Monday, December 16, 2013

Walking by a Winter Watershed

While a visit to our school’s nature trail isn’t exactly “walking in a winter wonderland” yet, our students donned their jackets at our last meeting to take a nice, long and enjoyable walk on our newly-renovated school nature trail with a representative from Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge at our last meeting. Since part of the goal of our program is to allow kids some much-needed time out in nature, this was a welcome outdoor purpose since our garden doesn’t need a lot of maintenance in these colder months.

Erica Locher from Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge came to speak to the students about how we can help protect our watersheds and why that is important, especially in our community. It just so happens that the little stream that runs through our nature trail feeds into the Lynnhaven Bay watershed, so the quality of that water is very important.






















Students took a few samples of the water and then we headed back inside for the continuation of our lesson. But before we headed back in, Ms. Locher showed us some interesting features of our trail. She pointed out and identified different sounds we heard, and different interesting plants. She taught us how to spot poison ivy even in the winter when the leaves have fallen off the vine. The vine has a “hairy” appearance, and even touching the vine can affect those of us who are allergic to the plant. Great lesson!























Once back inside we divided up into groups to test the purity and pH levels of our water. We learned terms like “turbidity” which describes how much debris in in the water, or how cloudy it looks. We learned from our experiment that our school’s little stream is good quality!





















What, however, could affect its quality? Students made “Pollution Soup”, using common household items to represent strong pollutants that could possibly find their way into a waterway and go on to pollute a watershed; think syrup for car oil, chocolate-covered raisins for dog waste, pennies for harmful metals, soy sauce for industrial chemicals, paint for, well, paint, just to name a few. We learned how washing our cars at a car wash may be better for the environment since chemicals from our car can run off into the storm drains and pollute the waterways. Keeping our communities free of litter and waste can also help. And of course, our marshes need protecting as they serve as a vitally-important buffer to protect our waters. Just look how “turbid” that water looks now!



And as with so many of our lessons for the students, we remember that small changes can make huge impacts.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Festive Fruitive

We were so excited to welcome Bruce Rozeboom from Fruitive at our last Green LIONS Garden Group meeting! Bruce and his brother own Fruitive together where they serve fresh smoothies, cold-pressed juices, made-to-order vegetable-loaded salads and soups with their own homemade broth. Fruitive also is a huge supporter of local farms. He especially supports our very own garden program farmer/mentor John Wilson of New Earth Farm in serving up his delicious greens and vegetables.























Bruce taught the students about eating healthy foods that fill you with energy and vitality, not foods that slow you down and make you feel sluggish. He illustrated the example of the damaging effects of sugar by getting the students on their feet jumping and dancing as if they had just eaten a lot of white sugar. He then divided up the group into those who represented the “sugar-loaded” and those who represented kids who eat a healthy diet. He challenged them to a tug-of-war, and yes, you guessed it, the tired sugar-eaters lost.




















Bruce whipped up delicious smoothies made from organic frozen strawberries and peaches, organic bananas, organic almond milk, organic maple syrup and kale and chard from our very own LIONS Garden. The students gulped them down asking for seconds. They never knew greens could taste
so good!



















Bruce connected all the dots with his discussion of healthy eating, supporting our local farmers and producers, and protecting the environment in our choices and actions. He’s an engaging and entertaining speaker and we appreciate his visit greatly. You can find him and his brother at Fruitive at Hilltop. Stop by on the way home for school for a delicious treat!