A Brief Quiet Time at Schiff

Things have been pretty quiet up here the last few days. The Summer Nature Program has ended, so we won’t hear any songs about slugs until next summer unless we want to sing them ourselves. We won’t hear any ooo-ing and aaah-ing over tie-dyes, either. (We could probably drum up something for that, too, but it wouldn’t be the same.)

Emma and friends are putting the finishing touches today on this beautiful mural. We have caterpillars and earthworms and cardinals and deer and flowers and mushrooms and grasses and fish, all just about ready for you to come and behold the amazing work she and her band of merry volunteers did this summer. I’m willing to bet the colors will make you giddy.

The Stew Crew has disbanded, too. Intern and “Crew Boss” Dan Mayer is headed back to Paul Smith’s College, and his fellow invasive plant eradicators/trench diggers/trail stewards are also going back to their respective schools.

We also had some masons working on historic site and wildlife biologists and other folks working hard around here too, in some more remote parts of the preserve. It’s been a busy place.

We’ve had a full house this summer, although quiet is the norm around here–it’s a nature preserve, after all. But after a summer like this, the quiet seems even more pronounced now that we’re each heading out to grab some time to ourselves for a few days before we reconvene after Labor Day and let the calendar heat up again. We need to get ready for our fall yoga classes, and our preschool Walkabouts. Not to mention our Farm Festival, the plans for which get more exciting every day…Put it on your calendar: Farm Fest, September 26th. In fact,  read up on it and buy a couple of tickets while you’re thinking of it.

Our whole calendar is pretty neat this fall. We have a birding class for families and a wildlife photography workshop and a wilderness first aid class, and that’s just for starters. Music in the Woods is coming back; the Base Camp Adventure folks will be doing a hiking basics class; Rick Pressl is leading another history hike right after Labor Day. We’re going to be busy. We need to get ready, so we can come back and meet up with you all again soon.

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