​Myrna's Surprise Retirement Party! 
Our thanks to Leo de Groot for capturing some of the highlights of Myrna's surprise party, held August 16th at the site. Staff members, Claudia Lipski and Kirstin Bouwsema, managed to gather about 100 people together to celebrate without Myrna knowing! ​
​Watch the video of Myrna's party here

​Last Knee High Nature Program of the Summer 
Thanks to Claudia Lipski for hosting one last (back by popular demand!) Knee High Nature Program. Children and their parents loved these programs! Thank you, Claudia, for sharing your love of nature with these young families. 

​Dr. Delano Lewis wraps up his insect monitoring project at EBF. 

​Site Projects
We are working hard to get some projects finished up before the end of the season. Carter McLenahan has been busy spiffing up the Circle Deck pergola with additional coats of stain. 

​Welcome Chris Abey!
We have hired Chris Abey to help around the site for the last few weeks of the season. Chris is learning about how much work it takes to keep EBF looking so beautiful! Earlier this week, he assisted Claudia LIpski and Shaye Hill clean out the Purple Martin houses. We still have three pairs of active Purple Martin nests, which is later than usual. 

​Knee High Naturalist Programs a Success!
Claudia Lipski continues to enthrall little people with her Knee High Naturalist programs. The programs are filled with information, stories, games and crafts (using recycled materials). The programs have been so popular that we continually add more. Thank you Claudia, for sharing your love of nature with children! It is so adorable to see children leave EBF carrying their precious craft masterpieces (yesterday's program was about moose and deer).

​Video Taping Continues at EBF
Thanks to Phil French and Leo de Groot, we are now wrapping up a three-year oral history documentation project at EBF. Leo has been busy collecting footage of the site and activities while Phil has concentrated on getting footage of Myrna touring the site and being interviewed at various locations. We picked the hottest day of the summer, but we're happy to have this footage collected! 

​Garden Tours at EBF
Linda Sommers continues to lead very popular Wednesday garden tours this month. We are getting so many new visitors to EBF!  Visitors are impressed by the site, the gardens, the beauty and the remarkable stories that make EBF such a provincial treasure. 

​Claudia Lipski leads very well-received Knee High Nature programs. Today she is talking about spiders! She loves to dress up like the creatures she teaches about! Due to high demand we will be offering at least one more Knee High Nature program. You can register HERE

Our Head Gardener, Linda Sommers, has led Wednesday afternoon garden tours this month. She has one tour left, on August 19th. Find out about our beautiful gardens! ​ You can register for her next tour HERE

​Updated Fungi List
Dr. Charley Bird stopped by Ellis Bird Farm on Thursday to pay us a visit and to do a mushroom walk. He found three new species of fungi! 

We were pleased to introduce Charley and Ann to our new Admin Coordinator, Amy Jin.  

Sadly, this Saturday would have been EBF's 14th Bug Jamboree, a popular annual event that Charley volunteered at each year. We appreciate his support of EBF over the years!  ​