The Benjamin Logan Environmental Science Club spent a beautiful day at Jolly Acres Farm, thanks to the generosity of the Brewer family, who opened their farm for an unforgettable, hands-on learning experience.

Students began the day by embracing the fall season—painting pumpkins, making apple cider, and touring the farm. The Brewers demonstrated the entire cider-making process, explaining how apples are prepared and pressed to produce fresh, delicious cider. Each student took part in the process and was rewarded with a refreshing bottle of their own creation.

The fun continued with a hayride around the farm, where the group observed gravity-fed lines for maple sap collection, a Christmas tree planting, and various cover crops. Along the route, students also spotted bush honeysuckle, an invasive plant they had battled during the previous week’s club activity. Their familiarity with the species allowed them to quickly identify it and explain its negative impact on local ecosystems—a great example of classroom knowledge applied in the field.

Back on campus, the excitement continues as the Benjamin Logan ESC prepares to raise brown trout. The eggs are scheduled to arrive Monday, and to get ready, students participated in a lively exercise called “Macroinvertebrate Mayhem.” In this activity, students learned how different aquatic organisms respond to environmental stressors such as riparian zone degradation and chemical spills. With laughter and learning combined—particularly for those playing “caddisfly larvae” hopping to the finish line in pillowcases—the activity made complex ecological concepts both fun and memorable.

The Logan County Land Trust extends its sincere thanks to the Brewer family for sharing their time, knowledge, and farm with the Environmental Science Club. Opportunities like this bring science to life and inspire the next generation of environmental stewards to care for the land and water that sustain us all.