00:00 - All right. Welcome to the Shaver's

00:01 - Creek Environmental Center tent here at AG Progress Days.

00:04 - We are here all three days, and we have a large exhibits for families,

00:10 - landowners and other community members to come

00:13 - and check out the flora and fauna of central Pennsylvania.

00:17 - We have things from the mammal pelts that you're looking here to, just to share

00:21 - stories and discuss what we can do to help

00:25 - be in the same, environment as mammals.

00:29 - But then we also kind of move into some of the reptiles, such as snakes

00:33 - that you might see, along the ridges, and also some snakes that you might see

00:38 - in different parts of Pennsylvania, such as the north western part of Pennsylvania

00:44 - and some of the swampy areas, as you see in the master silo there.

00:48 - So we bring in some live animals that we have at Shaver's Creek.

00:52 - So the animals that you see here at Ike Parker Stage, you can go out

00:55 - to Shaver's Creek and visit.

00:57 - We are open seven days a week from 10 to 5, free admission

01:01 - and lots of fun for different age groups and families to come out and see.

01:06 - Here's a another unique, amphibian here.

01:10 - This is a tiger salamander.

01:13 - That, we've been having at Shaver's Creek for folks to come see.

01:17 - Not very often do you get to see them as they are very secretive

01:21 - out there in their native landscape and habitats.

01:24 - So this is a great opportunity to make that connection firsthand

01:28 - and see them really up close and see what it's like to have a salamander.

01:34 - In our in our neighborhood of our habitat.

01:36 - So, Pennsylvania,

01:38 - we also have lots of interactive displays, too, for young,

01:42 - groups of children to explore, to look closely

01:46 - at some items that you might see in a landscape, such as a snowflakes.

01:50 - So we have lots of things for them to, tangible items to look closely at,

01:54 - that maybe, magnify things that we don't technically,

01:58 - we don't really see very well, in our everyday.

02:01 - So taking some technology and using it, on our tables to give a better perspective

02:07 - of what's happening,

02:08 - we just had some young stars on that screen, and, a very young boy

02:12 - was very excited to see that and star chomping on a milkweed plant.

02:16 - So there she just pulled up a porcupine quill to see what that looks like.

02:21 - And again, as we continue moving, we were discussing

02:24 - some of the things that we might have seen

02:25 - and throughout the year, such as the emergence of the 17 year cicada

02:30 - kind of creating connecting with stories that we might have

02:33 - shared of our experience this past spring, when they were filling our soundscape

02:38 - with their mating sounds and now they're off into the ground for another 17 years.

02:44 - But also we have this nice interactive puzzle to help,

02:48 - kind of have tangible items here on the table for children to come.

02:52 - So this is a very engaging part of the table.

02:55 - Lots of we encourage touching, we encourage exploring.

02:59 - We encourage young using all the senses,

03:02 - to explore some of the things.

03:04 - And one of our favorite ones and popular ones is the monarch, display,

03:09 - which is showing the lifecycle of the monarch and how important it is

03:13 - with the the relationship it has with the milkweed plants.

03:17 - There is also a butterfly tent here at ikebana stairs.

03:21 - But this also makes this connection, a little bit closer

03:24 - as we get to see up close and personal of the monarch.

03:28 - And we also here does discuss

03:30 - types of seed relationships and how they reproduce.

03:33 - How important is to have different types of seeds?

03:37 - And where do we see those seeds in our everyday

03:39 - lives, such as our fruits and vegetables and just kind of giving that sense

03:43 - of exploration again for young children and all types of ages.

03:48 - So and then this is a very, wonderful display of bird

03:52 - nest as we are in our third Pennsylvania breeding bird atlas, we are focusing

03:57 - on, encouraging folks to go out and record bird breeding bird behavior.

04:02 - Each bird species creates a unique nest that has unique material

04:07 - and kind of demonstrates the importance of having diversity in our landscape

04:11 - of nesting materials.

04:13 - As each bird needs different types of nesting materials, it's important

04:17 - to kind of keep our landscape available for them to build

04:20 - and to maintain the ability

04:23 - to reproduce and breed for their next year's species.

04:27 - So it's really about connecting

04:29 - with many, connecting people with their lands,

04:33 - connecting people with us, and just kind of giving a resource here

04:37 - for AG Progress Days and for folks to come out

04:39 - and ask questions and share stories about what they're doing on their land.

04:42 - So come on out.

04:44 - We look forward to having you out here.

04:47 - Yeah.