By Ben Gruber

Columnist

This week, I have a couple of upcoming events to share with you.

First off, there is a new and exciting event in town called Agriventure. Taking place the first two weeks of June, up to 50 children will have the opportunity to spend six evenings at the Memory Lane Farm on Heritage Drive just south of Marshfield. The Wolf family has a strong desire to give back and share a passion for the country life with local youth.

I will be helping out with the forestry program, and children will also have the opportunity to participate in gardening, farm animal activities, woodworking, and arts and crafts. When participants make it around to my group, we will take a wagon out to the back woods and learn all about the forest ecosystem. The other group leaders have fun stuff in store as well.

This adventure is all about dirty hands and no screen time, and I have a strong hunch there will be some new friendships forged as well. The Wolfs have a beautiful farm, and it sounds like they have been dreaming of putting this together for some time now.

If you are interested in getting a child signed up, head over to memorylanefarm.us, and at the bottom of the homepage is a registration form. Also, if you enjoy working outside with children, we are looking for a good mentors and volunteers. There is contact info at that same website.

I am “on call” right now to help out catching some elk calves in the Jackson County area. There is a list of volunteers willing to help search for newborn elk calves so they can get fitted with a radio collar to assist the biologists in monitoring and managing the herd. If you are interested in volunteering also, contact Steve Meurett at steven.meurett@wisconsin.gov or 715-284-1486. Be prepared for long walks and crappy weather and mosquitoes, but it would be worth it to put a collar on a newborn elk.

The Wisconsin DNR has proclaimed June 3-4 to be Free Fun Weekend. No fishing licenses are required to fish, and no state park passes are required to enter any state park. It is hard to beat that and is a good reason to take someone new along and show them how great fishing can be.

With a plethora of beautiful state parks in Wisconsin, take advantage of the free day, and see what you have been missing out on. A lot of bluegills and bass should be in shallow water near shore and easy to catch without a boat.

Interested in learning about waterfowl hunting? On Aug. 19-20, Kids and Mentors Outdoors is helping to put on a waterfowl hunting clinic at the Mead Wildlife Area. Designed for the new hunter, the first day we will teach you about duck and goose calling, a chance to see some retrieving dogs work, canoe safety and practice, wetland biology, and waterfowl ecology. Day two will be a wing shooting clinic, and this course is open to hunters of any experience. This great class will improve wing shooting skills just before the season. For more information on this one, you can contact me at bwgruber@gmail.com.

Now, get outside.

Ben Gruber can be reached at bwgruber@gmail.com.