Intensive Learning @ MFS
The World At Your Fingertips
Today, we went on a really big hike to Apple Pie Hill. We first went to a memorial place dedicated to Emilio Carranza. His plane crashed in the Pine Barrens when he was trying to fly from New York City to Mexico City. The memorial was really impressive and we learned it was constructed...
Continue reading
We started off the day with introductions and met a man named Mr. Volpa from Pinelands Adventures. He would be our guide for the day as we hiked for 2.5 miles through Oaks and Pines. The forest was filled with 3 different types of moss and the path was covered with pine needles. We...
Continue reading
Today at Pine Island Cranberry Company, we saw many aspects and tools of how cranberries are produced and distributed to the world. For example, two employees (Matt and Mike) gave us an annual timeline of the stages of growing cranberries. Even though the sandy soil is not great for conventional crops (corn, wheat, etc),...
Continue reading
Today, we went to Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge as a group. We were met by Lauren, an employee at the reserve, and were treated to a brief summary of the reserve, as well as an opportunity to meet a snake (Orin) that the reserve was treating. Lauren told us that each animal they...
Continue reading
The day started off with an hour-long bus ride to the Batsto Village. We started at the museum that preserved the life of people in the Pine Barrens. We looked at all the interesting things that we could for a bit (including some great facts about the history of iron-working in the Pine Barrens),...
Continue readingToday on our final excursion for the 2017 Pine Barrens Intensive Learning, we visited Pine Island Cranberry Company. Pine Island Cranberry Co. is a 14,000 acre stretch of land in the Pine Barrens that includes cranberry bogs, forests, and wildlife. We first watched a presentation on the history of the company, what jobs they...
Continue readingWith our prior knowledge of the Pine Barrens, today, we took a guided hike with John Volpa, the education director of Pinelands Adventures. Throughout the five mile hike, he described the ten necessities of hiking, went in depth about the ecological and historical background of the Pine Barrens, justified the name behind the “Pineys,”...
Continue readingToday is the third day of the Pine Barrens Intensive Learning. We spent the whole day at Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge in Medford, NJ. There we learned about the multitude of animals that live in the Pines from: turtles, snakes, owls, hawks, crows, deer, and a raccoon. Some of the animals were even albino...
Continue reading
Our day started by watching a short film on the myth of the Jersey Devil. While a little cheesy, the clip did explain the history of this myth and then we set out for the hike – Apple Pie Hill in Tabernacle. When we arrived at the trail, we first checked out the Carranza...
Continue reading
Today was our first day of adventure to the Pine Barrens. We began our journey in Batsto looking at the museum in the visitors center. Batsto was an industrial village in the Pines that centered around a blacksmithing forge and then later became known for making glass. After this we went on the four...
Continue readingOn the final day of our journeys through the Pine Barrens, our group visited the Pine Island Cranberry Company in Washington, NJ. Once there, we learned about the history of cranberry farming in New Jersey. We were welcomed by employees of the company, including Stefanie and Mike Haines, and learned about the beginning of...
Continue reading
Today was quite the day for the Pine Barrens Intensive Learning group. At the start of the day, we learned a bit about the legend of the Jersey Devil, who is said to be from the Pine Barrens. Then, we left school for Wharton State Forest. At the state forest, we broke off into...
Continue reading
Today was day 3! We went on a fun hike in the Pine Barrens. When we got to Pineland Adventures in Shamong, our tour guide John Volpa gave us an overview about the Pine Barrens and the history about the bog iron industry that developed there. Then we took a bus to the starting...
Continue reading
On day #2 our group at the Pine Barrens went to the Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge with our tour guide Erin. We took a hike down the white trail and learned about the fauna of the Pine Barrens. We learned about sphagnum moss and teaberry leaves (which tasted like mint). Also, we learned the...
Continue reading
Today was a very adventurous day hiking in the Pine Barrens. First, we walked around a museum exhibit about pinelands ecology and industry at the Historic Batsto Village. We learned about the history behind the Pine Barrens, like the glass mills and factories. Also, the group learned that iron and glass was produced in...
Continue reading