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Memorial Day Weekend at Woodlands Nature Station in the LBL

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Gorgeous Owl Nature Station

Great Horned Owl: One of the Gorgeous Residents at Woodlands Nature Station

One of my favorite places in all of Kentucky (and beyond) is Woodlands Nature Station in the Land Between the Lakes. In fact, as soon as the weather allowed this year, it was the first place we visited in the region. I told the bobcat, owls, groundhog, eagle, possum, turtles, deer, turkeys, and other birds how much I had missed them.

I did not give the snakes the same greeting. They understand – they know a walking phobia when they see it.

This Memorial Day weekend, for “River Days,” The Woodlands Nature Station will have extended hours and will be open until 7:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday, May 29 & 30.

There will be many great programs throughout the weekend to celebrate the area’s rivers and to welcome back the season. For most of us, Memorial Day Weekend just feels like the whole world is coming back to life. And with so many things opening back up and mandates being lifted soon… I don’t know about you, but it makes me so happy, I can feel happy tears building up, threatening to flow like the rivers that’ll be celebrated!

Fourth grade students can go to https://everykidinapark.gov/, for their free Every Kid in a Park pass, and get their family in for free! For more information, call the Nature Station at 270.924.2299.

Woodlands Nature Station is located at 3146 Silver Trail Road (a beautifully scenic road you’ll most definitely enjoy).

Beautiful Turtle at Woodlands Nature Station

One of the Turtles at the Nature Station

Wolf Week at Woodlands Nature Station October 5 -11!

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Red Wolf at Woodlands Nature Station

Woodlands Nature Station, in the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, will celebrate Wolf Week October 5 – 11, 2019.

The Friends of Land Between the Lakes would love for your family to join them at Woodlands Nature Station during fall break for Wolf Week! The fun will run from 10 am – 5 pm, October 5 – 11, 2019 at the Nature Station.  Admission is $5 for ages 13 and up, $3 for ages 5 – 12 and free for ages 4 and under.

You’ll see the beautiful endangered red wolves who call the Nature Station home.  Special wolf programs are offered each day, including feeding time (daily at 2:30 pm). You can even become a werewolf! Discover what makes this beautiful animal so very special.

As an animal lover, I LOVE opportunities like this, for several reasons:

  • Any time spent with animals makes my heart soar.
  • Learning more about animals helps us to be able to help them more – to keep species alive and thriving.
  • Aside from my family (including cats who are like family), animals and birds are my favorite things to photograph – so opportunities like this make me AND my camera extra happy.
  • The Nature Station is exceptional at putting on programs that help teach children to respect (and to help in any way they can) wildlife. We need more children growing up to be men and women who appreciate, love, respect, and want to preserve animals and birds who are counting on us. Their future depends on us as well as those who come after us.

Woodlands Nature Station will also be naming the resident female red wolf to go along with the male wolf that is already named, and you get to help! Join them during Wolf Week or on Facebook @woodlandsnaturestation to provide appropriate and educational name suggestions from September 30 – October 6, 2019, and then again to vote on the final names from October 7-12, 2019, with the winning name being announced during the Nature Station’s Woolly Bear Festival on October 13, 2019.

Programming includes:

Saturday, October 5
11 am – 1 pm – Wolf Origami
11:30 am – 12 pm – Club Tooth and Claw
12:30 – 2 pm – The True Story of the Three Little Pigs: A Puppet Show
1 – 3 pm – DIY Canine Track Books
2:30 – 2:50 pm – Red Wolf Treat Time
3:30 – 4 pm – Bites for Bobcat

Sunday, October 6
11 am – 1 pm – Playdough Puppies
11:30 am – 12 pm – Eat, Prey, Love
1 – 3 pm – DIY Canine Track Books
2:30 – 3:15 pm – Happy Wolf Day Party
3:30 – 4 pm – Sunday Funday – Crafty Coyotes

Monday, October 7
1:30 – 2 pm – The Rare Red: A Look Ahead
2:30 – 2:50 pm – Red Wolf Treat Time
3:30 – 4 pm – The Awesome Opossum

Tuesday, October 8
1:30 – 2 pm – I Wish I Were a Werewolf
2:30 – 2:50 pm – Red Wolf Treat Time
3:30 – 4 pm – Dinner Time for Bald Eagle

Wednesday, October 9
1:30 – 2:30 pm – Crafty Coyotes
2:30 – 2:50 pm – Red Wolf Treat Time
3:30 – 4 pm – For Goodness Snakes

Thursday, October 10
1:30 – 3 pm – The Art of the Wolf Paint by Number Workshop – $15 fee, registration required, call 270.924.2020
2:30 – 2:50 pm – Red Wolf Treat Time
3:30 – 4 pm – Vulture Culture

Friday, October 11
1:30 – 2 pm – Back With the Pack
2:30 – 2:50 pm – Red Wolf Treat Time
3:30 – 3:50 pm – Red Wolf Treat Time, Second Helpings!

For more information, please call 270.924.2299 or visit www.landbetweenthelakes.us.

Red Wolf at Woodlands Nature Station LBL

Homeplace Pickin’ Party at Land Between the Lakes 2019

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There’s going to be a Pickin’ Party at the Homeplace and you’re invited!

Philip Steinmetz, great nephew of Grandpa Jones, is among the artists scheduled to perform at this year’s Pickin’ Party. Given his musical roots, he’s ideal for this annual musical celebration of Old Time Music!

Did you know that Louis Marshall “Grandpa” Jones was born in Niagra, Kentucky?

The Pickin’ Party will take place at the Homeplace 1850s Working Farm (4512 The Trace in the Land Between the Lakes) on Saturday, June 8 and Sunday, June 9, 2019 from 10 am to 5:30 pm. Special admission price for the day is $7 for ages 13 and up and $5 for ages 5-12. Admission includes entry to the farm and doors open at 9 am.

From the Land Between the Lakes:

Enjoy the best in Old Time Music as it echoes through the hills, hollows and the river valleys of the Homeplace. Old Time Music represents the oral traditions of our ancestors brought with them from the old world, then changed to reflect experiences in their new homeland. Today Old Time Music is our connection to the past; we can hear their voices telling stories of hardships, sorrows and celebrations of good times.

Bring your banjo, guitar, fiddle or harmonica and join in on the fun during open mic and the jamming sessions. Take a stroll around the farm and visit with the farm family and the farm animals about their daily work and enjoy daily programs throughout the farm. Festival food will be available for purchase. Bring lawn chairs or ground blankets.

Artists scheduled to perform include:

  • Phillip Steinmetz, great nephew of Grandpa Jones
  • Fret-less banjo picker and blues guitar performer Mark Dvorak
  • Paducah’s own Wheelhouse Rousters
  • 21st anniversary Pickin Party performance of Dixie Volunteers String Band
  • Common Thread, talented women who perform old time favorites
  • Nathan Blake Lynn and Josh Coffey return as masters of ceremonies

Sponsors for the event are Kentucky Machine & Engineering, Inc. Cadiz, Kentucky; Lake Barkley State Resort Park, Cadiz, Kentucky; and WKMS, Murray, Kentucky.

Other programming includes:

  • Saturday, June 8
    1-3 pm – Strong as an Ox
    1 -3 pm – Get Your Homeplace “Driver’s” License
    3:30 pm – Piggin’ Party
  • Sunday, June 9
    1– 3 pm – Sweet Jamming at the Single Pen
    1– 3 pm – Game of Graces

Fourth grade students can go to https://everykidinapark.gov/ to receive a free Every Kid in a Park pass, and get their family in for free. For more information, call the Homeplace at 931.232.6457 .

Pictures from Snap Apple Night at the Homeplace 1850s Working Farm October 14

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Snap Apple Night at the Homeplace

We make just about all of the special events in the Land Between the Lakes – especially the ones involving the Nature Station, the Elk & Bison Prairie, and The Homeplace, so you’d better believe we were at Snap Apple Night last Saturday night. Guests gathered around the bonfires and got all comfortable and cozy while storytellers Robert Valentine and Jamie Futrel told stories (a few that were in the spirit of Halloween).

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Snap Apple Night at the Homeplace 2017

Like any event the Homeplace takes part it, the night was absolutely wonderful. God helped with some extraordinary weather, too. They even had hot apple cider to drink – it doesn’t get much better than that!

The “Working Farm” was decorated beautifully – fortunately we got there before it got dark so we could see everything. They did an outstanding job – as they do with everything, if we’re being honest.

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Snap Apple Night at the Homeplace 2017

When the sun went down, the lanterns and bonfire added to the ambiance perfectly.  Everyone involved did an exceptional job of making the night extra fun and memorable for guests of all ages.

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Snap Apple Night at the Homeplace 2017

There’s just something relaxing, fun, and (very) memorable about a night like this. Sitting back, sipping apple cider, and listening to wonderful stories. The storytellers were absolutely excellent. Jamie Futrel and Robert Valentine were both VERY funny and beyond interesting. I love a good story, so I was completely in my element.

Robert Valentine had an extra, extra special gift that I’m not sure I even knew existed. Heck, maybe he invented it. He was superb – and I mean SUPERB – at telling wonderful stories that seemed to be written especially for children and especially for adults.

Seriously, you could have set him and his stories in a roomful of children and they’d have been a perfect match. You could have set him and his stories in a roomful of adults and they would have been a perfect match.

Now, while this is a great and commendable gift to have with ANY story…  it is an absolute GIFT (all caps) when it comes to “scary” stories.

When I saw all the kids at the event, I kind of wondered how everything would play out. As a mother, I know all too well that young people may “think” they want to be scared out of their wits, only to regret it terribly once their wits begin to get away from them! I have to admit, I sort of wondered how many kids would be having nightmares that night!

This would be a problem I’d soon realize didn’t exist because Robert Valentine, after all, has the GIFT.

The one he just may have invented.

He was able to tell two very interesting, colorful, and “edge of your seat” type scary stories that had all the kids and all the adults spellbound. Best of all, they ended just the way they should have – in a manner that ensured zero nightmares.

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Snap Apple Night at the Homeplace

Whenever you read about an event at the Homeplace, just go ahead and mark your calendar and go. They do not do anything second rate.

I’m not sure they’d even know how to go about it.

Snap Apple Night at the Homeplace 2017

Hummingbird Month at the Nature Station in the Land Between the Lakes

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Hummingbirds at The Nature Station (Land Between the Lakes)

If you’ve ever been to Woodlands Nature Station in the Land Between the Lakes, you know why I say that… as a bird and animal lover… it’s one of my favorite places in the world. The bird-watching (and photographing, of course) can’t be beat. As my husband could attest, I could and do spend hours watching the beautiful birds while looking for just the right picture.

Hummingbirds are just one of the beautiful birds that have the good sense to flock to the Nature Station. They know a great buffet when they see it! August is Hummingbird Month at Woodlands and if you’re anything like me, you won’t want to miss a single thing… or feather. Notice that reservations are required for nearly half of the programs.

Special Hummingbird Programs:

  • Throughout August: Nature Station Hummingbird Photo Contest
  • Friday, August 4, 6-8pm: Dinner with the Hummingbirds (reservations required)
  • Saturday & Sunday, August 5 & 6: Hummingbird Festival
  • Tuesdays & Thursdays at 10am: Morning with the Hummingbirds
  • Wednesdays, August 2, 9, & 30 at 11:30am: Hummingbirds of the World
  • Saturday, August 12 at 9:30am: Hummingbird Photography Workshop (reservations required)
  • Saturday, August 26 at 9am: EXCLUSIVE: Early Morning Photo Session (reservations required)
  • Saturday, August 19 at 9am: Hummingbird Café (reservations required)
  • Sunday, August 13: Knee-high Naturalists – Hummingbirds

 

"When reading about a Kentucky event, please be sure you check the date. Old events are not always deleted from the website. If you have an event you'd like to see on Genuine Kentucky or a 'Made in Kentucky' food or product you'd like reviewed, please contact us! " ~ Joi ("Joy")

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