Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

 While in Naples over the holidays, we visited Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  I have been wanting to make a trip out here for a while, since it's been so long since I've been here.  When I was little and went to the Nature Conservancy for camp over the summers, we would make field trips out here and go tromping around in the swamp, exploring nature and getting right up close in the experience.  Alas, my kids lack that experience, and I know I will regret it! Hopefully all the outings I drag them along on, and make them go painfully slow on, will make up for it(a bit)...hopefully! One day I will take them on one of Clyde Butcher's swamp walks, when the $70.00 for each of us isn't such a big deal...  I did it when it was FREE!  My how the world has changed...  But I digress.

Entrance to the visitor center.  The kind man inside let me have the Audubon Society member rate even though I didn't have my card!  Figures, I have been carrying it around for a couple years and haven't used it even once and then after I decide to not carry it(after streamlining the wallet), I have the ability to use it and don't have it! UGH! I believe there's a man named Murphy who has a law that applies to this...?

After paying our fee for entry, we began our walk.  Just outside they had a lady that had a baby alligator you could pet.  I just snapped a picture, I have petted these before and I had also just washed my hands. Being a Florida Native- been there, done that, many times. 

Beyond the Alligator lady, there was a marquee that has some recent wildlife sightings.  My good friend Kathy and her boys went on this walk with us and they are checking out what we might see from the 2 mile walk on the boardwalk. 

We started out the walk with some loud cries that sounded kind-of like a laughing gull.  They were the cries of some red-shouldered hawks.  It was rather dry and not very birdy, but that is the norm for this time of year.  By all means it was teeming with life, just not right out in the open type of stuff.  If you go here in the winter-time, you must have time to spare, and stop along the way to be quiet and listen and watch.  Only then will you see the goings on around you.  We did this alot much to the dismay of Z-man and The Rocket, who accompanied me this time.  It caused us to loose our friends along the way as her boys were more interested in barreling through.  They are young, and kudos to Kathy for introducing them to the area and letting them explore it at their own pace(key to their enjoyment and retention of knowledge)! 

My escorts on this journey. 

Scenery along the way: 

A small garter snake, sunning on the boardwalk.   

I caught him also as he slithered off into the brush.  He evidently didn't like his audience even though we were very quiet and didn't crowd him.  It was very neat to watch him in the bushes, and how he maneuvered through them, of course it helped that he is not a venomous variety. He was, in fact, rather beautiful with his racing stripes, and serene stillness. 

A VERY OLD cypress tree.  This thing was huge! 

A red-shouldered hawk landed on this snag above the boardwalk. 

Night heron(?)

It was so neat to watch him walking on top of the vegetation.  Every once in a while he would step into a hole and stumble, causing him to raise his wings as if in flight.   

Cypress tree knees.  

Contrary to popular belief(even mine, as I was taught this), cypress knees have little to no bearing on the oxygen exchange of the tree it is connected to, rather, they provide stability in the unstable and mushy landscape for storms with high winds that would otherwise knock over the better part of the forest.  All the roots underneath the ground are growing together to form a mesh that provides stability.  It would be damn-near impossible to dig a hole in a mature swamp because of this very reason!  

The bald cypress trees are bald, they will get their "hats" back in summer. 

...and a parting shot. So true, so true. 

But you have to experience these things in order to love them and want to conserve them.  Get outside and visit your national, state, and local parks with your kids.  Unplug them and let them experience what's out there in nature that is ever-changing, entertaining, and imperiled by man if we don't conserve it!  If they don't know what they are missing now, how will they when it's gone?



Teeny-Tiny

While I was gone, I was thinking about you all, as evidenced by this tutorial.  I made some of these for the teacher's Christmas gift bags, and I thought about doing a tutorial on here for you.  So I took pics while I made them and here goes...

Walnut candles

Ingredient list:   beeswax, walnut halves, wicking appropriate for small candles, double boiler or the equivalent, and patience for pouring the wax...

 When you halve walnuts, be careful and you will get some nice little "boats" that make great candles(they also make great bath-tub boats if you use a tooth pick and a paper sail with only a little bit of wax in the bottom...). 

Start by shaving/chopping off some beeswax, the smaller the pieces, the quicker it will melt.

I don't have a double boiler, nor do I have the need to purchase one when I can engineer one of my own!

Melt the wax over simmering/gently boiling water.

Using your spoon, place a drop or so of melted wax into the bottom of your walnut half.  Immediately place your wick into the wax drop and let it harden.  This will stabilize your wick so it isn't moving around when you pour the rest of the wax into the shell.  As you can see in the picture, I bent the bottom part of the wick, it gives the wax a bit more to hold onto. 

After wick stabilization, you can pour the rest of the wax in, gently!  Be careful, and go slowly because the walnuts will sometimes tip over.  When you are done filling the shells, some will look like hearts, awwwwww!

 

Be sure to trim your wicks to about 1/4 inch before burning.

And there you go, Walnut candles.  Nothing to read a novel by on the winter solstice, by any means, but a sweet addition to a tea party or a mug of hot cocoa by the fire before bedtime...

Keep warm yall!

Gee, it's been a long time!

          

Hello, it's been a while since I've been in to visit. Sorry, I have just been so very busy the past couple of months! Halloween and then Thanksgiving and all that comes in between has just kept me from sitting and talking to you about what's been happening around here.

Well, the kids have a cold this weekend, they stayed home from school yesterday.  Today we completed the above winter wonderland scene in about 6 hours.  It was something fun to do while cooped up in the house(I didn't hear "I'm booooored!" once today!!! *big smile* )  I started out this morning hearing "After we make it, can we eat it?", and now I don't think they are so into the eating part.  It took too long to construct!

I think I will go backwards in the happenings around here:

            Starting with Thanksgiving, my parents came over and Zman came up and we had a grand time!  I didn't even set fire to anything this year, however the turkey didn't cook all the way through and so after carving a bit off, we had to flip it over and cook it some more.  We were NOT going to wait any longer!

Before that, we took an overnighter to St. Augustine to see the lights.  It was pretty and crowded, but we love St. Augustine, so it was ok! 

 Here is Sweetie Pie rockin' it in the tower at the Castillo...   

and here I am rockin' it on the top of the Castillo... 

Rocket Man and Sweetie Pie in front of the Castillo... 

We also took a trip in the opposite direction, to the panhandle of Florida.  Specifically Appalachicola, to the Florida Seafood festival.  Here, we were witness to an oyster eating contest: 

No-one threw up on stage, but I think they were close...  EWWWW!

Now I have to tell you, do not make a special trip for this festival as it is not anything like it's name implies.  The food is mostly vendors not from Florida(read: carnival food) and it is more like a county fair.  The gumbo I purchased from the booth of a local church was fabulous, but there were not many local or even Florida seafood food vendors like the name indicates.  Very sad and unfortunate for the area because it is such a charming town to visit! I fear the attendance will diminish in years to come if something is not done about the local representation of Florida seafood at this festival!  Cudos to the churches and local organizations for representing the area! 

The next day we had lunch at Wharf Express(EXCELLENT! I highly recommend this place!) down at Summer Camp.  We then took the liberty of walking out on the dock and the beach.  The kids had a blast with all the things they were finding, namely the horseshoe crab moltings and, of course, the dead stinky ones too.  We also watched the tide as it went out and the flora and fauna that were left behind.  Oh, we could spend hours and hours observing and exploring... 

And finally...  Here is Rocket Man on his final day of Archery class. 

He is such a fruit!

Now you are all caught up on the goings on around here, hopefully I can keep up through the rest of the holiday season.  Don't hold your breath!

October randomness

 Now that October has flown by(did it for anyone else too? or was it just me?) Here are a few pics of some events that happened...

                                                  Sweetie Pie's Ancient Roman mosaic cake:

It was a part of her project for school.  It's a bowl of fruit, with sunshine and some grapes laying down by the right side.  Good project to do as there wasn't really anything to bring home, disassemble and clean up! Yea!

The Rocket and I went on a field trip with his class to MOSI(Museum of Science and Industry, Tampa, FL).  We got to experience the weather exhibit going on right now.  I have to say that I was a bit dissapointed.  The kid's free play area was neat, however the actual exhibits going on were dissapointing.  Also, we saw an IMAX movie about dinosaurs, and WOW, was it B-O-R-I-N-G!!!  A bit of advice for those of you going to see IMAX movies: This is the second dinosaur movie that I have seen that was WAAAAAY over my head!  Don't go see a dinosaur movie at a museum unless you are really into dinosaurs, and know the jargon that goes with them!  UGH!

                                                   I got The Rocket's head on a platter....

                                                     And he got me on a bed of nails:

Yes, those are REAL nails!  It's not as amazing as it seems though, the surface area of your body offsets the effects of the nails.  Even so, it was still kinda pokey... 

And finally some Halloween pics... 

These are the kid's pumpkins.  They usually paint their pumpkins, which actually they did and then decided when S was carving the larger ones that they wanted to carve their own out.  These are baking pumpkins, and were very hard to carve.  But I think the kids did a good job anyhow! 

Here are the pumpkins that S carved, while I did laundry and made beds and washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen... 

From Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire cat.  I think he did a great job on them! 

Sweetie Pie in one of her many Halloween get-ups.  She couldn't make up her mind... (yes, her hair is purple) Technically, I don't know what she is dressed as, but I guess it doesn't really matter, she was happy and had a great time trick-or-treating!

Here is The Rocket.  He is a Werewolf.  His hair is green with black stripes, and he has fangs!  He had already been to a few of the neighbor's houses and this is the photo after I had called him back. His expression reads:  "HURRY!"  Geez, they get so antsy! 

The weekend before Halloween, some neighbors and I went to a costume party. The Rocket did not attend, but we let him in the group picture anyhow. 

What a motley crew we make!

At this party they served goat.  It was interesting, gamey, stringy and smokey, totally edible, but not something I will be running out to the grocery store for any time soon!  Now, it was the first time the man had cooked this kind of meat. The first time they took it off the grill, it was not done, so they had to put it back on the grill and cook it longer.  They will be serving it again next year and I think it will be better because they have a whole year to practice cooking techniques!

Well, the month of October and the start of the fall season has whizzed past and now we are racing into the craziest two months of the year...  ONWARD HO!!!!

I just blinked, is it January 1st yet?

Spanikopita

Spanikopita, otherwise known as spinach pie, or in my house as "Spank-your-pita", is a very yummy way of getting spinach into your diet.  I made this on a whim one day because I had some puff pastry and fresh spinach that I needed to use up.  I got the basic recipe here.  Of course, I played with the recipe and made variations of my own to make it better and easier.  Here's how I made it:
                                            First I cut up some green onions, about 1 bunch.



Next, wilt your spinach.  If you have already consulted the recipe,

I used bacon grease instead of olive oil to do this.  This adds yum factor.

The above is 1 bag of spinach. It looks like it won't all fit when you put it in your pan, but it shrinks down ALOT!

What your spinach looks like after wilting(the same entire 1 bag), you need to drain it so your filling doesn't run all over the pan. 

After spinach is wilted, saute the onions and some minced garlic, again in bacon grease. 

I had some bacon(where do you think I got all the bacon grease?) strips in the fridge I was saving for a sandwich, but I chopped them up and added them here for good measure, a worthy sacrifice! 

After everything is sauted/wilted up, throw it all in a bowl and add the eggs and feta, and your seasonings.  Mix it all up and you have something that looks like this: 

Spread it out on your puff pastry dough that has already been defrosted and rolled out a bit to smooth out the creases.  Line your pan with parchment paper, otherwise you will be scraping it off the pan and it won't look pretty!  Also try to think of the ultimate positioning of it all rolled up.  It is very hard to pick it up and move it after it is rolled.  Make sure to leave the sides and a little bit at the end free so you can seal it up good. 

Use the edge of the paper to help you roll it up.   

Seal the ends and position it on the baking sheet. 

Bake it at about 350 or so for about 40-45 minutes. Check it at 30 minutes and then determine how much longer you'll need. 

After it comes out of the oven.

Hmmmm, what to do with all this leftover green, bacony, spinachy goodness? OHHHH! I have some ideas!  A spooky halloween punch to drink on a dare, or a much more boring, but highly palatable idea, is to use it for soup flavoring. (Shhh, don't tell my kids I put that in the soup, they'll never eat it!) 

Here is the end product.  Spinach happiness on a plate, with a hint of bacon, the twang of feta, and the healthy goodness of iron without the metallic taste! 

Do I have something in my teeth? Who cares, give me another slice please...



Fort King Festival

This past weekend was the annual Fort King Festival held at the Fort King Museum.  This festival is the kick-off for the fall festival season here in these parts.  It is also a fund raiser(via a chicken dinner) for the Fort King Museum.  Usually we go as a family, however S and Sweetie pie went out of town to visit relatives so it was just The Rocket and I.  As always, the child part of the equation uttered the same old complaint to going out to a festival af any kind-"I don't wanna go!" and "Awwww do I have to?"  You know it's funny- just a day before, heck even the week before, he was saying how he wanted to dress up in his indian costume for the festival and was excited about going!

First thing we do is the candle making station.  I have a collection of candles the kids have made at various festivals over the years(I should probably get them out and burn them or they will overtake me soon...).   They always have a good time doing this activity and it's a lasting reminder of fun we have had. 

There are various booths around the festival, each demonstrating different period occupations and necessities. Alot of the same demonstrators come back year after year(alot of them also do the Ocali Cracker Days over at Silver River State Park).  It's fun to get to know these people a little bit more every year, they are starting to remember us! 

The woman below spins yarn from rabbit hair.  She sits her rabbits on her lap and then as they are shedding, she pulls the shedding hair off the rabbit and spins it into yarn.  She has spun many different types of fibers into yarn and has a collection of them for you to feel.  She also has some beautiful knitted/crocheted items for sale.  A word of caution for kids- the rabbits are working, so you can't pet them.

This is the cooper.  If you need a bucket or a dipper made, this is the man to see.  He carves the wood pieces and then fits them together with a metal ring around to hold them together.  Here he is in action:

A blacksmith hard at work, he was making a hook at the time.  This man does beautiful work!

This is a Spanish Conquistador.  His horse's name is Dixie, I forgot his name...  He was incredibly knowledgeable in the history of the different conquistadors and what kinds and numbers of horses they brought with them.  Dixie is a decendant of the Florida Cracker horses, which are believed to be decendants of the Conquistador's horses that were left here in Florida. 

He was kind enought to let The Rocket try on his hat:

It wasn't that heavy, as I tried it on too.  However after wearing it for a while, I imagine it got hot and heavy!

Inside the hat is a type of sling made of leather that fits the wearer's head(kind of like the inside of a construction hat), so the metal isn't actually resting on your head.

The next stop was the surgeon, he has an array of tools for display.  Fletcher was complaining about his tooth being loose and so the surgeon volunteered to pull it out for him!

No Problem!

Just kidding...  The Rocket had pulled it out the night before!

Hmmmm, exciting tools...

Over at the chickee huts, an indian was teaching how to throw spears with an atlatl.  An atlatl gives more leverage to the spear when thrown, so it flies faster and farther.  We had read about these in a book called The Crafts of Florida's First People by Robin C. Brown, the same book that had inspired him to make his arrow.  The Rocket caught on pretty quick and was very good at it!

This man was very patient and since it wan't busy The Rocket and two other boys had the best time trying to outdo each other!

This is one of the chickee huts at the museum, it is a permanent display and you can go inside them.  It is surprisingly cooler in there!

This lady and her husband are regulars at this festival, they also do alot of other festivals around Florida, (including the Old Florida festival in Naples).  They are knowledgeable and fun to converse with.  She has been working on this pouch for a couple years now and maybe by next year it will be finished.  She has hand beaded all the detailing on it!

Here is a group just shooting the breeze. 

All of the exhibitors here at the Fort King Festival are very informative and willing to tell you all you care to know about their occupation in history.  I learn something new every time I go and that's part of the fun!  The Rocket saw his Indian buddy from last year(the inspiration for his Halloween costume) and they got to play for a while on a swing while I was learning. 

It was a fun couple of hours, and the weather was perfect for it.  I enjoyed mostly just being with The Rocket by myself, special times together!