What are you doing, personally, to make living during the COVID pandemic better for others? Anything? Or, are you just complaining? Be honest here. Are you actively trying to make life livable during this crisis? One of the debatable tenants of Environmental Education has become a guide for my life. It is that there MUST…
We find ourselves living in odd times. But, some rights of passage continue as though these cycles have a life of their own. First-time college students are gearing up to move into their university communities and start a new life. Yes, much of it will be different but some of it will be very much…
Oh, boy! This year is set to be very different than any previous year for school. I have two students headed back to college classes and one who I thought was going to be entering as a college freshman but decided in early June that he was going to pursue a different path despite getting…
Luckily, throughout the formative years of my boys’ education and development, I have been able to provide a great deal of enrichment outside of school. In fact, if you have ever read the tag line for my blog, enrichment is mentioned. “THE APPLES IN MY ORCHARD…….. a reflective blog about enriching youth through education, opportunity,…
Words need more substance than just inclusion in verbiage. There needs to be meaning AND intent behind them. While in grad school for my Environmental Education degree, we were asked in one of the theory courses whether education (about the environment) is enough (for community members). Is knowing about environmental problems and issues like the…
This spring I was to engage over 1,500 local youth in presentations regarding our environment. Handouts were ordered. Seeds were collected. Easels were purchased. April, May, and June were to be busy months. Since all those events were canceled due to the pandemic, I found my work as an environmental educator on pause. But, it…
Today, my son and I walked the trails at the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge on Brice Prairie. It is a designated site of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. It’s pollinator week and I’m participating in Miles for Monarchs, through Monarch Joint Venture, trying to get in 25 miles of walking…
The world of art and non-profit organizations, while separate but sometimes overlapping, share a common conundrum. They both face the expectation of receiving goods and/or services for “free.” I am not a stranger to providing goods or services for free. As you might be aware, I led a garden club once a month for a…
This is an unusual time, of that there is no doubt. But, in some respects, life must move forward. I have a son moving out, he’s 20 and going to start college again in the fall as a transfer student. He attended a college two states away for a year, as a 2018 HS graduate….
As many of you have written over the last few weeks, I am at a loss today as far as what to post. My head is swirling with phrases, statements, admissions, and retorts but none seem to say what I would like. Nor do I relish the swift backlash that social media tends to release…