Despite the fact that we met last week, we opted to meet again to discuss a few items on our to do list.  In attendance, we had Jack, Joe V., Rachael, Anessa, Emily, Larry, Joe W., Linda, and Kathy.

  The first thing we discussed was the yard clean up which was supposed to take place on 5. 19, but a lack of participants and really yucky weather pushed it to 6.14, potentially during school hours.  This clean up will net the ECC $100 in donations toward next year’s ECC trips and causes.

  We also talked about our final field trip.  We’ve been approved to go to Trevor Zoo in Millbrooke, NY.  This trip will take place next week on Tuesday, 5.24.  Now to find a creamery on the way so that the students can get their ice cream!

  Finally, we had to ask students to bring their organic t-shirts back to us so that we can return them to the printer.  It was noticed that the word “environment” was spelled incorrectly on the back of the shirts.  Kathy will collect the shirts and return them to the printer so that new shirts can be ordered and the issue remedied.

  At this meeting, we had Joe V., Jack, Rachael, Anessa, Joe W., Carrie, Larry and Kathy in attendance.  We opened with a discussion of our final field trip.  We have decided to focus on green food production, with Blue Moon farm, Laurel Ridge farms, and the new Arethusa creamery opening in Bantam, CT.  We can stop for a tour of White Flower Farm, which should be in full bloom, and wrap up the afternoon’s festivities with a stop at another ice cream shoppe in order to maintain our food focus. 

  The next topic of conversation is the weeding process in the front of the school.  Jack, Rachael, Carrie, and Kathy will be here on Friday to help make our school look clean.  Participants will bring as many of their own tools as they can manage, including gloves.  Carrie’s father will be bringing annual flowers such as marigolds, and her friend is donating hostas. 

  Finally, we opted for May 24th, a Tuesday, as the date for our field trip.  Wednesday, May 25th, will be our rain date.  Permission slips will be sent home and our trip is underway!

  Today, we gathered to discuss the profits from the bake sale we ran before Spring Break, as well as the planting day we hope to have in the near future.  Emily, Anessa, Joe V., Jack, Rachel, Joe W., Larry, and Kathy were in attendance.  Carry joined us for a brief period as well.

  Our bake sales raised enough money for us to send $100 to BAWA Intitiative for fresh water wells in African villages, and left us money for another field trip.  The notion of spending the money on plants for th front of the school was raised, but another family had mentioned that they were willing to donate plants for our use.  The students are, therefore, willing to make the sacrifice and find a way to spend the money.  Their hope is that it will go toward ice cream!

  In discussing plants for the front of the school, Carrie mentioned that her father has a greenhouse, filled with marigolds.  Hopefully we’ll be able to plant these flowers (which repell rodents) and mints (to repell ants) around the outside of the school building.  We’ve agreed on meeting after school on Friday, May 13, in order to take care of the greenery.

  Finally, we’ve talked about going out to look at the various and sundry wind turbines in the area for our final field trip this year.  The hoped-for fish hatchery trip has not panned out, so we’re looking for “alternatives”.  We’ll keep you posted on our results!

  Today, April 4, is the day before our first field trip of this year.  Excitement is building, and permission slips have been handed in.  We plan to leave the building directly after checking in with our administrators to head off to the grand environs of Litchfield, where we will meet the lovely ladies of Arethusa Farms, most of which are bovine!  Despite the rain, we’ll be tromping about at the farm and at Narssicus Field, and probably enjoying our ice cream in the warm surroundings of Peaches and Cream Ice Cream Shop.  Some of the things we hope to learn about on this trip include:  the breeding and birthing process of dairy cattle; the milking process; the parameters of raw milk law in the state of Connecticut;  the varying types of cattle raised on farms in the northwest corner of our state; the products available in raw milk form due to state restrictions; the benefits of purchasing milk from a local farm; the blooming process of daffodils and other narcissus plants; and whatever other types of intriguing information we might stumble across on our journey.  Hopefully, this trip will be as enlightening as our previous trips!

  Some of the things we will need to discuss as we travel to our various destinations include the fund raisers we hope to host before this year is over.  We are planning on raising money to donate to the Bawa initiative, a group focused on efforts to provide clean, potable water to the village of Bawa in Africa.  If you have any ideas for fund raisers in which we could engage our students, please let us know!

  Once we return from our travels, we will post pictures and an update to let you all know about the times we had, the things we learned, and the beautiful sights we uncovered!

It was unusual for the ECC to meet on a Tuesday, but the weather kept us from a full school day on Monday.  Ergo, Tuesday it was!  We discussed the need to schedule students for days when they were responsible for checking the recycling bins located throughout the school (in classrooms, the lobby, and the lunchroom), as well as the fall clean up of a local yard for a fund raiser.  We decided to order T-shirts made of organic cotton with the ECC logos on the front and back, as well as places where the students might like to visit for our end of year trip.

  Here again!  Today we’re discussing our field trip to Arethusa Farm, Narcissus Field, and Peaches and Cream, all in or around Litchfield, CT.  We have Anessa, Emily, Rachael,  Joe V.,Linda, Joe, Larry, Carrie, and Kathy in attendance. 

  We talked about the planned trips to the farm as well as to the fishing hatchery.  Our trip to Arethusa is planned for Tuesday, April 5, 2011.  We will be leaving the school early in the morning to get to the farm for our tour at 8:30.  Permission slips were handed out and rules were discussed.  If students are not in good standing or owe work to their teachers, they will not be permitted to attend.  All students were in agreement.

  The fishing hatchery is not seemingly in favor of allowing us to assist them as they release hatchlings due to the peculiar weather we’ve been experiencing this winter.  However, one of the workers told Carrie that he would be in favor of allowing students to tour the hatchery and see the process of growing fish from tiny eggs to self-sufficient young fish.  That trip is still being planned.

  Finally, we touched upon the need for students in ECC to empty the recycling bins in classrooms.  This was met with the same old answer:  “but the bins downstairs are getting full”.  This answer was, as always, met with the response “so what?  That doesn’t keep landfills from filling up”.  Hopefully students will meet their obligations on this front and maintain a good face for the ECC.

  Students brought up the planned fund raising for Japan, and Larry mentioned a charity he is connected to:  the Bawa initiative.  This husband and wife team travels to Africa to drill and establish water wells for villages in rural Africa.  Since this is a small, CT-based organization and one of our founders is in touch with its founding team, students decided to create and run a fund-raiser for this charity rather than for Japan.  We shall have to discuss this fund raiser in the future.  For more on the Bawa Health initiative, see http://bawahealth.org/water.php .

  Happy Pi(e) day!  We haven’t had a meeting in some time, so we decided to meet today.  Since there are several illnesses running amok in this corner of the state, our attendance today is rather low.  However, we sallied forth and discussed our field trips.  In attendance, we had Emily, Rachael, Jack, Ashley, Carrie, and Kathy. 

  In the first week of April, we’ll be going to tour Arethusa Farms in Litchfield.  We’re also going to contact someone about releasing fish into local waterways for the Department of Environmental Protection.  Once we have a date for the release of these fish, we’ll plan our second trip for the year.

  In the first week of May, we’ll be gathering on a Saturday afternoon to plant some new plants around the yard in the front of the school.  These plants are going to be purchased as a part of a fundraiser for the PEACCE Robotics team and from a donation from Carrie’s father.  The students and staff will work together to get these plants in the ground. 

  Finally, we discussed some fund raising ideas so that we can send our thoughts and best wishes to the victims of the earthquake, tsunami and potential nuclear disaster in Japan.  Jewelry and cookie or candy sales are all popular.  We’ll try to set a date for a candy sale.

  We finally got our t-shirts!  “Been Printed”, a local garment printer, made us some fabulous new shirts on organic cotton.  Now, not only do our shirts spread the word about “going green“, but they also allow us to go green with our apparel!  Despite some grumbling about the lack of a rhinocerus on our shirts, everyone grabbed their new shirt.

  We had Rachel, Emily, Anessa, Ashley, Jack, Joe, Larry, John, and Kathy in attendance.  One of the things we discussed was the recycling program here at the school.  We seem to have run into an old problem. . .the bins, once moved downstairs to await their trip to the transfer station, are sitting, collecting dust.  The advisors will speak with the man in charge of the “dump” runs, Jim.  The next issue we tackled was the taking of a group picture, showing off our new shirts.  We also agreed to construct and paint recycling bins for a festival occuring during the summer break.  ECC will build large boxes, cut holes in the sides at approximately the size of a soda can, and paint the outsides of the boxes to cover any printing.  We’ll also make sure that the boxes state that they were donated by the Explorations ECC.  Finally, we talked about the field trips, and our need to raise some funds to make them a reality.  Again, we’re planning on going to Arethusa Farms in Litchfield, CT, Narcissus Fields in Northfield, CT, and a local business for a quick treat on our way back.  The second trip will hopefully be to the Recycling museum in Hartford, CT, and Tall Meadow.  These trips and the things we hope to do during them will require more than the roughly $100 we currently have at our disposal. 

  Our next meeting will be on Monday, January 24.

  This was rather a large meeting.  In attendance, we had Emily, Anessa, Ashley, Jack, Joe V., Larry, and Kathy.  The first thing we discussed was the ordering of the shirts.  These were ordered from Been Printed, a new print shop in Torrington, CT.  They should arrive before Christmas, but possibly not before the break.  These new shirts are made of organic cotton, and feature the same design as our previous shirts.  At our next meeting, we shall decide whether we want to sell our new shirts for $10 or $12 to non-members.  Members will, as always, get their shirts for free. 

  Another item we discussed involved the National Arbor Day Foundation.  We applied for an annual membership, but the computer connection seems to have interfered with our application.  We will have to reapply. 

  Finally, we touched briefly upon the idea of our year-end field trip, yet again.  Emily asked if we could check out some place involved in the production of dairy products, especially ice cream.  Arethusa Farms, a new, family owned and operated, organic, all grass-fed dairy farm in Litchfield, CT, was discussed as a potential destination for our group.  We will call the farm and inquire as to a tour of their facilities.

  Our next ECC meeting will be held once we return from our winter break.

  Today, we’re meeting to discuss raising some money for t-shirts.  Jeff, the art teacher, is willing to contribute some funds to our cause in exchange for getting his yard cleaned up and sparkly.  Mia, Emily, Anessa, Joe, Larry, Carrie, John and Kathy, as well as some new participants, Jack and Rachael, were all here, discussing duties and plans for tomorrow.  This event is open to all interested student (even good for community service hours.  Seniors need 20 hours of community service for their graduation requirements.) Between the club, the community service requirements, and the promised baked goods, hopefully we’ll get some people to show up and help!

  The other topic we discussed was the end of year trip.  We’ve talked about Roaring Brook preserve in Avon, and we’re also thinking about a return to White Memorial Conservation Center, a place we went to last year.  The students had so much fun that they might want to go back this year!  The push is still on for new ideas for this trip, so here’s hoping for some feedback soon! 

  We’re working on getting money together for our shirts and trips, and we’re paring down ideas for our trip.  If you have any suggestions for us to consider, please let us know!