Pfeiffer Nature Center and Non Profit Org. US Postage Foundation PAID Permit #18 PO Box 802 Olean, NY The Ovenbird Portville, NY 14770 14760 Phone: 716.933.0187 Pfeiffer Nature Center and Foundation Email: [email protected] Twitter: PfeifferNature Fall, 2011 Facebook : Pfeiffer Nature Center Alluring Apples The apple emerged as a celebrated fruit each apple since the beginning of Earth. Whether you contains seven or start with Adam & Eve or the Stone Age eight seeds, each of man in Europe, the apple was there. which contains the Besides honey, fruits are one of the rare genetic ingredients Intro to Wine sources of sweetness found in nature. for a tree radically SIGNIFICANT DATES Making From the beginning, apples have been different from its @ Lillibridge associated with love, beauty, luck, health, parents & its Or Current Resident comfort, pleasure, wisdom, temptation, siblings. More than any other trait, it is the October 29 Pfeiffer Nature Center— sensuality, sexuality, virility & fertility. apple’s genetic variability that accounts for Stories & traditions about man's origins its ability to make itself at home in places as where science, art, and Indoor Explore ~ connect him to a garden of paradise filled different from one another as New England nature come together! with fruit trees. & New Zealand, Kazakhstan & California. Migrating Birds Wherever the apple tree goes, its offspring @ Office The apple originated high in the hills of propose so many different variations on eastern Kazakhstan, in the Tien Shan November 17 what it means to be an apple. There are at Mountains. As both trade & military least seven per apple & several thousand expeditions begin among these earliest per tree. From this variety there are bound Let’s Make Gifts civilizations, dessert or sweet apples to be at least one that has the qualities that quickly spread from the forests of their it takes to prosper in the tree’s adopted for the Birds origin to places throughout the "fertile home. @ Office crescent", from the Nile through the Tigris Dress up your Home for the Holiday with a PNC Wreath! December 8 & Euphrates, the Indus, & Yellow River When it traveled to the New World, the Valleys. As the apple was carried by apple reinvented itself once again, Hours of Operation Order a beautifully decorated holiday wreath & get festive for the holiday season! Pfeiffer Nature generations of travelers, it mirroring is immigrant companions. The Center is selling wreaths for the holiday season. They are delightfully decorated with hand-tied adapted to meet the needs Pilgrims discovered what we call crabapples Office, 14 S. Main St. Portville: of its traveling when they arrived but the fruit was not very bows and all natural materials, such as dried flowers and pinecones. To order your holiday Generally Tue-Wed, 8am to 3pm; companions, evolving to edible. The Massachusetts Bay Colony other times by chance or wreath, call the office (716) 933-0187 or send an email to [email protected] . become a portable, requested seeds & cuttings from England, appointment The last day orders will be accepted is November 16th , so get yours now! durable source of which were brought over on later voyages of sweetness. the Mayflower. Other Europeans brought Lillibridge Road Property: Pfeiffer Nature Center Wreath Order Form apple stock to Virginia & the Southwest. As Despite the wide Trails open to non-motorized Name: ________________________________________________ Date: ___________ the county was settled, nearly every farm usage dawn to dusk, 7 days a variations of taste in apples that you find in grew some apples. Although some were week, year round. Street Address: ___________________________________________________________ different cultures, a preference for very good, most of the early varieties would sweetness seems to be universal. But be considered poor today. Yubadam Road Property: City, State, Zip: ____________________________ Phone Number: __________________ sweetness is a quality rarely found in Trails open to non-motorized Send orders & make checks payable to: nature. Most apples that grow in the wild Bitter apples, planted from seed instead of usage dawn to dusk, 7 days a Pfeiffer Nature Center, P.O. Box 802, Portville, NY 14770 taste bitter. This is because apple trees that grafted, were used by homesteaders across week, year round EXCEPT during QUANTITIES ARE LIMITED! grow from seeds usually produce bitter or the young country to produce hard cider. hunting season Oct —Dec , when sour tasting fruit. Only a few trees produce Early settlers were afraid of water because all trails are closed. a fruit that is sweet, but humans have of their knowledge of Wreath Description Price Quantity Total learned over the years to cultivate water borne illnesses in Staff is available for questions, Decorated Fraser Fir $32 _______ $______ sweetness in the apple. This is mostly done Europe. To them tours, and programs as scheduled by grafting the trees that produced the drinking water could be or by prior arrangement. Decorated Boxwood $43 _______ $______ tastiest fruit. dangerous. This practice ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ of using apples to make Check our website or call for the The apple trees seeds are protected because hard cider was in use most up-to-date information and Undecorated Fraser Fir $27 _______ $______ they are distasteful, & slightly poisonous. upcoming programs: until the Prohibition, Therefore, we do not eat them & the seeds Undecorated Boxwood $38 _______ $______ survive to produce more trees. At its core, (Continued on page 7) www.PfeifferNatureCenter.org Get Out There And Walk! Olean_Area_Hiking & Southern_Tier_Greenway_Hiking. 716-933-0187 We support our local hiking interests! You can reach them on Yahoo! Groups. Order Total _______ $______ 2 From the Director Yes, I’d Like to Become a Member of Pfeiffer Nature Center 7 Pfeiffer Nature Center is extremely fortunate to have such appreciation and conservation of the natural world, traditions Membership Levels and Benefits dedicated, generous people who care deeply about us. Back carried on by the Nature Center. All members receive a subscription to The Ovenbird , our quarterly newsletter, delivered to your home. in the January issue of The Ovenbird we told you about the wonderful gift of inscribed books from renowned naturalist In addition to joining us at the Pollocks and the reception, Student/senior $10 1 $5 off program admission coupons John Muir to Eleanor Knox Wheeler, mother of Nature Douglas & Barbara enjoyed a hike around the Lillibridge Center founder Wendy Pfeiffer Lawrence. These gifts, property and tour of the cabin. Thanks to Nick Vaczek & Jeff Individual $25 1 $5 off program admission coupons graciously donated by Douglas & Barbara Pfeiffer, have McMullen for refreshing old memories and making new ones. Family $35 3 $5 off program admission coupons generated lots of discussion and interest as they have made Steward $50 4 $5 off program admission coupons their public appearances. Throughout this process, several people have focused their energies to make things happen. Many thanks to Sarah Conservator $100 4 free family program admissions In July, the books and an accompanying informational Larson, Marcia Storch, Jeff McMullen, Ray Valeri, and Patron $250 Same as Conservator, invitation to wine & cheese reception, 1 tree planted display were on hand at the Portville Public Library during Ronda Pollock for their hours of time and attention. Guardian $500 Same as Patron, plus 1 decorated fir holiday wreath Portville’s Heritage Day celebration. Thanks to Chuck Bretzen and the Library staff for inviting us to share their Enjoying the fall season, Benefactor $1,000 Same as Guardian, plus unlimited free program admissions space and helping us out. Additional Donation $___________ Peg Cherre September saw more activity. Tom & Ronda Pollock opened All members also receive discounted admissions and gift shop purchases at many other nature centers. their home, originally the home of Eleanor Wheeler and her Why is New York City Called “The Big Apple” Your contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowable by NYS Tax Law. family, for a private gathering honoring Douglas and Barbara Pfeiffer. The Pfeiffers made the trip from their home on the In the early 1920s, "apple" was used in reference to the many west coast to coordinate with an opening reception at the racing courses in & around New York City (NYC). Apple referred NAME: ________________________________________________________________________________ Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts on St. Bonaventure to the prizes being awarded for the races -- as these were important races, the rewards were substantial. Based on the campus. Evelyn Penman and Lauren Perkins did a terrific STREET ADDRESS: ______________________________________________________________________ research of Barry Popik, he found that a writer for the New York job of putting together a display at the Quick Center that Morning Telegraph , John Fitzgerald, referred to New York City’s highlighted John Muir and provided a linkage to the races "Around the Big Apple." It is rumored that Fitzgerald got CITY, STATE, ZIP: _______________________________________________________________________ Wheelers and Pfeiffers. Thanks also to Phil Smith for the term from jockeys & trainers in New Orleans who aspired to lending us his terrific scale model of the historic American race on NYC tracks. In the late 1920s & early 1930s, New York PHONE: _______________________________