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When science barges into summer By Sarina Trangle strangle@riverdalepress.com
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A 7-INCH BLUE CRAB, in top photo. GREEN BUTTER HEAD grows in the green house, below.
ameron Cashdollar, 7, smiled as Robert Walters helped her pinch the hind legs of a blue claw crab on Sunday, aboard the Science Barge in Yonkers. She didn’t flinch as the crab’s indigo legs extended and wriggled before a crowd of children waiting for their turns to hold the clawed creature. “It was cool,” Cameron said. “It’s hard and wet. The front legs were moving, but not the back legs.” Mr. Walters, director of the Science Barge, urged the children to “let the crab know you’re in charge” by exhibiting confidence. He beckoned the kids away from an arts and crafts table with promises that handling the creatures they captured from the Hudson River was “the chance of the lifetime.” He then flipped over the blue claw crab, showing the nearly 30 workshop attendees that male crabs’ stomachs resemble a spaceship while females’ abdomens are triangle-shaped. Or, he joked, that kids could look for the orange claw tips on female crabs, because according to folklore, “the women paint their nails.” The Science Barge was built by NY Sun Works and acquired by the environmental group Groundwork Hudson Valley in 2008. During the work week Mr. Walters and barge art director Jamie Korb show how solar panels, wind turbines and a little biofuel –– six gallons in six months –– power a greenhouse on the barge for visiting school groups, farmers and environmentalists. The greenhouse uses rainwater to grow peppers, cucumbers, melons, lettuce and other produce in non-soil materials such as clay beads and rock wall, which has a texture similar to wall insulation.
ALIZA YATTAKALAM, 4, looks on as Annie Goodwin, 5, holds a blue claw crab on the Science Barge, which floated on the Hudson River in Yonkers on Sunday. Such hydroponics gardening techniques offer urban families with small spaces ways to grow their own produce, according to Mr. Walters. “The Science Barge is an oasis of food, energy and learning. We combine these three focuses plus being that we’re floating on the mighty Hudson River we teach about eels, oysters and other animals,” Mr. Walters said. “I’ve had people from Iowa farms, people from the Appalachian Mountains, people from Nairobi, Kenya come. It’s only a 138-foot barge, but it has a worldwide reach. There’s a water shortage all over the world, so they want to learn how to use the least amount of water to grow the maximum amount of produce.” The Science Barge also has a compost bin where kids can watch food scraps, paper and water break down into soil. A planter irrigated by aquaponic farming — a system that collects fish waste, pumps it through a filter designed to capture nutrients and transports them to seeds, uses colorful goldfish to entice children. Weekends are all about children at the Science Barge, according to Mr. Walters. The Hughes 728 ship extends its gangplank to children from noon to 6 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday with help from about 40 volunteers. Mr. Walters and Ms. Korb host art and science workshops for children between the ages of 4 and 10 beginning at 2 p.m. each Sunday. This weekend, children dangled cages baited with raw chicken into the river, and helped catch blue claw crabs for Mr. Walters to measure and study. The “blue crab blitz” workshop included an arts and craft table with coloring books full of images of the Hudson sea life and pie tins, egg
cartons, pipe cleaners, plastic eyes and markers for constructing models of the blue claw crabs in their natural habitat. The workshops will continue through Oct. 28 with hands-on lessons related to solar cooking, the dynamics of juggling, magnetic attraction, kaleidoscopes and static electricity.
DANASIA PATRICK, 8, shows off the strawberry she found.
The Science Barge is located at 99 Dock St. in Yonkers. The floating farm is open from noon to 6 p.m. on weekends. Families with children between 4 and 10 are invited to arts and science workshops aboard the barge from 2 to 4 p.m. each Sunday through Oct. 28. The suggested donation for visitors is $5. For more information, call 914-375-2151 or visit www.groundwork.org.
THE SCIENCE BARGE docks in Yonkers and is open to the public through October. Photos by Maria Estevez
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