North Country explorer from Plainfield, Vermont
More than 25 students and community members came out to the St. Lawrence Sustainability Site on Saturday Sep. 30th to spend the afternoon discovering the various flora, fauna and fungi present on the 33.5 acre farm. The afternoon's back-to-back naturalist walks included a wild edible plant walk with Paul Hetzler (Cornell Cooperative Extension), a fungi expedition with Claire Burkum (SLU), a hunt for reptiles and amphibians (herps) with Tom Langen (Clarkson), and a bird walk with ornithologist Susan Wilson (SLU). Between walks Sustainability Program Director Samuel Joseph offered a tour of the 1.5 acre organic vegetable garden, which currently feeds eight residential St. Lawrence students. It was warm for late September, and the farm was alive with wildlife. Highlights included touring the farm's beautiful rolling hayfields in search of birds, uncovering a sleepy blue spotted salamander under a log, and spotting a juvenile bald eagle! Thanks to all who joined us for the afternoon, to our presenters for sharing their knowledge and passion for the environment, and - of course - to the many cooperative frogs we found!
Paul Hetzler from St. Lawrence County CCE takes participants on a tour of the farms plants, from grasses and shrubs to trees, with a focus on what's edible.
Community members and students head off to the back field to hunt for fungi with Claire Burkum.
Headed into the woods to search for reptiles and amphibians, also known as 'herps'. The term herpetology comes from the Greek word 'herpein' meaning 'to creep'.
What's under that log? Tom Langen guided the group in best practices for discovering the herps hiding places this time of year.
