Vernal Pools at Muscoot

Our spring break has been pretty soggy as we've had two solid days of cold rain and drizzle thus far. Thankfully we were greeted by some drier weather this morning for our Wacky Wednesday vacation hike to visit the vernal pools at Muscoot Farm--and the days of rain left us with lots of mud and puddles in which to splooge and splash. In fact, the farm's ducks were treated to a little pond as their barnyard play area was so flooded they were swimming in it instead!

After spending some time visiting with Muscoot's chickens and goats, our ample group made it's way along the farm road, past the sheep and up the hill toward the 7-miles of trails on the property. Our destination today--three of the farms' vernal pools where we would spend some time exploring.

As I described in last year's trip report, vernal pools are bodies of water which are fed primarily through melting snows, rains, and overflow from nearby wetlands. There is no stream or creek bringing them water and, subsequently, they dry up with the summer heat. Because of their relatively brief existence, fish cannot survive in vernal pools making them ideal, preadator-free breeding grounds for our amphibious friends, namely frogs and salamanders. We visited Muscoot's pools last spring as well.

The recent rains left the trails overflowing with water and the pools were sure to be brimming as well. Little rivers flowed down trail and the kids found delight in walking "upstream" into the woods. Everyone came prepared in good, high boots leaving them free to wade and jump with abandon.

The hike to the pools is a gradual uphill walk of less than a mile. Upon arrival we joined as a group to talk about some of the creatures we might see up there and how to treat them should we spot any. I encouraged the kids to gently roll aside logs and rocks along the forest floor to find salamanders, to rustle carefully among the leaves for tiny spring peepers and to look closely along the pools' edges for egg clusters. The pictures will speak for themselves about our discoveries. This hike is sure to become an annual favorite for Kids Unplugged.

Many thanks to Barbara Allendorf for today's fantastic photos!

Baby Animals on the Farm

Today was Kids Unplugged's first day at Fishkill Farms for the new season and what a fantastic time we had. First off, it was just wonderful to be back up there as I haven't been since late November. The farm is brimming with new life of all sorts--a fresh batch of chicks and several baby lambs, the birth of the farm's exciting CSA programs, the promise of a huge new barn beginning to take shape, and buds and sprouts throughout the orchards and in one of the farm's tropical greenhouses.

After a week of weather nearing the 70-degree mark, we woke this morning to a balmy 31F but with blessedly bright sunshine and no wind to mention. By the time everyone arrived, the sun was high in the sky and the hike down to the chicken coops warmed us up quite comfortably.

The chickens, in one of their winter locations in the orchard, were roaming happily when we arrived though the ones inside the coops, roosting snugly in their nesting boxes were less than thrilled to be disturbed. I had mentioned to the kids that the farmer had told me the laying hens had been behaving a bit strangely and that their eggs seemed a little odd as of late. Squeals of delight coming out of the hen houses told me that they'd discovered the mystery of this information. "I found a pink egg!" shouted one. "Look, here's a green one," exclaimed another. "I didn't know chickens could lay bright blue eggs," quipped yet another. The colorful eggs I'd stashed down there before everyone arrived were having exactly the effect I'd hoped they would.

Decorative eggs aside, the kids absolutely love gathering from the hen houses and they had dozens collected in the farm's wire blue baskets when I announced that it was time to head back. I've mentioned before here that collecting eggs with kids is really a wonderful experience and I practically had to drag them out of the coops to hike back up for our next activity.

With hands freshly washed, the kids gathered around picnic tables nestled beside the peach trees while we introduced the day's crafts. Julia, one of the farm's organic vegetable growers who is also responsible for tending to the resident sheep, brought us a small box filled with wool from those sheep. We were going to be felting today, a traditional farm fiber craft, and looking at some raw wool was a great avenue into the activity. The farm's sheep are "hair sheep" which means that they shed instead of needing shearing. Their fur is not like the thick, curly wool from a sheared sheep. Still, the kids passed the wool around the table enjoying the sensation of touching the natural fibers. Wet felting, the type of felting we were doing today, is a very soothing activity for children. Soft, naturally dyed wool is wrapped tightly around an object (today it was a wooden egg) and then immersed in warm, soapy water. With another little dollop of soap, the child can rub and squeeze their egg, bringing the fluffy fibers together until they mat and form a bit of felted "fabric." The eggs are then rinsed and set in the sun to dry. At the same time, another group of children were coloring on eggs with beeswax crayons before dyeing them. As we had a mixed age group, the younger children began with the eggs before moving over to the felting table.

Just as we were finishing our crafting, Josh arrived with a crate full of what he called 'adolescent chicks' as they are now about 7-weeks old. This was their first foray out of their winter habitat and they cheeped nervously as Josh gently moved them around the circle of children to be petted gently. There were four different varieties of chicks, one of them the Rhode Island Red laying hen that makes up the farms flock of nearly 500.

After meeting the chicks we walked over to find Julia where she was busy seeding in the greenhouse and she treated us to a visit with the farm's sheep and their new baby lambs. I think there were five of them with two ewes expecting to deliver within the next few weeks. The lambs were skittish as well, but the kids and parents alike were enthralled to watch Julia give them their bottles of milk which they sucked hungrily, polishing them off in seconds.

One of the things that makes Fishkill so special is that while Josh and Hannah, the farm's proprietors, care deeply about utilizing the farm for educational opportunities, it is a working farm first and foremost. The sheep are livestock. They don't respond to people like they might if they were at a petting zoo--or even at a farm geared primarily toward visits from the public. The gardens and orchards aren't completely pristine spaces. The greenhouse is surrounded by farm tools. It's a REAL farm. And Kids Unplugged is grateful for the opportunity to be there.

Our morning finished with cinnamon-sugar donuts and a story on the sunny hill above the orchards. After passing around the donuts I sat down and looked at the kids. "So, what was your favorite part about today." The resounding response? Everything!

Many thanks to my dear friend Julia Reimer for her expertise and gentle guidance with our felting project today. I've never seen such a lovely bunch of felted eggs! And a second thank you to Haven Colgate, director of the Hillside Nature Guides Program in Hastings, for the fantastic photos!

Scaling the Trees at Halsey Pond

This morning, after many months of attempts, Kids Unplugged teamed up with the Rivertown Playgroup for a hike for the small ones at Halsey Pond. Halsey Pond is usually a great choice for a hike with little kids. Though the lead-in trail is a bit steep from the Hamilton Road trail head where we usually park, it brings you out to a flat, gravel path which circles the pond and offers great views of the Beltzhoover Teahouse the whole way around. Those views help motivate short legs as well, because heading counter-clockwise around the loop leaves the "castle" for the end of the hike and all of the kids want to make it to the castle.

Today, however, because of the series of wild storms we've had recently (mentioned in other recent posts) there were again a crazy number of downed trees lying across the lead-in trail. Big trees, too, and the toddlers really had to work to negotiate over the fallen trunks and under and around the tangle of branches that blocked their way up the hill.

I'm not used to hiking with a group of toddlers, and while I have a little one of my own and have been through the toddler phase three times, I forget (they say you do and I never believed it) how challenging it can be for them to maneuver their small limbs. They took the job of ducking beneath branches very seriously, determination on their little, knitted brows as they stooped low so as not to smack their noggins. A couple of them got a little teary as they were passed over the storm detritus from one grown-up to another. But climb the hill they did and they were rewarded with the gentle pond loop replete with good, squishy mud puddles in which to splooge and plenty of sticks to snap for pint-sized walking sticks.

There were plenty of diversions of the nature-sort along the Halsey loop--ducks and geese in the pond, buttercups blooming along the shore, a little fountain spilling water on the path for small hands to cup and catch, robins to spot, and dirt to scrape and scratch with a stick. It was great for my smallest one to be among her cohorts, freed from the backpack where she often goes when she can't keep up with the bigger kids on Wacky Wednesdays. And the teahouse served the purpose it usually does on our hikes, fantasy play for the kids and chat time for the parents. We basked in the sun as they ran in and out of the little gothic space before it was time to head back down the trail and home for the naps that were sure to follow.

Arin and I deemed it a rousing success and hope to make these Friday hikes a regular occurrence, so please be sure to check the calendar for updates. Looking forward to seeing all of you again soon!

Wacky Wednesday Woodfrogs--Take 2!

Last year, on March 18th, Kids Unplugged had a Wacky Wednesday at Greenburgh Nature Center and hiked down to Woodfrog Pond. As we neared the pond through the woods we could hear the woodfrogs, their loud croaking reverberating around the little woodland-wetland setting. Today's hike was along the Eagle Hill Trail in Rockefeller State Park and at the beginning of the trail there is a lovely little bridge that crosses over a wetlands area and the Pocantico River--a wetlands area that seemed to be a happy habitat for local woodfrogs!

Having been walloped by yet another storm the previous weekend--this time with a barrage of rain and mighty winds--our area has again suffered some pretty devastating tree damage, and the park did not escape unscathed. The access path to Thirteen Bridges and Eagle Hill Loop was blocked in several spots by downed trees and branches and a loud, repetetive, cha-chugga, cha-chugga, cha-chugga sound off in the distance lead me to think that there was actually tree work being done within the park. As I was helping one of the smaller ones to untangle herself from a web of fallen branches my older daughter ran back down the path toward me and said, eyes wide, "Mama, it's FROGS making that noise!" I looked at her in disbelief because the noise really sounded like machinery, that's how loud it was. Another mom and her older son were approaching us on their way out and she said, "they're mating like crazy--there are tons of them in the pond--you'll see them as you go by."

Sure enough, as we came upon the wetlands area there they were--croaking loudly and splishing about in their frantic attempts to procreate. At first they were difficult to spot, so camoflaged were they in the water, but when you concentrated for a few seconds suddenly you could see that they were everywhere. Anyplace there was a bit of movement in the water it was a frog or two or six all intertwined together tumbling around in an aquatic orgy. It was true showing of the primal, natural spring world. And the kids commentary was so innocent and delightful. "Hey, that one's climbing on top of that other one." "Look, over here there are a whole bunch of them climbing on the other one. "I think that one's the girl." "Why the heck are they all piling up together?" It was very funny and endearing.

As soon as I got home I looked up last year's woodfrog hike and realized that the two hikes were only a day apart. It really made me wonder, yet again, about the way this incredible world of nature works. How do the frogs know? They don't look at the calendar. I wondered if they would be splishing and croaking and mating all week or if the ritual was more shorted lived. I wondered how long it had been since they'd woken from their winter deep-freeze, if the bout of warm weather mattered, if they returned to the same pond to mate each year. I know that animals like salamanders and spring peepers tend to return to the same vernal pond where they came into the world to lay their own eggs. Was it the same for these woodfrogs. Lots to wonder about and lots of answers to find.

After lure of the frogs had passed (it would be renewed on our way back out) we headed up the hill toward the Eagle Hill Summit. From that point on the kids fell into their comfortable trail habits--a bit of bushwhacking here, a good walking stick to pick up there, a satisfying boulder configuration to climb her--before taking a break for goldfish and pretzels and water and granola bars in the grassy area at the top. It was a bright clear St. Patrick's day afternoon (note all the kids in their green shirts from school that day!) and everyone enjoyed the views of the Kykuit Estate and the Tappan Zee in the distance.

While we were relaxing in the breeze, one little guy who was joining us for his first Wacky Wednesday came up to me and said, "Gina, I like this camp. I want my mom to sign me up."

If that's not a solid testimonial, I don't know what is.


Debbie Allan's Slideshow (please note the exceptionally cool frog photo!):

Kids Unplugged at the Warner Library

There's a new photography exhibit in the neighborhood! We are thrilled to announce that throughout the of March, Debbie Allan is presenting a photographic journey through the seasons with Kids Unplugged in the Children's Room at the Warner Library. The show features scenes from Kids Unplugged's first year of adventures as captured by Debbie's skilled and artistic eye.

The Warner Library's Children's Room is a wonderful place to visit, especially on a cold, damp, March afternoon. Snuggle up with some books and check out the exhibit! For more information about the library's programming visit http://www.warnerlibrary.org/kids

Thanks Debbie!

The Storm of Storms!

Last week's snowstorm left us buried under a bit more than two-feet of snow, with no power and lots and lots of local tree damage. In light of this, and for the sake of safety, we're going to hold off on our events for the next week or so until things are a bit more stable around here. The trails in most parks remain heavy with snow and subsequently difficult for short legs to negotiate. Add to that the broken limbs which continue to hang precariously overhead and I think it's best to stay out of the woods for a while longer. We can't even let our girls out in the backyard or driveway because of all the branches that have yet to come down.

Hoping that all of you weathered the storm relatively uneventfully!

Please check back here later in the week for updates and the new spring calendar.

Looking forward to those first bits of green!