About a dozen kids gathered around Sue Morgan as she displayed a quick drawing she made of a curling flower.
Each child had a pipe cleaner, which they bent to follow the insides of the bloom.
"Can you make a proboscis that could reach that nectar," Morgan asked, her reference to the straw-like tongue of a butterfly or moth eliciting the exclamations you'd expect from a group of excited elementary-school-aged kids. "What shape would it have to take in order to get this nectar? Think about going in, okay. Would yours be able to go make this curve and all the way down?"
Morgan is a nature-based learning educator with Rochester Ecology Partners, and she was teaching the children about how insects help to pollinate plants.
The lesson was part of pollinator week at the Growing Good Summer Enrichment Program, a partnership between Rochester Ecology Partners and Foodlink that's taking place at Foodlink’s Lexington Avenue Community Farm. The program started last month, and ends next week. Students also have learned about soil as well as harmful and beneficial bugs.
Taylor Jones, the nature-based learning program manager with Rochester Ecology Partners, said the second half of the day was going to be focused on another beloved pollinator — bees. Including how they buzz and more.
"Later on in the day they'll be actually harvesting some honey and doing some honey tasting and learning more about ... what bees do for us," Jones said.
The enrichment program is all about learning by doing, said Chris Widmaier, Rochester Ecology Partners' executive director. And while the lessons are rooted in nature and food, they incorporate subjects such as literacy and math. The program is intended, in part, to counter summer learning loss.
"Our educators are trained in how to teach about nature and the world around us," Widmaier said. "But then also trying to balance that with play and making sure that everybody's just having a good time."
One way that's happened is through games. Ramona Gilbert, who is entering the second grade, said she really liked the one they played where they simulated pollination by pretending to be male or female plants using cups and beads.
"That's really fun," Ramona said. "That's the best thing about camp. It's really, really, really, really, really fun."
But she also said the game helped her better understand pollination, and she's enjoyed learning about plants and animals.
An investment pays off
Foodlink is wrapping up a $2.5 million expansion of the community farm. It bought land from the city of Rochester, growing the farm from 1.66 acres to 2.33 acres — allowing the nonprofit to almost double the number of plots available to the site's neighbors and add more raised beds, a parking lot that can accommodate school buses, and a greenhouse. And the construction of a 2,800-square-foot Edible Education Center — an indoor space with a full presentation kitchen —is almost complete.
"I think the camp falls right in line at the vision for what Foodlink wants to do with the farm," said Frank Keophetlasy, manager of the community farm.
Before the expansion project, there were no permanent structures on the farm. There also wasn't much in the way of parking. But Foodlink wanted to invite school groups and children, as well as community members in general to use the space and to learn about growing food and sustainable practices, Keophetlasy said.
Now, the farm has the facilities to do that.
"Being able to partner with the camp, even through construction, has been a big thing for us," Keophetlasy said. "We've been able to really use the kids to kind of help us help them in learning different things."
And Foodlink already has interest from other groups who want to come in this summer or who want to do school field trips in the fall, he said.
This is the first year of the Growing Good Summer Enrichment Program. Widmaier said the investments made by Foodlink, particularly the Edible Education Center, are really what made it possible.
"The really exciting piece is, in the fall and winter and spring, we'll be able to keep bringing young people here and working with Foodlink at the edible Education Center and at this Lexington farm to provide these experiences to hundreds of children," he added.
Olivia Gibson, who is entering third grade, said she had already learned about pollinators before attending the program but learned even more this summer. She said she also learned about different types of soil through a hands-on exercise.
Her favorite part about all of it?
"Learning about new things and being outside, because I love being outside," Olivia said.
