California Stow-Away

Hello! 

 I would have posted earlier, but as you know...I'm on turtle time!

 

As an Eastern Box Turtle, it was easy for me to stow away in a suitcase by tucking in my head and legs.  Samsonite has nothing on a turtle's trusty shell!  Before you could say "Turtles are truly terrific," my friend Sheila toted me to sunny California.

 

While here, I'm busy having fun in the sun while promoting this year's exciting 2011 NAAEE Conference in Raleigh, NC and checking out the state that will host the NAAEE Conference in 2012.  Take it from this terrapin, you'll want to travel to both these destinations for the best professional development in EE!

Here I am  posing with Jenny Rigby outside Acorn Naturalists--the science and nature supply company that's well-known by environmental educators the world over! 

 

Jenny treated me to a grand tour of her eco-friendly American Craftsman bungalow in Old Town Tustin, CA.  We entered through handcrafted doors featuring a beautiful oak tree.  It reminded me of the shimmering oak tree on the Raleigh Convention Center!  Whether doing EE out west or back east, we are all "Rooted in Time, Branching to the Future."

Inside we saw all the cool books, activity guides, and field equipment that fill the pages of the Acorn Naturalists catalog.  Plus, lots of turtle-themed and nature inspired gifts which are perfect for this, the Year of the Turtle!

 

Be sure to visit the Exhibit Hall at Raleigh's 2011 NAAEE Conference to meet all kinds of companies and organizations that sell educational materials to support quality EE!

Next, this landlubber lumbered further up the beach where I met another new friend.  Riley was visiting the beach from the desert region of Phoenix, AZ.  She invited me to join her and her siblings in sculpturing sandcastles and excavating moats before high tide would sweep them away.  What fun! 

These youngsters were very curious about turtles--both those that live on land and those who make the ocean their home.  I told them how we turtles like to dig our nests and lay our eggs in sand and soil.  I also gave them ideas on how they could help turtles everywhere.  Environmental educators who come to the 2011 NAAEE Conference will hear Jean Beasley speak on how she founded the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center on Topsail Island, NC to help sea turtles in trouble.  I'm looking forward to seeing Jean's education assistant Lennie, a blind Kemp's Ridley sea turtle who is my BTF (best turtle friend!)

Goodbye!  It's time for ol' Tryon T. Turtle to trek back to NC to promote the 2011 NAAEE Conference. I've got to let everyone know that the early bird registration deadline is coming up August 11th!  You remember the story of the Tortoise and the Hare?  Be quick and register by clicking on "Conference" atwww.naaee.org.  Hope to see you there!

The Sea Turtle Frenzy!

Every summer, folks in North Carolina get a little cuckoo for sea turtles.  I suppose it's because North Carolina's coasts are home to five of the world's seven sea turtle species!


Well I'm just a 59-year old landlubber who's grown accustomed to my maritime cousins getting most of the fame and glory.  And size doesn't always matter.   Even though loggerheads outweigh me by 100 times (300 lbs to 3 lbs), our brains are just about the same size!!!!

I visited Hammocks Beach State Park where four Sea Turtle interns carefully monitor almost 4 miles of coast each night from dusk till dawn!  When they see a sea turtle crawl ashore to nest, they enclose the nest in a protective cage to keep dogs, raccoons and foxes from interfering.  About 70 days later, up to 100 eggs hatch and the young sea turtles "boil out" of the sand.



I also visited the aquarium at Fort Fisher and talked to education staff about how I could help.  Apparently sea turtles use the brightest horizon (usually the ocean) to orient themselves at night. But bright street lights can confuse them.  Also, plastic bags that end up in the ocean look strikingly similar to jellyfish, a favorite food of some turtles.  Even landlubbers like you and I can make a difference! 

Playing in the Mud with Seagrove Potters!

In case you don't know, Seagrove, North Carolina, has been famous for it's pottery for hundreds of years.

Last weekend, the EENC Conference Chair, Lois Nixon, took me to Seagrove. It was really fun to hang out with people who love playing with damp, squishy mud as much as I do!  Can you believe they were making cereal bowls out of that clay? Lois was there to look for bowls for you to purchase and use at the conference. These will save on disposable bowls, which makes the sustainability chair Mickey Jo Sorrell very happy, and will give you a piece of North Carolina to take home with you.  

As you can see in the photo, I was very interested in how they make bowls out of mud—you can also meet my new friend, Suzanne, in the Artists’ Corner at the conference.

I really learned a lot of new stuff about mud last weekend. Those potters have been making bowls, face jugs (can’t remember if those jugs hold spirits or scare off spirits!), bird houses, dinnerware, Christmas ornaments, pie plates, decorative wall tiles, and much more for over 200 years. A few of the people we met  are descendants of the potters who came to Seagrove in the 1700’s to dig up good dirt and mud and clay for making pots and bowls.  Some of the potters still use that local mud for pots and glazes.

About 100 potteries are along a highway way out in the country.  We would see their signs by the highway and then have a long way to go down their dirt driveway to get to the place where we could see and buy their pottery.  It was like a treasure hunt.  Most of them live in very old historic houses, and make the pottery in the barns or sheds. I met a tiny baby five-lined skink with a neon-blue tail on the way to one of the pottery barns. 

After the potters make the mud into a bowl shape, it dries, then they “fire” it in a “kiln” to get all the water out and harden it before the colorful glazes are added (these are all new words for me).  

I peeked into one of the kilns. It is a big brick room, where they stack the bowls and pots on shelves, then use wood (or gas or electricity) to make a really hot fire --

1700º F or more.  After the pots cool, the next step is for the potter to mix up their special secret recipes for glazes and dip or brush on the glaze, then stack the pots back in the kiln again, and heat the kiln to about 2000º F to melt the glaze onto the pot.  I would not be peeking into the kiln when that firing was going on!  It might scorch my shell!  The potters said the fire even shoots out between the bricks—in ancient times in the Orient, this caused these outdoor kilns on the hillside to be called “dragon kilns.”  I think dragons might be my ancestors! 

After the pots and bowls cool down in the kiln for a whole day, the potters open the kiln door to see their art work!  Sometimes it is a big surprise….good or bad!  We found lots of beautiful cereal bowls on our shopping trip, and here I am, trying to decide which one I want.  Which is your favorite?  We’ll save some of these just for you to buy to use for your breakfast each morning at the conference.                       

By the way, that breakfast is going to be healthy granola (yummm), yogurt (think I’ll skip that), and fresh NC fruit from the Farmers’ Market.  Your choices will be fresh apples and pears grown in the NC mountains, fresh peaches and figs grown in the sandhills of NC, or fresh raspberries and grapes grown on the coastal plain.  You’ll have to hurry to beat me to those fresh raspberries each morning.

Stay tuned for more travels!

Tryon T. Turtle

Where are the Smores?

No smores this week at Carolina Beach State Park.  Extremely dry conditions led to a burning ban for wood campfires.  Not to worry, there's no shortage of great ice cream here on the coast... not to mention the roadside produce stands full of NC peaches and blueberries.


While we're cautious about  campground fires becoming wildfires, prescribed fire is an important part of our natural resource management.




The longleaf pine savannas in particular depend on fire every few years to maintain this natural plant community.  One of the park's most famous plants, the Venus flytrap, also tolerates fire well.


Prescribed fire reduces the "fuel level" in forests, protects rare species and can even reduce tick populations.  Park rangers receive  extensive training and only conduct prescribed burns when the weather is ideal.  

This turtle is trying to avoid too much heat.  I don't want to end up like these bacon, hot dog, turtle burgers. Grubs and shrooms are more my taste!

State Parks...where haven't I been?

The weekend before July 4th through the weekend following may be the busiest week in North Carolina state parks. 

I started my marathon week as a ranger at the 35th Annual Festival for the Eno. It's a turtlely awesome shindig to raise money for the Eno River Association. Sort of like Woodstock meets Burning Man... except it's along a beautifully lush river forest and family oriented.   Over the years, nationally recognized blues, bluegrass, african and folk musicians have been a centerpiece of the festival.  In addition to music, a variety of artisans exhibit art relating to nature and sustainability. 

I took a break from the falafel and bluegrass to cool off in the river, I cautiously crossed the river along the locally famous Eno River Suspension Bridge, and I enjoyed the company a spotted salamander, this year's festival mascot.

 Later in the week, my travels took me to Willium B Umstead State Park in Raleigh, NC.  I helped out at a day camp for girls from the city sponsored by the Full Circles Foundation.  For many of the girls, it was their first time holding a toad, riding in a canoe, fishing, or hiking several miles through the forest.  And Umstead State Park was a great place to be.  There are over 5,500 acres of forest right smack in the middle of Raleigh, Durham and RTP Airport. It's sort of like North Carolina's version of Central Park.