Sit Spot and Wild Edibles

Yesterday the Young Naturalists had their first first trip to Mount Pollux. Campers collected so many different kinds of insects: Japanese beetles, flies, honeybees, dragonflies, walking sticks, milkweed bugs, daddy longlegs, butterflies, moths, leafhoppers, horseflies... the list goes on. Some insects could be found in short grass, others in long grass. Some insects were found on flowers, some flying through the air. Some insects you could find without even trying!

After collection, we all had a good look and said goodbye to the insects. To send them off, we said a little rhyme:

Run away, crawl away, fly away, hop
You're free to go, I won't try to stop you
from living your life. Your deserve to be free.
Thank you for spending this time with me.

Then campers had a "sit spot." Everyone picked a spot to sit alone quietly for a few minutes while they observed their surroundings with all five senses. We wrote in our journals and shared about it afterwards.

While half the group went to Mount Pollux, the other half went on a wild edibles walk with Ted, a Hitchcock Center naturalist. (Then the groups switched in the afternoon.) Ted showed campers the wild edible plants that can be found in the gardens, weeds, and woods of the Hitchcock Center. Campers learned about mint, groundnuts, wood sorrel and more. Ask your camper about their favorite wild edible! Thanks to Jessica Schultz for the gorgeous photos of the wild edibles walk.