About a dozen high school students are spending a week at Merry Lea in June to learn more about sustainability, land management and future careers that might interest them. The schedule looks like a cross between summer camp and college.
Read about the new course Merry Lea's Master's in Environmental Education students take on Andros Island in the Bahamas. Meanwhile, what happens on Merry Lea property on a typical spring day? Find out on page 7. This issue also reports on Land Manager Bill Minter's oak savanna planting.
Unlike many workers, Bill Minter can see at least one of the things he’s accomplished over the past quarter century. It is a 65-acre naturalized area on the west side of Merry Lea.
Merry Lea’s spring and summer CSA is in full swing, offering weekly bags of food to customers. Assistant Farm Manager Ellie Schertz prepares the deliveries every Tuesday. Chickens, salad greens and vigorous bunches of lovage are in this week’s goodie bags.
Warm weather the weekend of February 18 gave Land Manager Bill Minter and any nearby fire fans a leg up on spring prairie burning.
Goshen College students now have three sustainability majors to choose from. Merry Lea faculty are heavily involved in the Sustainable Food Systems and the Sustainability Studies majors. Also meet Merry Lea's new agroecology professors, learn about the challenges of keeping bird mounts safe from insects, and join the master's students on a visit to green Detroit.
Goshen College has been offering summer agriculture education since 2008 and fall sustainability education since 2012 through Merry Lea. But beginning in the fall of 2017, the college will be offering students complete majors in these rapidly-emerging fields.
Students in Merry Lea’s Master’s in Environmental Education program are learning to teach in a new ecosystem: a tropical island. This year, the curriculum expanded to include a three-week experience on Andros Island—a part of the Bahamas.
In early January, John and Ruth Mischler joined the Merry Lea Team. The couple shares one position, with John as the director of agroecology and Ruth working quarter time as an assistant professor in the Sustainability and Environmental Education Department.
Women at Merry Lea’s Women’s Spirituality Retreat January 27-28 used empty picture frames to explore the theme, Invisible Women, Invisible Earth. They also found time for artwork and reading related to the theme.
