Nature Center e-newsletter #3
February 24, 2006
The last few weeks have been busy here--so busy that I neglected to take notes
for this e-newsletter, which will be an abbreviated edition. Natural world
sitings include Spring Queen (Synthyris reniformis) blooming everywhere
in the native woods understory, a large flock of swans or cranes flying
overhead a few days ago (too high for us to identify positively), a pair of
redtail hawks visiting during lunch, robins and song sparrows trading songs
with one another, winter wrens singing up storms all by themselves, a stretch
of cold, clear weather with nighttime temperatures below twenty degrees
Fahrenheit, and many more. Among us humans, daily work in the vegetable gardens
has resumed, with the arrival of our first garden intern and other volunteers.
The Lost Valley children helped us plant 150 native shrubs and
trees in the creek restoration area, of seven species: osoberry (Oemleria
cerasiformis), red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea), tall Oregon grape
(Berberis aquifolium), salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), vine
maple (Acer circinatum), snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), and
Pacific ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus).
Besides the creek restoration planting, the biggest progress in the development
of the Nature Center has been in sign-making. The new
engraver has created more than 150 plant species signs. Progress was rapid for
the first week of engraving, and then (as can happen) some snags developed--and
not of the variety favored by woodpeckers. Something that was supposed to be
only mildly sticky (the double-sided tape that held the signs to the engraving
table as they were being engraved) turned out to be "stronger than
nails" (to replace the original adhesive pad, I'd bought the wrong type of
tape, not having been told there was another). As a result, I ended up with one
shattered sign (once I finally pried it off the machine) and an engraving table
caked with the bottom half of the tape, which could only be removed through
extensive scrubbing and the liberal application of Citra-Solv. On the other
hand, the material which was supposed to hold the signs to the metal stakes
(epoxy paste) more than made up for the excessive strength of the tape by being
totally ineffective. The signs snapped off almost instantly when handled. A
trip to the hardware store this morning has finally yielded the proper (I hope)
combination of materials for mounting the signs, and within a week I expect at
least several dozen of those signs to be in place, with many more to follow
soon. Less tenacious double-sided tape has also arrived, allowing engraving to
resume as well. A future e-newsletter will share our secrets of engraving and
sign-mounting success, as well as cautionary tales so that others may be spared
the wrong trees toward the summits of which we initially barked.
We're still in the process of determining dates for our first Nature Center open house and subsequent walks
and talks. We'll let you know when we've set them. In conjunction with our
sign-making, we are also assembling a plant species list and database. We have
already noticed some interesting trends when comparing our list to Mount Pisgah
Arboretum's plant list. More details will follow in a future newsletter.
Meanwhile, thanks again for your support and interest!
Chris