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Meeting the swarm

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I work with an afterschool eco-club, creating and maintaining a school courtyard, among other projects. We have vegetable gardens, a variety of representative native ecosystems, and several nature-based stormwater management features. Students get hands-on learning experiences creating and maintaining the area. We also do a lot of weeding.

Sometimes the work in the courtyard feels too task-oriented. The work is important, and our students can get great learning experiences just from digging a hole and using wheelbarrows, for example - they really get into it, and have bonded over the challenges. But I'm also a strong advocate of free exploration time, and opportunities to learn from nature.

During a recent weeding expedition, one of the students informed me that he'd discovered something, so I came over to look. One of the logs that we'd partially buried to serve as a stepping stone in a path was swarming with ants. We'd started work in the courtyard a few years back, when it was a mostly sterile area with a thick layer of wood mulch. Over time, we amended the clay soil by digging in compost, and planted hundreds of native plants. We brought in rotting logs from other school habitats, which helped to seed the area with essential soil-based organisms, including ants, spiders, beetles, and other insects.


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