Students return from a hike at Earth Heart Farms. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

BY SHERI TRUSTY

For the third year in a row, Earth Heart Farm (EHF) in Oak Harbor opened the door to the wonders of nature for local students by hosting a STEAM-focused program on the 80-acre property dotted with emergent wetlands, riparian buffers and upland grasslands. For some of the students, it was their first immersive experience in the outdoors.

Vicki Rae Harder-Thorne, a fourth-generation steward of her family’s EHF property, partnered with the University of Toledo (UT), NASA’s GLOBE Mission Earth (GME), local organizations and state and federal agencies to create the event, which was held on Oct. 3, 4, 9 and 10. About 400 students in grades K through 12 from six local schools visited the farm.

Genoa second grader Henry Mohn carries the bucket he used to retrieve water from a pond at Earth Heart Farms. “I measured the temperature using a thermometer,” he said. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

The purpose of the program is to “welcome students to the land, where they can experience hands-on science and how small steps in stewardship can create big changes in the health of our natural resources, including Lake Erie,” Harder-Thorne said.

This year, the program leaned into the idea of letting the students’ curiosity help guide the experience. The freedom to explore created many impromptu connections on the farm, like the moment Genoa second grader, Clinton Gregory, discovered a crawfish claw in a pond. By observing the environment, he developed a hypothesis on how a single claw was sitting in shallow water.

“I found raccoon tracks, too, so I think the raccoon ate the crawfish but didn’t want its claw,” Gregory said.

This year, the Earth Heart Farms STEAM program leaned into letting students discover nature through exploration. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

Gregory carried his treasure home with him.

“I’ve never seen a crawfish claw up close. I’ve only seen them on videos,” he said.

Those kinds of moments, where nature spurs the intertwining of discovery, logic and simple fun, was a purposeful goal of this year’s program.

“What we learned last year was to really let the students drive the experience,” Harder-Thorne said. “Each year is different. There is different weather, different animals, different insects. We wanted the students to come with an idea of what they wanted to do.”

Genoa second grader, Clinton Gregory, shows off the crawfish claw he found at Earth Heart Farms. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

The students measured pond water and land surface temperatures, drew pictures as they sat next to wild grasslands, studied cloud formations, and hiked the farm with Park District of Ottawa County Executive Director Jannah Wilson.

“We wanted to let the kids get an up-close look at nature and give them the chance to do a little exploring,” Wilson said.

Those opportunities are invaluable to child development.

“I remember when I was this age, there was a fire behind the school,” said UT Distinguished Professor Kevin Czajkowski as he stood amongst a group of Genoa second graders. “That was the only time we went outside to observe something.”

Vicki Rae Harder-Thorne, a fourth-generation steward of her family’s EHF property, invites hundreds of local students to her family’s land every year. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

Czajkowski was excited to bring the GME program to EHF so students had several hours to observe, learn and gain an understanding of the importance of stewarding the land.

“I hope this inspires them,” he said.

The continual squeals, smiles and shouts of, “Look what I found” proves it did.

“I love this place,” said Genoa second grader Camila Gomez. “There’s a lot of cool stuff here. I like how we got to explore everything, and I got to see butterflies.”