[FLPERMACULTURE] Celebrate Spring at CNC's Open House 5/16 - 5/18

[Steve Gabriel]

Cayuga Nature Center (CNC) invites the public to its spring open house, 
a weekend full of food, music, tours and workshops for all ages.

Celebrate spring by joining us on a bird hike, helping build our new 
gardens, or walking in our woods to learn about woodland plants, 
mushroom cultivation, and forest management. You can take home new 
skills such as how to grow culinary mushrooms and cultivate beneficial 
and native plants in your garden.

On Friday, May 16th CNC welcomes local musicians to the stage for an 
evening benefit aimed at supporting our 2 acres of new gardens. Hee Haw 
Nightmare will bring its funky folk and old thyme sound at 6:30pm 
followed by the alternative country group El Caminos. Admission is a $10 
suggested donation, with all of the proceeds going towards plants, 
trees, and seeds.

On Saturday, May 17th Admission is free to the center and from 10 am to 
4 pm CNC will hold a volunteer day, where community members can join in 
and help plant out hundreds of flowers, shrubs, and trees while learning 
about gardening techniques, pruning, and more. Land Use Manager Steve 
Gabriel will offer garden tours at 12:00pm and 2:00pm and share the 
permaculture gardening strategies that allow for minimal maintenance, 
weeding, and water of CNC's gardens.

Sunday, May 18th will start early with a bird hike from 7:30am to 9:30am 
with birder and CNC Board Member Jim Spear. Meet in the lower parking 
lot. CNC will offer it's monthly brunch from 10:00am to 11:30am sourced 
from local and organic ingredients. We will serve buttermilk & vegan 
pancakes, eggs, homefries, and a seasonal dish cooked by CNC staff. 
Coffee, tea, and juice are included in admission, which is $10 for 
adults and $5 for children. Local music virtuoso Nate Silas Richardson 
will provide music during brunch.

After brunch join us for a special workshop from 11:30 to 2pm 
demonstrating the craft of cultivating shitake and oyster mushrooms with 
Land Use Manager Steve Gabriel and special guest Steve Sierigk. Trails 
will be open for hiking, and visitors can also enjoy our live animal 
collection and six story tree house.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.CayugaNatureCenter.org or 607.273.6260

CNC is a great place to explore the wonders of nature. Exhibits and 
activities include a collection of over 40 live animals, our butterfly 
house open from June to September, a six-story observational tree-house 
and over five miles trails, which meander through a mature deciduous 
forest, along gorges and streams, and past a variety of native plants 
and wildlife.