Learn how to cook the old-fashioned way from 1–4 p.m., Saturday, April 6, at Hands-On Heritage: Hearth Cooking at The Historic Daniel Boone Home in Defiance. The art of hearth cooking will be taught by park staff using 1800s cooking utensils and equipment, including a tin kitchen and baking kettle. 

The public is invited to celebrate the arrival of spring at St. Charles County Parks’ Family Hike and Campfire from 6-8 p.m., Saturday, March 30, at Broemmelsiek Park, located at 1795 Highway DD, Defiance. Springtime is the perfect season to explore the park, listen for sounds of animals in the woods, and discover native flora along the way. 

MDC seeks volunteers to meet at Columbia Bottom to help in a large-scale effort to clean up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers watershed.

SPANISH LAKE, Mo.— The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is once again helping to sponsor one of the largest litter clean-ups in the St. Louis area—the 11^th Annual Confluence Trash Bash. The event is happening Saturday, March 23, from 8 a.m. until noon. MDC’s Columbia Bottom Conservation Area in Spanish Lake will serve as one of multiple starting locations for the event.

The Easter Bunny is coming to the Youth Activity Park (YAP) in Dardenne Prairie, Saturday, April 13! To celebrate his arrival, we’re hosting several age-specific egg hunts and activities for children of all abilities. This fun-filled program is free, but space is limited and registration is required.   

Historians, preservationists, builders and history buffs won’t want to miss the St. Charles County Parks Department’s presentation on how an 1800s home was dismantled, reassembled and preserved. “The Sappington-Dressel Home: A Heritage Preserved” will be presented at the top of each hour from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, March 30, at The Historic Daniel Boone Home in Defiance. 

Missouri deer hunters donated 259,414 pounds of venison to Share the Harvest this season.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM) thank the thousands of Missouri deer hunters who donated 259,414 pounds of venison to the state’s Share the Harvest program this past deer season, including 4,855 whole deer. Thank you also to the more than 100 participating meat processors throughout the state who grind the donated deer meat into ready-to-use packages.

The St. Charles County Parks and Recreation Department will usher in spring and baseball with the opening of a brand-new exhibit horning homegrown Major League Baseball players at the County’s Heritage Museum, 1630 Heritage Landing near St. Charles.

Billy Busch and Family of the William K. Busch Brewing Company are donating $5,000 to the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation (MCHF) in order to support conservation and youth education statewide.

As spring draws closer and warmer weather returns, outdoor activity for pets and people will increase. This increased activity brings a greater opportunity for contact with wild animals and a threat for exposure to rabies infection. As a reminder, St. Charles County Animal Control Ordinance Section 205.110 requires all dogs and cats to be vaccinated against the rabies virus and that this vaccination be registered with the Division of Humane Services. 

The spring session of social dance classes is starting at St. Charles Community College the week of April 7. Classes will be held in the College Center dance studio on the SCC campus, 4601 Mid Rivers Mall Drive in Cottleville. Classes will be held April 7-May 30.  

By Dianne Sudbrock

Born with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), a chronic, progressive, life-threatening illness, Kelly Wever was told she would only live to be 18 years old. She surpassed that statistic, and at age 26 she started getting eligibility evaluations for a lung transplant.