Morningside Nature Center - Gainesville, Florida

Morningside Nature Center

3540 E University Ave

Gainesville, FL 32641-6057

(352) 334-2170

www.natureoperations.org

Morningside Nature Center combines a Nature Center and a living farm for a variety of interesting educational opportunities throughout the year.

Every Saturday, Sept to May,come bring your families to their Living History Days, where the Living Farm comes alive with staff interpreters that will show you what life was like on a rural Florida homestead farm in 1870. You can watch live demonstrations as they make biscuits, fresh butter,taste samples and more!

There are so many great events here for children, such as Barnyard Buddies, September to May,on Wednesdays and Sundays at 3pm, where kids can come and help barnyard staff feed and care for the barnyard animals.

The biggest festival of the year is the Farm and Forest Festival held on the last Saturday in August. This festival brings history to life with costumed artisans demonstrating music, sheepshearing, blacksmithing, spinning, weaving, woodstove cooking and more. Horse-drawn wagon rides, games, crafts and heritage animal demonstrations!

The Nature Center is a great place to bring your group for a hands on living history learning experience with some live creatures, bones, fur, shells, artifacts, and more! Skilled Nature Guide and Historian, Merald Clark, will walk you through life as a Timucuan Indian, how they lived, what they ate, and more!

Bryan loved this place, and we brought them a snakeskin to be identified that Bryan found. The staff were very kind and wonderful. This is a great place to bring your whole family!

I will be back for the Farm and Forest Festival!

Here is an update on some of the events at Morningside Nature Center from their office:

City of Gainesville Offers Family Fun Naturally!

Providing opportunities for family fun comes naturally for the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Nature Operations Division. Although the many nature parks throughout Gainesville provide a variety of nature-based recreation opportunities, Morningside Nature Center, Gainesville’s premier nature park, is the origin of the majority of family-oriented programming. Join us for the following events and programs:

Our ongoing programs run from beginning of September to the end of May:

Living History Days: Every Saturdays 9:00 am–4:30 pm

The Living History Farm comes to life with staff interpreting day-to-day life on a rural Florida farm. Sample biscuits, fresh butter and a slice of life from 1870! Animals are fed twice daily around 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. FREE.

Barnyard Buddies: Every Wednesdays and Sundays 3:00 pm

Morningside Nature Center has a farm, ee—i—ee—i—oh! On this farm, youngsters and their parents can meet and greet animals by helping staff with the afternoon feeding. This FREE program begins at 3:00 pm and lasts about 45 minutes to an hour.

Feed-A-Frog-Fridays: 1st Friday of each Month 2:00 pm

Join the fun, get the facts! Youngsters, with an adult, can join a Morningside Nature Center animal caretaker for amphibian and reptile feeding during Feed-A-Frog Friday. This FREE program lasts about 45 minutes to an hour.

AND:

CITY OF GAINESVILLE

Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs

Nature Operations Division

RELEASE DATE: February 15, 2010

CONTACT: Ludovica Weaver, Marketing Technician for Environmental Programs

Email: weaverl@cityofgainesville.org

Telephone: 352-334-3326

“Go Native” – it’s easy at the 2010 Spring Native Plant Sale at Morningside Nature Center!

Gainesville, Florida - Share in our passion for gardening and native plants by joining us for the largest offering of native plants in North Florida during the 2010 Spring Native Plant sale on Saturday, April 17th - open to the general public from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The sale is hosted cooperatively by the Paynes Prairie chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS), Friends of Nature Parks (FNP) and the City of Gainesville's Nature Operations Division of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs. On Saturday, the sale features a free naturalist-led wildflower walk at 11:30 a.m.

An exclusive member’s sale is on Friday, April 16th, and will run from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Friday’s sale is only open to members of the Florida Native Plant Society and Friends of Nature Parks. Memberships are available at the gate. Only cash and checks are accepted.

Join us for this family-friendly event, free expert plant advice at the FNPS booth and our famous free Park-A-Plant service that allows you to shop hands free while we tag, store and help load your plants. Morningside Nature Center is located at 3540 E. University Ave., three miles east of downtown Gainesville.

The Native Plant Sale features thousands of beautifully grown native wildflowers, ferns, shrubs, grasses, vines and trees grown at area nurseries. Vendors are members of the Florida Native Plant Society and certify that plants are nursery propagated and grown.

Proceeds from the sale benefit environmental and cultural history programs offered by the City of Gainesville’s Nature Operations Division.

For information about this event, joining the Florida Native Plant Society or Friends of Nature Parks, or programs offered by the Nature Operations Division, please call Morningside Nature Center at 352-334-3326 or visit http://www.natureoperations.org/.

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Plan to attend — Family-Fun at the Farm and Forest Festival at Morningside Nature Centeron Saturday, April 24, 2010

Gainesville, Florida – The City of Gainesville Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs is happy to announce the return of the Farm and Forest Festival at Morningside Nature Center, April 24, 2010. The festival is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Guests will experience life in North Central Florida during the mid to late 1800s at Morningside Nature Center’s Living History Farm.

The festival is full of fun for the whole family! Here is a partial list of activities and events:

· Old-time string band on-stage and strolling the grounds

· Horse-drawn wagon rides

· Period reenactment

· Reconstruction-era games in picnic area

· Traditional craft activities

· Visits with farm animals

· Costumed demonstrators’ making baskets, spinning, weaving and woodworking

Admission to the festival is $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 3 to 12. Admission is free for children under3.

Morningside Nature Center is located at 3540 E. University Ave., three miles east of downtown Gainesville. For more information about this event, call Morningside Nature Center at 334-3326 or visit www.natureoperations.org.

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On a Budget? Nature Operations Division offers the following free weekly programs until the end of May! Join us—time is running out!

Living History Days: Every Saturdays 9:00 am–4:30 pm

The Living History Farm comes to life with staff interpreting day-to-day life on a rural Florida farm. Sample biscuits, fresh butter and a slice of life from 1870! Animals are fed twice daily around 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. FREE.

Barnyard Buddies: Every Wednesdays and Sundays 3:00 pm

Morningside Nature Center has a farm, ee—i—ee—i—oh! On this farm, youngsters and their parents can meet and greet animals by helping staff with the afternoon feeding. This FREE program begins at 3:00 pm and lasts about 45 minutes to an hour.

Feed-A-Frog-Fridays: 1st Friday of each Month 2:00 pm

Join the fun, get the facts! Youngsters, with an adult, can join a Morningside Nature Center animal caretaker for amphibian and reptile feeding during Feed-A-Frog Friday. This FREE program lasts about 45 minutes to an hour.

For more information, please call 352-334-3326or visit www.natureoperations.org

Come see a tour!:

From Morningside back to Home at www.northfloridafamilyfunguide.com