July 26, 2026
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The Ripley Horticultural Society's "For Our Youth" club was thrilled to have a warm, sunny day to gather for the June meeting at the McLarty Education Centre. Last year's meeting had to be cancelled due to thunder and lightning, so the group was extra glad to be back at this wonderful outdoor learning space.
Located just off Bruce County Road 6, west of Ripley, the McLarty Centre is open to the public and is a great spot for exploring wetlands, trails, local wildlife and plants. The club is so grateful to Dr. McLarty and his family for donating the land, and to the Pine River Watershed Initiative Network (PRWIN) for all its work maintaining the space as an environmental study area for the community. The leaders love bringing the kids to local outdoor classrooms!
Nestled under the handy new picnic shelter, the club enjoyed a bit of shade while leader Bonnie Ernst took attendance. Then leader Kimberlee Lowry went through the day’s schedule: frog education in the pond with a special guest, then back to the sun shelter for a lesson on symbiosis and a painting craft.
Since this was a smaller group of 16 kids, the club decided to stay together for both activities instead of the usual divide-and-conquer method.
The children trooped down to the pond to find beloved former leader, Tryntje Eisen, waiting for them with nets and buckets at the ready. Tryntje was leader for many years and a vital part of helping the club grow into the strong organization it is today. For members who have been part of the club for a while, learning about frogs with Tryntje is something to look forward to, and the leaders assured the newer members that they were in for a treat!
Tryntje invited the kids to volunteer to read frog facts aloud to the group, sharing a variety of weird and wonderful tidbits about these interesting amphibians. Learning that a frog’s tongue is at least one-third the length of its body, caused great hilarity among the kids when they all tried to measure their own tongues. Rik and Neil demonstrated how frogs use their long, sticky tongues to capture prey by blowing paper party horns and catching frog-shaped gummy candies, which were then shared with the rest of the kids.
The frog education complimented the toad facts the kids learned with leader Brad Dewys at the May meeting, and Tryntje was impressed that the group knew so many differences between the two creatures.
After Tryntje’s lesson, the kids eagerly grabbed their buckets, boots and nets, and waded into the nearby pond to try their luck at catching a few froggie friends. Leaders Brad and Kimberlee and junior leader Brynn kept a close eye on the eager frog-hunters to make sure no one fell in (although a few boots were filled!).
The group managed to catch a leopard frog and a green frog, as well as a few tadpoles and - much to the excitement of the boys - a big crayfish!
The kids brought their buckets back to Tryntje, who taught them her time-honoured method of getting a frog to relax by turning it upside down and rubbing its belly very gently. Most of the kids took turns to hold a frog, or test out the new relaxation method before they returned all the critters back to their home in the pond. After a round of applause for Tryntje, everyone headed back up the slope to the picnic shelter for the second activity.
Leader Kim taught a short lesson on symbiosis, which in simple terms, is a partnership between living things. These partnerships can be mutually beneficial, such as butterflies and flowers, or they can be good for one living thing and neutral to another (frogs and lily pads). Some symbiosis can even be beneficial to one thing and harmful to the other (parasitic fungi and trees). The kids were asked to come up with examples of different partnerships in nature and some examples were frogs and bugs, worms and soil, bees and flowers, and monarch butterflies and milkweed.
Everyone was tasked with finding a partner and leader Bonnie handed out smooth stones and paint markers. Each duo collaborated to pick two organisms in nature with a symbiotic relationship, which were then painted on the rocks. As usual, the kids embraced their artistic side and many interesting depictions of symbiosis were created: squirrels and nuts, spiders and branches with webs, and even mushrooms and trees.
Dylan volunteered to collect everyone’s finished rock art so leader Kim could take them home and spray them with a protective coating. The club plans to bring these artsy rocks to the Bruce Botanical Food Gardens in August and find a spot to put them for others to enjoy.
Leader Cheryl Wilits brought out snacks which were very much appreciated by everyone. Her homemade muffins hit the spot after this busy day, and the kids drank lots of cold water before packing up their crafts and saying goodbye until August, as we don't meet in the July heat!
If you have a chance to check out the McLarty Centre, the club highly recommends a visit, even if you choose to stay out of the pond!
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