Author: news
Seed Counting
October 28, 2015By Shannon Wise, Nature Preschool Manager
Seeds – the beginning of something, the signal of a cycle continuing, a start. With the season of fall upon us, the Schuylkill Center forest has been filled with seeds covering the ground and showing up amongst the trees. For me these seeds symbolize the start of a new school year, the continued pattern of growth and learning for a new set of Sycamores, Sweet Gums, and Sassafras. It is the planting of knowledge and questions for teachers and children here at Nature Preschool.
What happens at the start of each year defines the…
Dear 2040, it’s Maya van Rossum
October 20, 2015By Maya van Rossum, Delaware Riverkeeper
Dear Future Generations,
You are 25 years in the future. Please tell me what my beloved Delaware River is like today. I am hopeful that the work that is keeping me up at nights today in 2015 has resulted in a cleaner and healthier River for you. (more…)
Schuylkill Center Old Fashioned Recipe
October 15, 2015By Anna Lehr Mueser, Public Relations Manager
This past Saturday afternoon was idyllic: the early fall light streamed through the trees golden and green, the air was crisp, but not cold. And 130 friends of the Schuylkill Center gathered in Jubilee Grove to celebrate our 50th anniversary, wrapping up the year of special events. We dedicated Jubilee Grove and it’s new Binney Meigs sculpture, our Nature Preschoolers sang a delightful song for us (“Schuylkill Center Dream”), Judy Wicks and Maya van Rossum both read letters to 2040 (look out for their letters on the blog soon), and our education director…
The Start of the Year at Nature Preschool: Discovery Walls
September 30, 2015By Shannon Wise, Nature Preschool Manager
The Discovery Wall
As you scan the walls in each Nature Preschool classroom, you will find our Discovery Wall. It is a space filled with photographs of animals, plants, or natural objects along with categorization labels. This blend of play, experience, and science tells a story much deeper than what you encounter at first sight.
Being outdoors and exploring in nature is the heart and soul of our Nature Preschool. Each and every day the children travel the trails, open to the possibilities of the environment. It could be a multi-colored leaf, a wiggly…
The Pope and Climate Change
September 23, 2015By Mike Weilbacher, Executive Director
Before Pope Francis arrives in Philadelphia on Saturday, he will present groundbreaking speeches, one to a joint session of Congress on Thursday, the other to the United Nations on Friday. He’s likely covering a number of hot-button topics, including immigration, poverty, homelessness...
...And climate change. The pope, blessedly fearless, walks where angels fear to tread. His June encyclical, Laudato Si’, or “Praise be to you,” rocked the world in its condemnation of how we treat the environment, using language no pope and too few world leaders have used before. Humanity’s “reckless” behavior and “unfettered greed”…
Barn Swallows on the Wing
September 19, 2015By Anna Lehr Mueser, Public Relations Manager
This summer our wildlife clinic enjoyed treating a number of young barn swallows. These graceful birds, iridescent blue on their backs and wings, live almost their entire lives on the wing, explains wildlife rehabilitator Michele Wellard. Once released, the barn swallows in the clinic’s care will take to the skies, landing only in their nests. Several groups of baby barn swallows were brought into the wildlife clinic on July 31, likely from several nests. The babies had fallen from the nest and the people who brought them in explained that they were unable…
50 Facts, 50 Days
August 28, 2015By Anna Lehr Mueser, Public Relations Manager
As we wrap up celebrations for our 50th anniversary, we're posting one fact each day for the 50 days leading up to final celebratory event of the year: Jubilee in the Grove. Each week, we'll update this post with the most recently posted facts, as well as extra details. Follow all the posts on Facebook or Twitter with #50years
50 Facts, 50 Days
1. On average, our Nature Preschoolers spend 3 hours/day playing outdoors, 42 times more than the average American child.
2. In one year, the Schuylkill Center's forest absorbs 10,200,000 lbs of…
Field Guide: Blooming in August
August 17, 2015By Melissa Nase, Manager of Land Stewardship
Welcome to our new mobile Field Guides! We'll regularly post guides about what's blooming, what animals you can see, and other interesting things to observe in the woods, meadows, and streams. These posts are designed to be easy to read on a phone, meaning you can take this mobile field guide out with you as you walk, hike, and play. See other Field Guide posts here.
Common yarrow - Achillea millefolium
With small white flowers and feathery, delicate leaves, Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is a pretty addition to the meadows and sunny edges at the…
History and Nature Intertwine at The Wagner Free Institute of Science
August 13, 2015Originally written by David Hewitt on the blog Growing History; adapted by Wagner’s Cara Scharf
North Philadelphia, with its closely packed houses and shops, cracked sidewalks and streets, and vacant lots and overgrown parks, is not necessarily where you’d expect to find a historic landscape.
It’s there, however, in the yard of the Wagner Free Institute of Science. Though there are many historic plants in the yard, some of the most noticeable are the large trees such as London planes (Platanus x acerifolia) and silver maples (Acer saccharinum) that ring the yard. Their size alone suggests they have been here for…
It’s not about the bees, it’s about the we
August 11, 2015By Marguerita Hagan 2014 – 2015 LandLab Resident Artist, for the Native Pollinator Garden Residency with Maggie Mills and Ben Mills
[caption id="attachment_266605" align="aligncenter" width="235"] Bee foraging Purple Hyssop: Native Pollinator Garden[/caption]
“In the village, a sage should go about like a bee, which, not harming flower, color scent, flies off with the nectar.” – Anonymous, Dhammapada
[caption id="attachment_266606" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Native Pollinator Garden: blue mistflower zinc etched plate by Maggie Mills, handcrafted chemical-free Douglas fir post by Ben Mills & pit fired ceramic bees by Marguerita Hagan & the community[/caption]
One year has circled around completing our complex LandLab…
