Reflection on a year at Bluegrass Greensource

August 22, 2025By

“I didn’t know that!” This is a phrase I have heard at every class and event I have attended as an AmeriCorps/EEL volunteer. The exclamation came from both children and adults as they learned that dragonflies start their life in the water eating fish, that beavers have luscious thick fur and are as large as a small child, or that Night Crawlers are an invasive species. In classrooms and at fetes, sharing information about nature always inspires awe and delight.

I especially love working with young children and I have had many opportunities to visit preschool and kindergarten classrooms this year. Rachel Patton, the Education Director, has developed and refined interactive lessons that pull children in and explain big concepts in ways children can understand and build on. For example, capillary action of roots is a hands-on activity where children use paper towels and colored water to see capillary action at work. Another example is “The Tree Factory” where children pretend to be different parts of a tree: roots that take in water, bark that protects the tree, branches that reach towards the sun, leaves that deliver the suns energy to tree. The activity has children clustered around one child who is the “heart,” waving their “leaves,” making slurping noises to take in water, stretching their “branches” towards the
sun, and using their arms as bark to defend the tree from pests. It is a noisy, riotous lesson that is much more effective than a textbook for teaching the parts of a tree. I believe the lessons I have offered to classrooms as a volunteer with Bluegrass
Greensource have sparked an enduring curiosity about nature in children.

The new location of Bluegrass Greensource at Buckley Wildlife Sanctuary has offered both challenges and delights. On our first day at Buckley, while unpacking boxes and setting up desks, we paused to watch a mother deer and fawn nibble at the bushes beside our building. Staff meetings are often paused to watch groundhogs scampering across the lawn. It is good to recall these happy sightings when the water smells like Sulphur, a black snake raises its head from the shadows of the garage, or the internet is slow. These are also features of Buckley.

The year as an AmeriCorps/EEL volunteer at Bluegrass Greensource has flown by. I started the year helping to box up a warehouse of teaching resources and feeling woefully lacking in environmental knowledge. I am thankful for the PEEC course, for the rich resources available at Bluegrass Greensource, and for the enthusiasm for nature-based learning Rachel and others have shared with me this year.

Paige Beichler

August 21, 2025

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Small Changes, Big Impact: Holiday Edition!

November 15, 2023By 0 comment

It’s no secret that the holidays can be a time for excess, but they don’t have to be! In fact, with a little effort, you can make your gift giving and decorating not only purposeful, but also waste-free. Check out these simple tips to celebrate the holiday season more sustainably:
💚Traditional wrapping paper cannot be recycled in Central Kentucky, so don’t use it! Grab some brown shipping paper which IS recyclable and channel your artistic side or have your little ones help you decorate it.
💚Give gifts that do not use batteries, or if they do, include rechargeable batteries with the present. Regular alkaline batteries are hard to recycle, but, once they no longer work, rechargeables can be recycled many places.
💚Gift services instead of things. Cooking classes, pedicures, or an hour of house cleaning, are all ways to avoid another item in a landfill and provide local jobs.
💚Make or buy gifts made out of recycled material. There are so many ways to get creative and make something that is both thoughtful and eco friendly.
💚Support local farmers and small businesses by shopping local for your Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner groceries.
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All Things Energy: Students Investigate the Science of Energy Through Interactive Lessons

November 15, 2023By 0 comment
Cookie mining is a fun and interactiveway for students to learn about the environmental impacts of mining. Through this activity, students can gain a deeper understanding of how mining can harm the environment and explore ways to minimize those impacts.
Solar Ovens: Students channel the sun’s energy to heat up solar ovens and make a snack!
Wind Turbines: Students investigate kinetic and potential energy, wind as a renewable resource, and the parts of wind turbines. Students design blades for wind turbines and test them for energy output produced.
Sunlight and Shadows: Preschool and primary students observe the effects of sunlight by comparing and measuring shadows and making bracelets that change color in the sun’s light.
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Envirowatts*

September 25, 2023By 0 comment

Renewable energy is available even if you don’t have your own renewable energy source like solar panels. Fifteen of Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives offer their owner-members the opportunity to support solar, wind, biomass, and hydro electric energy sources by simply participating in the envirowatts program.

The envirowatts program allows owner-members to buy renewable energy in $2.75 portions with no maximum. The program also allows you to choose which energy source you want to support, or you can buy portions of each. It’s up to you.

By using envirowatts, you can offset your carbon footprint by thousands of pounds each month. For example, just one $2.75 portion of wind-created energy purchased through envirowatts offsets nearly 5,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. That’s the equivalent of removing emissions from 253 gallons of gasoline or the greenhouse gas emissions from 5,595 miles per year driven by an average passenger vehicle.

Signing up for envirowatts is simple. Just go to envirowattsky.com and sign up. While you’re there, you can learn more about what Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives are doing to offer owner-members sustainable, affordable energy, and what options they have for going green. You can learn more about renewable energy resources, where the power comes from and how it’s made.

By using the envirowatts program, you can offset your carbon footprint affordably each month. It’s quick and simple way to give back to the environment.

*Sponsored by Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives

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Cooperative Solar Farm One*

September 25, 2023By 0 comment

Homeowners and business owners who have sustainability goals to lower their carbon footprint or want to save money on their monthly energy bills have been Investing in solar energy for years. Solar is a clean, affordable way to produce energy using only the power of the sun.

Putting a solar array on a home or business can be challenging or impossible for many. For renters, or those whose homes aren’t suitable for solar panels, it’s not an option. The maintenance of the solar panels and associated equipment may also discourage someone from going solar.

But Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives has another option for its members. A sixty-acre solar array, Cooperative Solar Farm One, located just east of Lexington, provides the opportunity for any member who wants to offset their carbon footprint and lower their energy bill to invest in solar energy without having to put panels on their home or business.

Guy Huelat knew Cooperative Solar One was a good investment when he looked into using solar to offset his energy bill. He and his wife Debbi licensed 77 panels.

“The idea of someone else maintaining it was very attractive to us,” said Huelat. “This is much more efficient than everyone trying to figure this out on their own.”

The Huelats were concerned that the solar panels wouldn’t match the aesthetic of their home and property. Cooperative Solar Farm One was an attractive option because it made getting access to solar energy easy, without the hassle of putting the panels on their home.

“We have good friends in Florida, and about every seventh house has solar panels on the roof,” he said. “The reason is that it’s not offered by their electric company. The consumer is going to do this. This is proof that co-ops can be more competitive than other power companies.”

Huelat estimates that the panels will pay for themselves within 15 years, and said one of his concerns when he considered solar was the cost of fossil fuel energy will eventually go up.

Cooperative Solar Farm One has about 32,000 panels which make enough electricity to power about 1,000 homes.

For a one-time payment of $460 per panel, participating members will receive a 25-year license to one of the panels. That means they will get credit on their monthly power bill for their proportional share of the energy generated by the solar farm, as well as the market value of their panel’s capacity. And they can monitor panel performance online.

*Sponsored by Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives

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