“Look under your stump!”

When I give students at BUGS (Boise Urban Garden School) Sprouts Camp that simple direction, our shady circle spot under the trees is suddenly filled with cries of joy (and sometimes disgust) as students tip over the stumps they are sitting on to find worms, millipedes, beetles and earwigs- so many earwigs! Who knew that such living treasures were so close at hand? Each week we grapple with the students to tease out the characteristics of life as part of our education about the ecosystem that is the garden. This simple activity of peering under our stumps, magnifying glasses in hand, brings our discussion of what it means to be alive to life!

My externship at BUGS this summer has reminded me of the power of being curious and exploring our environment close at hand. At my own school, ANSER Charter School in Garden City, this translates into activities such as digging for worms on the playground, watching birds nest in the eaves of our building, identifying bees visiting our pollinator garden and culturing germs from surfaces in our school to name a few examples. Fieldwork off campus is great but being curious and finding wonder and inspiration in our own day-to-day habitat is golden. Science can be exciting without needing expensive equipment or explosions. As a result of my time working with the good folks at BUGS who are educating our community how to be healthy humans on a healthy planet, one forkful at a time, I will be looking for even more ways to dig deeper into the seemingly ordinary to find the wonderful this coming school year. I am so grateful to the amazing staff at BUGS for welcoming me into their spectacular program, the stellar kids who learned with us at our weekly camps and to the good folks at the Idaho STEM Action Center for making this opportunity available!