GRP's Mycelial Network

Did you know that plants talk to each other using an internet of FUNGUS? It’s called a mycelial network. How cool is that?!? Green River Preserve is practicing social distancing along with all of you, but we’ve been brainstorming ideas to stay connected. With that in mind, we’re knocking the dust off of our blog and creating our very own Mycelial Network. Here you will find camp updates, interesting trivia, a behind the scenes peek at what our Admin team is doing to get ready for our campers, and links to some of the coolest things we’ve gathered from the World Wide Web. It will be a veritable buffet of awesomeness. So, here’s what we want to share with you this week….

Base camp is exploding with spring ephemeral flora. What the heck is ephemeral flora? Well, flowering plants that have a very brief but showy growth phase and then die back to their underground parts are considered ephemeral. Lady slippers, trillium, bloodroot, and trout lillies are all examples of ephemeral flowers. These dot the landscape in the wooded parts of base camp while the sunlight still reaches the forest floor.

Sandy has been busy re-stocking and feeding bream and bass in both the upper pond and the lake after a winter draining left most of our previous fish stock high and dry - literally. The fish are happily adjusting to their new home and have already connected human shadows to fish food thanks to Sandy’s devoted parenting.

Do you know what a group of turkeys is called? This is not a joke. It’s called a rafter. There is a rafter of turkeys who have taken to congregating around the Lower Council Fire late each afternoon. Perhaps they know it’s hunting season and base camp is a refuge? It is fun to imagine what turkeys do at a council fire. Do they talk turkey? What songs are their favorites? As turkeys are known to have keen senses of hearing, they will be long gone by the time our back field fills up with the caucophony of campers and staff. For now, we are grateful for their presence. Also, that funky fungus at the top of this blog post is known commonly as a turkey tail. Chances are you’ve seen these on tree trunks and logs out on the Preserve.

Now, for a few of our favorite resources around the interwebs:

Wow in the World - a podcast from NPR. Join hosts Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas on a journey away from your screens, inside your brain, out into space, and deep into the coolest new stories in science, technology, and innovation. Turn off the screens and turn up the audio.

Mystery Science has opened up its most popular science lessons for FREE. Topics range from weather to who invented pizza. Head to your child’s grade level for age-appropriate learning. Our personal fave is “Can animals laugh?”

You’ll be hard pressed to find a better documentary filmmaker than Ken Burns. Access a wide variety of his films online and consider history lessons done!

There’s just something so soothing about an aquarium . Visit one of the world’s best from the comfort of your couch through their live webcams. We can’t get enough of the moon jellies.

And, finally, on our team’s virtual hangout today, Anne showed us how to get fit Hogwarts style with this awesome series of Harry Potter workout videos . Hilarity ensued. Fun was had by all.

So, GRP-ers, what have you found online that you would like to share with our community? Please shoot us an to share what you have found.

Have a great weekend!