Ashley Bozman helps Henry and Maya Wood drill a hole for a maple syruping tap at Osprey Wilds.
GRANITE FALLS, Minn. — Maple syruping at Osprey Wilds, fishing Grindstone Lake and exploring Goose Garden — all in Sandstone — will be featured on the next Prairie Sportsman. “Fish and Flora in Pine County'' will air on Pioneer PBS Sunday, April 11 at 7:30 p.m. For air dates and times on all Minnesota PBS stations, go to prairiesportsman.org.
It’s maple syruping time at Osprey Wilds Environmental Learning Center in Sandstone. The center’s maple grove is called a sugar bush because there are more than 600 sugar maples growing close together, which makes it easier to collect sap. Teachers, kids and volunteers typically tap trees from early March through mid April while temperatures are below freezing at night and above freezing during the day. Osprey Wilds uses leftover wood from a local sawmill to heat up an evaporator and cook down the sap into 80 to 120 gallons of syrup. Osprey Wilds, which hosts more than 4,000 students annually in its residential programs, incorporates maple syrup into many of its food dishes.
In the next segment, Host Bret Amundson is fishing at Grindstone Lake, one of only a few two-story fisheries in Minnesota that supports both cold and warm water fish species. Anglers can fish for lake trout, rainbow trout and brown trout in depths of 40 to 150 feet, then for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and northern pike in shallower depths.
The final segment features the Minnesota Goose Garden in Sandstone. After artist Susan Foss and her husband Rodney retired from dairy farming, she was inspired by the Ojibwe culture to create a goose-shaped garden with more than 300 plant and shrub species, many with medicinal properties. Foss also designed more than 60 Ojibwe animal totems and other sculptures representing Ojibwe history.
About Prairie Sportsman
Prairie Sportsman celebrates our love of the outdoors to hunt, fish and recreate, provided by our vast resources of lakes, rivers, trails and grasslands, and to promote environmental stewardship.
Prairie Sportsman’s team includes Cindy Dorn, producer/writer; Bret Amundson, host/editor; and Dylan Curfman, editor/videographer. The 2021 season is made possible by funding from SafeBasements of Minnesota, Live Wide Open, Western Minnesota Prairie Waters and members of Pioneer PBS.
About Pioneer PBS
Established in 1966, Pioneer PBS is anaward-winning, viewer-supported television station dedicated to sharing local stories of the region with the world. For more information visit www.pioneer.org.
