BERGEN COUNTY MOMS

PRIMITIVE LIVING SKILLS The Nature Place Day Camp Hosted at the Threefold Education Foundation 260 Hungry Hollow Rd, Spring Valley, NY 10977 Guided by The Nature Place Day Camp's Outdoor Skills instructor, Joe Blevis, participants will learn primitive shelter building; how to identify, harvest, and process local plants for survival; methods of fire starting; tracking, trapping, and stalking techniques; and much more. Experience a session and come away with increased confidenc

We've put together a thoroughly unscientific prediction of this winter's weather, based on the few woolly bear caterpillars we've 'polled'. Woolly bears are the caterpillar of the Isabella Tiger Moth, and lore has it that the severity of a winter's snow and cold can be predicted by the woolly bear's ratio of brown to black - more black means a severe winter while more brown predicts milder weather. After emerging from an egg in the fall, woolly bear caterpillars actually fr

Saturday, March 25th Island State Beach Park at Ocean Bathing Area #1. 9:30 am - 12 pm Throughout the spring and fall the Friends of Island Beach State Park team up with many other organizations to plant dune grass in the park. Why plant dune grass? Dune grass plays an important role in stabilizing the dunes during storms. Dunes are the primary defense against storms and the powerful ocean surge. What can you do? Join us! Click here to register #ThingstoDo #TheDirt

We're at the dark turn of the year, awaiting the Winter Solstice (the night between December 21st and 22nd) and after that the return of the light, when the sun will be 'up' a little bit longer each day. When I walk by the now naked trees and look closely at the branches I'm reminded that they may be devoid of leaves but certainly not the buds we can find along and usually at the ends of most branches. Inside these buds are the flowers and leaves that will 'be' next spring. T

'Weed' I think that most peoples' first reaction upon hearing or reading the word 'weed' is somewhat of a negative one. Something not wanted; getting in the way; unlovely; not useful. But if you were able to ask monarch butterflies their thoughts about 'weed' - especially with the word 'milk' preceding it, as in 'milkweed' - you would only get very positive responses (if you were to get any). Milkweed pods, seed parachutes, and milkweed bugs - early fall Most of us have heard

I look at the big calendar in our office, at March 20th, to be exact, and read two words that make my heart sing: “Spring Begins”. After the winter we have had, there could not be two more beautiful words put together than these. Say them out loud, but softly. I know that has to feel good. I also know that there are crocuses and snow drops somewhere under the foot of snow that seems to have been on the ground for more than a month. The tapped maple trees are only now dripping

January’s colder weather and the year’s turn toward winter mean less available food for hungry resident birds. This time of year offers an opportunity for us to fill some of the vacuum left by nature’s waning resources, and by doing so bring some action, drama, color, and an endlessly watchable scene of hungry visitors to our attention. Making this bird feeder is simple, and viewing the results of your work can be an exciting and easy way to connect with the natural world dur

Just as winter turning to spring brings sap flowing through maple trees, this liminal season of summer turning to fall, close to the autumn equinox, has its own special offering: the clicks, chirps, whirs and buzzings of an orchestra of nighttime insects. Stand outside in your yard, in a park, or somewhere with grass and trees soon after it gets dark. You will hear a plethora of pitches, rhythms, back-and-forths, and multi-sized notes, tones, and patterned tunes. Field

As we are out and about in our world, which is also the world of nature, there are many opportunities to see, hear, smell or touch something 'cool' that are natural moments. It's a moment that might make us just whisper inside ourselves, WOW, which I contend is the acronym for 'With-Out-Words'. A Natural Moment takes us out of ourselves and makes us feel part of a bigger something.To increase the chances of Natural Moments, two things have to happen: A) be outdoors and B) pay

May 3, 2014 Walking up to the farm on a balmy evening in early May, the night is relatively quiet. The only sound besides your feet on the earth is that of a few drops of water, leftover from rain earlier in the day, dripping from new leaves to the ground beneath them. But as you crest the hill, the farm house and cow pasture at the end of the lane ahead, you will start to hear them, the raucous singers of spring. ‘Peep…eep…PEEP!..Pee..Peep!’ Garbed with a good pair of boots,

You may be feeling (as we ourselves have been) that the snow will never melt. Well it is melting, but it's been a long, cold winter, which definitely makes this spring so much sweeter! Get outside to celebrate the arrival of warm sunlight, budding flowers, springtime, and all the good nature that comes with it: Plan an outdoor lunch or dinner Make a small outdoor fire (safely, of course) to help celebrate the sun's return. Look for any flowers that may be blooming or green le

What if you made a water balloon and put it outside on a very cold evening? The next morning you just might have a winter ice balloon! And if you put food coloring into the water before you tie the balloon and freeze it you would have a colored winter ice balloon! And finally, if you cut the balloon away you would have a colored ball of ice! Now that you have a colored ball of ice, you can do many things: Gather all in a sunny spot and guess which will be the first to melt. M