This resource was created by Abigail Schmid and Kate Reilly.
January is the perfect time for new outdoor adventures and a refreshed sense of learning and discovery of our natural world. Need some inspiration to get started?
Thanks to the PreK to Grade 2 students at Weston Elementary School in Manville, New Jersey for sending along words to describe their visions of a winter experience at Duke Farms:
- Peaceful and calm
- Green… but also snowy
- Cold and “brrrr” - so be active!
- Glistening, glimmering, and bright
- Nature
- Life
- And most importantly - happy.
If you are still making the decision to go outside to explore, the winter world awaits your curiosity.
You can find maple trees all throughout the northeastern United States. In our neck of the woods - New Jersey, there are seven species of native maple trees. These include the most abundant sugar maple, red maple, silver maple, boxelder, black maple, striped maple, and mountain maple. That's quite a lot for just one state... how does one tell all these species apart? It can be difficult, but luckily, there are several features of a tree that can be key to identifying a species in question. Trees can be identified by examining their:
- Bark
- Branching
- Leaves
- Buds
- Flowers
- Fruit/seeds
- Structure