Bluebird Beginnings Blog
See more on my Facebook page!
  • Home
  • Blog

Birds and More....

Be sure to check out all my images at Bluebird Beginnings Photography.

Garden Musings

7/29/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
Last week, I participated in a workshop called "Kickstart Your School Garden." Why would the instructional technology resource teacher attend a gardening workshop, you ask? For starters, she believes we need to get closer to the source of the foods we put in our bodies, and that we need to take better care of our Earth, so that our children and grandchildren can inherit a better planet (and life). What better place to make that happen than in a school garden? Beyond those beliefs, there are many ways to make instructional connections with any content, where technology plays a role, and plenty of places to connect a garden to learning objectives.

Some of those connections are simple, like writing about the gardening experience. Whether the writing happens on paper or on a device, the writing and the gardening can have deeper learning for the student if we bring in the real world components. Perhaps there is an area of the schoolyard that has become an eyesore, where students could generate solutions and implement them. This would require thinking, collaborating, planning, writing, discussing....not just on a piece of paper for the teacher to read, but in a format that would be presented to the school principal, and possibly to a parent group, school board, or division administrators. There are a multitude of digital tools for conveying ideas to a group of people, from impressive poster/chart tools to blogs to videochats (Skype, etc.). Perhaps they need to send out an electronic survey to gather opinions or ideas or garnish support for their garden. Pictures of the garden spot, drawings of improvement ideas, and charts of needs to accomplish the transformation could be compiled in a digital story. Even if the approval process to make your garden happen is simple and does not require these tools and processes, the learning experience can be enriched by real life applications, that might also involve technology.

Tamra Willis, director of the Environment-based Learning program at Mary Baldwin College, talked to the group in the afternoon about curriculum connections. She reminded us to keep the learning at the forefront of all our planning. Beware of cool activities for activities' sake...make sure the activities support the learning goals. Also decide what evidence you will have of the success of those learning goals. When students present to an outside audience through blogs, blended digital and personal presentations (like to school board, parent group, administrators, etc.), or through other methods, the students are more vested in the learning process, and learning is deeper. We spent some time working in groups on some possible Big Ideas for the various situations back at our schools.

Later, as the students are learning about plant growth in their garden, they may need to take measurements and record them, or monitor experiments to compare data and learn about optimal conditions for their plants.
From the five senses to caterpillars and life cycles to historical crops (think Three Sisters) to writing riddles and poems to math galore...the possibilities for connection and real life learning are boundless in the garden. It is very exciting to  see plants sprout from seeds or see plants transplanted and thrive.  The librarian in me, too, knows that there are boundless personal stories that will happen with everyone of those connections. Not to mention that there are many stories, as well as nonfiction books, in the library that connect to many things that could be learned in the garden experience.

Picture
Three Sisters Garden: Corn, Beans and Squash
The workshop last week took place at the Allegheny Mountain Institute Farm at VSDB (Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind) here in Staunton. They have an impressive program that connects the students at VSDB to gardening in many ways. They have raised beds with vegetables and flowers right in the heart of the campus, which is as lovely as it is functional. Sunflowers abound, so I photographed them (over and over..could not get enough!).
Picture



So many varieties of Sunflowers!

Raised beds on the campus by the buildings with vegetables and flowers were so visually inviting and so functional that they made me want to do this at school and at home. Our workshop instructors talked about changing these beds to be taller to give better access to students with limited mobility.

Picture
The main work of our workshop took place at the "farm" garden, located where my boys used to play soccer. The shelter kept the rain off of us the first day and kept the sun off of us the second day. We learned about things like soil composition, nutrients (and the cycle of nutrients from soil to plant to our bodies), tips to work with soil and give it the optimal growing environment, sheet mulching, microbes, worms....and more.

Picture
Picture
Sheet Mulching was new to me, and we started an area of sheet mulching for the school to put in a riparian buffer along the creek/tributary near the garden that feeds into Lewis Creek. This is an amazingly simple way to reclaim a grassy or weedy area for a new purpose.
1) Start with a thin layer of compost
2) Cover the area with a double layer of cardboard, overlapping the pieces a few inches
3) Wet it down well
4) Add about a three inch layer of mulch
Do this in the Fall, and by Spring, you should be able to  dig a hole through to add small plants. You could also use a geotextile sheet (weedblock fabric) with this method.

Direct seeding for some plants (in soil that has been enriched with compost and protected through the winter with some sort of mulch) was more familiar to me. Read the seed packets to learn when to plant, how far apart to plant, and how deep to plant. General rule of thumb, plant the seeds twice as deep as the seed is wide. We planted some lettuce that will hopefully grow and be used by the VSDB cafeteria on their salad bar.
Picture
We also planted some Yarrow that had been started from seed in little seed starter trays.
Picture
Young Yarrow Plant
PictureGrown, Blooming Yarrow Plant
Yarrow can have medicinal uses. For example, you can pick a leaf, chew it just a little, and apply it to a cut for healing (a bandage would hold it there for continued benefit). We planted White Yarrow like this one, but there are yellow and red varieties, as well. Red is pictured below.

Picture
Yarrow, the Red variety...nice!
Best of all, we planted Red Russian Kale seeds to take home with us! We planted 8 seeds, 2 in each little pot of the planter. My kale sprouted within 5 days, and in 8 days are growing nicely!
Picture
5 days after planting Kale seeds, all 8 have sprouted!
Picture
8 days after planting, all 8 are much bigger!
A garden feature that interested me was the electric fence in the picture below, which was a design I had never seen. It seems pretty ingenious but simple to me: 1) tilted out to discourage deer from jumping and  2) the barrier on the ground to discourage grass and weeds, which would otherwise grow and likely short out the fence. You don't necessarily need a fence, but you would need to consider what kinds of animals and/or pests would be attracted to the garden. You can also see where some sunflowers "volunteered" outside the fence. I like volunteers!
Picture
Below is a slide show of various things of interest to me in the garden. Wave your mouse over the large picture to see the play button or the navigation arrows. There are several more pictures than the sidebar indicate.
Day 2 of the workshop was a half-day about composting...very interesting...another blog for another day, perhaps.
1 Comment

Cyclist's Musings

7/26/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Today, I went for my first longer bike ride in a quite a while. Went to early service and biked from church to Swoope...my happy place. My goal has been to be able to bike there and back...done!

However, I had to work on my attitude as I started the ride....and maybe half way out, there is a long, sort of low grade to climb, climb, climb...at which point I was wondering why? Why am I doing this? Then, I finished that climb and had that lovely, free, flying feeling down the other side. Oh, yea. That is why!

Then these views reminded me of more reasons to bike these hills.... Had my old, old Powershot camera with me...not bad, especially the little Song Sparrow. With all my nice camera,  lenses, tripod and stuff....I still love this little camera!



Picture
Picture
Picture
I love this view of the corn rows, the patches in the road, the rolling hills of Swoope, and the swallows gathered on the wires. Aaahh...

The tiny Song Sparrow was not bashful. I had the feeling it was a juvenile and Mama was nearby calling and fussing, as was a Catbird. Just love that my little, old Canon Powershot captured this...no tripod, no edits, just a lovely little bird, a perfect Carolina blue sky, green leaves with red stems. Sweet!

When I got to the farm in Swoope where the Bald Eagles live, I chided myself for not getting out there more often...it is SO lovely, and such wonderful balm for my soul. The breath of God always finds me there....aaahhh...


0 Comments

Runner's Musings 

7/16/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Bells Lane is one of my favorite places to run. Here in Staunton, VA, within the city limits, we have this gem of a country lane through farmland on gently rolling hills with delightful views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. My favorite views of the "mountains of Staunton," Betsy Bell and Mary Gray, can also be seen on Bells Lane. (To learn more click here: Betsy Bell and Mary Gray)   

Picture
Picture
From the moment I got out of my car to run, it was a sensory experience. Immediately, there was a large choir of birds in the trees. They were all announcing the arrival of a lovely summer day...and maybe the arrival of a human in their midst. I ran out from under the canopy of trees filled with birds, and was soon reminded of my country location by my nose and essence of cow.

Soon, my eyes alerted me to a silent visitor, who was not sure about my presence in her habitat. We both stood in the road watching each other for a moment. Then, the doe saw an opening in the brush and jumped the fence, ever so quietly. Although the doe was silent, my silly brain could not help but sing in my head..."a doe, a deer, a female deer." Out loud, I thanked the deer for the visit; then I started running again.

Periodically, in the trees along the road, I would hear birds and not recognize their calls. My repertoire of calls/songs for the purpose of identification is quite small, so I would stop or run backwards, as I looked for the bird. I had to repeatedly remind myself that my outing was for running rather than birding...and make myself move on! (Not to mention how much easier it is to fall while looking at tree tops or moving backwards....)

My next notable sensory experience caused a slight startle, as there was a sudden noise almost right next to me. I was very close to the edge of the road, as was the farm fence...and the cow on the other side of the fence, partially hidden by the brush. There was the sudden noise of breath being exhaled, then grass ripping and grass crunching in its mouth. Yes, we were that close to each other. I could honestly hear the grass tear off and crunch in those teeth.  After I recovered from the initial startle, I said hello to my bovine friend, and enjoyed the crunching noises for a few more steps, running down the lane.

There is a large curve in the lane, just before you go doowwnn and uuuppp a hill. This curve and the following hill usually have lots of interesting encounters. Today, there was a small rabbit, a large cat (bunny better hide!), a pair of Brown Thrashers, and several other birds I could not identify as I flew (ok, slowly jogged) down the hill. Brown Thrashers have become one of my favorite sightings lately, perhaps because I still do not have a great photograph of them.

Maybe I will go back tomorrow with my camera.....

I did recognize Red-winged Blackbird, Mourning Dove, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Northern Cardinal, American Robin, and the above-mentioned Brown Thrasher.

The smells changed through this curve and hill...there was fragrance of skunk somewhere approaching the curve, then a very floral fragrance, almost like honeysuckle. There were plenty of honeysuckle berries, but no blooms that I could see. There were lots of blooming wildflowers, though. Again, I need to go back tomorrow with my camera to photograph the flowers and identify some of them. I noticed several flowers for which I did not have names, but I recognized Red Clover (which I have always called purple), Yellow Goatsbeard, Chicory, and Queen Anne's Lace.

So, doowwnn and uuuppp I went. The bypass intersects the end of Bells Lane, but if you cross it, there is about a mile more of road with farm land on one side and golf course on the other side. I decided to cross the bypass, but only went a little ways down that lane. My name for this section of road as "Bells Lane Extended" is not the same as Augusta County's name. The real name of the road is "Country Club Road." On Bells Lane Extended, the Tree Swallows were flying around and roosting near one of the nest boxes nailed to the fence posts.

On the return, one has to run doowwnn and uuuppp....and uuuppp....around the curve, and uuuppp some more. On the return, the uuuppp is steep, and long! Funny how I did not notice birds on the way back uuuppp...only grass, flowers, and pavement. Wait, I did notice a lovely breeze when I rounded the curve! It was welcomed on this quite warm and humid morning. It reminded me of a different time I rounded that corner with two of my running buddies, when it was freezing cold! There seems to be a permanent breeze in this location, which happens to also have great views of mountains and farm land. Although I was working hard to get up the hill, this July breeze brought forth an "Aaaahhh." Quite different from the March breeze that brought forth an "Ugh" from we three lady runners on that cold day!

July 10, 2015
Tomorrow came before I finished this post, so I went back with my camera and have shared photos below to accompany the sights above. You can click the picture to see a larger image and the captions, then use the left/right arrows to move through the images.


Beyond the Farm, Betsy Bell and Mary Gray
The cat near the big curve
I DID smell honeysuckle! Do you see the little friend, too?
Thistly, bristly, prickly, but lovely!
Little friend up close
Monarchs, come to Staunton to get your milkweed!
Queen Anne's Lace
Blackberries...getting ripe!
Daisies, one of my favorites...reminds me of Camp Yonahlossee!
American Goldfinch
Honeysuckle berries
Ordinary Sumac
Now you see me...
Now you don't!
Chickory, one of my newer favorites
Cardinal acting like a woodpecker
Cardinal with his catch!
Makes me want to run through the flowers, singing: "The hills are alive...."
Looking back at Betsy Bell from "Bells Lane extended' (Country Club Road)
Black-eyed Susans, one of my favorites
Am I coming or going?
So many different wildflowers in one place!
So many wildflowers together, with Betsy Bell in the background.
Touch me not...
Betsy Bell and Mary Gray from a different view.
0 Comments

The Stories Behind the Photos

8/2/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Many of my photos have some sort of story going on in the background. The scene this year for many of those stories and photos is Swoope,(rhymes with rope, pronounced swope, not swoop).  Swoope is in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It is not a "town" really, but more of an area, with a post office marking the place.

About twenty minutes from my house, Swoope has gently rolling hills, with many magnificent views of mountains. I have birded there on bike, on foot, and by car. There is also a very special farm with a small lake, a Bald Eagles' nest, and owners who allow me to frequently bird there. Aside from the birds and insects, it is a very quiet and peaceful place.  I seem to be as addicted to Swoope, with all its beauty, peace, nature, and birds, as I am to photographing birds.

On a recent trip to Swoope, I wanted to work on my camera settings as well as take a bike ride. The first bird I saw was the Great Blue Heron (pictured above). It was sitting in a dead tree by the lake. The same tree the Bald Eagles frequently sit in (until they see me). I set up my camera and tripod, took pictures with several different settings, and crept closer...and repeated different settings. The heron stayed very still, mostly ignoring me. I moved on to other areas around the lake, taking pictures of different birds, trying to fine tune the settings on my camera and lens. An hour and a half later, I came back to the heron in the tree. It was still sitting in the same place! This time, I crept even closer. When I left, I said, "Thank you, my friend!" It was unusual to have the same subject for so many shots, but I loved it!

I packed up my gear, and took my bike off the car and rode for a while. We have recently been blessed with unusually cool weather for July, which makes bike riding a real treat. Biking is a great way to enjoy the scenery of our beautiful Shenandoah Valley (or any place). Swoope has more gently rolling hills than some other places in our area. Since I am trying to build back up my strength, Swoope is a great place to ride.

When I returned from my bike ride, there was a pair of House Finches with a little courtship act going on.  According to the website, All About Birds:  "During courtship, males sometimes feed females in a display that begins with the female gently pecking at his bill and fluttering her wings. The male simulates regurgitating food to the female several times before actually feeding her."  The pictures below show that feeding/courtship.  Wave your mouse over the large picture and either click play, use the arrows, or click on the thumbnails.



0 Comments

    Author

    Meneta Deaton, Photographer of Birds, Nature, Scenics, and whatever else inspires me.

    Archives

    July 2015
    August 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly