Hi everyone! Well, what a great day we had at the museum on Saturday- the Kalapuya Harvest Playshop was so great!! It was well attended with about 18 kids. We were so thankful to have Matt and Anna there, who shared with us their expertise in Native American tools and ways. We got to go to different "stations" and try out things like building a camas pit oven out of pieces of felt, pounding acorns, making cordage, and seeing how a pine needle basket was put together. Then we got face painting with some red ocher (a natural mineral.) We had a nice lunch and then got to see how fire is started with a bow drill and with flint and steel! I still need to brush up on my skills with fire starting, as I can get a coal easily onto my tinder pile, but getting it to burst into flames seems to be hard for me. So Anna won the fire starting race. 

We had a private birthday party here last weekend and it was a lot of fun! Salma turned 6 years old. Her mom rented the space from us, and organized games and food treats. She had us looking for buried fossils (in corn meal) and playing pin the tail on the bunny (it is a picture of checkers, the bunny they got to pet.) And there were also sack races!

We had a nice walk down to the pond where we saw frogs, and we got to pet the pony and feed the ducks and chickens. A great day was had by all! Thanks to Dina and her family for the great time!

pin the tail on Checkers!

sack races!

Digging for buried fossils!

 
And yummy treats!

We had a great time with Brian and Wendy Stoner and their collection of awesome bugs! We had about 12 kids come out with their parents, and we got to touch and hold all kinds of insects. We also learned about scavengers and predators, and about the good things insects do for us. There was a tarantula, a giant millipede, and walking sticks galore! And we can't forget about those Madagascar hissing cockroaches. I got to hear one hissing- it was creepy! After that we all went outside to feed the ducks and chickens and had a great time. Hope you will join us next time for Kalapuya Harvest Playshop, on October 18th.

Oh no! The millipede got scared and peed on this boy!

Go to our photo gallery to see more pictures.

Hi all, don't miss the bug safari day this Sunday at 2pm. We are excited to host Brian and Wendy Stoner, and their unbelievable pets! These are some of the coolest creatures you will ever see. Did you know that insects make up over half of the living species on earth? That means there are more of them than any other kind of animal. I hope to see you on Sunday- don't forget to bring a liability release form from our web site and call me to pre-register at 683-8271. 

Hi all, I know this isn't necessarily related to the museum, but I got a chance while on a campout with the spiralscouts this weekend to go to a really cool place! It was the White Wolf Sanctuary, and they only have Arctic wolves. Check out www.whitewolfsanctuary.org. We got to pet them through the fence. It was expensive to go, but worth it! I loved their beautiful gold eyes, and their wildness. The best part was the way they all howled when we got out of our cars in the parking area, and again when we left. I had never heard that sound in person before and it stirred something primal deep inside me. Here are some pictures:

I am now the proud mommy of 5 monarch caterpillars! Well, okay, so I'm not technically their mommy, but I AM their caretaker. I have them in two big gallon jars with milkweed plants and netting over the top. They are eating and resting and pooping continuously. I hope they will make it to chrysalis stage and then emerge as butterflies! I am getting help from some pro- monarch raisers, like Linnea, and John with the North American Butterfly Association (NABA). Here are some pictures that Linnea shared with me of her successful butterfly raising. I hope to do as well. Jade and I will have to release them out at the farm!

new arrival

Larva on milkweed

male butterfly

black chrysalis before emerging

Another great museum event happened this Saturday as we shared our scaley friends!

John and several others from the Oregon Herpetelogical Society came out and brought their animals to share with us. Also a few friends of mine came out- Kaja and Brandon brought their Iguana, "Iggy", and James brought his Ball Python. Also Tatyana and Selena and their mom, Diane, brought out their bearded dragon "Lizzie". We were blessed with a great turnout and great weather, and some patient creatures. We got to handle, hold, and pet many of the creatures, and John shared a talk with us about snakes and such. After lunch and a painting project, many of us walked down to the pond and did some dip netting. I caught a bullfrog tadpole that had already grown out it's front legs and one back leg, but still had a long tail. All the kids got to hold it- it was so big! We had a great time.

Hi all, well I forgot to tell you about the playshop we had June 7th called "Trees: Their Place in Nature." We had Alby, and arborist, come and share with us about trees and nature. We looked at different cones and leaves and bark and learned some things about the trees on the property. It was pretty fun! We collected some things on our walk and then got to answer some quiz questions to see what we remembered. Everyone got stickers to take home. Here's a picture of us counting tree rings- this tree was 37 years old:

Thanks again, Alby, for sharing your time and expertise with us! 

Click here to see a video of Matt talking about dragonflies.

What a nice day we had yesterday- the weather cooperated and everyone had a blast! Matt told us a bit about dragonflies and their life cycle, and showed us pictures from a kids book. Then we talked about what we might see down at the pond. We took our dip nets and went down there (being careful not to disturb the mama duck and her baby ducklings) and we caught all sorts of creatures!

Well, what a great time we had on the field trip day for the Family School 4th/5th graders! We were lucky that the weather held, too! I did a presentation on the Kalapuya of the Willamette Valley, with all kinds of artifacts and objects to touch and explore. Then Willa did a presentation in the pioneer room all about early settler life. She had a bunch of artifacts out and the kids got to grind corn and a whole bunch of other hands-on activities. They also got to be the first ones to try out our new museum scavenger hunt!

What a great day we had! Pictures to come soon. Thanks to the great kids for being so enthusiastic and respectful!