'Call Of The Earth' Field Trips At Hendry House

Eating Insects - Exploring Nature - Earth Day In LaBelle

LABELLE, FL. -- Monday began the first of three days of field trips for 600 LaBelle area elementary school kids at the Hendry House and LaBelle Nature Park along the Caloosahatchee River in LaBelle.

West Glades Elementary students toured the grounds and displays Monday morning with Upthegrove Elementary beginning Tuesday and LaBelle Elementary on Wednesday. The Hendry House grounds are closed to the public during the event.

Organized yearly by Margaret England of Audubon of LaBelle, she is joined by Clark Ryals, senior forester from the Florida Forest Service Caloosahatchee Forestry Center on a nature walk, John McCormick, Forester with Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest, Terry Cerullo and Martha Avila from Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Sonya Crawford, Livestock and 4-H Agent and Patricia Gonzalez, 4-H program assistant offered a program on "edible bugs," the kids having the opportunity to eat grasshoppers and termites.

Noreen Berden and Roy Curry from Hendry/Glades Soil and Water Conservation District gave a talk on "Life in the Soil: Dig Deeper."