Category Archives: The Dirt: News & Events
Ed’s Book
What Color is The Wind? is a feel-guide to the out-of-doors for parents with young children. Go to Edsbook.org to learn more or get yourself a copy!
Drops
Take a walk outdoors when the sun is shining, but after a rain or when the snow is melting, i.e. at a time when drops of water are hanging from branches, bushes, playground equipment, railings and the like.
water droplet
Maple Syrup
In preparation for our March 3rd maple sugaring program we thought we’d offer some sweet facts and figures to get your sap flowing:
tapped
The sugar maple is the New York State tree.
Other maples will yield sap – Norway, silver, red – but their sap is not as sweet as the sugar maple’s. Maples will yield their sap when nights are cold and the days begin to get warmer – this time of year. The warmer days create pressure within the tree which allows the sap to flow out of a hole or wound in the tree. The colder nights create suction within the tree which allows the tree to draw in water and replenish the flow of sap. Maple sugar was once seen as a solution towards ending slavery by providing an alternative to sugar cane. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. Some maple trees have been tapped for their sap every February/March for over 150 years. Maple syrup is made in no other place on earth except here, in northeastern North America.
Ed’s Corner
winter crocus
Crocuses at the end of January? Snowdrops on February 1? No ice skating yet on our pond!? Do we call this ‘winter’ an extended fall? Is something going on with global warming trends, is the jet stream stuck, do El Nino or La Nina have a role in this, is it just a small blip or anomaly in the larger weather picture, is it making up for last winter? Do you feel a little guilty because you are enjoying it? keep reading…
Nurturing Resilience
A parent just forwarded this great article to us, and we had to pass it along:
Nurturing Resilience
Raising children to be competent and caring.
by Michael Ungar, Ph.D.
Summer Camps Make Kids Resilient
Sending children to a residential, or day camp, builds resilience
Published on February 5, 2012 by Michael Ungar, Ph.D. in Nurturing Resilience
I recently spoke to 300 camp directors about how to make children more resilient to life stress. Summer camps, we discovered, are perfect places to help children optimize their psychosocial development.
After all, summer camps are places where children get the experiences they need to bolster their range of coping strategies. There are the simple challenges keep reading…
