A Final Thought

As we finish our time together, we are challenged and encouraged by farmer, author and poet Wendell Berry from his work in The Country of Marriage.

"So, friends, every day do something that won't compute...Give your approval to all you cannot understand...Ask the questions that have no answers. Put your faith in two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years...Laugh. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts....Practice resurrection."

Ecosystems Research Projects

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Field work is essential to learning ecology, so in the Ecosystems Research Project, Eli Knapp from Houghton College told the students to get outside, get dirty and get data. Well, he actually gave us a pretty thorough framework for the scientific process of field research which is acceptable in graduate-level scientific work, and then told students to get outside etc…

To help students understand what “real world” fieldwork entails, Eli encouraged the students to come up with creative, tractable and interesting research questions. These were the research topics that our four groups developed, researched (in sun, high-tide, wind, rain and rainforest), wrote and presented:

FOCUS: Intertidal Marine - The effects of rahi temporary marine reserve protections on intertidal diversity and abundance in Kaikoura, NZ.

FOCUS: Native Birds - Community composition of birds along an elevational and successional gradient.

FOCUS: Streams - Effects of disturbance on the biodiversity of macroinvertabrates in Kaikoura streams.

FOCUS: Native Plant Life - A comparison of plot isolation of diversity of plant species with in a New Zealand forest

Terrestrial Ecology

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Terrestrial Ecology is, as a student described it, “a highly enjoyable field-based course with loads of great fieldtrips, informative lectures, and hands-on [experiences]”.

This course takes the Old Convent crew to the wet and rugged West Coast of the South Island where our classroom takes the shape of anything from a glacial moraine to an old-growth podocarp rainforest.

This semester Dave Warners from Calvin College ushered us into the unique ecology of NZ. Dave opened our eyes to the significance of island biogeography and the ways in which an ecosystem is not simply the sum of its parts, but the dynamics of interactions. Rare and endemic flightless birds like the Rowi Kiwi—which we encountered at the breeding program in Franz Josef—are indicative of how New Zealand’s landscape, history and isolation from other places has caused beautiful, delicate and one-of-a-kind interactions and organisms to come about.

One of our favourite things about Terrestrial Ecology is the hands-on experience of learning about and witnessing Creation in the field. Some of our field trips included:

-a glow worm cave where, in total darkness, pinpricks of bioluminescence shine like constellations (Punakaiki Cavern, Paparoa National Park).

-hiking up the titanic scrape of one of the only advancing glaciers in the world today to witness it close-up (Franz Josef Glacier).

-tramping through a temperate rainforest where moisture in the air is so thick that trees fall from the weight of epiphytes growing greenly on their trunks and limbs (Monro Beach track, Westland National Park)

-winding our way through NZ beech forest in the mountain to arrive at a beautiful alpine fen where delicate insectivorous plants lay in wait to snare their prey and the robins peck in our footprints as they once did when they followed the Moa (Bealey Track, Arthur’s Pass National Park).

Stacey's Photo Collection from Marine Ecology

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One week, many field trips and countless sea creatures. 

Enjoy the photos. All are provided by Stacey (Westmont '12).

We all made new friends, including sea slug.  

New Zealand's famous paua.

Who is not to get excited for species sampling?

Incoming!

Kissing the sea life was not a requirement; however, some found it rewarding.

Professor Beth Horvath from Westmont College explaining the qualities of sea lettuce.

One of Kaikoura's many resident sperm whales.

Watching whales, even with moderate swells, is an unforgettable experience.

Stacey's Sushi Surprise

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Sushi is great. 

Homemade sushi is better. 

Homemade dessert sushi with chocolate bars, gummy worms and peaches is, well, kinda weird.

We celebrated Stacey's (Westmont '12) birthday by having a sushi-making contest in which each sushi roll was judged on taste, presentation and overall Stacey-ness. The aforementioned dessert sushi, although creative, did not woo the judges.  Below is the winner.

The winning roll. Notice the arrangement is made to look like Stacey's home state, Hawai'i.

The judges about to try the dessert sushi. Amusing but not tasty.

(Photos: Allie - Program Administrator)

God and Nature

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What is the Sabbath and why should Christians and the earth experience it?

How does God reconcile not only humanity but Creation to himself and what does it mean for us to reconcile with Creation as well?

Why is food so important?

Do our souls need the wild?

Where is hope in the midst of this age of ecological degredation?

These were just some of the questions we wrestled with in the two sections of our God and Nature course, taught by Norman Wirzba from Duke University and Corey Beals from George Fox University.

Norman, as a farmer himself, led us into the theology of the biblical basis for creation care from the ground up; we often returned to food as a way to understand how God intended the relationship between us and non-human Creation. By exploring food systems and the way in which humans have used the earth to obtain food or energy, we also discovered the brokenness of that relationship.

When the theology and reality of our own and our world’s brokenness began to weigh on our hearts, Norm took us out to experience the joy that still runs strong in God’s world. On one fine late summer's day, we hiked our way through beautiful and ancient NZ forest up the side of a ridge. After a steep climb we emerged on the spine where the cloud-shrouded Seaward Kaikoura mountains stood and the wee town we have come to love so much lay below. There we stood and prayed for Kaikoura, our place, our Earth and for the things we had come to learn to affect us as they ought. Later on we spent an afternoon on the farm of our friend who provides all our fruits and veggies. There we weeded, planted, fed (and caught) chickens, painted, mowed, played with a dog and ate some barbeque. There’s nothing like getting your hands dirty to realize you need the earth to eat!

Atop the Blue Duck Reserve.

Corey’s class also took us on journeys where we got pretty dirty: From threading a path through seals at the peninsula to washing buildings at a farm park to visiting the town sewage pond and climbing a small mountain overlooking the coast, we traveled and saw much. We also learned much by the light of the candles on our night without electricity and by the light of a fire on the beach and moon on the waves. We learned together to “try on” some radical—yet orthodox—ideas about our nature, God’s nature, and the nature of his earth. Wendell Berry’s short stories fleshed out these ideas and led us to understand how community is a first step to healing our fallen world.

We left these two weeks with some dirt under our fingernails, woodsmoke in our clothes, and hope in our hearts.

Photos: Jaci (Messiah '13), Korrie (Messiah '13), Mathias (Westmont '12) and Stacey (Westmont '12)

Chooks

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Samantha (Kitchen Assistant) writes:

I first stumbled upon the word “chook” while reading the cover of a New Zealand book entitled The Chook Book--a backyard guide to caring for chickens. Chickens (or chooks, as they are referred to by many kiwis) have long been a dream for a creaturely addition to the Old Convent family. However, while we may have dreamt about our own flock of chicks to provide eggs, we needed to find a sustainable egg source so we could contine cooking & eating the foods we do.

On average, a group of 25 students/staff/professors consumes roughly 60 eggs a week. Quiche night alone accounts for at least 40 eggs. Regardless of how many eggs end up in our bellies, it is important for us to know about our eggs and the chickens that lay them. Where do these chickens live? Who cares for them? Do these chickens have the opportunity to be as chicken-ly as their Creator intended? Do their care-givers receive fair payment for their efforts? By asking these questions and doing a fair bit of researching and conversing, we found a wonderful neighbor, Helen, who enthusiastically raises laying hens.

Helen has a passion for chickens. She and other family members provide a home for several dozen feathered fowl, including guiea fowl, domestic and passerby ducks, roosters, and, of course, chickens. In talking with Helen we began to realize our dream of caring for our own chicken flock was quite possible.

Students from the Fall 2010 semester were instrumental in preparing a home for the chickens…a custom-made coop was literally built from the ground up, mostly composed of materials found around the Old Convent property and salvaged from the local dump. We learned more of the crucial ins-and-outs of raising happy chickens from Michael, our good friend and neighbor, without whom we probably would still be chicken-less. Michael gave us five young hens to fill the vacancy in the new coop, not to mention plenty of ongoing advice when a question came up.

Our chickens adjusted to their home rather nicely and even managed to earn names. Each hen is affectionately named after five previous Student Life Coordinators (and yes, we can tell them apart!)…Gretchen, Marcel, Abe, Matt and Kevin. It’s a pretty wonderful family.

February 15^th marked a rather monumental day…the first egg was laid and collected! Since then, we’ve been collecting 3-6 eggs a day. While the amount of our chickens’ eggs doesn’t completely satisfy the demand of eggs consumed, it certainly helps to fulfill it. We are still able to support Helen in buying her free-range eggs. We are also able to better learn all of the work, care and love required for obtaining the eggs we so easily crack open into our foods. And, we have befriended and learned the habitats of another being of God’s creation. Chickens (although not the brightest) really are beautiful creatures.

Photos: Samantha (Kitchen Assistant)