McConnells Mills

This State Park is located about an hour north of Pittsburgh. It is an excellent place for whitewater rafting, though we went on a hike. The walk down to the mill and covered bridge is steep, but hikers are rewarded by the gorgeous scenery and the many flowers and plants that grow along the way. The trail continues from the mill and covered bridge along Slippery Rock Creek. The SCA Bioneers group used this as an opportunity to identify a variety of trees, flowers and other plants.

Food Inc.

Hey Its Niecy B. and today im going to talk to you about the importance of healthy, sustaniable foods.
Today the Bioneers group got together to watch a movie called Food Inc. This movie, to me was a true eye opener. Food Inc taught me alot about the dangers of the food that not only I eat, but the food that my friends and family eat also. It's a terrible thing what they do to the animals that we get our food from. I say thats it doesn't take a genius to know that if you dnt take care of the animal and feed them what they're suspose to eat and make sure that its healthy, then the food that you get from the animal isnt going to be healthy, and you shouldnt give us the food that you make from it. It's common sense if the animals not healthy then the food isn't going to be healthy for us. Somebody needs to put a stop to it immediately so many people die from food not being processed the right way, and the food companies derserve to be punished.

There job is to help feed us not to kill us, and thats what they're doing killing off young children and adults because they're to lazy to do the job their paid to do the right way. There Laziness and lack of common sense took a toddler named Kevin Kowalcyk's life he simply ate a hamburger thinking it was perfectly fine and died from e.coli poisoning, because the farmers were feeding the cows (where the hamburger meat came from) corn instead of the grass they shud've been eating.

This is why eating healthy sustaniable foods is important, because if you eat healthy and sustaniable foods you won't have to worry about the dangers of nonhealthy unsustaniable foods.

McConnell's Mills is a very nice place to take a walk or just clean your mind. There's lot's of nice flowers and trees. We walked the Sippery Rock trail. Learned a couple little fun facts. We also identified different types of trees, flowers, and plants. Very nice place.

We also watched a movie called Food Inc. It's a great film to watch & learn about where the meats come from. & also what they do to them. I learned alot when i watched this video. Some farmers are just money hungry and just care about thereselves. They treat the chicken, pigs, cows & other farm animals with little to no respect. There was a two year old boy that died form eating a hamburger. They used every part of the cow for this burger, which is very unsanitary. The farmers really could careless about what happens to the people that eat the foods. Some of them clean with very stong cleaaning products which can get anyone sick. I'm not gonna tell you to much about it. But, If you havent seen the movie yet I think its a must that you do so.

Why should you buy sustainable foods?

Some people say sustainable foods taste better. There are more and more health benefits being found in meat. Substainable farms are an intergal part of the community, where money made on the farm is filterd back into local bussiness. Studeis have shown that factories farms can tear apart rural communites. Well today we visited a farmers market. We interviewd some of the people who were selling things. Most of there food came from there own farms or it was homemade. The thing they liked most about selling at the farmers market were the people. They were able to advertise and meet new people. A famers market is also wholesale. Most of them do not use geneticaly modified foods. Which is good for the food we eat today. So. buying at a farmers market is better than buying from a grocery store. If you have never visited a farmers market, Its a really place to get fresh fruit!

Phipps - History

No matter how many times I go to Phipps, I am always struck by its beauty. I have never been to Phipps in the summer...and it did not let me down. The place is gorgeous, gracious and welcoming. The amazing variety of plant life kept us moving from one room to another. One nice touch of this trip was the gargoyle display. A brief history of gargoyles showed that they were used to frighten away spirits (they were said to fly at night. Also, the Rain Forest room showed an amazing glimpse of plant life and culture in the Amazon -- and how local people use the plants for daily life. Another fun space was the Children's Garden. It was a hot day, but children still planted flowers that they could take home, watered garden plants and ran through a sprinkler. Finally, the airy beauty of the Butterfly Forest is a wonderful asset to a Phipps trip. It is interesting to note that the Conservatory was donated to the city by Henry Phipps who wanted to add beauty to the city -- and he wanted to be sure that it was open on Sunday so workers can have a place to see beauty in the city.

Yesterday we went to phipps conservacy. Very, Very hot day, but i enjoyed myself. It was the first time I seen a gargoyle up close. Some people say there used to scare to evil spirts away. There were so many beautiful plants/tress. Lots of pons with little cut fish inside. There were also alot of fun facts about each plant. There were diffrent rooms with, something diffrent in each one. More than half the plants that were there in never knew existed. I think it's good to learn about the diffrent plants and stuff in the world. Did you know there is a plant that waits 100 years to flower. Or, Did you know that a tropical forest tree can grow to about 200 feet tall. I never knew there were so many different flavors on tree such as a chocolate tree, i would have neve guessed one of those.

The most beautiful thing i seen today was the flowers & the butterflys. There so colorful & cute. There were 16 diffrent type of butterflies. & sometime they rest on the floor, probably beacause its the coolest. During the day the tempature in the room is around 80 degress and 70 degress at night. One of the ugliest things i seen was the little colored pod growing from one of the plants. The most interesting thing i saw today was the little skeleton sort of thing made from some sort of plant.

Its really a nice place for the kids to go. They can learn alot of things they also are aloud to water the plants which is pretty cool. Phipps is open all year round. I know its beautiful in the winter!

*Phipps Conservatory*

Hey It's Niecy B. here to fill you guys in on the Bioneers exciting trip to the Phipps Conservatory yesterday afternoon. The Phipps Conservatory is a very interesting, and fascinating place there are so many different rooms of the greenhouse, and so many different things in each room.

Everytime i walked into a room i was amazed. The first thing that caught my eye was the Gargoyles for those of you who don't know what those are, they are statues that are used as pieces of art to let us know about the people in the 1700's and what they believed in. These Gargoyles were used back then to scare away evil, and also to remind city dwellers of the perils of evil, and scare them straight.

I found these to be interesting because i'd never seen these up close, i've always seen them on television, or on top of the buildings around town so it was a great experience to learn about them and see them up close and personal.

The second thing i noticed was the different types of plants, Trees, and flowers there were so many heres a few to name a Vanilla Orchid, Weeping Cherry Tree, and the Spider Plant to be honest i would have never known about those plants if it wasn't for the Phipps Conservatory it taught me alot of new things it was a fun, and it was a beautiful place, I have to say the room I liked the most was the butterfly room, that room to me was the most beautiful place in the whole conservatory there were so many different kinds of butterflys it was gorgeous I loved it. It was so calm and serene definately a room i'd like to visit more often.

All in All Phipps Conservatory was a great, educational, evironmentally fun place that i'd love to go back and visit anytime.

Phipps...

Phipps is a conservatory that is well known in the country. It's a green house with plants form all over the world. They attend to these exotic plants all year around making sure they have the sunlight, water, and what ever else is need to keep the plants and tree healthy and growing. Phipps also have a butterfly habitat. there are 16 different species of butterflies, and around 1000 butterflies in the room.

Phipps is open all year round and they attend to the plants every day. they have all the sunlight they need with their one of a kind all glass roofing. they also have temperature control, watering control so they can be done at the same time every time. they separate the plants because something in some plants aren't always go for another.

Phipps has this wonderful butterfly forest, for 16 different species of butterflies to fly around freely and pollinate all the flower in there room. There are over 1000 butterflies in
Phipps's butterfly forest. there's a saying that if a butterfly lands on you or you can pick on up and it stays then you have a good soul. so when whatever you good see how butterflies act around you.

Phipps isn't just for plant lovers and adults there is a children's garden, which you can water plants and get your own plant to take home and grow your own plants. I'm saying this as a young adult go to Phipps. It's a nice place and I think that it will open your eyes to new things.

until next time....