Trips to Meadowbrook Farms Begin!

On Monday, we had our first 4th grade visit to Meadowbrook Farm.  Two years ago, we began an amazing partnership with Meadowbrook Farm, which is part of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.  Click here to learn more about Meadowbrook Farm.  Our 4th grade goes to Meadowbrook once a month to learn about botany and horticulture, culminating in a trip to the Flower Show in February.  We'd participated in a plant forcing experiment for the show and compared plants grown at Meadowbrook to plants grown at AFS.   Last year we did a science/art collaborative project, making nature "plates" in the style of plates found at the Pennock home.   The students went this past week for an introduction to the property.  What a wonderful afternoon!  Below you can see some highlights of our first trip.

Julie and Glenn gave us a bit of the history of the farm before the students entered the beautiful Pennock home.  The estate was designed and created by J. Liddon Pennock, Jr, and is situated on 25 acres in Abington Township. Jacqueline explained that the original house was given to Liddon and his wife, Alice Herkness, as a wedding gift by her parents in 1936. The house was designed in the English Cotswolds style by architect Robert McGoodwin.

The students loved these terra cotta sculptures!  Perhaps an idea for this year's Flower Show??

Glenn and Julie point out some of the unusual specimens planted by the Pennocks.

Mrs. Pennock's "dipping" pool.

The Queen's garden.

The Metasequoia is huge!

Taking a moment for some quiet journaling and sketching in the gardens.