Conservation Action
Wind Dance Farm & Earth Education Center
We value Earth and the amazing diversity of life it supports. It is critically important that we respect and
protect our natural environment through conservation, preservation, sustainable, and regenerative practices. We value the wise and responsible use of Earth’s bountiful gifts in support of all life. We understand that we are borrowing Earth and all it holds from future generations and we must improve and preserve the present to protect and enhance the future. It is with this understanding that we take action at Wind Dance.
CITIZEN SCIENTISTS
Citizen scientist participation at Wind Dance Farm & Earth Education Center was initiated with the Project Feeder Watch program through Cornell University’s Ornithology program in 2009. Students take care of bird feeders, participate in observations of bird activity at the feeders, record observations, and enter data into a computer, which is then submitted to Cornell University. Students also design science experiments based on observations of bird activity. During the last two to five years students and summer campers began participating in more citizen science programs – Frog Watch, Bud Burst, and our latest began at the end of summer 2021 tagging and recording Monarch Butterflies through Monarch Watch. Butterflies hatch out in our outdoor science lab, are tagged and detailed information is recorded before releasing them for their long journey to Mexico. Over the last 17 years students have constructed and installed bluebird boxes and have kept records of activity in the boxes. In 2015 students began to submit the nest activity records to Cornell University. Scientists world-wide depend on citizens to gather accurate and precise data to submit to their studies, which in turns gives them a broad picture of what is happening to Earth’s species. Data gathered from participating citizen scientists enables professional scientists to make predictions and conclusions about the state of species and Earth, which then can lead to action needed for care and protection. It is an honor to partake in the big picture from our small place on earth, and that our students are an active part of the process. Through their observations and attention to detail, they develop an inner connection with the way nature works, as well as, a healthy relationship with Earth. We look forward to continuing these exciting and important citizen science opportunities with youth, as part of our overall environmental literacy, nature based, and science programs.
HABITAT DEVELOPMENT & WATERSHED PROTECTION
To support wildlife habitat and to protect our watersheds all students and campers participate in Conservation Action Projects, which we call CAP. They have planted over 270 trees and shrubs, developed two Monarch WayStation Rain gardens with pollinator plants and milkweeds, harvested piles of invasive plants and replanted them with natives, created a wetland for amphibians, and created habitat around our seven bird feeders for our feathered friends. The developed areas have become outdoor learning centers and also support observations for many of the citizen science programs.
NATURE JOURNALING
All students and campers spend most of their time outdoors and through exploring they keep detailed nature and keep phenological records – when things happen in nature. We have adopted the John Muir laws of nature journaling that instill a sense of wonderment and heighten observation skills. Even our youngest explorers write in journals as a way to document their experiences in nature and record new discoveries in their woodland classroom. Journals allow them time to reflect on their explorations, document conservation efforts and to make involved observational studies of their natural environment. It also provides them with an artistic and well documented timeline of their time spent in nature, and as the years go by, these journals will serve as a reminder of how our things change over time and how our conservation efforts have impacted our environment.
EXPANDING EXPERIENCES WITH NATURE
In addition to exploring natural history outdoors, students work through science experiments, do research, write reports, and create splendid art projects. Experiments often revolve around soil and water conservation practices, and organic regenerative agriculture methods. Our youngest explorers, the Little Wilderness Wanderers, are fully immersed in nature each day. Their entire day is spent outdoors exploring the woodlands and waterways, learning about edibles and foraging, how to be good stewards of the Earth and allowing the innate scientist in them come alive with wonder and excitement at even the smallest of discoveries on our woodland adventures. It is through our days in the woods or near the waters that help our youngest children to develop a love of and deep relationship with nature. It is this foundation that will create people who are passionate about conservation practices.
Middle and High School students at Wind Dance Farm & Earth Education Center have been participating in the international Biomimicry Challenge since 2018. The Biomimicry Institute’s Youth Design Challenge is a national competition: “a project-based learning experience that asks middle and high school teams to design bio-inspired ideas that can provide solutions to the climate crisis”. Biomimicry utilizes nature-based strategies to engineer designs that find 4 solutions to enhance the lives of people and all species. The Biomimicry Challenge focuses on designs that mitigate and/or adapt to climate change. In 2018, students designed an edible forest to mitigate ground level ozone, placing in the top ten. Following the competition students planted trees in a field to begin our model of an edible forest, which continues to grow with new plantings every year.In 2020, students designed outreach programs for regenerative agriculture and fast fashion. Middle School fast fashion’s title was “Slow and Steady Wins The Race” - they earned third place. The high school design, Regenerate Your Soil, Regenerate Our Climate, placed in the top five. Following the competition, the group held a community hands-on workshop at Wind Dance on organic regenerative agriculture methods. You can view their videos at:https://vimeo.com/408603648?share=copyhttps://vimeo.com/408604445?share=copy In 2021, high school students designed the Black Carbon Keeper to capture black carbon molecules (soot), a potent greenhouse contributor, from being emitted from wood stoves, and placed first. Attaining this award was an amazing and wonderful experience for both the students and coaches. You may enjoy and appreciate the video of their black carbon keeper at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89mlq6wgt_E In 2023, the middle school team designed the Green Pathological Waste Tank to be utilized in hospitals, and place third. The high school team designed No Food Left Behind, a project to manage food waste. Plans for implementing their design in spring of 2024 will start with our local Berkeley Springs Farmers Market.The Green Pathological Waste Tank design can be viewed at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbQvw6KGuBAThe No Food Left Behind project can be viewed at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyV0czz_8nk
BIOMIMICRY DESIGNS
Middle and High School students at Wind Dance Farm & Earth Education Center have been participating in the international Biomimicry Challenge since 2018. The Biomimicry Institute’s Youth Design Challenge is a national competition: “a project-based learning experience that asks middle and high school teams to design bio-inspired ideas that can provide solutions to the climate crisis”. Biomimicry utilizes nature-based strategies to engineer designs that find 4 solutions to enhance the lives of people and all species. The Biomimicry Challenge focuses on designs that mitigate and/or adapt to climate change.
In 2018, students designed an edible forest to mitigate ground level ozone, placing in the top ten. Following the competition students planted trees in a field to begin our model of an edible forest, which continues to grow with new plantings every year.
In 2020, students designed outreach programs for regenerative agriculture and fast fashion. Middle School fast fashion’s title was “Slow and Steady Wins The Race” - they earned third place. The high school design, Regenerate Your Soil, Regenerate Our Climate, placed in the top five. Following the competition, the group held a community hands-on workshop at Wind Dance on organic regenerative agriculture methods. You can view their videos at: https://vimeo.com/408603648?share=copyhttps://vimeo.com/408604445?share=copy
In 2021, high school students designed the Black Carbon Keeper to capture black carbon molecules (soot), a potent greenhouse contributor, from being emitted from wood stoves, and placed first. Attaining this award was an amazing and wonderful experience for both the students and coaches. You may enjoy and appreciate the video of their black carbon keeper at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89mlq6wgt_E
In 2023, the middle school team designed the Green Pathological Waste Tank to be utilized in hospitals, and place third. The high school team designed No Food Left Behind, a project to manage food waste. Plans for implementing their design in spring of 2024 will start with our local Berkeley Springs Farmers Market.
The Green Pathological Waste Tank design can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbQvw6KGuBA
The No Food Left Behind project can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyV0czz_8nk
ORGANIC REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
One of the most loved places to be at the education center is in the gardens. We are fortunate to have students and campers return year after year, sometimes ten or more years, and as they become connected to the land, they often comment that their favorite place to be is in the gardens. Students of all ages ask, “Can we go to the gardens today?” Our gardens include: a 1600 square foot hexagonal Youth Garden, a traditional 5,000 square foot rectangle garden, two rain/monarch habitat gardens, various flower and herb gardens, and a berry patch with strawberries, gooseberries, blueberries, and a grapevine trellis. Students are very active with the whole cycle of growing food implementing methods of organic regenerative agriculture. We compost all food, garden, barn bedding, and human waste (we have no flush toilets) and create amazing soil. Our compost piles are 4 feet high, wide, and deep and once completed they sit for two-three years creating amazing soil. We also have an appealing Subpod composting unit received through a grant to demonstrate aesthetically pleasing vermicomposting for homeowners. Students study the various aspects of soil – the components, the layers, the living organisms, the nutrient cycles, the ability for soil to sequester carbon to help reverse climate change, and the importance of creating and maintaining healthy soil. In addition to making our own soil, students save seeds in fall, store them in our Seed Library, sow them in spring, and monitor seedlings under grow lights. The plants that emerge from the seeds they save, in soil they helped generate, are strong and healthy – students take tomato, pepper, cabbage, and marigold plants home. Students follow the flow of the 4 “P’s” of gardening at Wind Dance – we pick or pull our food, we prepare the garden bed by amending it with compost and comfrey leaves, and broad forking without turning the soil, we plant or transplant, and we protect the soil with mulch. We instill reciprocity in our work – taking from Earth bountiful foods and returning to Earth by adding nutrients, aerating it, and providing protection. Students and campers enjoy gathering the rich harvests from the gardens and preparing them for meals and snacks. Each year we have a harvest feast that honors the gifts we receive.
WEST VIRGINIA ENVIROTHON COMPETITION
In April of 2023, our amazing High School group, EcoDefenders, placed 5th out of 32 teams at the WV Envirothon. When organizers learned that they were a new team they were quite impressed, stating that a rookie team rarely makes it to the top five. In addition to doing a presentation on an assigned topic the teams competed at four comprehensive stations - soil, aquatic ecology, forestry, and wildlife. The top five teams are required to present their topic again at a higher level of presentation in front of 8 judges and over 200 people. The EcoDefenders were quite nervous, but their voices rang strong about food waste and mitigatingclimate change with responsible actions in their 7-minute presentation. Food waste sent to landfills contribute to climate change through releasing the potent greenhouse gas, methane. The EcoDefenders presentation included an adaptation to their biomimicry design, "No Food Left Behind.” The design's goal is to gather community food waste for composting here at Wind Dance.
We are working with Berkeley Springs Farmer’s Market in implementing their design.