Nature Army

Fun With Gourds

 

 Before I get into gourds, I have a small announcement. You can probably tell that posts have been a bit slow, because life is a highly demanding coworker. We have decided that I would type up posts for our website as well as Madison to help the flow. So there’s another narrator in town. Hello!

 

With that said, let us begin discussing the endless possibilities of the mottled canvas of the gourd.

 

(These all came from the same plant. We think our gourds cross-pollinated with our summer squash. Cool science.)

 

Besides being a glorious fall decoration for centerpieces and displays, gourds serve lots of crafty, nature-y purposes. Most of these crafts require drying the gourds first, which isn’t difficult. One way to do it is to hang them up in a place with good air flow until they are brown, hard, and dry. For those who don’t feel like going through all that work and are in no rush, simply leave them on the vine until they dry out. Mature gourds are not harmed by rain or frost. After they are dry, you can begin your gourd extravaganza. Got too many useless bits and bobs around the house? Small gourds make great bases for recycled crafts and sculptures.

 

(This is supposed to be a lion. Fine, it’s a guinea pig lion. He’s still beautiful to me.)

 

Beneath the pieces of leftover fleece is a gourd and some screws. The tail is the stem of the gourd. I used lots of other things like beads and bits of trash (and a good amount of hot glue) to complete him in all his recycled glory. This might be a bit complex for younger kids, and they would be happy just decorating the gourd with makers and beads, or making a simpler sculpture. You can use anything, any piece of trash to create a cute work of art.

 

If there are seeds in the dried gourd, you can make a lovely set of decorated gourd maracas.

 

You can also make birdhouses with the body of a dried gourd. Bottle, gooseneck, and (go figure) birdhouse gourds are good for this project, or any gourd with a large bottom big enough for birds to nest in.  First you cut a hole on the side for the bird, the size depending on which birds you are interested in attracting. You can use a doorknob hole cutter or an expansion bit to make it. Use sandpaper to sand down the hole, then sand the exterior. (Sandpaper is going to be your best friend in gourd projects.) Then you wash the outside and inside of the gourd with soapy water or vinegar water, and get all the stuff out of it. Let it dry. Next, you can paint it if you like, and make it all pretty. Apply a varnish or sealer to protect it from the weather, and drill a few little holes in the bottom of the gourd with a drill for drainage. You can also drill some holes in the top to put string through to hang. And there's your birdhouse!

 

Those are just some ideas. There is a whole world of things to do with gourds, a treasure trove of magnificent art to be done with these glorious fruits! Do not be limited to the few ideas presented to you today; explore, go forth, create new and marvelous gourd masterpieces to inspire and transfix the world with the awesome power of the gourd for generations to come!

 

Okay, I’ll stop now. But if you have any other gourdy ideas, put them in the comments, because we like to hear ideas from you. Have fun with gourds!

—Celia

 

Picking Fruit at Baugher's Orchard

This has been a summer of fruit.

We picked blueberries and sweet cherries at Shaw Orchards, more blueberries at Hybridoma Organic Fruit Farm, and just today, peaches and nectarines at Baugher's Orchards.

Granted, picking fruit isn't especially Nature Army, but in the process you are supporting local and (in the case of Hybridoma) organic farms, spending time outside, and eating in season. All things we in the Nature Army approve of.

At Baugher's it costs one dollar per person to take a wagon ride to the orchard, where a field helper explains how to pick fruit without damaging the tree and how to tell if it is ripe. In the case of peaches and nectarines, it should be yellow and red.

We were encouraged to sample the fruit to choose our favorite varieties. I was particularly fond of "Red and Gold" nectarines.

After picking a bushel of peaches and nectarines (which we did in no time flat), we bore our fruit triumphantly back on the wagon ride to the market, where we purchased a bushel of tomatoes and a few Asian pears. The market also has pies, vegetables, canning supplies, jellies, candy, ice cream...

Produce in the trunk, we walked to the petting zoo. I didn't quite approve of the small space in which some of the animals were kept, but they had more room than is legally required and were adorable.

I found this rooster very dignified and serene...

...though this goat was the more distinguished of the two.

So, we have twenty-one jars of tomatoes, 7 pints of salsa, and oodles of frozen peaches. Next up: pickles!

Yet Another Sporadic Post On Fall Gardening

Looking at my most recent posts, I realized that my most recent post is, "A Good Snow Day Project," directly preceded by the first one on fall gardening. Oops.

Fortunately this post, while I happen to be growing cauliflower and lettuce yet again, brings something new to the table. I went away for two weeks to camp, and when I returned, two of my radishes were well into growth, while the rest of the row was totally empty. Hmmmm...

 

This post from Premeditated Leftovers was a godsend—an easy way to prepare environmentally friendly rabbit repellent with four ingredients, one of which is water. I even get to mash together an unsightly concoction, let it stew in the yard, and spray it over the garden with no repercussions whatsoever.

 

You'll need ground red pepper, garlic, and dish soap. We keep a large container of red pepper seasoning with our gardening stuff to repel rabbits, though the concept of mixing it with other deterrants is new to me. The garlic is from our CSA (community supported agriculture) box, and is local and organic. And the dish soap is all-natural, as always.

First, fill a bucket with water. Add a generous sploosh of dish soap, seven or eight dashes of red pepper, and a battalion of garlic cloves. (It's not an exact science.) I smashed my garlic cloves before adding them, so they'll release more lovely pungent juices. And I threw in the peels, because why not?

 

Let that brew in a sunny spot for a couple days. Then pour into a spray bottle and go crazy! You'll need to reapply once a week and after it rains. But seriously, it's worth it. See how cute they are?

 

A Good Snow Day Project

Today isn't one of those good snow days, with snowmen and sledding and hot chocolate. No; today all we can do is yearn wistfully for the slices of watermelon and rafting trips we'll be missing in History class through mid-July, cursing all those inside-out pajama dances and ice cubes flung out the window.

So, lodged indoors with nothing but some cornmeal, peanut butter, vegetable shortening, and other bird-related goodies, we decided to make some cupcakes for the birds.

 

To start, add 1/2 cup vegetable shortening and 1 cup peanut butter to a saucepan. (The shortening sticks to your hands, but cleans off easily with a squirt of your favorite environmentally-friendly dish soap.)

Put the saucepan over medium-low heat until the shortening melts, stirring often. Stir in about 2 1/2 cups of cornmeal, plus any nuts or cereals you may want to include. Allow to cool.

They're really excited.

Once cooled, form into cupcake shapes (or something resembling a cupcake). Don't use cupcake liners; as the birds eat the cupcakes, they'll blow away. Put the cupcakes in the refrigerator until they're firm. We recommend putting them out one at a time, so if the rain turns them into disgusting piles of sludge, they're not all ruined.

And serve!

It's Still Summer!

Everyone, I have great news!

Not everything dies by August!

Kale, cauliflower, lettuce, and a bunch of other cool-weather vegetables actually grow better in the fall. Why don't we take advantage of that instead of deciding that sad, morbid, hopeless winter, devoid of fun and tomatoes, starts in September?

Now is the time to start seeds indoors for cauliflower, lettuce, broccoli, and several other crops that you may want to grow into the fall months. Heirloom varieties are particularly good— they were developed with priorities like taste and nutrition, rather than storage and pest resistance.

If you don't have a fancy seed starting tray like we do, just use yogurt cups. Poke a hole in the bottom and set them all on a tray underneath a fluorescent light. If you don't have plant markers, use what you can find.

As you can see, she is clearly lettuce.

When your seedlings are old enough (the package should specify how long or how large they should be growing), start setting them outside for a few hours each day on a porch or balcony and carrying them in at night. This lets them get used to the outdoor climate so they don't have trouble adjusting to the change in temperature.

Of course, there are tons of other vegetables you can grow easily in your garden. Roots like carrots, beets, and radishes, and greens like spinach, collards, and kale, can be sown directly in the ground. 

There are a few tricks you can use to store your produce after the frost. Of course, you have the obvious canning and freezing. Then there are the ways to preserve vegetables without changing the flavor. Cabbages and similar plants can live for a few more weeks if you mulch them heavily with hay. This insulates the soil to slow the temperature drop. Some root vegetables can be packed in dry sand. Experiment and look at other sources, and you'll find out the easiest method for you.

Autumn growing feels very homestead-y. I have my crisp, new, seed packets, the last cucumbers of the season, and, of course, our three very dignified laying hens.

(Yes, that is a real chicken.)

I finish this post with a hint of nostalgia, as the first crisp winds of autumn whisper through the trees and through the feathers of my very dignified laying hen. Summer is still here, and autumn will not come next week, nor the next, nor even the next. But mark my words, it will come.

And when it comes, be ready.

Gunpowder River Artfest

The Gunpowder River Artfest at Boordy Vineyards is today, June 1, and the Nature Army will be there!

We'll be giving away maple trees for free to 7 lucky customers. Also, we'll be selling wire or origami earrings for $9, and donating 70% of the funds to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. (www.cbf.org).

See you there!

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

If your bluebird boxes and wren houses aren't up, you're late. Get them up tomorrow.

Clean and fill your bird feeders.

For those of you who don't know, ornithology is the study of birds (not to be confused with optometry, the study of eyes, or otology, the study of ears). No matter how far they travel, ornithologists can't gather nearly as much data as a bunch of people scattered across the globe submitting information about the birds in their area can. Rather wisely, there are several programs you can use to help them do this.

One of these is eBird, a program in which you walk a certain distance or sit by your bird feeder and record all the birds you see. Also take note of any interesting behavior or of the gender: "This is a female cardinal;" "These mourning doves were preening each other." It's likely that the folks at Cornell will know what this means. (Half an hour of this gets you into the Nature Army!)

 

My current obsession at the moment is NestWatch. If you see a bird's nest, report what kind of bird it was and where the nest is. Putting up a birdhouse is a great way to attract birds and establish your position in the Nature Army, but you should completely disregard what I said earlier in Ruling Places for the Royal Avian Family (first post) that dynamic, colorful birdhouses will still attract the braver birds. My two crazy birdhouses have so far attracted nothing, but I got a family of bluebirds in my boring cedar birdhouse a couple weeks after I put it up. As for nests not in birdhouses, (as they'll tell you at Cornell) finding them is a mix of knowing what to look for and luck. This mourning dove nest was luck.

Aren't they so cute together?!

The mother sat on her fledgling for so long, I thought she was still incubating her eggs. Then, one day when I checked on her, she flew off and where she had been sitting was this enormous chick, three fourths her size! It was like the Ford Anglia in Harry Potter when Mr. Weasley secretly enlarges the car from the inside but its outside size stays the same.

Anyway, these scientists know what they're doing. Google them, grab a field guide, and get outside!

 

Cats & Dogs & Dogs & Cats

For those of you in the Baltimore area: On November 9, the Spur Gallery is hosting a fundraiser for BARCS (for those of you who don't know, Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, and shame on you). Local artists will have cat- and dog-themed work presented at the gallery, and 50% of all proceeds will benefit the animal shelter. The Spur Gallery is located at 3504 Ash Street, Baltimore, MD 21211.

The professional art will be the main thing, but kids' art will also be sold in the form of greeting cards (you couldn't expect me to take my lack of helpfulness lying down). BARCS volunteers will also be bringing adoptable cats and dogs, so be sure to tell anyone who's interested in adopting about the event. To make an optional RSVP, please visit http://www.facebook.com/events/267746276661060/. To find out more about BARCS, check out http://baltimoreanimalshelter.org/. I've been having trouble with links. My apologies.

 

 

New Pets

While watching a black swallowtail butterfly fly with some difficulty (and experiencing the awesomeness of holding the butterfly), my family and I thought that the butterfly may have recently emerged from the chrysalis. When everyone else went inside, I ran to check the dill.

The black swallowtail caterpillar eats fennel, parsley, and, when the other two are absent, dill. Ours are the opposite. Somehow my mom's consistent dill-growing and not fennel- or parsley-growing have reared a flock of swallowtails that not only prefer dill, but refuse to eat parsley. So, they eat dill.

I don't know about you, but that's incentive enough for me to plant a few herbs.

After I found 7 caterpillars on a dill plant, we immediately set about making homes for the little guys.

(The above photo was taken by my sister. For online safety reasons, we'll forget names.)

Black swallowtail caterpillars need dill and a stick (for the chrysalis). All the extra stuff is to make it more at home. Notice the brown carpet and roomy green sofas, as well as the— what's that the equivalent of? Chandelier? Christmas tree?

As you can see, we're very excited.

You can do this with pretty much any butterfly. Here are a few:

Monarch butterfly......................milkweed
Painted lady............................yarrow
Fritillary................................sweet violet

For more host plants, go to http://melanys.tripod.com/Feb.htm/. Oh, and if you need more persuading...

They look like that. Photo courtesy of KidBaltimore, but I grew those marigolds so I don't have to do the whole bibliography thing.

 

If there's one downside, it's that the mortality rate isn't perfect, but you have to remember that caterpillars die before adulthood in the wild too. Birds eat them, small mammals eat them, and snakes eat them, and some of them just die. By taking them in, none are eaten, but you can't get rid of the ones that just die. Still, if you take good care of them, then before the wings are dry enough to fly, you will hold a butterfly.

 

Sir Francois III

Allow me to introduce myself. I am he called Sir Francois III!

 

He's the one on the right. That other one is me. Hello. Notice Reggie sleeping on the floor, the chains of our robot made of recycled materials on the wall, and the old violin case on the wall we use as a napkin holder. Yes, that's a violin case. 

As part of Project SOS (see links below masthead), we will be making, videotaping, and (cross your fingers) performing in front of an audience a puppet show. All of our butterfly characters will be Bottle Bugs.

We got the idea from John Kennedy's book Puppet Mania (on Amazon), in which he explains how to make an insect puppet out of recycled bottles, an old glove, and a few other materials. Why do we love it? It's simple, raises awareness, and repurposes bottles and gloves. We will be doing a puppet show using three bottle bugs, the other two being Monarch butterflies (see Project SOS at top of screen). All we had to do was paint the bottles and hot glue everything together. We used a water bottle and two halves of our environmentally friendly dish soap bottle. You can be as creative as you like; maybe you could use an old spool and the two halves of a Coffee Singles container or something. After the basic structure is done, you can be as creative as you like. As you can see, we added a handkerchief, eyes, and a monocle. 

This isn't a contest like the Octopus Cat Toys (http://www.naturearmy.com/2012/04/final-results-of-the-contest.html/) because you can see how popular that was. But it is a challenge.

Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to make a puppet show using at least two Bottle Bugs or other puppet in which most material is recycled (in which case you should explain what it's recycled from in the comment). It should raise awareness or persuade people to preserve habitats, help an endangered species, stop global warming— whatever you like, provided that it's a nature related cause. Post a video of it on a website (like YouTube) and link to it in a comment (but remember to be safe online). I promise I will watch it, and you will gain automatic entrance into the Nature Army (please state in the comment whether or not you're already a member).

This puppet show should be done sometime in July; the people I'm working with live in another state. So, Sir Francois III will have to wait to bask in the limelight. Wish him luck.