Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center

We have a few spaces left for our bat program tomorrow (friday) night. For more details, and to register, click here: https://events.dcnr.pa.gov/event/bats_in_the_forest

Join us this Sunday and Volunteer for Trail Crew!

We are so humbled to be a part of the service learning projects for this amazing group of 7th graders. They spent this school year working to make a difference for the entire community!

Join the Nolde Forest Friends Group along with our other Berks County neighbors this Sunday at City Park in Reading to celebrate Earth Day Berks 2021! Environmentalism means more than just recycling and addressing pollution. Making strides to be cleaner and greener is an action which everyone can do to make a difference. This past year has given us a different perspective. During this pandemic, we are realizing more and more that actively taking care of our surroundings and each other is a way of life that is beneficial now and for future generations.

Happiest of days to all the wonderful mothers out there! On this special holiday, we would like to take a moment to celebrate and thank a mother who has been there for us all, especially in the past year of uncertainty and separation... Thank you to Mother Earth for all that she provides to us daily sustenance, shelter, escape, connection, beauty, hope, joy, purpose, and so much more. This Mother’s Day let’s promise to return the love and respect that she so freely gives to us. Let us help sustain her as she sustains us.

Do you hear what I hear? On these hot, sunny days, the cicadas have been "singing" in full force. Stop by during daylight hours to hear it for yourself!

The Playdate Mom: Another amazing mammal mom is Momma Bat! Like other mammals, mother bat feeds her baby (called a pup) breastmilk. Bats will only have one pup a year, so protecting their babies is of utmost important. This is where their Playdate Mom award comes into play.. bats take their lady friends very seriously and make sure that they all support each other and take time hang out with all their pups. During pup season, bat moms will gather in caves, tree cavities... and/or rock crevices to form nursery colonies. No bro-bats allowed! In these tight spaces, the group of mommas and pups will all snuggle together into an adorable mass of itty bitty bodies for warmth and protection. Mother Bats can recognize their pup’s specific voice and odor amid a colony of hundreds, even thousands, of others. Feeding their baby takes a lot of wing work a pup can consume up to half of the mother’s body weight each day! This means that Mother Bat needs to fly out each night and eat approximately 1,000 mosquitos per hour! Yet another reason that bats are so important to our environment!!

Shhhhh, the babies are sleeping! It's newborn season here in the Nolde Forest and you might stumble across a fawn hunkered down in the grass or a fledgling bird hopping awkwardly on the ground. That's ok. This is a normal part of nature; rest assured that parents are nearby hiding from YOU. However, we can do our part to keep life stress free for these babies while they learn the ways of the world. ... Keep your pets on a leash (your curious pup might mean no harm to a fawn, but the fawn doesn't know that and it will run away sometimes injuring itself or getting lost from mom in the process) Don't attempt to pet or interact with baby animals (or really, ANY wild animal). Use your zoom lens! Remember that Nolde Forest is for quiet, passive recreation only (no ATVs, no bike riding, no drones, etc.... walking/jogging/hiking only). This helps us respectfully share the park with other humans as well as our furry/scaly/feathered friends who do not understand the loud noises and fast movements of our technology.

There are still spaces for our Storybook Hike and pond exploration class tomorrow morning! Will you join us? The weather looks perfect! Registration required: https://events.dcnr.pa.gov/event/family_storybook_hike

The new storybook trail is now available for you to read at the Painted Turtle Pond! This story is all about the creatures who live over and under the water in the pond. Is our pond the same? Different? Begin with the first sign directly across the path down from Chestnut Trail (across from the pond boardwalk) and follow the stands in a clockwise circle. We hope you enjoy the story!

We had to cancel our Friday Morning Family Cicada walk, but we are still planning on meeting tomorrow morning at 9am! Registration is required: https://events.dcnr.pa.gov//family_friendly_cicada_walk_43 Join us on this hike to explore the Brood X cicada phenomenon!

Happy New Year from all of us at Nolde Forest. We look forward to a happy and healthy 2021. We are not holding First Day programs this year, but the park will remain open. Please remember that we only have a limited number of parking spots - if it is full when you come, please try one of the other parking areas or another one of the local parks. Parking in non spots creates an issue if large emergency vehicles need to gain access to the area. And remember:... Check the weather and sunset time before you leave home Dress in layers such as wool and quick dry materials Bring a day pack that includes water bottle, snacks, small first aid kit, gloves, hat, trail map Wear proper footwear such as boots with good ankle support Wear fluorescent orange for protection during hunting seasons Practice Leave No Trace principles while hiking Wear a mask Thoroughly plan and understand the route/trail you will hike. Not every trail is a loop that will bring you back to your starting point. A trail listed as 2 - miles one-way can become a 4 mile, 2-hour trek before you’re done. Remember too, you may need to take several different trails in order to make a loop - this is ESPECIALLY true here at Nolde Forest. Notify someone who is not hiking with you of your destination and expected return time. This is especially important if you are hiking alone.

DAY 12 The Nolde Forest staff would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday! To those of you celebrating Christmas today may it be very merry and full of light and love.... If you’re looking for something fun to do with the family during this unorthodox holiday season, come out to Nolde Forest for a family hike! The park is open sunrise to sunset. The Mansion and Education Center lot will be closed today and this weekend, but the Sawmill and Fire Gate parking lots will all be open to visitors during daylight hours. Be sure to share your holiday hikes with us on social media!

DAY 11 MERRY CHRISTMAS! Since it is now officially Christmas Eve, we are finally able to vocalize our well wishes with that famous phrase! Per German tradition, wishing anyone a Merry Christmas anytime before Christmas Eve day is considered bad luck and disrespectful to the celebration of the four weeks of Advent. According to tradition, the celebration of Advent throughout the month of December is just as important as Christmas Day and Epiphany on Jan 6th. You may wish pe...ople a Happy First (Second, Third, Fourth) Advent! but never a Merry Christmas before the actual holiday celebration begins on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve (Dec 24th), the Christmas trees will finally be brought in and decorated. That evening, the Christkindl will bring the good children gifts for the Christmas holiday, which he will leave under the tree. On Dec 25th and 26th our Christmas celebrations carry on. From Dec 25th through Jan 5th is when German tradition celebrates the famous 12 Days of Christmas, during which time children will go caroling to raise money for charitable causes. And on the eve of Epiphany (Jan 5th), German children put out a shoe in hopes of receiving another gift from St. Nikolaus who will visit them that night. Epiphany is celebrated on Jan 6th and the Christmas season has come to a close. I don’t know about you, but we kind of love the idea of keeping the Christmas spirit alive through the New Year! Ps. Would it surprise you if I told you that those delicious Advent calendars you’ve been nibbling on all month ALSO originated in Germany? Or have you already sensed the theme of these posts?

DAY 10 The Belsnickel is one of my favorite German traditions from growing up. Belsnickel’s name is a combination of belzen (German for pelt) and Nickel, a nickname for the German Nikolaus. The legend of the Belsnickel originated in southwestern Germany and was brought over to the US by the PA Dutch. There are a variety of characters of different names who fill the role of the Belsnickel, depending on what region and era you look at. Our favorite portrayal of the Belsnickel... is, of course, the episode Dwight’s Christmas in the American version of the ever-popular show, The Office (pictured below). There are several versions of the Belsnickel’s true role in Christmas. The excerpt, below, is from one of those stories and is taken from an article in the Morning Call. The wording was too perfect to pass up the share! A few nights before Christmas, a rap would come at the door. A cross-looking man wearing furs would step through the door. He held a hickory switch in one hand and a sack laden with candy and nuts in the other. One by one, he called the children in the house forward and asked them to recite a poem, a Bible verse or math equations. He'd warn them to behave. Then he'd toss the goodies on the floor but woe to children who forgot their manners and greedily dove for the candy and nuts. They might feel the sting of the switch on their backs. Call him the dark side of Santa, but der Belsnickel's job was to remind little ones that they still had a little time left to behave before the benevolent Saint Nicholas would arrive. Morning Call Full Article: https://www.mcall.com//mc-xpm-2013-11-29-mc-belsnickel-chr

DAY 9 Spoiler Alert: Did you know that Kris Kringle and St. Nicholas are supposed to represent two different people? And, you guessed it, they both originated in Germany! Kris Kringle comes from the German word Christkindl which means Christ Child. Per German tradition it is the Christkindl who leaves gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve (or his counterpart Weihnachtsmann or Father Christmas in some regions). ... St. Nicholas (or St. Nikolaus) visits on the eve of Epiphany (Jan 6th) to leave other gifts for the children if they’ve been good. On Jan 5th, German children will leave their shoes out in hopes of receiving a gift from St. Nikolaus. In the 1860s the German-American political cartoonist, Thomas Nast, sketched a picture of St. Nikolaus as an illustration for the poem The Night Before Christmas that was published in the Harper’s Weekly journal (see photo below). It was from this imagery that the idea of an all-encompassing character, Santa, was formed. Somewhere along the line, Kris Kringle, St. Nick, Father Christmas and Santa all became interchangeable names for the gift-giving, jolly old elf who visits on Christmas Eve each year in search of cookies and milk.

DAY 8 Today we celebrate the Winter Solstice! The word solstice means sun stands still and we celebrate it today because the sun seems to stop moving across the sky. The Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year and the changing of seasons. Today is the official start of the winter season. As we move past the solstice, the days will once again begin to grow longer, as the sun sets later with each passing day. Many ancient cultures celebrated the solstice with ca...ndles and evergreens to symbolize the return of daylight and the green buds of spring. They also decorated with wreaths to represent the cycle of the seasons: fall to winter, winter to spring, spring to summer, and back to fall. You can see influences of the solstice in the traditional German Christmas decorations, such as evergreen wreaths and Christmas trees that are decorated with lights (originally, they were actual candles that decked the trees’ limbs). Happy Solstice to all and cheers to the return of daylight!