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Recent Happenings

Groundwater Workshop Unveils Geologic Layers - News posted 11/5/12

An interesting blend of students and community members grappled with glacial deposits and their legacy at Merry Lea's Groundwater Resources Workshop Saturday, November 3. Among the nine attenders were a landscape architect, a Catholic sister from a community with land by the St. Joe River, a homeowner questioning the wisdom of his community's plans for wastewater treatment, a city engineer and several environmental science undergrads filling in geological gaps in their education.

At left, Nathaniel Klink and Aradhana Roberts, both students at Goshen College, assist with a demonstration illustrating contamination of groundwater. Klink plays God by raining water into a cross section of sediment while Aradhana Roberts monitors a tube representing a well. The group watched as red food coloring seeped through the aquifer and began appearing in the dishpan. 

Agroecology Program Shares Bounty with Neighbors - News posted 11/1/12

At left, David Stoesz, an intern with Merry Lea's Agroecology Summer Intensive (ASI) brings a donation of the season’s last fresh tomatoes to the Central Noble Food Pantry at 401 S. Orange St., Albion, Ind. 
 
Merry Lea’s ASI donated about $600 worth of vegetables to the local food pantry this year. Crops are also sold to students and staff at Merry Lea and on the Goshen College campus in Goshen, Ind.  

Merry Lea’s vegetable plots are training grounds for students in the Agroecology Summer Intensive (ASI), a nine-week program offered each year through Goshen College. Students live on site at Merry Lea’s Rieth Village, studying soils, vegetable crops, principles of agroecology and small farm management. To learn more, see the agroecology section of this web site. It includes a blog of regular happenings.

The Central Noble Food Pantry is a Christian Ministry that provides nutritious food, basic household services and related services in a manner that preserves the dignity of the customer. Participants must live within the Central Noble School District. Last year, the food pantry distributed over 100,000 pounds of food. Volunteers provide 450 hours of service to make this happen. 

Redbuds and Cutleaf Toothwort Now in Stock - News posted 4/3/12

Spring has come early at Merry Lea this year, as it has all over northern Indiana. As of April 3, the redbuds that line the Thumma Ditch south of the Farmstead are still in vigorous bloom. Cutleaf toothwort is abundant in the Thomas Woods and the red trillium are just beginning to blossom. Wild blue phlox is abundant along the lane to Luckey’s Landing.

Prairie Chickens Dance for Midwest Birding Expedition - News posted 4/4/12

Crouching in blinds in complete silence at 5 a.m. in the morning was a new way to spend April Fool’s Day for the 12 participants in Merry Lea’s 2012 Midwest Birding Expedition. This year’s group travelled to Prairie Ridge State Natural Area near Newton, Ill., in search of the Greater Prairie Chicken, Tympanuchus cupido.

Yoder Gleans Wisdom from Bhutan - News posted 7/15/12

When Dr. Laura Yoder returns to Merry Lea July 16, she will bring with her a wealth of anecdotes from Bhutan, a small Buddhist kingdom located between China and India in the eastern Himalayas. Yoder, who teaches in Merry Lea's graduate and undergraduate programs, spent the month teaching a course entitled “Himalayan Forests, Watersheds, and Rural Livelihoods” with a team of Bhutanese environmental professionals.




Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College, P.O. Box 263 Wolf Lake, IN  46796  |  Phone (260) 799-5869 • Fax (260) 799-5875
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