From The Rural Life by Verlyn Klinkenborg,
pp. 18-19, Little, Brown Co.
Author Archives: Dale Hoyt
February 20 2014 Ramble Report
Twenty five people gathered on this beautiful, spring-like
day. Apparently our
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| Ramblers at Bridge |
collective chattering as we caught up with old
acquaintances we hadn’t seen since last Thanksgiving made such a din that it
upset a nearby Fish Crow (see below).
Click for February 20 2014 Readings
Click
for more Ramble pictures courtesy of Don Hunter
Todays route:
February 20 2014 Species List
February 20, 2014 Readings
Hugh read this passage about hepatica from Spring
Wildflowers of the Northeast:
February 5 2014 SCNC Ramble
This Ramble Report was written by Don Hunter with a few additions by Dale Hoyt. The photos are by Don and Hugh Nourse.
On Wednesday, February 5, 2014, fourteen Ramblers gathered
at the Sandy Creek Nature Center to walk the trails, just as the overnight
rains were moving out of the area. The emphasis
for the ramble was winter tree identification, with a dash of Marbled
Salamander. We left the Education and
Visitor Center and walked north to the Kestrel Trail, right onto the Screech
Owl Trial, briefly on Cook’s Trail, then right on to the Hooded Warbler Trail,
then right on to the Pine Ridge Trail back to the Visitor Center.
January 16 2014 Ramble Report
This post was written by Don Hunter. I selected a few of his photographs from his Flickr sets to accompany his narrative; you can find them here.
Twenty Ramblers, including several very welcome new folks,
gathered at the Visitor Center parking lot on the afternoon of January 16 for a
Ramble on what turned out to be a beautiful and surprisingly comfortable
afternoon. Both the Sun and everyone’s
spirits
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| Cold? No — just a little chilly |
were high and bright as the group headed off from the parking lot for
today’s Ramble, organized by Don, Dale and Emily. The main areas of concentration today were
lichens, fungi and liverworts. We left
the parking lot and headed down the path towards the International Bridge, then
on to the Purple Trail. At the river, we
headed left on the Orange Trail and followed it around the Beaver Pond to the
foot bridge across the creek, where, after a short walk past the bridge, we
viewed liverworts in the stream and a budding Round Lobed Hepatica. We then returned to the bridge and headed up
the trail to the Flower Garden and on back to the Visitor Center. The following narrative is a detailed
description of the various interesting things viewed on the Ramble. Also included are several things not viewed on
the Ramble but were observed earlier on the same route in preparation for the
Ramble and are worth sharing.
Rock and Shoals Ramble December 17 2013
This Ramble
Report was written by Don Hunter. Don’s photo album of the ramble is here.
The photos included in this post are all Don’s.
On Tuesday,
December 17, 2013, twenty-one eager and kindred souls gathered at the Barnett
Shoals Elementary School, on Barnett Shoals Road, for a ramble through the Rock
and Shoals Natural Area, organized by Ramblers Joan and Sandra. It was probably still in the 30’s as we all
arrived and mingled a bit at the school, enjoying hot coffee, chocolate banana
bread, cranberry bread, both still warm from the oven, and mixed fruit, all kindly
provided by Joan and Sandra.
Recipes from Rock and Shoals Ramble
Yesterday’s
ramble at Rock and Shoals began and ended with homemade treats provided by Joan
and Sandra. Several people asked for the recipes and Joan kindly provided them.
Enjoy!
Cranberry
Bread
2 C flour
1 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 C orange juice
1 Tbs. orange peel (grated from 1
large orange)
2 Tbs. shortening
1 egg
1 1/2 C cranberries (fresh)
Preheat
oven to 350. Mix flour, sugar, powder, salt and soda in large bowl. In
another bowl, mix OJ, peel, shortening, and egg, then add to the dry
ingredients. Stir in cranberries. Bake in a greased 9 x 5 x 3 loaf
pan at 350 degrees for about 55 minutes.
Banana
Bread
½ C brown sugar
¼ C butter (1/2 stick)
2 eggs
1 ½ C Mashed Banana (3-4 ripe
bananas)
1 Tbs. lemon juice
2 C flour
3 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
3/4-1 C chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350. Cream
butter and sugar. Add eggs singly beating after each one. Stir in
bananas and lemon juice. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix
quickly. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake in a greased 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan at
350 degrees for about 1 hour.
Nature Rambling photo year in review
As all you regular Nature Ramblers know, Don Hunter has been
photographing our rambles for much of the year. I thought it would be
appropriate to have a year-in-review summary of Don’s work just to remind of us
of all the wonderful times we’ve had rambling around the State Botanical
Garden’s natural areas. Rather than picking out my favorites I’m including a link
to Don’s facebook albums home page (which has many other wonderful photos, not
just the Nature Rambles) and links to each of his individual Nature Ramblers
albums.
SCNC Ramble Report Dec. 3 2013
Announcements
- ·
The next trail walk at Sandy Creek Nature Center (Nature Center, not the Park) will
be on Wednesday morning, Feb. 5, 2014, at 9AM, followed by
coffee, tea and homemade goodies. Everyone is invited! There will be no walk in
December or January. The walks next year will be on the first Wednesday of the month. Mark your
calendars! - ·
One of our Ramblers, Alice Woodruff, is a potter and invites all you Ramblers to her Christmas Sale open house, Dec. 7-8,
10AM to 5PM at 35 S. Main St., Watkinsville, GA; phone: 706-207-5175. - ·
Reminder: Dale or Hugh will be happy to have
company whenever they ramble at the State Botanical Garden this winter. They will notify all the Ramblers of
the date and time by email. (It is likely not to be early in the morning and the
days/times may vary, depending on weather. Think of it as a group of friends
just spontaneously getting together. The Ramble Reports will also be on winter
hiatus.)
Be sure to visit Don Hunter’s facebook
album to see all the photos from this walk.
This post is written by Dale
Hoyt and Emily Carr.
We began in front of the SCNC Education and Visitor Center
with 18 people, a mixture of Nature Ramblers, newbies and folks who have
previously participated in SCNC walks. It was a wonderful turnout for a warm (for
this time of year) morning when rain was forecast.