Friday, April 23, 2010

Earth Day at Hearthstone

We had a busy Earth Day this year! We started off the day in the garden, at the vernal pond Ms. Tamara and the high schoolers spearheaded. The pond is located in our wetland area in the gardens. The hole was dug by a back-hoe and is now a permanent pond. It currently has hundreds of wood frog tadpoles residing in the pond. We hope that salamanders and other wetland creatures find the vernal pond as a home and a safe place to lay eggs, etc. The first few hours of Earth Day we planted black willows, alder trees, dogwoods, marsh hibiscus, cardinal flowers, black-eyed susan's, milkweed, boneset, and sedge around the vernal pond; all of which are native plants that will thrive in the wetland area we have helped develop.
Next we loaded up the van and headed out to Old Hollow Rd. A few miles from Hearthstone School. There we picked up trash along the roadside until lunch. The road was strewn with old beer cans and soda bottles, but after we left the sides of the road seemed much more green and happy!
After lunch and a bit of recess we all met in the community room for the presentation of the students' science fair projects. Each year for the past three years the students have been asked to conduct a science fair project based on sustainability, recycling, energy alternatives, endangered species, wildlife, plants, etc. The science fair is held on Earth Day every year. This year the projects ranged from "How to Make Bio-Diesel" to "The Gray Wolf".

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