“What’s News?”
at the AELC

  We have school groups that come out to the Nature Center to do activities set up by our Education Director, Kirsten Fuglseth. I’ve noticed that every school group, no matter what age, has one thing in common. No, it’s not that they love getting out of school to enjoy nature for a day. Nice guess. I was thinking about the fact that they all throw their lunch into the Sand hill River for the fish. It’s amazing the things these fish have been fed: sandwiches, gum, chips, you name it.
  So I thought of some ideas about how the kids could feed the fish and save their lunches for themselves. It’s pretty funny that a few of them will start asking around 9 or 10 when lunch time is and as soon as they sit to eat, most of their lunch goes into the river. I discussed some choices with Kirsten and then took our idea to the board.
  A board of elected members makes executive decisions about how to maintain the Agassiz Environmental Learning Center. Any large decisions have to be approved by the group. So, I asked the board members about a quarter feeding machine. They liked the idea and I had a “go ahead”.
  So now, I am an e-bay user, sort of. I did some research to see how much quarter machines normally cost and then went on-line to see how much the difference would be on e-bay. The one I found was being bid on for five dollars. Good deal, huh? So I called my mom and asked her to bid on it for me. Ok, I admit it. I didn’t buy it myself; I had to have my mommy help me. But, after some tough negotiation, we won the bid and bought the machine. I couldn’t believe it when we had to pay as much money in shipping and handling as we did to buy it. After a few days of waiting, it came in the mail.
  Of course I opened the box right away and had bubble wrap and those little Styrofoam things everywhere, which my baby kept trying to put in his mouth. Then, I couldn’t even put it together myself and I had to wait until my husband got home from work to do it for me.
  Finally, though, the machine is filled with corn and ready for action. We had it filled and out at the Nature Center for the last school group we had for this year. It was great to see all the kids running with corn in their hands and smiles on their faces. It made them laugh with enjoyment and their tummies weren’t rumbling from a lack of lunch.
  If you would like to become a member, schedule an event, or just get information call Jacque Flynn at the AELC, 218-945-3129; leave a message if there is no answer. The answering machine is checked several times throughout the day and we return messages as promptly as possible.