June Sustainability Article Expanded

Good News for Planet Earth – Composting … ‘Black Gold’ for the Garden

Sustainable Living Steering Committee …. with special thanks to Bob Broz

Church Work Day

This past Sunday we held a work day at our church.  The youth worked  along with many wonderful adults and children working hand in hand while learning from each other.  We have two beautiful raised beds that we planted many beautiful flowers, fruits, and veggies that we will be able to enjoy as the summer goes on!  Enjoy the photos and as the summer progresses we will try and post some updates!

Getting some of our pots filled with flowers and vegetables- peppers and tomatoes. 

Getting the raised beds planted with small and big hands alike working side by side, a great way to teach the next generation!

Trying to figure out what they were planting!

Some flowers that were almost taller than he was!

Many hands make light work, our wonderful watering crew!

One of the raised beds after we were finished filled with many fragrant flowers and even yummy strawberries!

We want to give a huge shout out to the Cub Scout Pack 990.  We could not have finished all the mulching without the help of the young men of Pack 990 and their families.  Also huge kudos to the Olivet Crew that came out to help, especially to Marilyn and Dennis Bettenhausen, and Anne Crousore for selecting and growing all of the wonderful vegetables and flowers! We appreciate everyone’s hard work this past Sunday- helping to plant flowers, strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers in our raised beds, weeding and mulching other flower beds and mulching trees!

See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.  Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

~Song of Solomon 2: 11-12

Field Trip: Runge Nature Center

On April 17^th Olivet had 14 participants on the Runge Nature Center field trip.  For some folks this was their first visit to this wonderful area, while others were seasoned veterans.  We started out the morning on one of the shorter trails on a guided walk learning a bit more about the local flora and fauna, and completed a child friendly scavenger hunt using our eyes only finding things from worms, turkeys, deer, and everything in between!  We also used our senses to hear, touch, and smell many other things.  Once the ‘guided’ walk was completed we each went our separate ways with many enjoying the beautiful and interactive exhibits inside where they had a special focus on hummingbirds; others took  longer hikes enjoying the beautiful forests, marshes, glades, and fire tower.  After our time with nature's beauty we took a quick detour to Central Dairy to enjoy some refreshing ice cream on our way home!

Touring the garden at Runge with their focus on native plants, herbs, and vegetables.  (Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Bradley)

Newly emerged buckeye flowers in the forest understory.  (Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Bradley)

A few of the many white tailed deer that consider Runge home. (Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Bradley)

Wild turkeys that are seen almost every visit to Runge, this time of year they know they are safe on the conservation area. (Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Bradley)

A butterfly drinking from a dandelion, in early spring butterflies and bees rely on the nectar from dandelions until more flowers come up, but more and more these flowers are seen as a weed and eradicated leaving insects little to drink early in the spring. (Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Bradley)

A flowering dogwood, the Missouri state tree. (Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Bradley)

Group photo in front of Runge Nature Center. (Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Bradley)

Enjoying some Central Dairy ice cream! (Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Bradley)

Enjoying some Central Dairy ice cream! (Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Bradley)

To find out more about Runge Nature Center, visit http://mdc.mo.gov/regions/central/runge-nature-center and also look for Habitat Happenings, their bi-monthly newsletter that lists an amazing number of on- and off-site activities.

You must not know too much or be too precise or scientific about birds and trees and flowers and watercraft; a certain free margin, and even vagueness- perhaps ignorance, credulity- helps your enjoyment of these things.

~Walt Whitman