Intensive Learning @ MFS
The World At Your Fingertips
Our week ended in yet another diverse ecosystem at The Pine Tree Center. It was wonderful to see our guides show, and our students remember, the many things they saw and learned this week. The site was once a Boy Scout camp. It was also a camp for disadvantaged children, and a century ago...
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Thursday we headed to the Rancocas Cranberry Preserve, and our guides had a surprise for us. But before we arrived at the reservoir to enjoy the surprise, we learned about birding and cranberries. We saw red-winged blackbirds, wood ducks, and a circling turkey vulture who seemed have its eye on our stuck canoers. Bald...
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Fire. On Tuesday we saw a documentary that began with fire and subtitled it “renewal.” On Wednesday we learned about that process from a forest fire fighter who joined us for the day’s hike. Nolan wrote: “I learned about the process of creating controlled fires to prevent specific acres from being burned in the...
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Today’s Pine Barrens adventure takes place at the Pinelands Alliance, home of the 72-acre Rancocas Creek Farm, where we will do a service project. The land for the farm was donated to the Pinelands Alliance in 2020 by an MFS family! Our faithful bus took us to the Rancocas Creek Farm Tuesday morning for...
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T. S. Eliot called April “the cruelest month,” but this March has offered its own brand of cruelty. Rain and cold can encourage travelers to hurry by all that surrounds them. We stopped on the trail to see the little things that suggest new growth has begun and spring may have already arrived. Our...
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Though we did not head into the Pine Barrens today, we did have a little hike on the cross country course. Interestingly, that is how we began this adventure during our first group pre-experience. I think we were aware of a lot more this time. We recognized six different birds, with the help of...
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Today we spent the fifth and last full day of our Intensive Learning program at the Franklin Parker Preserve. The trail began at the same location as Tuesday’s hike to Apple Pie Hill, but we went in a different direction. Our trip today was focused on hiking along train rails and bird watching. We...
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I was in the pines because I found it hard to believe that so much wilderness could still exist so near the big Eastern cities. – John McPhee, The Pine Barrens, 1967. Upon arriving at Rancocas Cranberry Preserve (a former cranberry farm now managed by PPA), our guide Jason started our visit off with...
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There ain’t no place like this left in the country, I don’t believe — and I traveled around a little bit, too. -John McPhee, The Pine Barrens, 1967 On the third day of the Pine Barrens IL, we visited Franklin Parker Preserve and hiked the Batona Trail. On this trail, we learned lots about...
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Today gave us a true look into local farms and farming in New Jersey and how even the smallest things can have a large effect on them. It created more awareness that off-roading and illegal activities cause immense harm in the Pinelands. It also gave us a much deeper understanding of the functioning and...
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3/21/2025 Spring has sprung at Batsto Village! The signs were everywhere from a sunny but windy day, to crocuses and snowdrops in bloom, to singing birds. Our first day provided us with a preview of our upcoming adventures through both the human and ecological histories of Batsto and the Pine Barrens. We practiced with our...
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We gathered in the Field House Commons on a rainy Thursday morning for our final day of IL 2024, grateful that the weather held throughout the week for our time in the Pines. While some groups captured additional film footage around campus, others spent a relaxing – and competitive – time with Ms. Thomson’s...
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For our fourth day in the Pine Barrens (3/27), we took a trip to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance (PPA) headquarters, where we first looked at submissions of the Pinelands Photo Exhibit, which captured closeups of wildlife and landscapes across the seasons. We were then distracted by a parrot that a visiting truck driver had...
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On the third day of our Pine Barrens IL, we visited Apple Pie Hill, hiked around four-and-a-half miles, and climbed the Pinelands’ central fire tower. While exploring the Apple Pie Hill, the notorious Jersey Devil showed itself to us to answer questions and make appearances in our videos. When we were at the fire...
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Today we went to Rancocas Cranberry Farm. We met up with members of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance & Pinelands Adventure Co., who were our guides. We did a four-and-a-half mile hike through the Barrens, walking around decommissioned cranberry bogs, wetlands, and heavily forested areas. We also did some dip-netting at a reservoir where we...
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