Spring has Sprung

One of the most exciting things about spring, at Conner Prairie and elsewhere, is fresh food growing in the garden! Who doesn't love the first bowl of fresh strawberries or blueberries each year?!

Now, I'll admit that I've always hated peas, asparagus, and lima beans. But when I first tasted them fresh from the Liberty Corner garden, I quickly realized that what I was eating out of a can or from a frozen bag were not actually peas or limas - blech!. I was so naive - EVERYTHING tastes better fresh from the garden.

My favorite thing, the food I look forward to most in the early spring is a fresh-from-the-oven rhubarb pie! Mmmmm!

I was just recently reading that seed companies all over the country are reporting between 20 and 30% higher sales - people want to spend less on food these days, they want to eat fresh, and it feels so good to grow your own food! The Indy Star just had an article giving tips for starting your own garden. And now is the best time to start - from now until mid-May, you can get great results that you can take to the kitchen!

At Conner Prairie, we have SEVEN fully-functional gardens in the historic areas. Opening Day is Thursday, April 2. And over the next few weeks, anybody is more than welcome to come and help start the season by taking part in planting the gardens.

Here's the garden plan for 1886 Liberty Corner:

What are you growing in your garden?
What are your favorite spring foods fresh from the garden?

Balloon Pilots in Training

Hello to you all.

I am Adam Bouse and I’ll be posting from time to time on this new Conner Prairie staff blog. I am an Experience Manager and this will be my third season at CP. I’ve had my hands in a LOT of different projects around the grounds (and still do). I want to share with you the back story on how this place works – what does a “day-in-the-life” look like, how do we train, how do we get ready for events, and what are our inspirations. I figure that the best way to start posting here is to let you in on a little bit of what I’ve been working on most recently.

Maybe you’ve heard: we’re opening a new experience in June! (check out the pictures of construction under way) “The 1859 Balloon Voyage” will take you through the story of how Indiana played host to the first air-mail delivery. You’ll get to experience the excitement of being in Lafayette in 1859 for the original balloon launch, learn about balloon technology, and play with some fun balloon-related interactives. The whole experience will culminate in a real life ballon trip – up, up, up and away to almost 400 ft (weather dependent)!

Just last week, two other staffers and I went to begin our pilot training. Lots of physics involved, but going up is a great experience for sure. Here are some photos of the balloon we trained on. While the colors are different from ours, the size and operation are just the same.

(photos by John Elder)