Balancing the Sun

by Chris Hubbard, Education Director

Spring is my favorite time of year, as the Earth begins to awaken after a long winter. Pussy willows appear, silvery pink; peepers start up their pond chorus; and American goldfinches begin to slip into their bright coats of yellow. Flashes of red are sported on the newly returned red-winged blackbirds, and the winds bring a freshening of the air. Everything seems alive! Spring signals the beginning of nature’s renewal.

The beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere is marked on the vernal equinox, a date in March that shifts due to the length of time the earth takes to revolve around the sun. The length of time for this rotat, which takes 365.25 hours, rather than an even 365 days. This shift also accounts for our extra leap year adjustment every four years at the end of February. This year, in 2020, the vernal equinox occurred at 11:50 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on March 19th, the earliest equinox since 1896. Latin for “equal night”, an equinox is the fleeting point in time when the sun appears to cross the celestial equator, that great circle in the heavens that is on the same plane as the equator of Earth. The sun rises due east and sets due west as the sun begins to move from south to north. The shift of movement from south to north results in a change from winter to spring in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, the March equinox is autumnal, as the change in seasons south of the equator shifts from summer to autumn. With this fleeting celestial balancing act and changing of the seasons comes a cultural element as well. Easter and Passover, both movable religious observances, are set by dates determined by the vernal equinox. Easter is held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox, with March 21 set as the date for the equinox. Eggs, a symbol of fertility and birth, have long been associated with spring, the season of birth and renewal. Legend has it that eggs can be balanced on end during the vernal equinox due the gravitational pull. But all it really takes is a steady hand, patience, and a solid surface. As we move into spring, I encourage you to get outside and delight in all the ways the earth is waking up. Head out for a walk or a hike in a wooded area and observe what is happening all around you...trees budding out, flowers beginning to bloom, bird songs changing, frog choruses sounding. Oh, and try balancing an egg!

Why We Do What We Do

by Chris Hubbard, Education Director

Since its inception, Merck Forest and Farmland Center has had a mission to educate. In 1950, George W. Merck, founder of what was then the Vermont Forest and Farmland Foundation, stated that he wanted the foundation to “provide a variety of educational experiences, especially for young people, that all may learn to appreciate the natural world, some may come to feel at home in it, and a few may develop skills for careers in farming, forestry, and land management.” As you walk the land, you can see evidence of his early vision, with stands of Norway Spruce and European Larch dotting the landscape.

Fast forward 70 years. Our mission statement has been revised from “teaching and demonstrating innovative and sustainable management of forest and farmland” to a mission “to inspire curiosity, love, and responsibility for natural and working lands.” I often have people ask me, “Just what do you do up there?” Merck Forest is a draw for many people looking to “get away from it all” and it’s easy to come up for a hike or to camp and push past the farmstead deep into the landscape, to indeed, “get away from it all.”

But what do we do up here? Looking over the programmatic offerings and initiatives that we have, one can find programming for our youngest visitors as early learning centers bring toddlers and preschoolers to Merck Forest to learn about maple sugaring or to visit our farm animals. On the other end of the scale, we host professional certification courses such as Game of Logging, a series of chainsaw safety classes, and SOLO Wilderness First Aid courses. This past fall we were at capacity with our Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) school programs, with over 185 students coming from six schools for the multiday programs. 2019 saw us providing over 84 workshops and programs to the general public, schools, and organizations.