Natural History and Sustainability at Merritt College

🌱 The Environmental Center is bursting with life! 🌱

Current, former, and wannabe NHS students are invited to come help harvest, w**d, and maintain our garden.

📅 When: Friday, June 26
⏰ Time: 1:30–3:30 PM (stay as little or as long as you like!)

📍 Where: The Environmental Center, up the hill to the left of Parking Lot E (currently closed for construction)

Come get your hands in the soil, connect with fellow students, and help keep our garden thriving. We hope to see you there! 🌿💚

More than a chance to be mindful in nature, our weekend workshop with the amazing Saumitra Kelkar .bio was a lesson on how to use our senses to fully connect to what is in our natural environments as well as what is missing or hidden, and ecosystems.✨ When we slow down we can hear more birds, identify insects by their flight pattern and understand how water flow and sunlight affect plants. 🌞🌿

Thank you Saumitra and all the wonderful people who came and embraced the experience! It was a fantastic way to end our workshop series 🪄

Congrats to our wonderful graduates Kiya Paul (UA), Hafsy Vahidy (CRM), Susan Sobeloff (CRM), Diane Appel (NHR), Karen Zevallos (NHR), and Cooper Matuszak (NHR). Your future looks bright 🌞😎

Huge thanks to Nancy Chang for sharing her inspiring story of starting a MEKHO business!✨

She reminded us that building relationships, overcoming fears, and taking small steps at your own pace can lead to big achievements. Plus, her green tea bites were amazing! We also squeezed in a visit to the Landscape Horticulture department's plant sale.🌱

There are some things you can’t learn from a book, you have to feel them, witness them, and be guided through them.

Our recent mud dyeing bogolanfini workshop was exactly that. Deep gratitude to Verenice for sharing this practice from Mali that carries history, spirit, and meaning far beyond the surface. This isn’t just a technique, it’s a relationship between earth, hands, and intention.

Thank you to everyone who came with open hands and curiosity.✨

This Saturday, come to the Environmental Center and discover how to turn your kitchen into a food business! Nancy was Oakland's first MEHKO entrepreneur.✨

A huge thank you to NHS student Peter Lindsay for an amazing foraging walk in Leona Canyon, right in Merritt's backyard! 🌱 We found woodland strawberries, munched on tender Bay Laurel leaves, learned to harvest nettle, and discussed sustainable foraging. The tea made from freshly picked plants and Peter's incredible pesto with cow parsnip seeds were absolute delights, made even better by the pickled chanterelles! ✨

We will have another walk in Leona Canyon on May 23, this time with Saumitra Kelkar .bio . Check out the link to sign up for this free workshop in our bio!

Golden blooms hiding in plain sight 🌼

These stunning seep monkeyflowers (Erythranthe grandis) were spotted just behind the Safeway near Merritt College, captured by Brittany Luby during our Serpentine Prairie walk.

This is the only known living population of giant seep monkeyflower in Oakland (with a possible small population at Peralta Hacienda Park). A rare reminder of what still persists, even in heavily developed spaces.

Thank you Brittany for documenting this special find 💛

Serpentine Prairie: A Guided Ecology Walk 🌿🌧️💨

Rain and wind couldn't stop us!

This walk was a powerful reminder that serpentine grasslands are critically endangered. These rare soils support plants and pollinators found nowhere else, but sadly much of this ecosystem has been lost to development across the East Bay.

We explored some of the last remaining patches in Oakland, including the endangered Clarkia franciscana and the only known population of California yerba santa in the city!

These ecosystems persist in small, overlooked spaces—and they need protection. If you want to know more, please visit .bio. There is a chance he might do more Serpintine Prairie walks in the future.

Huge thank you to everyone who came out in the rain, and to Saumitra Kelkar for guiding us through this incredible landscape. We truly appreciate it!

Huge thank you to Lori Caldwell and Trevor Probert from StopWaste for coming out on a rainy day to teach us all about composting 🌧️🌱

We learned how to choose the right composting method based on the type of waste you have, how to keep critters away, and why it’s so important to keep plastic out of green bins (this includes paper cups and containers that are shiny inside because they’re lined with plastic!).

And get this, commercial compost piles can heat up to 150°F 🔥

Thank you to everyone who showed up. We truly appreciate the kind, curious and smart stewards of the environment who come to our workshops 💚

Want to learn more? Check out StopWaste.org