Mindy Maslin and Philadelphia’s Forest
November 15, 2021[caption id="attachment_273419" align="aligncenter" width="255"] The PHS's Mindy Maslin, founder of Tree Tenders, is being honored for helping plant 20,000 trees across the region.[/caption]
Philadelphia has a bold plan for reforesting the city, making sure 30% of our city is blanketed under a canopy of trees, which will go a long way to mitigating heat waves and cooling our city's rapidly changing climate. It’s also an environmental justice plan, as-- no surprise-- economically challenged portions of the city have fewer trees than more advantaged neighborhoods.
Mindy Maslin supports this ambitious goal. As the founder and director of Tree Tenders, an important…
Another Fall in Philadelphia
November 8, 2021[caption id="attachment_273384" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The changing leaves on our trails.[/caption]
I drive into work one Monday morning in October, enjoying the intense green of the trees here at the Schuylkill Center, and am greeted by a shock of yellow leaves covering the sweet birches looming over the driveway. Further down, I notice that the poison ivy winding up the cherries, too, has turned to gold since the previous Friday. A week later, the maples and sumacs turn to impossibly intense shades of scarlet and amber. Firewood reappears at the grocery store, pumpkins materialize in every shop, and I suddenly develop…
The Lenape and the Land
November 1, 2021[caption id="attachment_273318" align="aligncenter" width="650"] A typical Lenape village, with wigwams, the Lenape name for their homes.[/caption]
Pennsylvania school kids are still mistakenly taught that our state’s history begins in 1681 with William Penn and the naming of our state, Penn’s Woods. Of course, the land already had a name, Lenapehoking, and it was hardly new: for some 10,000 years before William Penn, the Lenape inhabited Lenapehoking.
On Thursday evening, November 4 at 7:00 p.m., in celebration of Native American Heritage Month, we will present “The Lenape and the Land,” a free virtual conversation among three members of the Lenape Nation…
The Amazing Monarch Migration: A Status Report
October 18, 2021[caption id="attachment_273343" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] How are this year’s monarch’s doing? Join us and National Monarch expert Dr. Chip Taylor for our free, virtual event to find out.[/caption]
The monarch butterfly, that large insect perfectly decked out for Halloween-- or a Flyers game-- in its orange and black cloak, undergoes one of the most extraordinary migrations in the animal kingdom. Butterflies across America and even Canada.
The monarch butterfly defies logic, for embedded in a small collection of nerve cells generously called a brain is a GPS directing the insect to fly from Roxborough all the way to a mountain valley…
Goldenrods and the Last Chance Cafe
October 4, 2021[caption id="attachment_273322" align="aligncenter" width="1242"] Goldenrods, an autumn bloom, are one of the last sources of nectar and pollen before winter.[/caption]
As summer slides into fall, a wonderful transformation begins happening in meadows across the area—summer flowers give way to classic autumn blossoms like goldenrod and asters. These are hugely important plants, as they represent the very last shot that thousands of species of insects have for pollen and nectar before winter settles in.
For bees and butterflies, a goldenrod field is essentially their Last Chance Cafe.
There’s a great example of this here at the Schuylkill Center. At the corner…
Our Native Wildflower Seed Packet Design contest Winner is: Monica Smith!
October 1, 2021[caption id="attachment_273306" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Monica Smith's winning seed packet design[/caption]
We are thrilled to welcome new members to the Schuylkill Center every day! Starting October 1, all new members will receive in their welcome kit our native wildflower seed packet designed by one of our very own Schuylkill Center members, Monica Smith. The contest ran from July 28, 2021, to August 20, 2021, and was open to creatives of all ages and skill levels. We were overwhelmed with the great response and received several beautifully designed submissions that made the decision very difficult. We want to send a special thank…
Blueberries, A Local Classic
September 27, 2021[caption id="attachment_273273" align="alignnone" width="617"] Highbush blueberries are one of the best parts of summer, and one of the only truly native foods to our region.[/caption]
If you have never had the joy of walking or kayaking through the New Jersey Pine Barrens, this fall should be your first time. A short drive but a far cry from the hustle and bustle of Philadelphia, this quietly rugged wilderness is defined by fragrant conifers towering overhead and lush stands of fruiting shrubs at waist height. The crunch of sand under your feet, the soft lapping of water at creek’s edge, a fresh…
Liz Ellmann: A Warrior for Wildlife
September 13, 2021[caption id="attachment_273241" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Liz Ellmann helping a turtle[/caption]
The Wildlife Clinic at the Schuylkill Center, the city’s only wildlife rehabilitation clinic, is located on Port Royal Avenue in Upper Roxborough and staffed by an extraordinary group of dedicated workers, both employees and volunteers, who handle thousands of injured, sick, and orphaned animals annually. It’s a labor of love.
Separately, the Schuylkill Center this summer unveiled our mudhif, a traditional Iraqi guesthouse built of reeds-- the first one ever built outside of Iraq. In memory of this year’s 20th anniversary of 9/11, the Center last weekend offered “Reconciliation: A Healing…
Missy Horrow: “I Feel Like I Have Come Home”
August 31, 2021[caption id="attachment_273174" align="alignnone" width="640"] Missy Horrow, Director of Early Childhood Education[/caption]
Last Wednesday, the teaching staff of Nature Preschool at the Schuylkill Center gathered to begin preparing for the post-Labor Day opening of the school. Starting its ninth year, our staff will again immerse three-, four- and five-year-olds in the natural world in all seasons. And once again, for the third school year, our staff will try to steer their students through pandemic whitewater-- but that’s a story for another day.
That evening, Missy Horrow, the school’s new director, wrote in her Facebook feed, “today was the first day of…
Schuylkill Center Intern Redesigns the Entrance Garden
August 23, 2021[caption id="attachment_273125" align="alignnone" width="640"] A masked Schuylkill Center intern Jamel Shockley weeding the front entrance garden with volunteers.[/caption]
“It’s the first thing people see when they walk in the front door. It’s like the first word of a play or the first note of a song-- if it catches your attention and draws you in, you’re already off to a good start.”
Hearing the Schuylkill Center’s intern, Jamel Shockley, talk about redesigning the gardens in front of our main entrance, it is easy to share his enthusiasm. A lifelong Philadelphian and recent Drexel graduate with a degree in environmental science,…
