On Sunday, April 29, Waterside Workshops took a field trip to the Solano Land Trust’s Jepson Prairie to tour its vernal pool and surroundings. We packed our picnic lunch, lots of hats and sunscreen, loaded up the van and Honda Pilot with four interns, three youth staff, three staff, and two volunteers, and headed out on the 1.5 hour drive to Dixon.
We were met by retired librarian and Solano Land Trust volunteer, Kate Mawdsley, who was our tour guide. We ate lunch and Kate told us the history and overview of the vernal pool. It felt special because the pool only pops up from February to May in any given year. The pool fills with rain water and aquatic life, such as shrimp fairies, tiger salamanders, tadpoles, beetle larvae, and much more. We looked at these creatures in water samples and hiked around the pool. We saw amazing birds and the mountains surrounded the valley. The surrounding flowers were bright and abundant with hilarious names like Woolly Marbles, Blow Wives, Blue Dicks, Butter and Eggs, California Hair Grass, and Sacramento Beard Style Mint.
Then, we drove back and stopped at the It’s It ice cream sandwiches outlet and enjoyed them on the way home!