By Debbie Robinson
news@joplinglobe.com
Anne Marie Anibal, 11, sighted her target with her bow, released the arrow and nearly hit the yellow bulls-eye.
“I’ve shot one before at home, but I didn’t know about keeping it (the bow) close to the face,” she said. “It’s fun.”
Anne Marie was one of hundreds of youths who attended Autumn Adventures on Friday at Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center to learn about Dutch oven cooking, archery, trapping and tree identification.
Kevin Badgley, community outreach specialist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, said the center has held the event for several years now in an effort to spark youths’ interest in their outdoor environment and in conservation.
“We have a variety of different habitats meeting here,” Badgley said.
Earlier in the day, about 400 students in grades three through five learned about environmental education, aquatic critters, plants, trees, the watershed and outdoor ethics, he said.
Jean Anibal of Avilla brought five members of the Lincoln 4-H Club to the center for the first time. That included her children, daughter Anne Marie and son Sam Anibal, 10.
“Hopefully, they’ll learn about conservation,” Jean said. “It’s beautiful here, so far what we have seen.”
Sam Anibal, 10, said he was looking forward to learning about Dutch oven cooking.
“I’m also looking forward to pellet shooting and archery,” he said.
Diana Steele, of the Missouri Department of Conservation, was preparing oatmeal in a Dutch oven over coals for the children to sample.
Charcoal is placed on the top and underneath the cast-iron pot that cooks the breakfast oatmeal in 45 minutes to an hour, she said.
She added cranberries to the oatmeal, along with brown sugar and, in the final minutes of cooking, thick apple slices.
“There’s just something about cooking in a Dutch oven,” Steele said. “It just makes everything taste so good.”
Any food can be cooked over charcoal in a Dutch oven, she said.
At another exhibit, volunteers with the Missouri Master Naturalists assisted the youths with identifying the fall leaves and trees.
Each youth was handed a sheet with a tree and given pigment paint to paint the leaves on the trees.
Val Frakoski, a volunteer at the event, said the youths are asked to identify the various trees and leaves in the park.
“When kids get out in nature, they find things that, maybe, they have forgotten about,” she said.
For Anne Marie Anibal, the event and the center were interesting.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” she said.
Next up
Upcoming events at the Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center include: “Preschool Duck Facts” and “Walking with Water”, both of which will take place today; “All Things Insect” on Oct. 10; and “Myths, Mysteries and More — A Snake’s Trial” on Oct. 17.
