Pumpkin Soup, Cloggers, Charlie…And A ‘Possum

Sure, living in our neck of the woods is great if you like the beach, palm trees, warm temperatures, tidal creeks, and marshland. But there are other equally appealing attractions. For example, the Harvest Fest on Oatland Island, which is a stone’s throw from our front door.

The festival took place last weekend at the Oatland Island Wildlife Center and it was a fun step back into time.

The crowd enjoyed a variety of activities, good food, and more wild animals than you could shake a stick at, including bison, wolves, cougars, snakes, armadillos and, well, you’ll see a couple of them below. But the grinding of sugarcane always takes center stage.

Grinding sugar cane the old-fashion way…

…using a one-horsepower engine named Charlie. Yep, Charlie walks slow laps while attached to a pole hooked to the cane-grinding device. The horse’s lazy movement turns the wheels that smash the sweet juice from the bamboo-like stalks of cane. Charlie did stop working long enough for me to to rub his nose and pose for a photo. Then it was back to the old “grind.”

Making sugarcane syrup from the freshly-ground cane.

These two ladies were tasked with making homemade cornbread (not a box in sight). The corn was ground by hand in a separate, smaller cabin. Then they made and cooked the batter in the cabin fireplace.

Cornbread-making instructions from a pro.

Homemade pumpkin soup cooked on an open fire. Absolutely delicious.

Nothing modern about this place.

This critter (an opposum) had the softest fur ever (very kitten-like). But its hind feet had a thumb each and that was too weird for me. Still, it was quite tame and enjoyed snuggling.

This owl enjoyed a scratch behind the ears. A little bit of gentle back-stroking seemed to be equally as pleasing.

Did you know an owl cannot move its eyes? They rotate their heads, instead, when needing to look to either side.

Cloggers stomping to a Miranda Lambert tune.

White Ibis taking advantage of low tide to find a bit of lunch.

Nothing like stumbling on a clutch of gator eggs, ’cause you know what’s nearby…