These acorn cakes were good! Thanks to our instructor Rob Remedi, and to the Malibu Creek Docents for providing continuing education.
wild food
Tag: docent
men at work
There’s a big century-plus old pump at the Park that spent much of its life being flooded by the creek. It’s now been moved to higher ground, and some of the guys are working on sprucing it up, chipping away at decades of rust.
sharing the love
Twenty 7-12 year olds (and their parents) now know the difference between a valley oak and a coast live oak, though hopefully that’s not the only thing they gained from our time together 🌿💚
the meadow
The scene is sketched from the same spot as yesterday’s, but now facing northwest instead of southeast. The Meadow at Malibu Creek State Park won’t be green for much longer; it was lovely to enjoy its verdure for a whole weekend.
field ecology
Just back from a fabulous Field Ecology Weekend, camping with the Malibu Creek and Topanga State Park docents, and learning from a wide range of teachers. I have many pages of notes to review and digest, and new areas of interest to pursue. Obsidian knapping and animal tracking were highlights!
field guide to western wildflowers
We have a lending library for docents at MCSP, and yesterday I discovered this treasure: Field Book of Western Wild Flowers by Margaret Armstrong, published in 1915. It’s a small, thick book, filled with 500 black and white illustrations and 48 watercolour plates, and the most delightful plant descriptions. Example (Easter Bells, p 28):
“A patch of these flowers bordering the edge of a glacier, as if planted in a garden-bed, is a sight never to be forgotten. Pushing their bright leaves right through the snow they gayly swing their golden censers in the face of winter and seem the very incarnation of spring.”
Makes me want to gayly swing my golden censer 😁
You can see the text here on Gutenberg, but of course holding the hundred year old book in one’s hands is an infinitely more special experience. I’ve borrowed it, and I’m already feeling sad about the day I need to return it to the shelves.
american badger
I did my first stint in the MCSP Visitor Center today, where they have a lot of taxidermy animals and birds. This sketch was done from one such specimen. Learn something new every day!
map fun
Working on my Docent homework 😊
woodrats
Something I learned in MCSP Docent School this week: our native woodrats build large dens in coast live oak trees; dens can reach five feet in height and eight feet in diameter. They have separate rooms for sleeping (lined with chewed up bay leaves to keep away insects), food storage, nurseries, and protection. Woodrats live in a matriarchal social system where females choose mates, and boot out the males after mating. They are similar in appearance to the common rat species Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus, but with larger ears and eyes, softer coats, and furred tails (i.e., they are cuter!)
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