Home Stretch...

Early friday afternoon, Chelsea, Leah and I visited the Barrington Headwaters to re-explore the same trail that Dan Gardoqui took us through when we first met him. Our main goal was to find the porcupine den so we could take more pictures and I could gather more quills to use in my craft-making. Most of the shady woodland was still pretty flooded from the previous weekend, and though we did manage to find many of the interest points we'd seen with Dan, the porcupines eluded us. All was not lost, however, as we stumbled across an enormous multi-layered fungus that looked like a sunburst. We marveled at how beautiful it was, and how awesome it is that colors like those are created in nature.

Since our stay at the Headwaters was cut short by dearth of porcupines and glut of deer flies, we decided we should stop at the UNH Recreation Area right down the street. We had heard, amongst other things, that there was a gorgeous lake there to swim in. A small bit of exploration proved the rumors to be true... Mendum's Pond was so lovely and inviting that the three of us couldn't help ourselves... we jumped in! It was such a refreshing little visit that we made plans then and there to come back the following morning.

Gratefully, Saturday's weather held out and it was perfect for a proper visit to the Rec area. A whole group of us adopted a secluded little picnic area and swam to our hearts' content, even swimming out to the blueberry-laden island in the middle of the pond. We lunched waterside, played games, sprawled silently in the sun and snacked on wild blueberries until the afternoon. If ever I could have imagined a perfect day enjoying the outside world, this was it.

Tomorrow begins the final week of the Summer Institute. I'm still in a little bit of shock at how quickly it's gone by. There is a lot to be done in these next four days; Group Scat Track Fever must finish the project binder containing all info about our time at the Warren Farm, as well as prepare our final presenation for Thursday morning. Monday's class time will mostly be spent at the Warren Farm for a final trek through our beloved transects. Hopefully we will get lucky and gather some final track prints, and maybe a few wildlife pictures. Importantly, as well, we look forward to thanking Randy Warren for his generous nature in letting us explore his land. He has been an informative and enjoyable resource to us for which we are tremendously grateful. Thanks, Randy!


Gratitude is something of which none of us can give too much. For on the smiles, the thanks we give, our little gestures of appreciation, our neighbors build their philosophy of life.- A. J. Cronin

Scat, Track and Pork Fat

Mother nature tried to rain my research team out this weekend, throwing at us the likes of unending side-swiping showers and even hail. But our enthusiasm to get back to the Warren farm to check our soot traps and motion-sensor camera could not be thwarted!

For the first two hours after arrival were spent trekking through sloppy mud puddles looking for signs of mammal presence. Though the weather had knocked out most tracks left over the wet weekend, we were able to locate several moose prints and some coyote scat in the woodland area. Lara, one of our instructors, ventured with us through the corridors as we desperately scrutinized the landscape for animal markings. There was little to no success with that in the farm area. To change gears, we excitedly pulled our soot traps from their hiding spots, only to receive more disappointing news; the rain had all but dissolved any trace of mammal activity in the traps. While we were happy to notice that the small mammal trap boasted some claw marks and scat deposits, the copious pork fat bait and soot covering were seemingly untouched in our larger trap. With that, we parted ways with Lara and decided to take our lunch break, that we might reconvene with a master plan. This is what occurred the second half of our day, after a midday visit to the local Harvest Basket grocery store:

After lunch, armed with a new arsenal of fishy catfood, cheap peanut butter and a good ol' sterno can, we trekked back to the farm, where it was already rainin again, to try our hand at re-sooting the mammal traps. We'd been told by Dan Gardoqui that the larger the flame the better, but smaller flames like candles would still produce good, but slow, results. Under the semi-shelter of a canopy, we lit our sterno, and spent quite a while trying to accumulate soot, but to no avail. The minimalists (aka poor, material-deficient graduate students) that we are, we resorted to using mud in place of soot on the small animal trap. Because we really wanted the advantages of actual soot, Lizzy made a call to her boss at the UNH greenhouse to see if he would let us use his blowtorch, which he happily did. So Lizzy and Matt took the trap over there to blow-torch-ify it while Leah and I stayed behind to deal with the motion sensor camera situation.

When we first arrived back to the farm after the long weekend, we could see right away that the camera had captured six pictures. Of what, though, we were unsure. We were extremely hopeful that even just one would boast a photo of wildlife. However, Leah and I discovered the unforunate truth; every picture was of one of our roving classmates! Oh well. So we moved the camera to another spot deeper in the woods where mammal activity seemed high. Hopefully we will capture something of note that I can report on in the next few days!

The most interesting story of the day involves Lizzy and Matt's excursion to use the blow torch. If I may take an exerpt from the Scat Track Fever group blog wherein I describe the experience: apparently Matt lit up the blow torch and began heating the foil to accumulate soot, when, after just ten seconds of success, flames engulfed the entire apparatus, including Matt's hand! The only utterance Matt could find within himself were the repeated words, "bad, bad, bad," in a completely monotone voice. Looking at Lizzy for guidance, which he got, in the form of her frantic pointing outside, Matt marched the flaming device out of the green house and doused it in a puddle. He is ok, though! His flaming hand lost mass amounts of hair, but apparently the two group members who witnessed the fiery debachle thought it was hilarious.

We are now into the third week of this month-long program! When I think about how fast the Summer Institute has already flown by, it reminds me how quickly the next year will probably go. One year is not very much time to accomplish all the classes, internship work, and practicum experience I will need to earn my degree next summer!

Scat Track Fever!

So... I think it's official; we've decided on a team name. Scat Track Fever! It makes total sense, plus it's a little silly, just like the team members. "Group corridor" made sense too, but didn't have as much character.

Dan Gardoqui joined us today as we re-explored the trails we'll be focused on for the duration of the project. We knew there was a chance that the awesome tracks we spotted yesterday all over the corridors might have been marred overnight, but we got lucky and procured some amazing casts of animal prints. It was the first time any of us had utilized plaster of paris for this kind of project, but it worked out so well! Dan even challenged us to look closer than we'd been looking before, and sure enough, in no time, the team members of Scat Track Fever were pointing out field mouse, chipmunk, sparrow and other prints of all kinds! There were tons of coyote, deer and moose signs too. Even more interesting to me were the really unique prints that Dan recognized to be that of the porcupine - these things are weird! The only way to describe it is that a porcupine paw print looks like a flat, uniform mark with a texture as though a basketball had been imprinted there. Then way above that pad print are 4 small but distinct claw marks that look like pin holes. So cool! Unfortunately, because these prints are so shallow, there's little chance of making casts from them. But some of my team members got pictures which we will likely be posting in our group blog (which begins tomorrow!)

I tremendously enjoy perusing the outdoors with somebody like Dan whose knowledge seems to be so endless about everything in sight. Most impressively, he points out exactly what is in our sight that we are overlooking; the scattered, hard-to-read frog prints, the abundant jumping mice, and so on. I'm excited to take the limited yet poignant knowledge he's already instilled in me and share it with others. Hopefully there will be an opportunity for an internship or credit-based work for me within Dan's center. I've already mentioned to him my interest in pursuing work similar to what he performs; and our like-minded interests seemed even more understandable once we realized that we both attended Cook College; we even shared some very influential professors, including my favorite, Human Ecology professor George Clark! What a small world.

Although Team Scat Track Fever has already had to make some adjustments to our core project research questions, we're still very much on the right track, having already decided on the trails we will most heavily be inventorying. We've even begun gathering an arsenal of physical props for use in our presentation, including 5+ print castings, feathers and quills. If we're lucky, when we arrive back at the site tomorrow, the overnight small animal track trap we've set up with yield some exciting results.

The pictures posted here are of a few of the great prints we've seen.... moose, deer, wild turkey, etc. And don't forget to check out that gorgeous pic of Team Scat Track Fever! Because my blog entries will soon mainly be focused away from my personal space and more into the group territory, I will leave you for now with a quote which I believe so well to be true, and anticipate the integrity of my life to be committed to -

The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man. ~Author Unknown

Group Corridor Begins

In about a half hour my three teammates and I are heading back to the Warren family farm to meet Randy, whom we hope is as excited as we are about the kick-off of our project. The few hours we have today to spend at the cusp of the farm and the Barrington Headwaters will probably be spent learning more from Randy about the land's history, and then exploring some sites in hopes of finding some animal presence, that we may come back tomorrow and in future days to research and record more thoroughly.

Now that the team has some goals in mind, we're ultimately hoping to capture some hard evidence that will serve us well during our final presentation, and also may be used for educating future classes. Specifically, we'll be targetting animal tracks and using a special camera that surveys the area overnight, in hopes of catching a wandering animal while we are away.

This kind of research is akin to what I can imagine myself doing for the rest of my life. Animal behavior is so interesting and special to me. Though I may be getting ahead of myself, I imagine that, should we be fortunate enough to capture wild animal pictures or prints, they would be memorabilia I would be so proud to show my children and grandchildren someday. I think educating budding students is most effective when you can stimulate and engage them; and I know that presenting such concrete examples of animal life could really evoke curiosity.

While the day began cruelly for us students living in Babcock hall, (The fire alarm drove us out of the building and into what was a frigid morning from 5:40 - 7 am), the morning picked up immediately for me as I facilitated class dialogue and activities surrounding my assigned readings. I tend to get a bit nervous before presenting or speaking to a group, but quickly warm up as I see the agenda progressing. My peers and instructors always have so many enlightening things to say, and I could not have been happier with how the facilitation turned out. The experience, including the enthusiasm that my fellow EE'ers responded with, really solidified my love of teaching and sharing with others.

I began my facilitation with a poem by David Wagoner. Here it is:

Lost

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you,
If you leave it you may come back again, saying
Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

This poem puts me at ease!

Time to meet my teammates for our trek to the farm... I hope to have exciting news to share when we return!

Hittin' the Trails

I'm so excited! Today we formed groups based around our interests for the research project. Everybody was so passionate about their topics; I anticipate some really in-depth presentations to surface out of this.

As for my group, which consists of myself, Leah, Matt and Lizzy, we will be investigating the forested border area between Randy Warren's farm and the Barrington Headwaters. Specifically, we'll be looking for popular corridors, or pathways, that mammals move through. From there, we'll hopefully be able to determine what corridor factors make the area attractive to animals, which animals (and plant species) are dominate, and we'll even be hoping to set some "track traps" to procure some physical evidence of animal presence. This research is going to be extremely enjoyable to me since I have been hoping all along that my project would be based around animal behavior.

Much of what our group will be doing is akin to the exploration we did with Dan Gardoqui last week. In fact, Dan has already agreed to join us for a few hours this week and next week as well, to help us along in our identification of signs of mammal presence. I've only met him once, but I think he is just brilliant when it comes to discerning the nuances of the woods... definitely skills one can only evolve by devoting much of their life to outdoor advent ures. I'm very interested to see what else we can learn from Mr. Gardoqui while he is with us. As Randy Warre n has also invited us back to his farm for a mini-tour of the abutting Barrington Headwaters ar ea and some more in-depth oral history, I think he will be a tremendous source of information as well.

I don't think I've ever been more excited in my life about what class will bring next! I already feel a strong connection to my team members and our goals within the scope of this project. We seem to have similarly high expectations and a sense of place outdoors that will serve us well as we track animals through their popular paths. Look for lots of pictures to come!

Enviro-weekend

Last night after I'd gotten cleaned up from the day's EE adventure, my classmates Chelsea, Leah, Ian and I headed to Dover for some drinks (and absurdly delicious garlic knots) at La Festa. Really great atmosphere. And really large beers.

Next, we considered checking out "Mojito," but it had too much of a club feel, so instead opted for a little pub down the street that boasted live blue grass music and comfy lounge couches. Per usual, I asked the bartender if the establishment carried cider beer, to which she replied in the negative, but then suggested an alternative that she assured was "a bit cidery." Since I like to try new things, (I'm in NH, after all), I gave it a shot, but was pretty disappointed. It was a light ale with an extremely bitter taste that made Leah actually convulse in her seat when she tried it. Plus there was no apple taste, which is what I'm usually looking for. Oh well, at least the company was good. In fact, Ian even lent me a fan from his apt before we headed back to campus, which is pretty much worth more than a bar of gold to somebody like me who resides in the tiny, sweat-box rooms of Babcock hall.

So far I've gotten a lot of work done today. Since the Summer institute is only one month, we're given many assignments to take care of. My body woke up naturally at 8:30 a.m. (For those of you reading this who really know me... I know how shocking that sounds). Since Leah, Chelsea and I all live in Babcock for the summer, we've already planned out the next few days for ourselves; tomorrow we'll get the rest of our readings done at the beach, then have dinner at Chipotle, (Leah's obsession), then maybe eat Cold Stone ice cream and watch the movie Juno. Oh, and they promised they'd try my "almost famous" taco dip. The next day at noon we're going to attend a picnic pot-luck at a nearby family farm. Hopefully I'll come back with some goodies.

I love New Hampshire. I love the program I'm invested in and the area so much that I can almost forget about how much debt I'll be in by the time I've earned my degree :) It will all be well worth it. The best part is that while I'm already spending huge amounts of time each day "researching" and "working," every bit of it is enjoyable. And when my new friends and I are spending time together, we're having a lot of fun while simultaneously enlightening each other. I'm definitely inspired by my classmates' attitudes and ways of life.

Because I'm not sure I'll have the opportunity in later posts, I'll stick a few pictures here of my chinchillas at home in NJ so my fellow EE'ers can see the little critters I keep talking about. Oh, and the grey guy whose pic is in place of mine in the "about me" section... that's Charlie.

A Full, Satisfying Day

This morning my classmates and I met Dan Gardoqui for the first time. I hope it won't be the last. Dan is nothing short of what anybody might call an expert on animal tracking and deciphering the intricacies of the woodlands. I mean, this guy has on hand an assortment of acorns he's personally picked off the forest floor, each with its own pattern of teeth and claw marks, and he can, with ease, tell you which critter got to it. He stealthly led us on an hour+ excursion through what Eleanor, one of our instructors, likes to call "the thick of it." He somehow accidentally (and often purposefully, depending on clues he's followed) leads us to marevelous sites; a singular camoflauged baby grouse near an intact bright blue egg in a perfect nest; a clean white doe skull atop a small mound of leaves; the nesting tree of both an elusive scarab beetle larva and flying squirrel family. It was the perfect way to spend any day. Dan has the kind of skills, temperament, and of course, job that I would happily devote the rest of my life to. It was a pleasure to meet him, and I now have a token of our experience with him - a "quick guide" to commonly seen animal tracks and scats of North America. It will be put to good use.

I hadn't even gotten over my envy of Mr. Gardoqui when we all trekked to meet Randy Warren at his family farm abutting Tamposi woods. Randy, who is now 57, shared with us all the personal, political and environmental challenges of how he finally ended up owning and running the family farm he grew up on. Now, nobody would ever dream of asserting that a farmer's work is easy work, but after spending time with Mr. Warren, I was longing for a life in the fields. You can see in his face and attitude that he has greatly labored to become what he is; to keep his family and farm alive and healthy. But more importantly, you can also see in his face and attitude that there is nowhere else he'd rather be. Randy long ago left behind a money-and-benefit-promising job for his life on the farm. He and his family know more about the history of the land and the importance of respecting relationships between humans, animals and plants than most people ever could. It was endearing to meet a man with such a connection to the land that to sever him from it would mean negating who he is.

We're three days in now and getting to the meat of why we're here. We're touching on tough issues like the benefits and challenges of different teaching methods, and hearing budding debate on what it really means to be organic or free trade. I'm definitely excited to see what comes next.

Two days has felt like two weeks...

...In a good way! 

I had never visited UNH's campus until I arrived about 48 hours ago, on the afternoon before my 4-week intensive summer program began. I say intensive because my classmates and I (all 15 of us!) convene at 9 a.m. every day and part ways at 5 p.m. (And the work doesn't really end there...) The interim is jam-packed with discussions about our personal environmental and educational goals, preparation for hands-on teaching opportunities and project formation, and of course, authentic outdoor excursions. For anybody truly natural-minded, a program like this one provides you with one of those rare "ah-ha!" moments; the feelings I got once I met my instructors, peers, and learned of the course work, were intense; like I knew I belonged. While I covet the four years I spent as an undergraduate at Rutgers University in New Jersey studying Journalism and Environmental Policy, there was something entirely different and more satisfying about knowing for sure that the graduate degree I am pursuing is directly leading me towards a career I could love for life - one where I will never be stuck indoors.

Yesterday I spent hours getting to know my classmates and some important nuances of the UNH campus. The previous day, when I arrived, my excitement was strong, yet was overpowered by anxiety that it would be a lonely, laborious month. Would I make any new friends, or just acquaintances? How would I spend my extra time and weekends, and who would I spend them with? So far I have been happy and hopeful of the people I have met; men and women who seem to have mastered how to be grounded yet fun-loving at the same time. Now, I am looking forward to seeing how my relationship with others develop, while exploring my potential as an educator.

More to come soon!