Looking at the array of programs at Crossroads this week, we begin to see patterns…repeating patterns… of hexagons. If we are “looking,” we are seeing thanks to hexagons because the photoreceptors (light-catching cones in the back of our eyeballs) form closely packed hexagon-shaped patterns.
This week, we will see hexagons everywhere, from the honeycombs displayed during the annual Door County Beekeepers Community Honey Harvest to the turtle shells that sun themselves along the edge of Crossroads’ Cove Estuary.
On Thursday evening, August 22, at 5:30, our “Resources for Landowners Lecture Series” will feature Allison Willman, who will describe the Wisconsin DNR wetlands programs and the resources they offer landowners.
Knowing that many of our local wetlands are recharged by melting snow and ice, we note that snowflakes and ice crystals form because their water molecules (almost always) arrange themselves in lattices of hexagons.
A honeycomb is an iconic example of repeating hexagons. The Door County Beekeepers will hold their annual Community Honey Harvest on Saturday, August 24, from 9:00 to noon to celebrate the honey and wax that come from a honeycomb.
Various educational stations in and outside the Collins Learning Center will interest participants of all ages. Visitors will get a close view of honeybees through the glass window of an observation hive, taste and compare honey samples, and try honey lemonade and mead.
Guests also will have the opportunity to roll wax candles. A demonstration of dipping hot wax candles will take place inside the building.
In the children’s tent, kids can pet a live drone (male) honeybee and explore beekeeper tools and hive boxes, among other activities.
Honey extraction, the central process of beekeeping, involves removing honey from the hexagon-shaped cells of a honeycomb. Flow-hive extractions will be done at the Crossroads Apiary at an active hive from 9:30 to 10:00 and 10:30 to 11:00. Conventional Langstroth extractions will be done indoors, away from the bees, from 10:00 to 10:30 and 11:00 to 11:30.
Representatives from Crossroads, Wild Ones-Door Peninsula, the Door County Seed Library, and the Door County Master Gardeners Association will be in the lecture hall, offering demonstrations and videos about pollination and pollinators. They will distribute free native wildflower seeds.
That afternoon at 2:00, Saturday Science, our weekly family program, will continue the hexagon theme with videos and activities featuring hexagons ranging from ancient coral fossils to the elegant hexagon-shaped, gold-plated mirror segments of the James Webb Telescope.
Monarch Tagging is a traditional Crossroads/Wild Ones collaboration, so on Sunday afternoon at 2:00, guest Naturalist Karen Newbern will offer a fascinating program on the life cycle of monarch butterflies. She will describe the amazing migration these orange and black butterflies make to a forest grove in Mexico, where they overwinter.
Then, participants, armed with nets, will venture out into the meadows at Crossroads to catch, tag, and release the monarchs, assuming weather conditions and monarch migration patterns cooperate. Perhaps (this has happened in the past) a butterfly tagged at Crossroads will be retrieved in Mexico.
For decades, researchers have been fascinated by the evidence that butterflies born this summer can find their way to the very grove of conifers in which their great-great-great-grandparents and countless generations roosted to overwinter.
Monarch migration is quite complicated and still under investigation. Still, an article in the National Library of Medicine explains, “Recent studies of the iconic fall migration of monarch butterflies have illuminated the mechanisms behind the navigation south, using a time-compensated sun compass. Skylight cues, such as the sun itself and polarized light, are processed through both eyes and likely integrated in the brain’s central complex, the presumed site of the sun compass.”
Monarch butterflies' relatively enormous compound eyes consist of thousands of hexagon-shaped ommatidia, which sense light and movement.
Nature is full of hexagons, and Crossroads at Big Creek is full of nature. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, our trails are open all day, every day, free of charge.
Thursday, August 22
5:30 pm Resources for Landowners-Wetlands
This summer, Crossroads is hosting the Resources for Landowners lecture series, a speaker series aimed at connecting Door County landowners with the tools and resources available for restoring and managing the natural resources found on their land. Allison Willman will speak on the Wisconsin DNR wetlands program and the resources it offers landowners. Thanks to our donors, the lecture will be free and open to the public. Meet at the Collins Learning Center, 2041 Michigan, Sturgeon Bay.
Friday, August 23
2:30-4:30 Tours of the Hanson House and Grounds
Delve into the past during an “Afternoon with Bertha,” which included a tour of the Hanson House and the former Greeves family farm beside Big Creek. Registration not required. Open to the public and free thanks to our donors. Donations accepted. Meet at 2022 Utah St., Sturgeon Bay (across from The Cove Estuary)
Sunday, August 25
2:00 Monarch Tagging Day
Join Wild Ones-Door Peninsula and Crossroads for our annual monarch tagging program. Naturalist Karen Newbern will describe the monarch's life cycle and migration patterns starting in the lecture hall. Then (hopefully, migration tends to be weather-driven), participants are invited to help capture and tag these stunning orange and black butterflies on their way to Mexico. Instructions, nets, and tags provided. No reservations are necessary. Free and open to the public.
Monday, August 26
10:00 Make and Take: Handmade Nature Notecards
Participants of all ages will learn a bit about nature as they produce a handmade notecard. Appropriate for all ages, free and open to the public, thanks to our donors. Meet in the Lower Level of the Collins Learning Center.
Tuesday, August 27
10:00 Summer Nature Programs: Native Flower Colors
Participants of all ages will learn why native flowers are often yellow and purple this time of year. Indoor and outdoor activities. Free and open to all ages, thanks to our donors. Meet at the Collins Learning Center, Crossroads, 2041 Michigan Street, Sturgeon Bay.
Wednesday, August 28
10:00 Summer Nature Program: Rocks
Participants will learn about the rock cycle and how to recognize the rocks brought here by the Ice Age Glaciers and which rocks are fossils (often hexagon-shaped) of ancient sea creatures. Free and open to the public. Each participating family will receive a free fossil pamphlet. Meet at the Collins Learning Center.
