On Saturday, November 30th , 2019, the WRN kids went to Rare Conservation Area in Cambridge to learn about Sustainable Living and Indigenous Land Use.
The morning was cloudy and cold but we were by the trees so it blocked out most of the wind.
Our group walked to the gardens first. We went inside a greenhouse where kale can grow year-round. It was so warm inside.
We saw a goat pen that is used in the summertime to stop invasive Phragmites plants from growing. It looked like the Phragmites was cut but it was really the goats eating it all up!
Then we saw the Indigenous Food Garden where a lot of fruits and vegetables are grown for the Food Bank. After that my group saw the markers for a Longhouse where several First Nation families would live together. We learned that there are very few artefacts left because they used natural materials that biodegrade over time.
On our walk back we saw a strange opening in the hill. We learned it was a root cellar that the early settlers used to keep their foods cool. How “cool” is that?
Our last stop was a look around inside “North House”, which is a small house that uses the sun to power it. Everything inside looked like it was from the future including a bed which is dangling from 4 wires in the ceiling and has a remote control to move it up and down.
For the second half of our morning there we walked close to the river. A local archeologist showed us some samples of arrowheads and clay pottery that were found in this area. He told us that the Grand River used to flow over all of this area 12000 years ago. Mastodons roamed nearby too.
We learned that the people who have lived in our area over thousands of years knew what to do to survive. Everything they needed came from the land around them and there was enough for everyone.
Laertes