What better thoughts could be drifting through your head on a grey winter day than hopping on rocks to catch tadpoles in the warm summer sun? Or finding a cicada, freshly emerged from its underground slumber, stretching its wings on a dewy morning in July? Or watching a snapping turtle’s slow downhill descent back to the cool pond, after laying her eggs in the green grass near the barns? Well, I don’t know about you, but just thinking about the summer goings-on of Fairview Farm is like soul-food for my cold, cabin-fever stricken self.
While these thoughts might seem way too cheerful and exciting for a February afternoon, they will be reality in just a few short months for all of the lucky nature explorers and adventurers that attend URWA’s Nature Day Camp program! What a great time to start planning all of the scavenger hunts, stream walks, water races and nature crafts that we have in store! This year will be full of all new activities for our campers, including raising monarch caterpillars, mushroom hunting and orienteering activities. Probably the most exciting part about this year’s camp will be the free exploration time we’ve set aside for campers to tromp through the streams, forest and meadows with URWA’s trained Naturalists, looking for whatever nature has in store for us!
We are so excited to have expanded our day camp to include a session especially for “big kids” ages 10-12. This is our new Pleasant Valley Mills Farm Camp, which will be at the farm of the same name along Roxiticus Road in Mendham. In addition to the Day Camp Educators, every day we will be learning from the farm’s operators about how they take care of their animals and farmland. We will also be exploring the habitat surrounding the farm which includes part of Patriot’s Path and a beautiful section of the North Branch Raritan River! This is something brand new for URWA and we are sure that it will be so much fun!
One of URWA’s Nature Day Camp Educators this year is Suzanne Skrzenski, a graduate of East Stroudsburg University with a B.S. in Environmental Studies and Biology. After college Suzanne worked at South Mountain YMCA Residential Camp in Wernersville PA as an outdoor educator for 3 years, and completed a full term of service in the Americorps Watershed Ambassadors program through the NJDEP. She is now a substitute in the Phillipsburg School District and a swim coach at East Stroudsburg University. She was one of URWA’s Nature Day Camp educators last year and we are so excited to have her back for another fun filled summer program!
Lauren Theis is URWA’s Stewardship Program Manager and will be the second Nature Day Camp educator for 2010. She graduated from Cook College (Rutgers University) with a B.S. in Biological Sciences, and has been active in teaching extracurricular dance, art and Spanish classes in Mount Olive Township. Just like Suzanne, Lauren completed a one-year term of service in the Americorps Watershed Ambassadors program through the NJDEP. Since then, she has been organizing educational programs with scouts, families, volunteers and schools in our area through URWA’s Natural Science program. She is so excited to be a part of Nature Day Camp this year and can’t wait for all of the adventures in store!
We hope you will join in the fun at URWA’s Nature Day Camp this year! We invite you to stop by any time to explore Fairview Farm’s 170 acres of wildlife habitat, 5 miles of trails, bird and butterfly garden, and Nature Classroom. If you have any questions or would like to sign up, visit URWA’s website at www.urwa.org, call Lauren Theis at 908-234-1852 x12 or email ltheis@urwa.org.
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