Autumn mood

Teijo Nature School has welcomed about a dozen student groups from schools in the Salo area in the fall of 2022. Groups have visited from Pertteli, Muurla, and the city center, among others. The smallest visitors have been third-graders and the oldest have been toddlers.

Nature has provided us with many kinds of weather. Often the weather gods have been favorable and have let the students and the adults who came with them to nature school go home dry. Once, it rained so much for almost the entire nature school day that no one came out of it dry. For me, this was perhaps the best: water is pouring horizontally and I am trying to read the poems of our national writer Aleksis Kivi. The students hide under their hoods, because water is really pouring hard in their faces and it is windy. While grilling, the campfire threatens to go out and all kinds of small debris sticks to your hands because they are so wet. You would think that all this would lead to complaints and gritting of teeth, but no. That was not the case. Both the students and the adults faced the weather with a straight face and a twinkle in the corner of their eyes: "It couldn't rain much more!"

The nature school has also offered the children a variety of experiences, perhaps even challenges. For many of the participants in the poetry workshop, the steep rock climbing has been the best thing - besides the poems, of course. Everyone has also managed to climb even the most difficult part. The most challenging part has often required the help of a friend, and it has been great to see how the students also look after their teachers. There is not just one time when the teacher who helped everyone else gets applause from the students on top of the rock. Maybe everyone gets applause.

The Nature School will continue to hold workshops for schools in Salo again next spring. Welcome!