My, the "Master Naturalist" class I have taken since late February has kept me really busy. We have covered about everything in "Peterson's Guide to Eastern Forests", like trying to I.D. bugs in (this case) a healthy mountain stream, like the juvenille "bugs" that mayflies and stone flies and crane flies are -- little things with segmented bodies, somewhat like earth worms. If that sounds icky, it's not bad. Not really.
There is so much in the woods, that if you knew half of it you'd be raring to go and find it! The Eastern woods, at least, are home to chipmunks and, near streams, beaver, a multitude of wonderful trees, and insects and fowl and larger animals --- and they are all part of the food chain, the web of life. If we try to use nasty pesticides and kill all the mosquitoes then the bats will starve, for example, and we need to let nature do its things more.
Being a cancer survivor I have become more interested in the water we drink and what goes into it and being nicer to the environment,as it helps the woods and us too. I interviewed Mike McGrath of NPR Radio's "You Bet Your Garden" and he says he is the only one out there promoting totally organic gardening. Just go to www.youbetyourgarden.org for more info on how to do it.
Anyone, really, can get a book from the library and study the plants and animals in the woods, and you can learn about helping the woods and yourself by going organic too!
Monday, April 28, 2008
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