Rain Week Day 2

Today campers went on a Rain Lands Walking Tour on St. Paul Campus to literally see the different kinds of land use where "rain lands." The weather was on theme, and campers and staff got pretty soggy by the end of the morning. First, they traveled across the field to the Native American Medicine Garden, where campers saw plants native to Minnesota and learned the importance of being respectful of plants, and paying attention to what plants could teach us. Next, they visited the Mycology Club Site to find mushrooms and the damp logs they grow on in the forest. Moving onto the Department of Horticulture's Display and Trial Gardens, campers explored the pollinator garden display to search for bees, learned some important things for a pollinator garden to include, and pretended to be a bee, as they closely studied a flower they were attracted to. 

Photo by camper Sadie F.

After getting out of the rain and refueling with lunch, the campers made their way to the Buford Avenue storm drain where they talked about the many pipes underground that carry storm water, making note of storm sewers along the way. Following the pipes above ground, we found ourselves at the Sarita Wetlands, where the water is let out. Even though the water did not look the cleanest, it was still fascinating to see the journey water takes from cloud to wetland. Then we went to the far end of Sarita to see where the water goes if it overflows at Sarita...We can’t wait until tomorrow when we visit downstream!