upcoming "Beast of a Feast" fundraiser and our Apple Butter festival by filling out this quick application. 

My last couple of posts talked about the wonder, discovery, and ‘literal awesomeness’ of Fenner. To be sure, it’s a fantastic place – a gem in the Lansing community. But my intent for interning here was to learn what makes an amazing place like this tick. What I’m finding is that it’s a complex chemistry between a staggering array of variables. There are, of course, the big, highly visible things which need to be coordinated – the excellent day camps, school programs, and festivals to name a few. These all require countless hours of planning and organization. There are also endless minutiae that must be addressed – things that the average visitor to Fenner will likely never notice, but which would be sorely missed if they were to go neglected.

At the end of the day it all really boils down to a small fleet of very dedicated people putting in a lot of hard work and careful planning.  Many of the people who put in the work on the grounds and the programs and advisory boards are volunteers. Personalities need to mesh, and that doesn’t always happen smoothly. Agreements must be reached – sometimes compromises must be made. Funding must be found to implement plans, and that takes a whole other set of people working behind the scenes to make sure that Fenner can continue to be the haven that it is, and can run the excellent programs that it does.

To walk the grounds at Fenner is to experience a peaceful respite amid the bustle of the City of Lansing. Behind the serenity of nature is a flurry of activity – plants and animals working in cooperation and in competition with one another to survive and to thrive. Behind the serenity of Fenner is a similar struggle. These dedicated staff and volunteers are creating the partnerships and wrestling with the issues that need to be faced in order to keep Fenner running smoothly. Like the rest of the wildlife here, they can be hard to spot at times. But they’re around, if you know where to look. If you happen to cross paths with any of them, take a moment to let them know how much you enjoy Fenner, and appreciate the work they put in to keep it running.

On October 12th, Fenner will be having their first annual "Beast of a Feast" fundraiser, complete with tasty food and drinks, a silent auction full of exciting items (like this roadside rescue dresser), and a great local band, The Whiskey Pickers! And on October 13th and 14th will be Fenner's 39th annual Apple Butter Festival complete with live music, old-fashioned games, food, and of course the stirring of the apple butter! 

To make all of these wonderful events and celebrations possible, Fenner needs the help of many volunteers. Please consider giving a bit of your time and fill out this application to let us know what you would be interested in doing as a volunteer. And enjoy all the festivities too!

September Bird of the Month: Black-and-white Warbler

In today's post, Nathan Martineau writes about the Black-and-white Warbler, a bird that can easily be found at Fenner right now. Come to Fenner to see it yourself!

The month of September brings the opportunity to see many birds during their fall migration here at Fenner--including the Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia). Also, this month the Capital Area Audubon Society is leading Fall Migration Bird Walks here at Fenner on Saturdays (9-11am), which is another great opportunity!

The Black-and-white is different from other warblers because first, it is one of the few members of its family that does not change appearance between spring and fall, while the others transform from their bright spring plumage into "LBJs" or "little brown jobs." In fall, these"LBJs" are quite dully colored and similarly patterned and sometimes prove an extreme challenge to identify by species. 

Secondly, the Black-and-white Warbler has a very unique habit of hitching up and down tree trunks and branches while foraging for food, quite like a woodpecker or a nuthatch would do. Only one other species of warbler exhibits this behavior (the Prothonotary Warbler if you are curious), and even they only do it occasionally. 

Male

Female

The Black-and-white, as well as other warblers, can be found in any wooded setting throughout the park in migration, although the migrant birds tend to concentrate around the Woodland and Field Ponds, and the parking lot.  This may not be true on some days, though, as migration is always hit-or-miss and each day is different. Black-and-whites can be very common on a good migration day. They can be found here from late April through late May and again from September to early October.