Friday, July 10, 2015

Another Tuesday Morning Walk

As you know, every Tuesday morning we lead a nature hike, usually at Dahlem, but occasionally somewhere else.  On this particular morning (June 23), the walk was at Dahlem and was led by Don and Robin Henise, volunteers and good friends of Dahlem.  Their specialty is things with wings:  birds, butterflies and dragonflies.  This morning we were headed out specifically to look for dragon- and butterflies.  We were not to be disappointed.

Right off the bat, we encountered this little woodland flutterby - it's one of the hairstreaks, possibly banded.


Thanks to all the heavy rains we'd had, the water was way up in Crouch Creek!



A good destination for dragonflies is the Reflection Pond, where one can stand on the boardwalk, without getting one's feet wet, and watch for dragonflies, damselfies, frogs and turtles.  We saw several green darners, some twelve-spotted skimmers, forktail damselflies, and many dot-tailed whitefaces.

 
 forktail damselfy

mating dragonflies


 
 Dot-tail whiteface dragonfly


green frog

Another great place to look for dragonflies is out in the fields/grasslands.  The day we went, the spiderwort was about at peak for blooming.  There was a lovely purple haze across the southern end of the grasslands.


 Spiderwort is mostly purple, but sometimes you find white or even magenta blossoms.



Because our group is made up of general natural enthusiasts, they also did some bird watching.


 We couldn't have asked for a more glorious morning to be out in the grasslands!



Meadowhawks were plentiful in the grasslands.

One of my favorites is the ebony jewelwing, a beautiful damselfly that we quite often seen in sunny patches in the woods.  I was thrilled to capture this image of one peeking over the edge of a leaf at me.


As our group made its way back to the visitor center, we encountered some artists who were out memorializing parts of our trails on canvas.  It is always such a joy to see the diverse array of visitors we get out here at Dahlem.


Anyone can join us for our Tuesday Morning Walks!  We meet at 9:00 AM and are usually done between 11:00 and 11:30, after which the group usually heads out to have lunch together.  It's a wonderful social time for all.

Girls with Grit

In May, we had the first of four programs in our summer series Girls with Grit.  This four-month program, which can be signed up for all at once or a la carte, is designed to offer teenage girls the opportunity to learn skills for outdoor independence.  Each month we meet to learn a new outdoor skill.  In May, the overall topic was "Outdoor Skills."

The day started off chilly and rainy, so we took over the classroom space to learn some basics, starting with knife safety.  Each girl was given a pocket knife and shown how to open and close it safely.  The benefits of "lock backs" were discussed, and then everyone got to practice how to sharpen a knife.  As we all know, the most dangerous knife is a dull knife.

From there we moved on to knots!  Knowing how to tie a good and solid knot is extremely important.  Not all knots are the same.  We had a lot of fun trying to figure out left from right, which part of the ropes went over or under, and what goes around where.


 


Knot-tying ended up with each girl making a "survival" bracelet out of paracord.  The purpose of said item is that one always has an emergency stash of 6-8 feet of rope at hand.



After lunch, we moved on to fire.  If one is stranded outdoors, it is good to know how to build a fire, both so one can have warmth and light, but also so one knows how to do it properly, without burning down the whole forest!

To make it fun, the girls teamed up and had a competition to see which team could boil over their can of water first.  Sadly, we had a difficult time getting enough tinder together to keep the fires going long enough for the larger twigs to ignite.


 Finally, everyone got to try her hands at the classic hand drill.  This primitive tool, which is easy to make, is a great way to start a fire, provided one has the staying power to produce enough ashes to generate a glowing coal.  Our goal this day was to get smoke...a good place to start.  Adding thumb loops to a hand drill helps immensely in keeping the downward pressure on the drill, allowing one to really get some good friction going.

 We had eight girls participate in our first session of Girls with Grit - it was a success!

Our second session, in June, found us partnering with the Armory Bike Union in downtown Jackson.  The goal was to teach the girls independence in cycling:  how to care for one's bike, make some basic repairs, and then take a ride through the city, from Art 634 down the Martin Luther King Jr. Trail (formerly the Inner City Trail) to the Falling Waters Trail at Weatherwax Road - 4 miles.







It was a great day out!

Our next Girls with Grit is coming up:  July 18.  We are meeting at Quiet World Sports on Vandercook Lake, where Kat Kulchinski will be teaching the girls how to kayak!  If you are interested in joining us, visit our website, stop by or call to register before next Friday!



Dahlem's Community Gardens 2015

Despite what has turned out to be a cooler and damper summer than usual, things are growing and ripening at the Community Gardens!





As always, some of our gardeners add touches of whimsey to their plots. 



The zukes are ready!


And even some 'maters are ripe!






 And then there are the strange "crops."  
I have no idea what this is, but there are several in one of the gardens.


 And someone has some very large kohlrabi growing.


I admit, I was sorely tempted to sample a leaf of this luscious-looking lettuce! 



Our gardeners are doing a great job this year.  The plots are lovely and veg are growing!  I was surprised to see so much that was already ripe!

Visitors are welcome to walk through the gardens for inspiration, but please do not help yourself to the produce.

Dahlem's Apiary is in Full Swing

In case you hadn't heard, Dahlem's Public Apiary has finally taken off, with many thanks to our volunteer bee keeper Ben Schlenker!

When we first developed the idea of a public apiary about four years ago, our hives were in the woods just east of the Ecology Farm.  We had one or two people who intermittently kept bees in our apiary, but the idea, and the hives, never really took off.  

Ben has been keeping bees for about four years over in the Vandercook Lake area, and last summer he heard about our apiary and graciously volunteered to help us make it work.  Our original apiary was relocated to a spot in the field just east of the Community Gardens, but when the gas line company came through to make sure the pipeline right-of-way was clear, the hives had to be moved again.  We didn't have very happy bees.

This year the hives are located just to the west of the Community Gardens, and they seem to be very happy there.

 

During the winter Ben led two beginner bee keeping classes in our classroom, and this summer he had the first of his outdoor classes at the apiary.  


This was a great hands-on presentation on how to set up your hives and make sure you have happy and healthy bees for the summer season.


A couple of the hives were opened to see what was happening inside.  This hive needed to have the frames added still - the bees were starting to build free-form combs because there were no frames.  


The fragrant beeswax was removed and frames were inserted.


In the lower super, frames were already in place and the class went hunting for the queen, just so they could see her.



Because it was a cool and wet spring, and there weren't a lot of flowers open yet, these hives were being supplemented with sugar water.  A hive can go thru a gallon of sugar water in only a handful of days.


Ben's next class will be in September, when he will teach how to winterize hives to ensure the best possible chance for survival of the bees.

If you visit the Ecology Farm, you are welcome to take a look at the apiary, but don't get too close.  The bees will likely be busy doing their thing, but it is not wise to chance annoying them.  Some of these hives can have many thousands of bees in them, and if they get angry, it won't be a pretty sight.  It is best to admire them from afar.

If you are interested in keeping a hive or two at our apiary, give us a call.  For a modest annual fee, you can "rent" a bee plot and keep your hive here.   Why?  Maybe you can't keep bees where you are due to ordinances.  Or maybe you want to have a site where your bees can be guaranteed the best chance for chemical-free sources of pollen and nectar - where better, then, than next to an organic garden (Dahlem's Community Gardens) and acres of native vegetation (as we convert old agricultural fields into native grasslands)!

New Butterfly Trail Begun

A couple years ago Dahlem joined the Michigan Butterfly Network and became a hub for collecting baseline data on native butterflies.  Thanks to the efforts of a small crew of volunteers, we've already submitted a couple years worth of data to the network.

Data collection is done during a specific time of year and along preset transects - it's all very scientifically laid out.  The mission is to establish definitive information on Michigan's butterfly populations so trends can be tracked as climate and habitats change.

As part of this initiative, we are putting in a Butterfly Trail over at the Ecology Farm!  This trail has been in the planning phase for a couple years; this winter and spring the trail was staked out and just last week it finally got its first trim.


The trail starts near the northeast corner of the Community Gardens and heads down toward the wet meadow and Sharp's Creek.


Along the way it passed under some really impressive trees, some providing not only shade, but also some pretty neat tunnels.  Eventually it heads back toward the other end of the Community Gardens and the Apiary.  All told, it is about 0.4 miles long.


Our plans for this trail include interpretive signage that will educate visitors about our native butterflies:  what habitats they like, what foods are hosts for adults and larvae, and how everyone can contribute to butterfly conservation.


The trail will also be great for short walks for those who want to enjoy the scenery and other wildlife at the Ecology Farm.


Later on we will be seeding the grassy areas with native wildflowers and grasses, which will encourage not only our native butterflies, but also provide great pollen and nectar sources for native bees and the honey bees at our apiary.

The trail isn't open yet - we still have some work to do, but keep your eyes and ears peeled for an announcement for when it does open.