Matanzas Pass

I was unable to attend the Matanzas Pass field trip due to being put on bed rest by the doctor. I loved visiting Fort Myers and Bonita beach as a teenager and now with my husband and children.

Matanzas Pass Preserve is located on the seven-mile long barrier island on Fort Myers Beach, FL. It is a 60 acre preserve. It's one of the few undeveloped, protected areas on the island. It allows visitors a way to view the real Estero Island before it became the popular beach resort we know it as now. There are three natural plant communities in the preserve which are the mangrove swamp, maritime hammock and coastal grassland. A boardwalk and trail system connects all of these plant communities. When you walk it, it offers an opportunity to view the communities. The Matanazas Pass Preserve also offers many educational opportunities including guided walks, tours led by an ethnobotanist, volunteer training, and stress detox tours. 

Corkscrew Reflection

Our trip to Corkscrew was fun and educational, although the field trips got harder and harder for me being now 7 and 1/2 months pregnant. It definitely got harder and harder to concentrate as well. Corkscrew has a bald cypress forest. pine flatwood, wet prairie, pond cypress, marsh,  and lettuce lakes. Just before we got to see a water moccasin. It was cool because it brought back many memories. When I lived in Jacksonville, FL with my mom and dad, we had a canal and acres of woods beyond our backyard. As kids we would run through the woods and wade in the canals with the black water moccasins - very  poisonous snakes. One time, a mother's eggs hatched in our yard and we had dozens of babies everywhere. My dad frantically tried to get them out of the yard. I remember the dramatics of the situation like it was yesterday. My favorite part of Corkscrew was lettuce lakes though. We saw a mother alligator with her babies. Then just past we saw an alligator eating fish or frogs. He was catching something and he was surrounded by beautiful white birds.

Sustainable Pot Luck

Sustainable Pot Luck

For the sustainable pot luck in class, I brought organic carrots, organic salad dressing, and ranch veggie dip. The carrots and salad dressing were organic and had sustainable ingredients. These items could have been more sustainable if they were purchased at a local producer. The ranch veggie dip had canola oil which has GMO's and the organic food can not contain GMO's. 

According to my True Food app on my iPhone, certified organic products are not allowed to use GMO's in their ingredients. Otherwise, you want to look for labels tat specifically state non-GMO. The True Food app has a GMO guide with various types of food you eat discussing what to watch out for.

I am continuing to use the suggestions I learn in Colloquium as well as my True Food app when I am purchasing food for my family. It even has suggestions on which infant formulas to avoid. I want my family and our soon-to-be new addition to have the most healthy, sustainable foods.

ECHO

My overall opinion of ECHO was positive. I feel like they are truly making a difference in a variety of ways. What stood out was the different tools they have designed to save money on cleaning water and cooking. I found several of the techniques very interesting. I enjoyed seeing the water pumps, especially the one that looked like a bike - exercise and pump water at the same time. Of course, my favorite part of ECHO was the cute mommy goat pregnant like me!

I would definitely be interested in volunteering for my service learning hours at ECHO. I do not know much about farming or planting. I am not very good at it but I would love to learn. I think it would be beneficial to pass skills such as this on to my children in helping them learn about sustainability.