Tag Archives: Howard County

Reading That Forested Landscape

Posted on March 15, 2013 by AnnieRie

And trying to find a sense of place. Our place. Our property. Our community. Our county. Next weekend, the 22nd through the 24th, at the Howard County Conservancy Tom Wessels is coming down to read the landscape at two different sites in Howard County. There will be a stand alone lecture Friday night, and two lecture/hikes, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Each day’s event is $20 to attend. A bundle of two, Friday and either Saturday or Sunday is available for $35.

Master gardeners, master naturalists, historians, science teachers, environmentalists, lifetime residents of Howard County, and more — all would find something interesting and educational in his talks, walks and teaching us to read our landscapes.

I downloaded his latest book, Forest Forensics. I already learned more about my property by toggling between the plates, the evidence and the key to reading our property here in west Howard County.

asparagus and garden 091

We were told our land was once a horse pasture. This barbed wire is evidence. The book explains how to read it. The wire is on our side of the fence, the common technique to string wire enclosing a pasture. It is barbed. If it was smooth twisted there would have been sheep in the pasture. It was constructed sometime after 1874 which was when wire first started showing up as fencing.

Tom will be leading hikes that will show us these types of details. Following him through the forests and grasslands, the Saturday and Sunday events will combine a 90 minute lecture to prepare for the hike, followed by a two hour hike looking for clues around Elkridge in the Patapsco State Park on Saturday, and all across the Conservancy properties, maybe even down to the river if he finds good evidence to share.

conservancy fall field trips 038

Anyone who wants to know more about this area, and wants to be able to use these tips while walking the trails in the parks, or even searching the development’s open spaces in the county to learn the history of our land would enjoy these events.

There is still some room on both hikes, and lots of room for the Friday night lecture for those who may not be able to hike. The Friday night lecture: The Myth of Progress is a totally different topic than the weekend lectures and hikes.

More on that topic is found here. It is another of Tom’s books.

Sign up is on the Conservancy events page.

hocoblogs@@@

Leave a comment

Posted in Community, Howard County, Volunteering and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Early Bird Spring CSA Week Two

Posted on March 13, 2013 by AnnieRie

While all the guys were raising a tower, I headed out to Breezy Willow to get our second CSA delivery. Cold day, after starting out warm. No real lines this week. People are settling into the rhythm.

What did we get?

hexbeam and csa spring week two 040

Five oranges
Five tangerines
Four red delicious apples
Four Jonah Gold apples
Brussels sprouts
White potatoes
Lots of onions
Acorn squash
Turnips

The dozen eggs, and this week I picked a Toasted Sesame Seed whole wheat sandwich bread from Great Harvest.

Great looking stuff. Already into the oranges and an apple.

We did pretty well last week using up most of what we got. I still have the kale from last week, and most of the carrots. This week we are home quite a bit and the only thing I haven’t figured out how to cook, i.e., what recipe to use, are the turnips.

As for extras I bought this week, I had to have some of the lemon yogurt from Pequea Valley Farms. Plus, love these egg noodles with chicken and in my soups. A closeup of the bread with the yogurt and noodles. This bread will be perfect for toast and for egg salad sandwiches. I saved last week’s eggs so they could age a bit for hard boiled eggs.

hexbeam and csa spring week two 021

hocofood@@@

4 Comments

Posted in CSA, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, West HoCo and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

The Hexbeam is Up

Posted on March 13, 2013 by AnnieRie

Long live the hexbeam.

hexbeam and csa spring week two 064

The first tower, although it is the crank up one, not the 90 foot permanent one going in the meadow, is up and running. Lots of work for about three hours as one of the tubes ended up being misaligned and the tower leaned. Kind of like the leaning tower of Pisa. Back down and a replacement section later, it was up and operating at 48′ above the ground.

hexbeam and csa spring week two 066

It was so worth it for him, when he worked a country and got a report of “you are 59 plus 10”. In other words, a booming signal. Amazing what directionality and a good location can do. The wires will be coming down for all but a few frequency bands. This beam handles 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20 meters. All we need is the monster wire all the way down the property line out front for the 80 meter band, and the 30 and 40 meter wires in the back yard. Soon, a second crank up will handle those two. This summer the rest hopefully will get done.

It was a windy cold day. It even had snow flurries while we were out there. Wind gusts made putting the beam on the top of the rotor pretty exciting. Then a matter of cranking and adjusting guy wires.

hexbeam and csa spring week two 087

The Glenwood DX chapter did a great job. My husband owes them lunch at the next meeting at the Lisbon Town Grill. Living out here in west county are lots of “hams”. Amateur radio operators who came out here for the space and the lack of covenants. All the guys out here today have towers and live less than five miles from us. They help each other with tower projects.

hexbeam and csa spring week two 083

And now you know the answer to the question, How many hams does it take to put up a rocket launcher? Five. Thanks, guys. My OM is happily working rare DXpeditions as I type. Spratly Islands anyone?

One more picture. The difference between the altitude of the wire antennae and the new tower.

hexbeam and csa spring week two 090

hocoblogs@@@

3 Comments

Posted in Hobbies, Retirement, West HoCo and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

A Perfect Spring Saturday

Posted on March 9, 2013 by AnnieRie

Hopefully the next two weekends have weather this great. Today’s geocaching event at the Conservancy attracted almost three dozen people who wanted to enjoy the scenery and learn to use the Etrex units.

geocaching and local dinner 017

Six caches were hidden on the property. Lots of fun learning to use the units, and to wander around the farm and the grasslands. The fun was watching all the adults learn to use them. The children pick it up quite quickly.

geocaching and local dinner 014

The Conservancy has a couple of dozen units used mostly in middle and senior high school programs, on and off site. Today was a chance for families to chase stickers and treats in the boxes hidden by the goats, near the bluebird boxes, in the garden and down in the soil pit.

geocaching and local dinner 020

Nothing like perfect weather to bring out all ages.

geocaching and local dinner 021

Next weekend there will be a family hike at 10 am. Age appropriate trails with leaders knowledgeable about the farm and what you can find there. Maybe the wood frogs will still be around to serenade everyone. There were certainly enough of them there today. You could hear them all over the geocache course even when you were hundreds of yards away from the pond in the garden.

geocaching and local dinner 025

I can find fifteen of them in this picture. Thanks to all the volunteers this was another great day. Come hike with us next Saturday the 16th, or maybe come do forest forensics the following weekend.

And, just so I don’t get bored, we have a training session with a potluck luncheon this coming Thursday, and the art exhibit will open for the Art of Stewardship. Then, the following Tuesday, we are learning about the new pilot training session on Civil War History on the Farm.

What’s not to love about being outside as spring arrives in Howard County?

hocoblogs@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Family, Hobbies, Howard County, Nature, Retirement, Volunteering, Weather, West HoCo and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Early Bird CSA Week One

Posted on March 7, 2013 by AnnieRie

Our first trip out to Breezy Willow for the spring CSA pick up. Definitely different than our other two forays into CSAs. Last year the winter one delivered to your house and you picked what you wanted online. We took a break from winter CSA this year.

Our summer one is the box type. What’s in the box is what you get. This is the first one where you go inside and pick your veggies and count out or weigh them. It also includes value added items like Florida citrus, bread and eggs. A nice haul. Mostly organic, except for the fruit from Florida, I think. I did forget to ask about the farm practices for the grapefruit and oranges.

Here is what we got.

early bird csa week one 005

Four ruby red grapefruit, five oranges, four york apples and four red delicious apples, eight carrots, three pounds of sweet potatoes, one pound of beets, 1/2 pound button mushrooms, one pound of Tuscan kale. We chose a cinnamon raisin bread, and we got our first dozen eggs.

Those breads are very large. This could become interesting, depending on what is there. I may be freezing bread to use later in the summer. I do know French toast will be on the menu because the bread tastes wonderful. Give it a few days as older bread makes good French toast. I am making a dish using the kale, a new one for me (the dish, not the kale). I need to find a few more ingredients before I decide if I make it.

I may try grapefruit granita, since there may be a number of weeks with grapefruit, and we aren’t huge citrus for breakfast people.

The other thing I picked up today was a bag of Michele’s granola. I heard about it, but never tried it. We had it for dessert tonight with some of the blueberry yogurt left from my last visit to England Acres. I see Breezy Willow also carries it. This yogurt is really rich. The granola is great.

early bird csa week one 014

This CSA costs $38.50 a week. The free range eggs would be $4.50 to buy. Great Harvest breads $5 or $6 each. Grapefruit, $1.75 each in the store the other day. Oranges $1 each. $21.50 before counting the veggies and apples. Getting these really fresh organic veggies, fruit, eggs and bread is a bargain.

A good base for a week’s cooking. Lots of people there today when they opened. I need to time it so we aren’t there in the first rush. It did get to be a little crazy trying to maneuver the driveway with over a dozen cars coming and going. Nice to see that they are successful. Convenient, too. A good beginning.

hocofood@@@

4 Comments

Posted in CSA, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, West HoCo and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Top Ten Ways to Prepare for Loss of Power

Posted on March 6, 2013 by AnnieRie

With this final?? snow storm?? of the 2012-2013 winter upon us, we use our previous experience to get ready. Generally, when we prepare for it, then we don’t lose power. But, being prepared is still better. Particularly since our UPS units with surge protection keep beeping periodically as the winds pick up. While most of the county east of us isn’t getting snow, we have had quite a crazy mix so far today. Looking like this.

storm set two 034

This past year we had the derecho with no warning. Two years in a row, hurricanes. Here’s my top ten ways to be sure you are OK during a storm. Most of these we did the past two days, and we shall see how well we fare. It is snowing now here. The rain seems to have gone. We have four inches on the patio table, as you can see from my pictures of the birds feeding in their covered area. And, yes, the piggy little squirrel, who has been hoovering up anything he can.

storm set two 018

1. Water, Water Everywhere! Yep, out here where we live on wells, water is really important. More important than anything else for me. I can work around much, but not the lack of water. Bathtub full. Two drywall buckets in the powder room. Containers on the counter, and extra in the small fridge in the laundry room.

snow prep 032

2. Food that is simple to make and eat. Like the ingredients for my tuna, onion, canellini bean salad. All it takes is a can of beans, a can of tuna, diced onion, olive oil, salt and pepper. Instant meal. Over greens if you have them.

storm set two 067

3. Extra propane for the gas grill. We have a spare tank in the shed. After the hurricane in 2011, we cooked on the grill. We have also cooked on it in the winter, as long as it stops snowing.

4. All electronics charged to capacity. Cell phone, iPad, one of the large light sources is battery charged. All are ready.

5. Extra batteries. And the flashlights handy. One on each side of the bed. And, in bathrooms and basement in case that is where we are, if the lights go out.

6. Dry wood for the stove in the winter. We don’t usually need to do this, but the wood stove in the basement will really warm up the entire first floor if we leave the basement door open.

7. Gasoline for the snow thrower and other power equipment useful in clean up. The snow thrower is always positioned to be taken out of the garage easily. We make sure that we have easy access to the manual garage door opener, aka the rope system.

8. Cook the biggest and most vulnerable meat from the freezer. I am doing a chicken in the crock pot now. Can be eaten hot or cold this evening.

storm set two 077

9. Prepare the coolers and the freezer. Check temps on refigerator. I drop them back a few degrees to make it colder in there, and then don’t open them if we lose power. And, yes, I know I need to change the filter on the fridge. Although it goes red after purple and it isn’t red yet.

storm set two 049

10. Warm or cool the house more than normal. Today I cranked up the heat a few degrees. With a brick house, nicely insulated, we retain a fair amount of heat upstairs even with the power gone.

Hopefully, we will do OK tonight. The wind has started gusting, and every time the UPS units chirp a warning, we brace ourselves. If I don’t get this post up soon, I could end up losing most of it. Stay warm and dry in the rest of Howard County. Just remember some of us west of you all, and at higher elevations, have some really wet heavy snow out here. Hoping the temps rise a bit more and it changes to rain. Otherwise, hope it stops soon. Bailing the sump pump is our least favorite activity when we lose power.

hocoblogs@@@

Leave a comment

Posted in Howard County, Weather, West HoCo and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Spring Flings

Posted on March 5, 2013 by AnnieRie

March, April and May are always the busiest months in this area. You can’t turn around without seeing events every weekend. Sort of like September and October have become. People seem to want to cram everything in before it gets too hot or too cold.

Looking at potential things to put on the calendar. Suffering from sensory overload. Add Easter to this month and I could fill up every weekend, and most weekdays to things to do if I wish.

Events at the Conservancy are ramping up. We have events there three of the four weekends. Some weekends have more than one. Take this weekend for example. I can work with the family geocaching event on Saturday. There are already three dozen people signed up to do a search for hidden boxes of little gems for the successful hunters using the compass function and learning to navigate around obstacles. While all this is going on, the artists are coming to drop off their art for hanging and judging in the Art of Stewardship juried art show. The following five weeks there will be opportunities for people to come see the art in this year’s show, and buy something that strikes their fancy, before it hits the auction day next month. Last year I ended up with a lovely painting at the auction, even if I couldn’t afford the winning piece. Later next week I will get pictures of some of the best pieces entered this year.

conservancy and snowball stand 027

Next weekend on the 16th, there are two events. One a family hike, and the other event, the third in a series of workshops for educators, called Project WET. Some of our naturalists will be taking the training as well as teachers looking to receive professional development credit in the green school application. Family hikes are very popular, with age appropriate groups going out with different volunteer naturalists.

The weekend of the 22-24th, Tom Wessels is coming in from New England to read the natural landscapes around the Conservancy and in Patapsco State Park. This event, with an attendance limit on the hikes, is being sponsored by the Conservancy, the Nature Conservancy and the Sierra Club. Bringing Tom in here is a real treat. I can’t wait to learn more about what was done on the land around the farmhouse at the Conservancy. Forest forensics. Pretty interesting topics. The Friday night lecture is about The Myth of Progress and sustainability.

If you head over to the Conservancy webpage, you will see the sign up forms.

If that doesn’t give us enough to do, there is volunteer training, and the opportunity to participate as a naturalist at the “weather event” for secondary schools, five of them coming next Wednesday the 13th. It will even be featured on WBAL news that morning, with their meteorologist Ava Marie coming out at 5 am, yes, 5 AM (daylight savings time), so really really early to do some reporting on the event.

Being a volunteer naturalist there can certainly keep you busy. Nice that we can do as much or as little as we can fit in our schedules.

Today in training we were using handheld recorders to register weather data. We will be leading activities in the spring field trips for secondary schools, having teams of students measuring wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, humidity and temperature, in all sorts of different locations on the property.

In two weeks, our final secondary training is a pilot program for History during the Civil War on the farm here in Howard County. I find this activity fascinating and have already signed up to lead one of the trips in April.

Lots of new faces at the training sessions this month for elementary and secondary training. Volunteering is just one way to make a difference here in the county. Time spent is just as important to the nonprofits as donations can be.

Nothing like a lovely spring day outside in the forest, enjoying the scenery and helping out. I even signed up to lead service learning, which is always fun. Particularly in making sure shovels, clippers, tree and brush cutters are used properly by high school students. They do really get into it.

trail clean up

trail clean up

hocoblogs@@@

Leave a comment

Posted in Community, Howard County, Nature, Volunteering, Weather and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Saturday at Tractor Supply

Posted on March 2, 2013 by AnnieRie

The baby chicks are in. We headed out to Tractor Supply today to use my 10% coupon, looking at the greenhouse, wanting some bird seed, hubby wanted a new belt and a good pair of jeans, and I wanted hiking boots. My old ones are shot. With the coupon and the sales, Tractor Supply has the best prices on basic bird seed, work clothes, Ariat boots and shoes, and they were advertising a small greenhouse at a great price.

chicks 004

And, yes, the chicks are in. They have five or six varieties, rock cornish, red pullet, brahma bantam, to name a few. They also had baby ducks. Minimum purchase is six. No Easter presents is the reason. These are chicks for those who want to raise egg layers or fatten up those future broilers and fryers. The rock cornish are the chickens we get from England Acres. Great birds. Really a good breed for those looking for meat production. Chicks were $1.99 or $2.99 each, and ducks were $2.99 each. They were doing a brisk business selling chicks.

I did find hiking boots. If you have never bought Ariat boots, you really should look into them. A very nicely made product that lasts forever, and is not inexpensive. Mostly leather products. Lots of riding boots. I have many of their items and this is my first hiking boot purchase.

tractor supply and EA 014

Of course, it seems every time we visit Tractor Supply, we run into someone we know. Today the place was very busy and we ran into a friend who has a farm over in Glenwood. We talked about how their lambing, and the birthing of their goats are going.

Popular place, in Mt. Airy. While out there I did head over to England Acres to get a few things. CSA starts next week so I only needed some dairy, bread and a few apples. I did pick up some lovely carrots and onions to make a chicken soup midweek, just in case I don’t get them in my first CSA delivery.

tractor supply and EA 013

They knew I was coming, and they saved me a package of gingersnaps. I had asked about them the last visit, and there weren’t any. These are the best gingersnaps. Chewy, spicy, great with milk. My husband loves them as a snack. One of the little pleasures of knowing the source of your food. We also put our name down to get the side of lamb in April. They are doing two offerings of fresh lamb, one this month and one next month. Only chance this year to get fresh lamb from them. A side of lamb is about 20-25 pounds, just enough to give you some special meals.

Freshly ground lamb is so good. Remembering my grilled kofta from last year. I can’t wait to be able to make it again this spring. Doesn’t this picture just scream springtime?

kofta and garden pics 014

Link to my post and recipe is here.

hocoblogs@@@

3 Comments

Posted in Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, West HoCo and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Choosing Community … Revisited

Posted on March 1, 2013 by AnnieRie

Last year after our last blog party, I wrote a post about Choosing Community, instead of just being civil. Community, a closer relationship than just nodding and being distant, but pleasant.

This month’s blog party reminded me of the post. Some of the blogging community have moved on. Sarah, to California, and Matt to Baltimore, for example. But, many interesting people have come to event after event. I get my morning news from hocoblogs. Checking out what is happening on Patch, or moving over to hocorising to get my community news. Tom is the ultimate poster child for choosing community. He is so dedicated to Howard County, in his actions and his words. There are others, too, but Tom really likes to research and post very detailed reports.

It is funny that I went looking at posts. I hit a milestone yesterday. 500 posts. In sixteen months. About a post a day. What was most popular? Besides the fact that every time I look at my sidebar that shows The YEMMies are coming is right up there, and the fact that now is baby chick season at Tractor Supply, and for whatever reason, people still keep opening the Brighton Dam posts, it seems my community postings get the most views. This year I suppose I need to take pictures of the baby chicks, and be sure to get those prices. And, do the weekly visit to Brighton to check how the azaleas are coming along.

I seem to be gravitating into posting as the lone voice in west county. Is there anyone else out here with a blog? Or, are we just surrounded by our farms and animals?

march drive 027

I think that’s where I will continue to focus this blog. Life as a retiree smack in the middle of Tier III land, surrounded by Tier IV, and blogging about my amazing neighbors and friends out here. Seems I have lots of potential topics, what with markets and farms, and stormwater management, and comprehensive rezoning.

I like this little corner of #thehoco. Just hoping I get another 500 posts with continued inspiration from life out here. Can’t beat the scenery.

larriland and hocohospital market 013

hocoblogs@@@

Leave a comment

Posted in Commentary, Community, Howard County, People, Retirement, West HoCo and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Social Butterflies

Posted on February 27, 2013 by AnnieRie

In more ways than one.

Last night the 50+ bloggers and readers gathered at Union Jack’s in Columbia to reconnect. We haven’t had a get together since last spring, so it was great to see everyone. It is amazing that we have a local group, close to 300 blogs written by county residents, that gets together and networks. I like Tales of Two Cities blog about the event.

Our hosts last night were from The 53 and ukdesperatehousewife, Bill from the former, and Claire, from the latter.

My husband came with me, and really enjoyed the conversations. Lots of fun, even on a really rainy evening. It looks like we will be doing more of these in the future.

As for the second way to be a social butterfly, I am about to do my refresher training for the spring field trips at the Conservancy. One of the spring topics, for second graders, is Wings, Stings and Leggy Things. I love the butterfly part of this activity. The Conservancy has huge amounts of milkweed, which attracts monarchs. We will even rescue, nurture and tag emerging butterflies to track their journeys. It was a highlight of my first fall there. Tagging butterflies and releasing them. In the spring we talk about how they return here for the summers, and how we have created a welcoming habitat for them to thrive.

I like our training sessions. A one hour refresher course, a hike to rehearse what we do with the school children, and then, of course, the social part of it, we have a potluck on the last Thursday of training. I blogged yesterday about the training. Come out and be a social butterfly with those of us who love the outdoors, enjoy teaching the little ones all about the earth science around them, and who want to make a difference in our own small way.

i spy nature and csa week one summer 141

My third reference to social butterfly today, that of home gardener, getting ready for the 2013 season. We pruned the butterfly bushes. I am learning how to find and rescue monarchs from the milkweed in the meadow. I blogged last fall about finding it out there. I intend to rescue as many larvae as I can, in order to protect them from predators.

butterflies 104

This is a tiger swallowtail. We have lots of those every year. I know my butterfly bush isn’t native, but it certainly attracts a large number of them.

Spring has sprung, at least for most of what I am doing. Tomorrow, I will be starting my spring greens planting and putting together a salad table. All that, after my social butterfly attendance at Conservancy training.

hocoblogs@@@

Leave a comment

Posted in Community, Gardening, Howard County, Nature, People, Volunteering and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
← Older Posts
Newer Posts →