Like much of the land found at Merry Lea, Onion Bottom is a restored wetland habitat. Its deep marsh and still pools of water provide homes for countless species such as waterfowl, turtles, bugs and plants. Though it’s a wetland, it did not resemble one when the Rieths acquired it decades ago. Read more to learn about the history of this land area and its restoration process.

As Women’s History Month is coming to an end this March, we celebrate Mary Jane and her steadfast vision for Merry Lea. Her visionary work manifested in significant contributions, from organizational operations to providing funding, making Merry Lea what it is today.

You don’t need to travel for this year’s New York Fashion Week in the middle of a winter storm – not to mention during a global pandemic – to catch the latest fashion. See what styles and trends our Nature Preschoolers have to offer for winter 2021. We may not know what the next few months will look like weather-wise, but at least we can ride it out in style.

Hear from Emma Zuercher, a student in the Sustainability Leadership Semester (SLS) fall 2020 cohort, about how the SLS is an immersive language experience.

Merry Lea Sustainable Farm is now home to six new baby goats born the first week of May. Our two adult female goats, Ruby and Diamond, each had triplets and both families are doing well.

The search committee for Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College has announced Jason Martin, Ph.D. as Merry Lea’s new executive director. He will join the Merry Lea team July 1, 2020.

Hello nature friends–

Along with the rest of Goshen College, the Merry Lea Team is hunkered down and working from home due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

When you need to get out to a safe place, Merry Lea is here for you. The Learning Center Building may or may not be open, but our TRAILS are OPEN dawn to dusk. Spring is coming soon!

For 21 days, students in Merry Lea’s Master of Arts in Environmental Education learn about a subtropical ecosystem and then work with six elementary schools to get kids outside and connect them to their environment. Every year, I am amazed by how much they absorb.

It’s been nearly two months since the seventh cohort of undergraduates completed Merry Lea’s Sustainability Leadership Semester (SLS). Between mid-August and mid-December, they shared classes, meals, field trips, hikes, social activities and a weeklong canoeing adventure.

What happens when children’s interests drive education? Merry Lea’s Nature Preschool could offer plenty of examples. In one case, it all began with dinosaurs.