Bird Park sprouts love for nature

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By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter

Maura O’Gara, one of the Trustees of the Reservations at Walpole’s Bird Park, said, “Once you start seeing the world through seed glasses, you start to see all of the tiny seeds around us.”

At October 4’s “Outdoor Preschool Adventures,” O’Gara taught participants how to find and identify the seeds around the cherished park.

Families were invited to learn about the tiny seeds that grew into the massive trees that stand in Bird Park today. Two-year-old William and his grandparents joined Maura at the park’s Music Court to discover the magic of nature concealed inside of a husk.

Maura explained to the two-year-old adventurer how seeds travel, elaborating that they can be dispersed through wind, water, animals, humans, and by bursting. Before finding examples of each method of travel inside of the park, Maura took some snacks out of her backpack to emphasize how common seeds were. She sliced a tomato in half and asked William to pick out one of the seeds before looking at other examples in string beans and blackberries.

“We not only eat seeds,” said Maura as she took out some grocery store-bought herbs and spices from her backpack. “We use them in our cooking, too. They’re everywhere!”

To examine some seeds in the wild, Maura took William and his grandparents through the different paths of the park, stopping to inspect seeds from beech, catalpa, and hemlock trees.

William also discovered the jewelweed plant and saw one of the ways seeds travel: by bursting. Taking one of the jewelweed capsules between two tiny fingers, William popped the pod and sent seeds flying, wishing them good luck.

Fulfilling William’s request to run to their next destination, Maura led the adventurers to a stream filled with vegetation. She pointed out one particular plant – a cattail – to the young boy, comparing its appearance to that of a hot dog. She then found one close enough for the adventurers to feel the fluffy plant.

Realizing their hunger at the mention of hotdogs, the adventurers headed back to the Trustees office for a snack and for one last lesson about seeds. Maura and William made seed bombs – small balls of wildflower seeds rolled with clay, potting mix, and water to ensure the good conditions for the baby wildflowers. “When the situation is just right, the seeds start to grow,” said Maura. “The babies become a plant.”

For O’Gara’s crew of adventurers, the day was just about perfect - they enjoyed the fresh air of the outdoors and learned about Bird Park’s tiniest life inside a little seed.