Local residents and friends visit campus for a community event

On Saturday, April 12, St. Andrew’s teamed up with the University of Delaware to host the Watershed in Your Backyard, a community outreach event inviting local residents to learn how they can help keep Delaware’s watershed healthy by incorporating sustainable practices into their own lives. Despite some downpours, the event turned out to be a fun and informative celebration of the local landscape.

By 9 a.m. a crowd of runners had gathered near the starting line for the first annual Race for Our River, a five-kilometer race and Fun Run on the St. Andrew’s cross-country course. With numbers pinned to their chests, local residents, St. Andreans and other environmental enthusiasts stretched and shook out their limbs in preparation. The race benefited the Appoquinimink River Association (ARA), a nonprofit organization created in 2004, whose mission is to preserve, protect and enhance the rivers and related natural resources of the Appoquinimink Area.

Race for Our River runners cool off after crossing the finish line.

Nearby, on the lawn that flanks facilities, a white tent shielded representatives of environmental organizations from the gentle morning sun. Vivian Smith ‘09 was manning (or womanning) the St. Andrew’s raffle booth, handing out free tickets for a contest whose prizes ranged from Red Knot, an illustrated children’s book about a shorebird’s migration, to a rain barrel. Eyeing the Burt’s Bees toiletry kit, I eagerly requested a ticket.

The tent housed other interesting objects, information and individuals. A thin glass box of crawling bees adorned one table, where visitors could learn about pest management. A young woman, the daughter of a prominent horticulturalist, was handing out free Rudbeckias (sweet cornflowers) in small pots. Mary Craig ’09 was selling t-shirts and fluorescent light bulbs. Ruby Cramer and Liz Scarinci ’08 displayed a poster of the results from their recent independent study of nutrient levels in Noxontown Pond.

St. Andrew’s Chef Wright was setting up a grill beneath a nearby tent, preparing for visitors eager to sample fare from the School’s 100-mile diet. When lunchtime rolled around, the local sausage with onions and peppers became a big hit.

Soon runners began trickling back, to refuel with water and snacks and hear the race’s results announced by science teacher Dan O’Connell. Visitors strolled over to the tent to hear about how they might help to keep Delaware’s watershed healthy. As 10 o’clock rolled around, a group of curious visitors hopped on for a hayride over to the T-dock, where science teacher Bill Wallace greeted and invited them aboard St. Andrew’s Biobarge, a pontoon boat, for a pleasant spin around Noxontown pond.

Mr. Wallace told passengers about the history of the pond and the School’s efforts to ensure its health. “While from here it looks as though the pond is surrounded by woods, the trees actually only cover the slope down to the pond in most areas. Last weekend we had 47,000 trees planted in an effort to increase that buffer.” Two crew teams rowed by, their oars slapping the surface in time. “They’re out here everyday,” said Mr. Wallace with a smile, “That’s got to be good for the soul.” Everyone agreed. Faint thunder validated reports of rain seemingly belied by the morning sun. The barge’s awning shielded passengers from a brief rainfall, followed a brilliant reemergence of shine.

Bill Wallace chats with biobarge passenger Laurel Strong P'07, '10.

Back at the main tent, a group boarded a big yellow school bus and set out on the Watershed Biodiesel Bus Tour, an hour and a half long look at the landscape from the point of view of a water droplet. Environmental experts from the University of Delaware narrated as the tour demonstrated how water is changed in its passage through neighborhood, farm and lakeside. Tour-goers had some unique insight into the life of water droplets during a brief but heavy downpour just before noon.

Despite the unfavorable weather, this gathering was rendered successful by the presence of really passionate people, eager to share their knowledge and love of nature with anyone who cared to listen. In a small tent beside St. Andrew’s mountainous compost heap, an animated woman was giving a workshop on composting. This was Hetty Francke, a devotee of composting since 1967. “I have always been interested in how it all begins,” she says, “and so I was attracted to the science of soil.” Ms. Francke has long been involved with Cooperative Extension, a branch of the University of Delaware’s Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Cooperative Extension’s mission is outreach; they work to educate communities about gardening and growing in healthy and efficient ways. Ms. Francke has been giving workshops, classes and demonstrations on composting for many years.

She is particularly passionate about her visits to young students, and shows me a book of scrawling, misspelled thank you notes from second graders. “I lerned that worms have five harts!” wrote one student, “I wish we had five harts.” “After master training I received grants to build compost demonstration sites,” says Francke, who now holds demonstrations for students in New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties.

Hetty Francke introduces a red wiggler to a workshop attendee.

Today, Francke has the opportunity to share the joys of composting with a few youngsters who, detecting movement in her blue plastic basin of dark soil and kitchen scraps, have moved nearer. She digs her hands deep into the mixture, pulls up a heap of soil squirming with red wiggler worms and hands out specimens of her wriggly friends to everyone. Deeply grateful to a creature that expedites the composting process, she delights in praising her worms. Her unsqueamish handling of the cool muck encourages others to get their hands dirty. “It’s good to build up some resistance,” she says, “If you are always sanitizing, you don’t build any resistance.”

When the Biofuel Bus Tour returned, Sustainability Coordinator Brianna Barkus prepared for the raffle drawing. Ms. Barkus’s four- year-old daughter reached her whole arm into the jar and pulled out a ticket for each prize. Winners cheered all around, stepping up to claim their plants, books and, in one case, a pair of binoculars. But by far the most exciting win was that of a young boy who, much to the surprise of his family, took home a rain barrel at the end of the day.