By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Ask Maggie Solomon-Scheller about her favorite activity at Saturday’s Mother Nature Festival, and she will quickly say, "Making a wind-catcher."
Maggie, who is 5 years old, also liked the face-painting booth. Only in her case, it was more like "arm painting," because she had a butterfly painted on her arm.
Maggie’s mother, Nicole Scheller, said she liked learning about healthy streams and how to identify whether a stream is healthy at the festival, which was held at the Lawrence Nature Center at the end of Drexel Avenue.
"I learned there are certain organic indicators of healthy streams. I also learned about mushrooms," Ms. Scheller said, adding that she was impressed by the presentation made by 11-year-old Sonja Michaluk.
But there was more to the annual Mother Nature Festival than face-painting, making wind-catchers and other crafts, and discussions about healthy streams and mushrooms.
In the yard outside the Rinck House — the headquarters for the Lawrence Nature Center — the Garden Gate Garden Club had a booth to let visitors know about the club, and the Lawrence Township Shade Tree Commission was offering tree seedlings to visitors. The Girl Scouts also set up a booth.
There was an exhibit on bicycle safety — from the use of proper hand signals to let motorists know that the bicyclist is turning left or right, to examples of reflective safety vests to be worn at night, and bicycle helmets to protect the head in case of a fall.
Volunteer Michael Erdie was manning a booth in which visitors could learn how to straw and make a pot scrubber, a cake tester, a cobweb duster and even a whisk broom, Appalachian style.
Nick Bosted sat on a chair at the booth, concentrating on making a whisk broom. He joked that it would be his Mother’s Day present for his mother.
Visitors also could learn about electric bicycles from Phil Duran, who brought one along to the festival. The cost of a do-it-yourself conversion kit begins at around $500, or one could purchase a professionally converted electric bicycle for up to $2,500.
Mr. Duran explained that the bicycle could be used the old-fashioned way, by using the pedals. But with the flick of a switch, the battery takes over — which could be useful when the bicyclist is trying to pedal uphill. The battery has a range of 10 to 20 miles.
But perhaps the "hit" of the afternoon was the Philadelphia Zoo’s wildlife traveling exhibit.
Children and their parents crowded into the Lawrence Nature Center as Philadelphia Zoo staffer Kaitlyn Delduca brought out a mammal, a bird, a reptile and a rodent.
First out of the cage was Owen, a small and cuddly domestic ferret. Kaitlyn invited one of the children to sniff Owen’s fur.
"Eeww, he smells bad," the boy said.
That’s because Owen and other ferrets produce musk. It helps to keep him safe, Ms. Delduca said.
"Do you think an animal would like to eat something that smells bad," she asked.
"No," replied the children in unison.
Next out of the cage was Stetler, a broad-winged hawk. Ms. Delduca said broad-winged hawks can be found as far north as Canada when it is warm, and as far south as Texas when it gets cold. Although the hawk is small, it has a wingspan of four feet, she said.
Ms. Delduca had a little trouble coaxing Fauna the porcupine from her cage. She couldn’t exactly reach into the cage, for the most obvious of reasons. With a little cajoling, however, Fauna came out of the cage.
But Elvis the king snake was the hands-down biggest attraction. The children let out some "oohs and aahs" as Ms. Delduca allowed the brown and yellow snake to wrap himself around her arm.
King snakes live in California, she said. They eat many different types of snakes, and they are immune to the venom of other snakes. That’s why Elvis is called a "king snake" — because he and others like him eat other snakes, she said.
