Treehugger Confessions

Over the years, I've been asked many times why I've chosen environmental science as my career path. I've never had a great answer for that. It's not something I've ever been able to put into words. For me it's just a given. Um, of course I would go into environmental science, it's what I love and I can't imagine being happy doing anything else. But how do you put love and passion into words, on paper, or as a concise answer during an interview? It's so personal to me that there are times that I get a little bashful to talk about it. Almost as if you're asking me to disclose some beautiful secret that I've stowed away for years but it seems silly and much too private to talk about it now.

What lead me to this train of thought is that I just read the most amazing passage from a book I've had for years but have never cracked open. It's called Talking on the Water by Jonathan White. I think Mom got it for me years back...but I can't recall exactly. Oddly enough, I just came to find out too that this book was written based on interviews conducted in 1983 (my birth year) with environmentalists (my passion) on a dilapidated schooner (one of my favorite recent hobbies). So I guess it's meant to be that I haven't started reading it until now.

The first interview is with Gretel Ehrlich, a writer and avid traveler with strong ties to nature. Interestingly she discusses how nature helped her heal during the loss of a loved one. This passage really speaks to me and I feel that this is one of the best descriptions of why I feel so connected to nature.

"When you're sick, the instinct is to go to bed. When you're grieving, the same instinct makes you want to find a place that is uncomplicated, accepting, and tolerant. I wanted to hook up with whatever it is that makes things live and die, and I wanted to be with people who weren't going to talk it into the ground.

Anyone who lives and works in the natural world has a tacit understanding of death. If you know about death and about how things come into life - about the joys and sorrows associated with these things - without psychologizing it to death, there's nothing more that needs to be said."

The 42 acres of hardwood forest I grew up on was the perfect hideaway when I was sad and helped me grieve the loss of my father 17 years ago. Still today, I find solace in being outdoors during times of joy and sorrow. It makes me feel alive, clear headed, and miles away from life's troubles.

Just thought I'd share something I've been trying to describe all these years. What's your emotional connection to nature?

Fawn Grove Old Tyme Days

How do you know summer is halfway over? The way I gauge it is by the Fawn Grove Old Tyme Days festival. There's a tiny little town just over the border in PA called Fawn Grove where every year, just after the 4th of July, they have a country festival that celebrates farming, agriculture and the community bonds of the old days. The big attraction is the tractor pull which draws a large crowd and many a proud farmer trying to demonstrate his or her agricultural prowess! When I was a bit younger I used to be in the parade that accompanies the event, but now I just attend and it's still awesome...

The tractors you see there come in all forms, makes, models, and rust level.

This is Dan Vaughan, a friend, neighbor, and infamous farmer of the area.

Notice the little sign in the corner?

The event is attended by all people, young and old. This guy has a new high powered version of the "senior wheelchair"!

And when they say "Old Days" they don't mean to imply that women can't partake in the manly events too! The girls were rocking this event.

Fish Sampling in the Bush River

So I realize I've been slacking quite a bit with the blog lately, but things have been picking up at home and work is going insane, so bare with me!

Anyway, a really great thing I've been getting into lately is this fish sampling survey with the Otter Point Creek Estuary Center. They are a really fantastic group of people that are dedicated to making the Chesapeake Bay watershed a cleaner environment for humans and the inhabitants of the bay. They have a ton of really awesome volunteer opportunities all the time, and I don't mean just your typical trail maintenance type volunteering opportunities. One that I'm involved in right now is the fish sampling survey in the Bush River that is specifically targeting variations in Yellow Perch spawning habits in the tributaries of the Bush River. What exactly does that mean? It means that I get to go along with this group of really dedicated and fun loving people every two weeks to do a fish survey. How do we do it? Well...we hope on a couple boats, do some seines and trolling and catch some pretty cool stuff like:

White Sucker

Here's a picture of my big brother, Erik, doing some of the seine netting. The net gets pretty heavy and this was a deep sight, so he was up to shoulder height dragging this net!

White Perch

If you live in the area this is a great way to get involved, play in the water, learn about some fish right in our own bay, and have a whole lot of fun!

Textures of the forest

This is a continuation of the springtime adventure hike I took with my big brother on our property in Maryland. Even though buds are just now peeking out and the countryside hasn't turned green yet, there's still lots to be seen and adored in the forest. Here are some textures of the woods that I think are truly magnificent and make you want to reach out and touch them:

Ouch...very pokey small tree.


Wood from inside a splintered pine tree that must have snapped off during a storm.

Bark of a very large, extremely old white oak that has recently fallen. Very sad.

The inside of that same white oak.

Moss on the bottom of a tree trunk. Just makes you want to pet it, doesn't it?

Snakey wakey

This black snake was laying on our porch in the morning. It wasn't a particularly warm or sunny morning, but being on the wood was probably warmer than being under the porch. He was all kinked up and funny looking. So what's a girl to do? Well...I poked him, of course! And oddly enough, as soon as he woke up, he un-kinked. So strange!

And then he decided to leave. I didn't poke him to be mean, but he took it as a threat.

And now he's back under the cold porch. Sorry Mr. Snake!

Birdfeeder Treefrog

Yeah, I know, it sounds wierd, but we found this treefrog sitting right in our birdfeeder. This birdfeeder was a gift to my Mom and it's meant to keep out squirrels (works pretty well) but apparently it looked attractive to this little guy. This is either a Cope's Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor) or a Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis). These species are visually indistinguishable, so the only way to tell them apart is by listening to their calls. According to FrogWatch, Cope's Gray Treefrog trills a bit faster than the other. We didn't hear this guy utter even one weak "croak". So, we're still not sure what he was, but he stuck around for about 2 days and then either left or got eaten. Welcome to the Jungle!


He's down there in the lower left corner.

Jack in the What?

Look...Jack's in the pulpit!! Nope, I'm not at church. This time I was wandering beneath some pines and came upon this rather large Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum).

According to the Veterinary Medicine Library at the University of Illinois, the Jack-in-the-pulpit is poisonous to animals. The corm (i.e. the underground plant stem that looks like a tuber and stores starches/energy for the plant) of the plant contains calcium oxalate crystals, possibly an alkaloid, and volatile acrid compounds. Apparently, it is "gathered, dried and sold by drug collectors". Some of the lovely side effects:

• intense burning and biting sensation in the mouth, throat, and stomach (probably from the calcium oxalate crystals)
• inflammation of the stomach and intestine
• difficulty of breathing due to swelling of mouth and throat
  

BUT...as with many plants, even though part of it is poisonous, if done differently, it's edible...very tricky! IF the plant root/corm is properly dried or cooked it can be eaten. Native Americans used it to treat sore eyes, rheumatism, bronchitis, and snakebites. Oh, and something else fun that Native Americans used it for - to induce sterility.

According to one website - "It is reported that they also used it diagnostically by dropping a seed in a cup of water and if the seed went around four times clockwise the patient would recover and if less the patient would die." - I think that's really cool! What a great way to diagnose people. Plus the seeds (which are out in Fall) are a beautiful red color, so this would be a very suspenseful tradition!

Darling little St. Michael's, MD

St. Michael's in springtime. This is a really cute little town on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. I worked here for a summer at a company called Environmental Concern. This is a very quaint tourist town with some whimsical sites such as these:

Moonshine deja vu

The night after I took the photos below, the moon was still in good form, so I decided to work harder on getting a good shot. I changed the aperature leaving the shutter open up to 15 seconds, used the tripod, and had some good company and fantastic food to enjoy the evening with (thanks Mom!). I think leaving the shutter open for 8 seconds worked the best. Here's what I got:

Moonshine

Here are some experimental shots of the moon with my new camera. Any suggestions on how to make them better?

And a beautiful sunset:

Garden

So the garden is underway and a few things are beginning to pop up. Including radishes:
And yummy spinach:
And here are the rhubarb plants in full foliage already!
More gardening to come; potatoes go in next!!

More Springtime Adventuring

Also on our springtime walk in the woods we came upon some jelly fungi growing on a log crossing a creek:
And some newly sprouted multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora), an extremely aggressive invasive species. It is a thorny perennial shrub found along disturbed edges which form impenetrable thickets and exclude native plants. And look how cute and unassuming this little bugger looks when it first emerges:
Happy Spring!

Springtime in the Woods

It's the beginning of April, rainy, cold and breezy. Not gorgeous weather, but beginning to tease us with a hint of what springtime will be like once it gets into the full swing of things. I'm a sucker for teasing, so of course this tempted me into going for a hike to see what was waking up under the cold dead leaves of fall. Here's what we found:

My big brother and I ventured out into the woods to play in our old stomping grounds. It was like we were little kids all over again, playing in woods, finding dead things, finding new growth, and most of all, getting very muddy and enjoying every moment of it!

These are the skunk cabbages (Symplocarpus foetidus) that are out in full force along the creeks and forested wetlands on our property. Sure, they're a little smelly, but to us it's the smell of the death of winter! And really, they are something beautiful to behold.

Skunk cabbage was used by the Native American Indians to treat convulsions, whooping cough, toothache, and other conditions. The root is used as a poultice for wounds. Even modern physicians have used it for epileptic seizures and severe coughs. The leaves contain calcium oxalate crystals which, if eaten raw, can burn your mouth and the roots are considered toxic raw. To remove these properties, the leaves and roots can be dried and reconstituted in soups and stews.

These are not the only signs of spring. We also heard the spring peepers begin singing their mating chorus, the barred owl is seeking a domestic mate by calling her with "who cooks for you", and the turkeys are gobbling through the valley.

Carbon Footprint

20 Things I'm doing to reduce my carbon footprint:

1. growing my own vegetables in a small organic garden plot


2. replacing any light bulbs that burn out with compact fluorescent lightbulbs


3. recycle - paper, plastic, newspapers, glass, aluminum, metals


4. pick my own fruit at local orchards and hydroponic vegetable stands instead of buying food that has traveled across the country in a gas-guzzling tractor trailer


5. recycle paper at work


6. print double sided reports at work


7. read documents on the computer rather than print them out


8. use refillable water bottles


9. bring my own lunch in a reusable paper bag


10. B.Y.O.M - use a mug at work rather than throw-away cups


11. use phosphate free soap for washing the dishes and phosphate/petroleum free soap for laundry


12. use rechargeable batteries


13. run the dishwasher only when it is 100% full


14. turn off the computer monitor if I have to leave it on for other reasons


15. use unbleached flour and coffee filters


16. wash my clothes in cold/luke-warm water


17. compost kitchen and yard waste - this is naturally converted into an organic fertilizer for the garden!


18. buy food in bulk and repackage in reusable containers


19. buy recycled clothing (aka. fun thrift store finds)


20. keep my car tuned up (sure, this inside isn't very clean but at least the emissions are cleaner!)

Sure, these may sound like small, often commen sense, things that wouldn't really help fix what's going on in the environment. And they won't. Not if there's not more people doing these things and many more.

Mushroom twins

Tiny pine woods mushrooms twins popping out of the dense oak leaf cover.

Blue Heron

Blue Heron footprints in the wet sand along Deer Creek.

Good morning snowshine!

A snowy morning in December. This beautiful spectacle, with every fresh snowflake gleaming in the crisp morning air, was seen on my walk out our extremely long driveway. There's nothing more breathtaking than fresh snow!