“Each generation takes the earth as trustees. We ought to bequeath to posterity as many forests and orchards as we have exhausted and consumed.”

J. Sterling Morton

We end our Earth Week celebration with Arbor Day! Once again, however, this is a day usually celebrated outdoors and for a lot of us that is limited this year. But do not fear, we have some great suggestions here for you today. Check out the Arbor Day Foundation’s suggestions for celebrating while social distancing (find more here).

Do you know how Arbor Day got started? Lucky for you, we do! It was started in Nebraska back in 1872 by J. Sterling Morton a journalist and lover of trees. Amazingly, over one million trees were planted in Nebraska on that first Arbor Day. Now, almost 150 years later, Arbor Day is celebrated in all 50 states every April. 

Here are some ways to celebrate Arbor Day from home this year: 

• If you are homeschooling your kids right now, here are some resources to work Arbor Day into your lesson plans.
• There are free resources on the Arbor Day Foundation website where you can find tree seedlings, coloring sheets, and even a play for the kids to put on. 
• If you become a member of the Arbor Day Foundation you can get 10 free trees to plant, which is an amazing offer as membership only costs $10. Or get a free tree from the Heartland Tree Alliance here in Kansas City!

However, if you do not have a place to plant trees, there is still a way to save the trees that already populate our planet. While you are stuck at home this quarantine, take some time to look over your junk mail subscriptions. There are several opt-out services out there that will help get your name off of mailing lists, and by reducing the amount of junk mail that is sent out, we could save a lot of trees every year. 

Make sure you tag us in your photos of activities through the weekend! We would love to see how you celebrate! 

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