These past five months have been full.
Between December and April we ran our winter series of Nature Talks, one per month, covering the topics ‘A History of Mennonites and Their Gardens’ with Susie Fisher, who spoke on the emotional history of early Mennonite settlers to Manitoba by looking at their experiences with their gardens, the food they eat, and the way they shaped the landscape; ‘The Spiritual Discipline of Being Outside’ with Graham McFarlane, who helped us think through the role that spending time outdoors can play in our spiritual growth; ‘A Bug’s Life: Insect Ecology 101’ with Luc Blanchette, who taught us about insects, especially ones found in Manitoba, and their role in the world; and an organic lawn care workshop we did with Manitoba Eco Network. This season of Nature Talks saw a huge increase in attendance over last year’s Talks with very engaging speakers and topics.
In February we ran a new outdoor after-school program called Explore Outdoors. This was a partnership with the City of Morden and Morden Middle School where I was able to teach a group of 10 students once a week for five weeks about an outdoor winter activity and winter ecology. We built snow sculptures and quinzees, played broomball, and other activities. We were able to learn about the sub-nivean zone, animal tracks, and how snow works. We would like to continue this next year and also run the program in Winkler. We also gave people the chance to try snowshoeing at Morden’s Multicultural Winterfest.
In April we opened the month by helping out with the La Riviere Raptor Festival where we had our information booth set up and ran a craft table for children (pictured above!). We then held our annual fundraiser where we were able to share our vision and story with the people of Southern Manitoba. We also helped with the South-West Regional Envirothon competition with the conservation districts and a Geocaching 101 event with the City of Morden and local geocachers in celebration of Earth Day.
Throughout this time we have been working on may behind-the-scenes projects as well:
- We released the book Footprints of Hope, by our centre’s founder Henry Martens and illustrated by local artist Raymond Klassen. The book illustrates and reflects the lessons we give at each of the stops on our interpretive trail.
- We obtained a business number of our own and submitted an application for a charitable number.
- We took on two conservation contracts for the summer
- Jess and I went to the A Rocha centre in Surrey, BC, for the annual A Rocha Canada staff retreat. This was a great chance to share our success and struggles with the rest of the Canadian team and it was a good opportunity for Jess to meet everyone and see the Brooksdale centre.