Family Gardening Workshop

The Western Heritage Museum and Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame is pleased to announce our Second Annual Family Gardening Workshop featuring Tracy Curry, Southern Director for New Mexico Agriculture in the Classroom. Tracy Curry’s presentation and take-home project will be on how to make a small indoor “vermicomposting” bin.  “Vermicomposting is a fun way to teach children about the importance of worms to our environment,” Curry said.  Curry will also explain how to grow vegetables in a small space.  The workshop, scheduled for May 4, 2019 from 9 am – 11:30 am will also include methods for creating a raised bed garden, using the Museum’s Teaching Garden as an example. 

“Kids love to learn about ‘Yucky Worms’ and why farmers and gardeners think of worms as their friends and that they really aren’t that yucky at all,” Curry said. The workshop will also feature actual vegetable plantings, and other ideas for a family garden. “I am pleased to have Tracy Curry with us to teach families about the importance and fun of raising their own vegetables,” said Mary Lyle, Education Director for the museum.  “We think it will be both fun and educational.” 

Cost for the workshop will be $10 per family.  “We’re only charging a nominal fee for the workshop to help cover the cost of our materials” said Lyle.  Each family will receive a vermicomposting bin and a tomato plant to take home to start their own garden. “We will be in the Museum Garden area, so remember to wear a hat and plenty of sun screen,” Lyle noted. 

Space is limited to the first 15 families, consisting of up to 6 family members, fee to be paid in advance.  For more information, contact the museum at (575) 492-2678 or contact Mary Lyle at mlyle@nmjc.eduor 575-492-2679.

Fear of Flying Monkeys

Wizard of Oz Memories: Fear of Flying Monkeys 

By Mary Lyle, Director of Education 

The Museum’s Classic Film Series is revisiting the many great films released in 1939, “greatest year” in the Golden Age of Cinema, and we will be featuring the The Wizard of Oz on Saturday, April 27^that 2 pm as part of our Family Fun Day. Our current traveling exhibit, Goosebumps: The Science of Fear, invites visitors to “face their fears.” Well, one of my childhood fears developed as a reaction to the “Flying Monkeys” and the “Wicked Witch,” which I saw for the first time in 1956, the first television broadcast of TheWizard of Oz.

It might be impossible for modern-day moviegoers, so used to Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) and other spectacular special effects, to be impressed by 1939’s beloved adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. But for those of us who were first introduced to the film on the small screen, there is nothing that modern technology has done that will ever surpass the impact of that first viewing of The Wizard of Oz. Although the film was first release d in 1939, the Baby Boomer generation remembers seeing it as a television program, broadcast as a “special presentation” during a holiday season.

Our family watched the film on a very small black and white television set. When the Flying Monkeys carried off Toto and Dorothy, I remember running into the next room crying. My mother assured me that the monkeys were no longer on the screen, and clinging to her I made my way back to watch the rest of the program. However, an even more frightening scene followed; the Wicked Witch took a torch and set fire to Scarecrow! That was bad enough, but in order to put out the blaze, Dorothy grabbed a bucket of water, to douse the flames and in doing so, melted the Wicked Witch. Although I was glad that the Scarecrow was saved, I was totally freaked-out by the sight of the Wicked Witch melting into a puddle on the floor. Could people really melt? My mother, once again, had to convince me that only Wicked Witches could melt.

My four-year-old mind couldn’t handle what I had seen. That television program, combined with the teasing of my older brother, who loved to frighten me by telling me that the Witch and her Monkeys were going to “get me,” produced nightmares that recurred for several years. 

When our family finally purchased a color television, I was treated to another miraculous experience:  technicolor! It was 1968 and I was in high school. What a revelation! The scenes in Kansas were filmed in black and white, and were moody and sad which reflected Dorothy’s experience of her home, but when Dorothy opened the door and beheld Munchkin Land in all of its technicolor glory, I thought, “Wow! How beautiful, how amazing!” 

I got over my fear of Flying Monkeys and Wicked Witch by the time my own children were old enough to watch the film. By that time, it had been released for home viewing on VHS, remember that? I shared my own memories of the first time I watched the film with my little son. He said reassuringly, “Mom, don’t be afraid. Those monkeys aren’t real and they can’t fly.” He was a much more sophisticated four-year-old than his mother had been. 

Please join us on April 27^th for a special 80^th anniversary showing of The Wizard of Oz. The film still holds up today because of its “groundbreaking visuals,” masterful storytelling, and delightful musical score. 

Family Fun Day April 27

10 am – 3 pm

Admission is FREE all day

11 am & 1 pm: Guest Speaker, Tim Cole from the Austin Reptile Service

2 pm: Film – The Wizard of Oz – 80^thAnniversary of the film’s release 

The Western Heritage Museum and Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame presents a free Family Fun Day, Saturday, April 27, from 10:00am until 3:00pm. The event is in conjunction with “Goose Bumps: The Science of Fear.” 

“We are excited to be hosting Tim Cole, owner of the Austin Reptile Service,” said Mary Lyle, Director of Education. “Tim’s presentation promises to be quite unique and informative.” Mr. Cole’s presentations are at 11 am and 1 pm in the theater.

Tim Cole began keeping reptiles and amphibians at an early age. By the age of 10, Tim proclaimed to his parents that “he was going to study Herpetology.” Tim started conducting Educational Reptile Programs while he was living in Chicago in the 1970’s.  Hemoved to Texas in 1985 to enjoy the herpetofauna and the warm weather which was quite a change from the upper Midwest. After moving to Austin, Texas, he began conducting Safety Classes for Animal Control Officers and a many environmental groups.

Tim Cole has served as president and currently the vice-president of the Austin Herpetological Society, which he helped found in 2003.  The motto of his Austin Reptile Service is "Conservation by Education, " and Tim is widely recognized as one of the authorities on herpetology in the southwest. If you are interested in learning more about snakes, this presentation is for you!

Admission for the whole day is FREE! Demonstrations and guided tours will start at 10 am and end at 3 pm. The Wizard of Oz—80^thAnniversary of the film’s release—will begin at 2 pm. 

For more information, call 575-492-2678.