by Doreen Adamany, president, Friends of Wisdom Prairie
The Friends of Wisdom Prairie kick off the New Year with a schedule of activities and events that are sure to please! Here’s a preview…
Several of the upcoming Friends of Wisdom Prairie activities for 2016 involve birds.
Pictured here from May 2015: birding on the grounds of Holy Wisdom Monastery
before a Wisdom Prairie Workday.
Tuesday, April 19, 2016; 11:45am-1:30pm
Women and Monastic Life in Twelfth-Century Germany:
Hildegard of Bingen and Herrad of Hohenbourg
Abbesses Hildegard of Bingen (now a Doctor of the Church) and Herrad of Hohenbourg were two important figures of the monastic world and the twelfth-century renaissance. Both have left us major written and artistic works that provide fascinating and wide-ranging insights into monastic life, education, concepts of science and medicine, prophecy, theology and a reverence for nature and the land. This illustrated talk will focus on these two extraordinary medieval women and their world. Guest speaker Jane Tibbetts Schulenburg is a medievalist whose area of specialization in teaching and research is medieval women, especially female monastics, and women and sacred space. She is Professor of History in the Department of Liberal Arts and Applied Studies, Medieval Studies, and Gender and Women’s Studies, UW-Madison.
Thursday, June 2, 2016; 7:30 am-5:30 pm
Visit to Horicon Marsh, Daylong Outing
Experience spring migration at Horicon Marsh, the “Little Everglades of the North.” Enjoy birding in a habitat that is home to more than 280 species of birds. Bring your bird book and binoculars—let’s go birding! This is a tour of the largest freshwater cattail marsh in the United States. This trip includes a trip into the marsh aboard a pontoon boat, a box lunch, time in the new DNR Explorium museum and a naturalist-led walking tour.
Please pencil in these summer and fall dates as well.
Wednesday, July 20, 2016; 5:30-8:00pm Dinner Lecture
Birding in Peru with naturalist Sylvia Marek and Glenn Chambliss
Saturday, October 8, 2016; Daylong Outing
International Crane Foundation and Aldo Leopold Shack led by Sue and Charles Bradley
Wednesday, November 2, 2016; 5:30-8:00pm Dinner Lecture
Madagascar and Cape Provence with Randy Hoffman at Annual Meeting
Wisdom Prairie work parties begin March 23, 2016 and will be held twice a month through November.
We hope you’ll join us any time. For more information about the Friends of Wisdom Prairie, details about our activities and membership, visit benedictinewomen.org/environment/friends-of-wisdom-prairie/
See you soon—here, there and in the prairie!