​Ripley “For Our Youth” Club learns about evergreens, makes nature art

The Ripley and District Horticultural Society’s “For Our Youth” members arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for the May meeting, ready to dive into this month’s activities despite the wet weather.

The meeting was held at the beautiful farm of leader Heather Newman where the members discussed this month’s tree, Pine, and worked on pictures to enter in the Ontario Horticultural Association (OHA) contest.

After a rainy running game, the group went inside to sing the club song and hear a brief description of deciduous trees. Members split into two groups, with Group A joining Heather as she introduced the Pine tree, and Group B finding a spot at the table to begin designing natural art projects.

Heather and her group discussed all the different types of evergreens, using handy reminders: Fir needles are flat, spruce needles are spiky, and pine needles are soft and long. In Ontario, red and white are the most common types of pine trees. The group listened intently as Heather explained how to tell the difference: white pine has five needles grouped together, just like there are five letters in the word “white.” Red pine has just two needles in a group.

After learning the evergreen basics, the outdoor adventurers suited up in rain gear and headed into the dripping landscape to learn what types of trees grew in Heather’s pine stand. Armed with their new knowledge, group members hiked through the rain, carrying both an identification book and a helpful App. After a thorough exploration of the forested area, members discovered that Heather’s family has lots of white spruce, white cedar and red pine.

Despite the damp weather, each of the kids collected bark rubbings, as well as pine cones and needles from the two pine tree types, for comparison. Trying to make bark rubbings in the rain was less than successful, but the crew made the best of it.

The members trooped back to the shed to glue pine cones and needles onto their tree ID sheets. Then they filled this month’s leaf with one fact they learned about evergreen trees.

While Group A braved the weather, leader Rhonda Curran’s group members stayed cozy inside to work on their art projects for the upcoming OHA picture contest, “Blooming Along the Waters.”

Using dried plant materials to enhance their artwork, members began tracing their designs before painting and gluing on mini pine cones, cedar branchlets, dried flowers, and even rocks! Some of the kids designed rivers, while others chose to draw ponds or swamps. From the realistic to the more abstract, it’s wonderful to see the variety of ideas the members come up with. They are all true artists who enjoy experimenting.

The group played “I Spy” as everyone finished the artwork, and Rhonda entertained the group with tree jokes. There was lots of chatting about the beautiful Northern Lights that danced across the sky the night before.

As the groups came together for snack time, members received their posters back from the competition they entered at the beginning of the year. There were five winners in the children’s category and one in the adult. Way to go, gang!

The club members went home with seed potatoes to plant in their own gardens, and the club is looking forward to comparing the results at the end of the season with those planted at leader Melody Smillie’s house in April. Let the potato growing competition begin!

Several of the kids brought in plants they’d started from the February meeting to go into the Ripley and District Horticultural Society’s Plant Sale, which was held May 18 in Ripley. The club raised $259 from the sale of those plants! Thanks to everyone who brought plants to sell, and everyone who came to buy them. The club is very grateful to you for your support.

Next month’s meeting will be an exciting one, with frog-catching and tree exploration at the Pine River Watershed.