Tag Archives: volunteering

Blue Bird Visits

Posted on April 24, 2015 by AnnieRie

We tilled our community garden today. Time to get more vegetables in the ground. Tilling turns up bugs. That attracts the blue birds.

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First, they check everything out by perching on adjacent poles. This is the male. The female was too flighty to stay still long enough for me to photograph her. I didn’t have my good lens on the camera either, so no close ups.

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I also caught him on the ground grabbing whatever little critters he could.

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He had lots of territory that he could check out. When we left the two of them were flitting around and looking for more.

Tomorrow is the Earth Day celebration at the Howard County Conservancy. I will be up there with many of our gardeners. Finishing the early plantings. Buying some plants from the Master Gardener plant sale. Doing some basic maintenance on our pathways.

If you attend, even if you miss the 8 am bird walk, you are bound to see the blue birds. The hawks. The killdeer. And much more.

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Spring Things

Posted on April 17, 2015 by AnnieRie

Just the beginning of an activity packed week, in and around our home. All things spring.

Starting with Greenfest. Tomorrow at the Howard Community College. Living with wildlife. I’m not sure how our CSA fits in with the theme, but we will be there.

Then, on my plate, a trip to Sharp’s Farm on Tuesday to get my vegetable seedlings to put in the garden. This year I am also looking for some annuals for the yard. To fill in where we lost some plants.

As for flowers, this post by UKDesperateHousewifeUSA caught my eye the other day. In it, Claire talks of the lack of flowers in her Columbia neighborhood. I thought, hmmm, she needs to look elsewhere in the county. There are loads of flower gardens out here.

She misses cut flowers. I should bring her some. This is today’s haul from my yard.

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The early blooming tulips. The yellow daffodils. The white ones are almost finished. I don’t pick the hyacinths, though. They stay in the yard. After the month of tulips, we will have day lilies and star lilies. Then, gladioli. Black eyed Susans. Sunflowers. Mums. All summer and fall, my flower beds produce.

Today, I was happy to see the cherry is blooming.

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Not at peak yet, but soon.

Getting back to the week ahead. Wednesday is Earth Day. It is Twenty Minute Clean Up Day in the county. I will be cleaning up the road side and our property lines.

Next Saturday the Conservancy celebrates their Earth Day. With a bird walk. Service projects. And a plant sale by the Master Gardeners.

Well, that only leaves me with a couple of days to get work done around here. I did take the time today to test a new recipe to use up the last of the peaches in the freezer.

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You can call it peachy pecan bread. Or pecany peach bread. Simple to make. I will be taking some for those of us working our table tomorrow at Greenfest. Made with CSA peaches that I blanched and froze last summer. A sign of things to come. Peach season is right after strawberry season. Can’t wait.

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To The River

Posted on April 7, 2015 by AnnieRie

The annual trek. A favorite hike. Done almost every year at the Mt. Pleasant site of the Howard County Conservancy. This year’s hike is Saturday April 11th. At 10 am, the volunteers will lead groups eastward from the Conservancy parking lot, head up to the fields and then down to the river.

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This picture is from one of the fall hikes. We now do the hikes only in springtime to avoid picking up wavyleaf basket grass seeds on clothing and spreading this annoying invasive plant.

We now take the hike before the trails become covered and impossible to easily navigate. Once we crest the hill behind the buildings and start through the fields, we generally stop to admire the view out towards Woodstock.

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We’ll also stop to check out the second largest yellow poplar in Howard County.

Poplar, Yellow
Liriodendron tulipifera
20 feet 3 inches-circumference
98 feet-height
87 feet-spread, 362.8 points
Howard County Conservancy
Woodstock

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Crossing a few more fields, we then move into the woods and follow the stream down to the Patapsco River. Carefully investigating around some old foundations, and looking at the signs of spring along the river. Maybe a train will pass when we are down there. The railroad that follows the Howard County side of the river here continues down through Ellicott City.

This hike is free. There will be many volunteers to keep groups of similar pace together. If you want to enjoy the change in weather and enjoy being outdoors, come join us.

Details here, on the Conservancy web site.

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Garden Plann(t)ing 2015

Posted on April 4, 2015 by AnnieRie

Today was the real beginning of the gardening season up at our community garden plots.

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All of our plots are full again this year. Eighteen new gardeners joined us. We had our row cover sale today, and a work session cleaning out and preparing our 900 square foot food bank plots.

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Sharps Farm provides us with row cover to sell to our gardeners. We pay the bulk prices to buy the cover then sell it at a very small markup to pay for our seedlings and seeds for the food bank plots. In other words, we round up the per foot price slightly. Still, 12 food wide row cover for 70 cents a foot is a tremendous bargain. They were doing a brisk business. We also held a “barn” sale on those items the food bank plots have accumulated as donations over the years from past gardeners. Mesh screens. Tomato cages. Trellis pieces. The extra “Surround” we bought last year. All told, it will help us finance our efforts to provide fresh vegetables to the Howard County Food Bank.

Today the food bank plots looked like this.

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Weeding. Moving the hoops and changing where we will plant tomatoes. In July, it should look like this again.

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We now train the tomatoes to grow between the rebar rows, as the cages just aren’t heavy enough to hold them. We plant vegetables that produce well, and that are easily prepared by those with limited resources. We have learned that rare and exotic vegetables don’t lend themselves to simple preparations. We grow huge amounts of carrots, beets, collards, kale, spinach, lettuces, garlic, tomatoes, zucchini and peppers. Last year we donated 1679 pounds of vegetables to the food bank. We were lucky to have an extra plot when someone had to give up theirs. This year, we are back to the original 900 square feet.

It’s good to see the weather changing, and to see all our gardening friends out there today. Here’s to another great harvest year.

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There’s An App For That

Posted on March 17, 2015 by AnnieRie

iNaturalist.

For the Belmont Bioblitz. Did you know we have a project on the iNaturalist website? Populated by Howard County Public School Middle and Elementary School children. The first blitz. Last fall.

What is a BioblitZ? How do I help with one? How do I record the species observed? How do I document what I see, and identify it? This May two more Howard County 7th grades will descend upon the Belmont site, in Elkridge, and with the help of dozens of volunteers and subject matter experts will spend four days adding observations to the expanding collection to document the species found on the historic grounds.

Belmont is a treasure. In many ways. Historic. Relatively pristine. And, located where the coastal plains meet the Piedmont plateau.

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If you ever wanted to volunteer to do something absolutely positively fun, exciting, rewarding and important, check out the possibility of becoming a volunteer at the Howard County Conservancy. As a naturalist, we learn along with the children, more and more about our local environment.

Today my small training group, armed with our smart phones and the iNaturalist app, went out to train and get a chance to record what we found in four of the zones on the property. We found quite a bit of fungi on the trees in our zone. Like this one.

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Which we uploaded and will monitor to see who may identify it for us.

The school children have such a great time with this event. They become citizen scientists. They learn to observe, to record, to research, and to monitor scientific data taking and sharing. This year the two schools participating are Ellicott Mills and Thomas Viaduct Middle Schools.

More info to learn how to volunteer here. Yes, I am shamelessly recruiting volunteers. I can see on our data sheets that we have an incredibly busy April and May, with dozens of opportunities to lead hikes, lead activities and to support those hike leaders. Training is taking place this month.

Come take a few walks with us. The views are awesome, and so are the people.

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Daytripping in Maryland

Posted on March 12, 2015 by AnnieRie

Saturday morning at 10 am the free “Wonder Walk” at the Howard County Conservancy isn’t a walk at all. In the colder months the free monthly programs often are held inside, you know, just in case that foot of snow doesn’t melt out on the trails.

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The trails are still a bit messy. But, never fear, in the Nature Center Sherry Conklin and Linda Decker, two Maryland master gardeners will share with us more than 50 of their favorites – formal display gardens, arboretums, wild native places to walk and hike, and historic landscapes.

With the weather starting to change for the better, who among us doesn’t want to stop hibernating and start enjoying spring in Maryland.

You can see all the upcoming events here. You can pre-register for future events on this page. This weekend’s talk still has room and pre-registration closes Friday afternoon. Using the pre-registration email option for future free events guarantees a spot as some of our more popular ones can reach the capacity of the building. Just click on the email link to let the staff know how many people plan to attend.

Today the volunteers finally began our elementary school training to lead hikes on field trips. We were out in the snow and ice looking for signs of the various habitats, in order to lead third graders on their hikes. We found lots of things out there.

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Signs of use in one of the snags on the trail. Before the vegetation grows up in the warmth of the sun, you can get up close and personal.

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And see where the raccoons have been looking for food.

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You can even be serenaded by a very young chickadee, while you are wandering along the local trails.

Come join us Saturday and see what new places Linda and Sherry may show you. Places to put on the list for spring days ahead.

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Cabin Fever

Posted on February 24, 2015 by AnnieRie

Are you tired of all this snow and ice? Ready to get outside and do something different? How about joining some of the volunteers at the Howard County Conservancy as we train to lead field trips for elementary and secondary school children?

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Next week on Thursday the 5th of March, the volunteers will be playing the “students” and learning the new kindergarten program. On the 10th, it’s the new 6th grade Storm Water program at Belmont. On the 12th, the new 3rd grade program training at Mt. Pleasant, followed by one of our famous pot luck luncheons.

Bio Blitz training at Belmont on the 17th. And, finally on the 19th at Belmont, refresher training for Wings, Stings and Leggy Things, the 2nd grade program. New volunteers will be joined by those of us who appreciate the chance to revisit the activities and get out with friends, old and new.

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This volunteer effort, which is fairly robust (the Conservancy hosts thousands of school children from pre-K all the way to high school age) is one of my favorite activities. Particularly, since we end up learning as well. The Bio Blitz is being done for the second time. It is one amazing multi-day program. I can’t wait to get outdoors in the meadows and the Patapsco Valley. Here’s hoping spring arrives soon.

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The Year of the Sheep

Posted on February 9, 2015 by AnnieRie

So is this the year of the goat, or the sheep?

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Either way, I’m covered.

Want to learn more about the New Year traditions of various Asian cultures? Come join Wendy Ng and Kyong Parker at the Howard County Conservancy this Saturday at 10 am. to hear all about it.

Here is the write up from the events page.

Lunar New Year celebrations are linked to nature and are celebrated by billions around the world. Traditions abound with flowers, special fruits and foods, beautiful colors, games and posters throughout the house. Preparations for the new year also include organizing, clearing out, and cleaning. We invite families to participate in some of the Chinese and Korean traditions while learning the greetings and etiquette of Eastern cultures. Make and take home some of the decorations. Rain or shine. Program is free but registration is necessary. FEB 14- Saturday 10am FREE

They do want people to register to be sure they bring the right amount of materials.

It would be a fun Valentine’s Day morning excursion, before heading off for those romantic evenings.

See you there??

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Monday Morning Quarterbacking

Posted on January 27, 2015 by AnnieRie

On a Tuesday afternoon. About that snow?

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We did get the 3+ inches predicted for our area. Even though I know the southeastern portion of the county didn’t get much at all. Maybe we need to divide the county in half in order to have two school districts. Then, those unhappy about the schools being closed because of us could not miss another day. I have to wonder though. What do they do at the end of a school year if one half the county doesn’t meet the minimum number of days? Interesting.

We got enough snow for our neighbor’s little ones to build a snowman. We even used the snowblower on the driveway today. So, the storm wasn’t a bust out here. That extra couple of hundred feet in elevation from here compared to the southeastern county makes a difference in temperature and snowfall.

In other news. They postponed the volunteer fair at the Howard County Conservancy until February 3rd. Same time. Same players. If you have the time, and want to hear more about volunteering, come join us. They need office support, event support, field trip leaders, animal feeders and more.

Finally, one more picture from this morning. I have learned how to keep the birds happy without having to go too far into the yard. I also learned to use mess free bird feed on the patio. No hulls or shells.

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The red bellied woodpecker even came up closer than normal.

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Storm Hype

Posted on January 25, 2015 by AnnieRie

It never fails. They predict snowmageddon. We get nothing. They miss it completely and call for insignificant snow. We get blasted.

Who knows what Monday and Tuesday will bring. Will our volunteer day at the Conservancy get canceled? I hope not. I was looking forward to REI’s presentation, and to that free breakfast. The Conservancy is looking to add volunteers. You know, for when we aren’t 🙄 snowed in.

Just in case though. We are prepared. Snow blower ready.

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Comforting food made this weekend, like this split pea soup, so we can easily heat food while trying to deal with the weather.

It was 2010 when we got slammed. Twice in one week. Right before I retired. Open your door to this.

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Try to find the grill in case the power goes out.

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It is under there somewhere. I swear.

We won’t be getting this kind of snow tomorrow or Tuesday. I wonder if New York and New England will. No matter what. I hope they have staples to eat while they deal with snow.

Now, what was this nonsense about Thursday night?

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