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Newcomer Discovers Limberlost

4/28/2020

 
Curt Burnette has been writing the Limberlost Notebook column for the Berne Witness since the fall of 2012. This is a look back at one of his first columns. 

Wherein a newcomer discovers the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts

​By Curt Burnette

Gene Stratton-Porter introduced the Limberlost to the rest of the country in her first book, The Song of the Cardinal. Her next book, Freckles, brought her readers back to the Limberlost and introduced the Birdwoman and the fictional stand-in Geneva - Onabasha. It was her fourth novel, A Girl of the Limberlost, which made the Limberlost famous around the world. Inexpensive reprints of Freckles and Girl were sold in the U. S. and abroad. Average people were transported to the Limberlost no matter where they lived. Gene received letters from such far-flung places as China, Australia, and South Africa, and every corner of the United States. The Limberlost had become legendary. 

But by the time it had become famous, it was also mostly gone. oil production, timber removal, and agricultural needs led to the destruction of the once 13,000 acre Limberlost. After Gene's death in 1924, her popularity and influence waned, but she was not completely forgotten. The Limberlost Cabin in Geneva was preserved as an historic site on December 31, 1946. And although Gene and the Limberlost are gone, the Land of the Limberlost remains. 

The citizens of the Land of the Limberlost are small town folks with big ideas. It didn't take me long to realize this after I began my job at the Limberlost State Historic Site as the naturalist. I saw a committed support group, the Friends of the Limberlost, working to keep the Limberlost Cabin an important part of the community and vital to the tourism of the area. I saw this same group, through the Limberlost Remembered Committee, working with Nature Preserve (a division of DNR) and the local agricultural community to restore flood-prone farmland back to Limberlost wetlands. I also saw a nice 4000 square foot welcome center under construction. there sure was a lot happening in this small town!

Something special is going on It isn't just that there are currently over 1500 acres [now around 1700 acres] of nature preserves in the area. A lot of places have natural areas around them. It isn't just that there is an historic home in a picturesque small town. There are historic homes in many small towns. It isn't just that this is a place where a very famous Hoosier author lived for many years. There are plenty of places where famous people have lived. So just what is it that is so special? 

It is all of the above taken together. What I see happening is a version of the old saying that something can be of greater value than the sum of its parts. Each of the things mentioned above are nice, but taken separately aren't all that special. But when convinced they rise above the ordinary. Not many places have nature preserves surrounding a town that has a fine historic home of a famous author, a beautiful welcome center, and dedicated staff and volunteers committed to the excellence of these facilities. That's what's so special. Nice job folks! You are the reason the whole (the Land of the Limberlost) is greater than the sum of its parts. 
Picture
Limberlost Cabin. Photo by Bill Hubbard. 
Picture
Bald eagle on nest spring 2020. Photo by Bill Hubbard. 
Picture
Cattle egret at the Limberlost Swamp Nature Preserve in the spring 2020. Photo by Curt Burnette. 
Picture
Trout lily at the Munro Nature Preserve, which was once part of the Charles and Gene Stratton-Porter farm. Photo by Terri Gorney. 
Picture
Monarch on prairie dock at the Loblolly Marsh Nature Preserve. Photo by Randy Lehman. 
Picture
Veronica's Trail at the Loblolly Marsh Nature Preserve. 
Picture
Loblolly Marsh in early spring. 

Earth Day is Every Day!

4/21/2020

 

Earth Day is Every Day!
By Adrienne Provenzano

The Bird Woman seeks and the Bird Woman finds.
The Bird Woman looks with her heart and her mind.
The Bird Woman hopes and the Bird Woman waits and waits.
Till something wonderful happens!
Like a butterfly emerging from its tight cocoon.
Or bullfrogs leaping in the heat of June.
Like a heron flying in a soaring arc.
Or a moth making motions in the evening's dark.
The Bird Woman seeks and the Bird Woman finds.
The Bird Woman looks with her heart and her mind.
The Bird Woman hopes and the Bird Woman waits and waits.
Till something wonderful happens!
 She snaps a picture and captures a scene.
When the ground is white, or the ground is green.
When the sky is clear, or the sky is cloudy.
Then she takes her treasures home, till another day dawns.
She takes her treasures home, till another day dawns.
The Bird Woman seeks and the Bird Woman finds.
The Bird Woman looks with her heart and her mind.
the Bird Woman hopes and the Bird Woman waits and waits.
Till something wonderful happens!
And something wonderful, something wonderful,
Something wonderful always happens!


Gene Stratton-Porter understood the Earth as an ecosystem, long before that term came into use. She appreciated the natural world using all her senses. Wednesday, April 22, 2020 is the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, and event established to celebrate our planet. Our global home.
Whether you call is the Pale Blue Dot, the Blue Marble, Spaceship Earth, or something else, we all share time and space on this unique place.
I wish everyone a Happy Earth Day! Here are few ideas for what you might do to celebrate. Check out www.nasa.gov/earthday and https://nasa.gov/content/earth-day-2020-50th-anniversary-toolkit, as well as www.earthday.org for lots of images, videos, educational resources, and information. Look for Gene Stratton-Porter's fiction and non-fiction works online. Go on a journey with a story by a Friend of the Limberlost, like  Bill Hubbard's new online book "Billy Jim Explores The Limberlost (free under the Resources section of this website!) or (re)read one of Ken Brunswick's books, or browse through whatever nature book you've been planning to get to "someday." Catch up on reading the Friends of the Limberlost newsletters and blogs. Enjoy the photos and videos on the Friends' Facebook page. Spend a little time in nature, in the Land of the Limberlost wherever you are.
 
Adrienne Provenzano is a Friend of the Limberlost, Advanced Indiana Master Naturalist, and volunteer NASA Solar System Ambassador. 


Picture
Earth as seen from Apollo 17.
Picture
Earth as seen from Apollo 8.
Picture
Picture
Great Blue Heron. Photo by Randy Lehman.
Picture
Sunset over wetlands in Geneva on April 17 2020 by Terri Gorney.

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