Episode Guest
Hannah Gilbert – Naturalist
Malabar Farm State Park (Ohio)
Episode Transcript
Missy Rentz:
As we celebrate winter in the parks, today we are visiting Malabar Farm State Park in Ohio. I’m thrilled to welcome Hannah Gilbert. Hannah is a naturalist at Malabar Farm State Park. Hannah, welcome to The Parks Podcast.
Hannah Gilbert:
Hi. It’s nice to be here. I’m so to talk about Malabar and my experience.
Missy Rentz:
I am too. Ohio Department of Natural Resources is hosting. A ton of events throughout the state and you all at Malabar Farm State Park, which you’re in between Cleveland and Columbus, just for people to, think about the shape of Ohio and Columbus is in the center and Cleveland is in the Northeast, and you’re smack dab in the middle there. Can you tell us a little bit about Malabar Farms?
Hannah Gilbert:
Yeah, absolutely. So first off, I just wanna preface this with, I absolutely stink and love this place. I grew up here, my family’s first family photos as me were here at Malabar Farm and I’ve gone to every single Heritage Days festival since I was born. So I know this place and I’m so fortunate to work here and do this kind of stuff. It’s so special to me. It holds such a special spot in my little heart and I am so happy every time I’m here. There’s so many things that happened here that you would go, what, when I tell you about’em. We’re the only state park that’s a farm, which is crazy. So the whole state of Ohio, we’re the only one that’s a farm. So way back in 1939, there was a very famous author named Louis Bromfield and he is actually a Mansfield High graduate that’s our high school around here. And he went off to do incredible things. He was pretty good friends with Ernest Hemingway and his wife and just famous author, wrote some really incredible books that focused on the strong central women to his stories. One of the most famous ones that actually got turned into a movie, it was called The Reigns, came. And he took his proceeds from that movie to buy the three farms that now make up Malabar Farm and build the big house and move his entire family back from France where they lived in the 1920s back here to Malabar Farm to pursue his other passion of conservation, taking from nature to then pump into a farm in like a holistic way almost, and brought back the nutrients that is the soil here in Richland County, which is pretty cool.
Missy Rentz:
Yeah, he was pretty amazing and ahead of his time and it’s really great that Ohio has been able to take this property and have it to feature as part of its Ohio history. So I really love that. Now the holiday season is coming up and I think winter is an amazing time to visit parks, not only because incredible things happen in nature in winter, and that whole hibernating, growing, preparing for another season. And I find that parks for holidays and Winter are really good at creating programs that make it easy for people to experience a park in the winter. What are you doing at Malabar Farm this holiday season?
Hannah Gilbert:
Oh man. So we do the Christmas candlelight tours, which is the best time to experience the park for the first time. Experience the big house for the first time. So the big house, it’s 32 rooms. It’s huge. Everything inside is original, furniture, wallpaper, paint
Missy Rentz:
That was his home.
Hannah Gilbert:
the, that was His home. Yep. Him and his wife and his kids. They lived there from 1939 until his passing in the fifties.
Missy Rentz:
Wow.
Hannah Gilbert:
It’s a beautiful place. It’s original. The fireplace still works and it’s decked head to toe in Christmas decor. There’s like a Christmas tree in every room. And then we have volunteers and employees like me and people who are passionate about the local history and about Bromfield and his friends and his Hollywood’s connections stationed in all of the rooms. So you get to walk through at your own pace. You get to look at everything on the walls and on the bookshelves and read the little snippets, but also ask questions and have really cool conversations with those volunteers and those employees that are stationed in each room.
Missy Rentz:
That’s very cool. Else is happening there in the park?
Hannah Gilbert:
So we are open from dawn to dusk every day since we are a state park. And we do have all three trails are for the most part open. They get checked here and there to make sure that we don’t have any trees down from any winter storms. Come to the visitor center, say hi to Poncho, our pet parrot. Visit the gift shop and get yourself some homemade fudge, and then take a walk around the park and it just enjoy the crisp, fresh smelling snow as you’re walking around.
Missy Rentz:
When are the tours taking place?
Hannah Gilbert:
So every December they’re the first two weekends and Friday and Saturdays they are from 5 to 8:00 PM and then on Sundays they’re from 1-4 pm. And you buy a ticket here in the visitor’s center for six bucks and walk yourself down the lane to the big house and wander on through.
Missy Rentz:
So this is going to air on Monday after the first weekend. So you have one more weekend this year to see it and check it out. Make sure you go. Get all of your information either at Malabar Farm website or The Parks Podcast has a schedule and a link to their website so you can find it there. Now beyond Malabar Farm, Ohio State has a lot of things going on. Anything that you can feature just broadly if you’re not in this part of Ohio, but broadly in Ohio, that people can take advantage of.
Hannah Gilbert:
Yeah, absolutely. So a few events that I we’re picking around at and exploring were the holiday family movie night, and dinner special at the Burr Oak Lodge. They have several days of this, so keep an eye on the ODNR calendar for those. And then we have the lodge at Geneva has a Christmas Eve dinner and Maumee Bay, up towards the lake, has a winter carnival in their ballroom right after Christmas. And then I can’t leave out Mohican Lodge, which is just around the corner from here at from us here at Malabar. They have breakfast with Santa every Saturday and Sunday morning up until Christmas. So lots to do.
Missy Rentz:
Lots too. Ohio is so unique because they’re park, they have their parks, but then lots of their parks have these stunning lodges in them where you can go can stay, and a lot of’em have activities. And so one of the things I loved in researching what was going on in Ohio is that there’s everything from, candle lit stuff or lights to, hiking events. There’s just a lot happening in the state, and if you go to the parks podcast.com or this episode page, you can link back to Ohio’s Parks and their website and you can see all of the events that are happening there. It’s a great time to visit Parks in Ohio. After the holidays after Christmas, everybody’s Christmas out and there’s, they’re thinking, what are they doing for the new year? And one of the things that state parks across the country are doing is First Day Hike, and it’s been going on for quite a few years now. What are the first day hike activities in Ohio?
Hannah Gilbert:
So quite a few parks are doing first day hikes, literally on January 1st. So we definitely check out the ODNR for those specific parks I am actually traveling down to Hawking Hills State Park and there. Winter hike series is gonna be on January 17th. So I’m very excited to travel down there to a different park in a different quadrant of the state and participate in some pretty killer winter hikes. Hopefully it’s snowing.
Missy Rentz:
And that’s the other thing that, a lot of parks are doing their first day hike. But you all have an entire winter hike series that takes place at parks throughout Ohio, throughout the winter, and they all have different themes or different things they’re looking at. Visit the Ohio Department of Natural Resource website, and you can get a list of those, or again, they’re on TheParksPodcast.com.
Hannah Gilbert:
Yeah, they’re really cool. And for people who are thinking, oh, it’s cold, it’s snowy. Do I really wanna be out hiking? In this kind of crazy weather. Yes, absolutely. Just go try it. It’s such a different, unique way to experience nature and experience the quiet, subtle, soft parts of winter in Ohio and the snow. And yes, you’ll have chilly cheeks, but you’ll have a very full heart.
Missy Rentz:
Hannah, what’s the best way for people to learn about this holiday event and upcoming events at Malabar Farm?
Hannah Gilbert:
So I love to direct people to our Facebook page because we have a few people here that are attached to it and can give updates on if hikes are canceled, what the weather’s looking and the stuff you would need to do to. Participate in anything here at the farm. So I highly recommend checking out Malabar Farm State Park Facebook page. And then we do keep our calendar updated on the ODNR website. And if you have more questions, even after looking at those two resources, you can always gimme a call here and we’ll try to answer’em for you.
Missy Rentz:
Fantastic. I’ll put links to all of those on the episode page. Hannah, I am so happy to meet you. I love learning about Malabar Farms State Park. I think that the tours of the big house seem amazing. If you are in the Ohio area, check out Malabar Farm State Park this holiday season, or any of Ohio’s parks and lodges. Hannah, thanks so much for sharing all this information with us.
Hannah Gilbert:
Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me on. I am just bursting with this excitement to tell someone about my story here at Malabar and come see me sometime.
Missy Rentz:
I love it. Thank you. Happy holidays to you and happy holidays to all of you listening. Until next time, we’ll see you in the parks.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please be sure to like and share on your favorite podcast platform. Music for the parks podcast is performed and produced by Porter Hardy. For more information, please follow us at The Parks Podcast. Or visit our website at TheParksPodcast.com.