Making cherry blossom trees with old plastic bottles.

New York State's Thompson Park Zoo on Saturday hosted an Earth Day event that brought together several North Country organizations to deliver an eco-friendly message to zoo visitors throughout the day.

The Better Farm and betterArts crew braved the absurdly winter-like day (hail and all) for a few hours to work on an arts 'n' crafts project with kids, distribute information about our upcoming open house and fundraiser, and educate the public about the sustainability outreach we're doing in the community.

Here are some shots from the day:

The arts 'n' crafts project we did was gleaned from an Alphamom blog, excerpted here:

Start by using dark paint to paint a branch on poster board. Branches are easy to paint. If you can’t paint in a straight line, it looks even better. Once the branch is painted, let it dry before continuing with the stamping. Pour some paint on a paper plate and dip the plastic bottle. The bottom of 2-liter soda bottle has five points like the five petals of a cherry blossom. Press the plastic bottle on the poster board, then lift up. Dip the bottle in more paint each time you repeat the stamp.

Big thanks to the zoo for inviting us out to participate! See you all next Saturday, May 4, for the Mustard Seed's Earth Day celebration!