Darke County Parks invites students in grades 3-6 to join them for the June Jr. Naturalists program on Saturday, June 25th from 9:30am to 12pm at Shawnee Prairie Preserve on St. Rt. 502 west of Greenville. The June program will feature honeysuckle and garlic mustard. Honeysuckle smells terrific, but is non-native and invasive. That means it’s killing off many of Darke County’s native plants. Garlic Mustard also smells great as a savory herb, and was brought to this area by European settlers. It too is non-native and highly invasive. With loppers and trash bags in hand participants will hit the trails to learn about native verses non-native plants and work to make Shawnee Prairie a better place. Remember to dress in old clothes, for the weather, and for being off trail.

The Jr. Naturalists program is a series of monthly programs designed to give students a hands-on introduction to natural resource management. Hikes, work projects, and independent study are all part of this fun-filled nature study club. A fee of $3 is charged for the program, and preregistration is required. For any questions about the Jr. Naturalists program or any other Park District programs or to register for the June class, please call the park office at (937) 548-0165 or email info@darkecountyparks.org.

Photo Caption: Honeysuckles greens up long before the native species and makes the area too shady for the natives to survive.

For last year’s Prairie Days festival Darke County Parks began a new tradition of pressing sorghum with an antique press. The demonstration met with such resounding support that the park district decided to continue and plant another crop of sorghum this year. Through the assistance of park volunteer Neal Schmidt, Crop Production Services of Ansonia donated soil nutrients and spray as well as company time to apply the product on this year’s crop. Darke County Parks would like to extend a very special thank you to Crop Prodution Services of Ansonia for helping to make this year’s crop even better than last year’s and in turn helping to educate the next generation about crops and farming practices of year’s past.

Photo Caption: Darke County Parks would like to thank Darrell Gower, Crop Production Services Site Manager, and the CPS staff for donating the product and time for this year’s sorghum crop.