The over a thousand times trail

There is a dirt trail winding through a narrow county park about a quarter mile away from where I live. I have probably jogged through it over a thousand times in the past thirty years, and have thus named it the over a thousand times trail. Running along a street, this strip-park features trees, a sandy path, and a hodge podge of non-native plantings competing with a plethora of invasive species. It's not exactly a naturalist's mecca!

A month or so ago I challenged myself to try and find something I had never seen before every time I passed through there. It could be a new plant or animal, some new animal behavior, a new cloud formation, animal tracks I hadn't seen before, and so forth. Thirty-four trips later I am still adding to the new discovery lists! Yesterday it was a small blue wasp I had never seen - very late in the season for an insect but maybe it was a late emerging species. Today there were some fresh fallen liquid amber leaves that had some of the most amazing color patterns I have ever seen. A week earlier after a light rain I saw tracks leading into a drainage ditch - classic raccoon prints! I also witnessed a major sparring match among three crows circling each other and bobbing up and down, apparently contesting a scattered array of french fries. I went to pick up a fast food sack someone tossed and found an amazing small beetle I had never seen before under the trash. Earlier in the week I observed the flash of yellow and white wings from the feathers of dozen warblers flitting high in a eucalyptus tree. On one unusually warm day, a fence lizard was observed doing push-ups on a log, catching the last rays before calling it quits for the winter. And the list of new observations goes on...

Remember, all of these discoveries in a completely urbanized patch of city land that I had been to literally thousands of times. If it is that easy to find new things here, think of all the discoveries that could be made in any school yard, vacant lot, or urban park. A bit of pre-field trip preparation and out the door we go! Students can learn new observation skills, document animal behaviors, seasonal changes in the fauna and flora, study population dynamics and food chain relationships, record plant and animal diversity, sketch life cycles - it is all right there just outside the classroom door. No fancy laboratory equipment needed, no buses, no computers - just learning the "raw stuff of science" and all for free! All you need are kids and an interested teacher, parent or guide who can help open their eyes to the amazing world just beyond the door. Who knows which student might get interested in science and make that next medical breakthrough? It all starts with that initial spark, and the fodder lies right outside your door...

Hand-carved fair trade gourd boxes and ornaments

I read some very sad news the other day about a terrible fire at a textile factory in India. Unfortunately these days we read about far too many factories that exploit child labor, chain escape, and disregard all concern for human safety. As was the case for this factory, they usually are suppliers of the "cheap" stuff that the big boxes profit from: Low cost goods with very high human costs. Not exactly what the "goodwill" season should be all about.

Although primarily a supplier of science and nature products for teachers, naturalists, scouts and outdoor educators, Acorn Naturalists has both an online and a walk-in gift store. We were one of the first stores in our area to actively seek out small scale suppliers of true fair trade items. We now have many display tables dedicated exclusively to fair trade gifts in our store in Old Town Tustin. Like the emerging interest in locally grown food, we hope that more and more businesses will follow our lead and do what they can to support small scale fair trade vendors. Maybe some day Black Friday will be replaced by Fair Trade Friday. 

In the last e-newsletter we featured the article entitled Did I mention to you that I saw young Rachel Carson yesterday? We received a lot of comments on this article and decided to revisit the actual site where we saw this amazing young child. As we expected, she was not there, but where she was making her leaf flags we did find a new display of highly colored leaves. We picked up a few newly fallen leaves to press to use on note cards and leaf collages. Even left a few leaf flags of the type the young Rachel Carson taught us how to make. Like Rachel Carson herself, this child has already had more influence on others than she could imagine.

This holiday season take some time to go out and enjoy nature. It is the perfect place to reflect on the year past and make plans for the year ahead.