Town Forest Walk

This month the Town Forest is showing definite signs of spring! Trees are budding with that green-yellow color that only lasts for a short time before the deeper green leaves come in. Lots of plants are sprouting and some are in bloom already. Unfortunately, the ticks, garlic mustard and the seven minute itch are up as well.  

Our vernal pools have water and are ready for the waking amphibian population to lay eggs. These sources of water are only temporary and will dry up with the warmer weather.  And while we did not see any frogs or salamanders today, we did spy a few slithering snakes and even a hatchling snapping turtle! 

In making our observations of the forest in spring, kids also started to scout out good locations for their structure making challenge next month on our final walk. Kids looked at spots clear of poison ivy and seven minute itch (though that will change after a month of growth), as well as spaces that would be advantageous due to higher elevation and proximity to water. They are ready for this upcoming adventure in the forest!

 Garlic Mustard:

Seven Minute Itch:

Vernal Pool with Skunk Cabbage:

Another Vernal Pool

Poetry Partners

This week we partnered with our 3-4 buddies to write nature poems about the plants, animals, weather, and sky of our beloved Lilja trail. 

As poets, we endeavored to replace “fuzzy” words like “awesome”, "fun", “cool”, and “amazing” with more specific language which would create an image in the minds of our readers. Cracking open these words led to some very poetic language to describe our favorite aspects of the outdoors, or draw some surprising comparisons (like the leaves on the ground are like the toys on my playroom floor - scattered all around). 

As this project continues, we hope to select our favorite poems to laminate and mount along the Lilja path as a kind of living anthology for friends and strangers to enjoy on their walks behind our magic door. 

Below is just a small sampling of the great poetry being written. Enjoy!

Final Cafe

This week saw our last cafe. Our last group of cafe workers earned lots of tips for their great customer service! We would like to thank you all so much for your support. Whether as a baking leader, a cafe manager, or a patron, we could not do this project without the help of all of you. The kids would like to keep on going with the cafe, but the torch will be passed to 2CO next week.

In total, we earned $672! About half of the monies will be donated to WCS to go directly to rainforest conservation. We're having a speaker from Wildlife Conservation Society come to talk to the kids and we will present the donation to him. The rest of the monies will purchase new plants for our outdoor space. Our springtime work outside will find us working hard planting and cleaning up our outdoor space.

Supply and Demand

This week's cafe was a great demonstration of supply and demand! We had many customers among the audience of the third grade play at the multicultural assembly. Our cafe workers had their hands full as many, many patrons sought to buy our goods. We sold out of everything - even some extra sandwiches and salads we had made. Our supply of baked goods, drinks, and lunch items this week could not keep up with the demand.  It was our best week so far in sales! Though we know next week won't have the same foot traffic, the kids are looking forward to making our last cafe a success.

The kids have also started thinking about what we should do with the money our cafes brought in. We are looking to donate some of the money to organizations like WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), and others seeking to protect and preserve rainforests. The rest we will use as spring comes to add plants, mulch and other gardening upgrades to our outdoor classroom space!  Since we began the Outdoor Classroom, we have used our earnings this way and are proud of our sustainability.