Proving that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space was honored to promote the Stony Brook/Brandon Farms Community Conservation initiative. All partners involved achieve separate objectives that, when combined, deliver tremendous benefit to the Hopewell Valley community.
Converting a 10,000 square foot lawn area to meadow directly accomplishes FoHVOS mission and has positive environmental implications including improving soil and water quality in the area, attracting birds and pollinators to help facilitate a healthy, functioning ecosystem, and giving native species a chance to thrive unperturbed by invasive plants. Additionally, Stony Brook Elementary School gains an effective hands-on tool to inspire creative learning and budding environmentalists. Finally, the Brandon Farms Homeowners Association has the opportunity to pilot a program that gives back to the community, improves environmental outcomes, and documents possible maintenance cost reductions for its residents.
The Stony Brook Elementary School and Brandon Farms meadow is a partnered project that builds on the interconnected relationship of the two groups.
For the students of Stony Brook, the space will foster outdoor education and contribute to the emotional wellness gained through exposure to nature. In brainstorming a new theme for the school and its goals, Principal Steven Wilfing thought of “Students Grow Here” to coordinate with the meadow project. Since it has only recently been planted, the students will be able to watch as the plants in the meadow grow, new life inhabits the area, and the ecosystem matures.
The plants and the students will be growing together, with each helping the other along the way: the school helping restore the meadow and the meadow peaking students’ curiosity. The school is also interested in planting more meadows around the premises in the future, when the current meadow has matured, so later generations of students can experience the same visible growth and interactive learning. Principal Wilfing wants to provide students with opportunities to get involved with learning from the meadow in as many aspects of the curriculum as possible, including science, reading and writing, and math. Additionally, weather stations to be given to each elementary school in the district by a recent grant, will allow teachers to tie the meadow and plant growth in with weather and the interconnectedness of an ecosystem.
Alongside this traditional education, the school is hoping to teach the children to take care of the Earth, how to handle responsibility, and the merits of giving back to the community and to the Earth. The students will learn about mindfulness, being in the moment, and acknowledging their surroundings.
Principal Wilfing believes there are endless possibilities both within the curriculum and outside the regular school day. There is an opportunity for school clubs or YMCA after school enrichment programs to integrate some of these ideas into their time.
Collectively, there will be a tangible and visible benefit for the children of Stony Brook as they experience firsthand the maturation of the meadow and the natural processes that take place there. This will be heightened by the future planned installation of an observation deck that would provide various vantage points and would stand as a centerpiece for future growth. With this project, curious students will have the opportunity to explore and learn in an exciting interactive way, apply lessons learned at home and outside the classroom and develop a lifelong commitment to help the environment and the local community.
- Held community planting day which had community members and the local mayors assist in the meadow planting
- Worked with local Fire Department to provide occasional waterings
- Wildflower seeds have evolved so that they do not need to be watered as frequently. They have adapted to the wild which is not always regularly tended to like a standard “planted” garden is