Great Outhouse Views

The outhouse stories I could tell...Check out this collection.



We always kept the toilet seat inside Gray Knob, to keep it warm.

Take a Child Outside Week

Just do it.

Up In Massachusetts

If you live in southern New England, check out this website. There are some great places to see, outside.

Antietam Creek Kayak

We paddled Antietam Creek today. It's a short float, but lots of fun, with some fast water, a couple of drops, and the potential to see a lot of wildlife. Cell phones were left behind, a refreshing change.

For those in the DC area, a highly recommended trip.

Here's more info. Also, here's the link to the best outfitter in the Harper's Ferry area.

Hot Weather 2008

We wrote last year about heading out to waterfalls to beat the heat. Still a good idea today.

Here's another New Engalnd waterfall guide website for those in the Northeast. Unplug the Xbox and head on out.

Pedal Powered

I don't really like the damage that ATVs inflict on the land. While working for a short time as refuge manager at Cape May NWR, it was a constant issue that the staff dealt with, with little ability to really deal with it. These things can rapily trash a forest and turn it into nothing but a eroded dirt race track.

However, a pedal powered version, used in the right places is intriguing, and maybe a way to engage kids to get out... see it here.

The debate is ongoing about mountain bikes in wilderness, and certainly the addition of a pedal powered ATV would sharpen the debate. But can the damage be balanced by a larger number of kids engaged in outdoor activities?

Get them Outside

More evidence that kids being inside "where the outlets are" is hazardous to their health.

ScienceDaily (Jun. 5, 2008) — Sun exposure and vitamin D levels may play a strong role in risk of type 1 diabetes in children, according to new findings by researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine.

More here.

Outdoor Industry Initiatives

REI announces a new initiative to get kids outside.

Wildflowers

The bluebells are blooming here on Terrapin Neck, as are wildflowers of every shape, color and form, in places all across the country.

Remember next week is National Wildflower Week. There are events being held across the country, so get out there and enjoy them.

The national forests, national parks, national wildlife refuges, grasslands, and millions of acres of public lands are truly America's wildflower gardens. Celebrating Wildflowers' National Wildflower Week in late spring is an annual event. It launches a year long campaign that promotes the many programs featuring the important role that the Nation's public lands, over 630 million acres, play in providing diverse habitats for much of America's flora.

Celebrating Wildflowers, a collaborative commemoration between the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service, emphasizes the importance of conservation and management of native plants and plant habitats and highlights the aesthetic, recreational, biological, medicinal, and economic values of wildflowers.

Here's more info on wildflowers and their role in our lives from our land management agencies.

Garden

Heard my first white-throated sparrow of the season today, that means spring is here.

Gardening is a great way to get kids and adults outside working with the land. I started getting serious about gardening after I read Shep Ogden's Straight-Ahead Organic: A Step-By-Step Guide to Growing Great Vegetables in a Less-Than-Perfect World, a fantastic book for the beginning organic gardener. The results were great, and are even more desirable today, in this world of vegetables imported from places thousands of miles from home, and the subsequent problems that arise because of the that. I even got to know Shep Ogden, who is a local neighbor and colleague now--one hell of a gardener.

That garden was at our last home, and our lot now allows for a smaller plot. But we'll be working on being as locovorious as possible this year, by either growing our own or buying from local providers.

To help get you started or psyched for this year's garden, check out this site to start with, as it's National Garden Month.

Another OpED

from the Brunswick News.

The Staats children took over the playground at Neptune Park on St. Simons Island Monday afternoon. Sisters Anna, 8, and Emme, 5, took turns swinging from a long stretch of monkey bars, as their cousin, Jess, 4, dug in the sand nearby. "Digging, that's my favorite part," Jess said. This type of outdoor romping isn't an uncommon occurrence for the Brunswick family. They revel in spending time together outside, away from television and video games, said Jess' mother, Marilyn Staats. "They specifically ask to go outside, and I am just fine with that," she said. "Playtime outside is a good thing for kids. (We) turn off SpongeBob and they have a ball just running around outside."

More Blog Posts

Some words from the Therapeutic Landscapes Database Blog.

According to the Center for Environmental Health, children's contact with nature helps to ease attention-deficit disorder, aids cognitive development, enhances creativity, and reduces stress. And of course, with obesity at a critical level in this country, kids need to be running around outside now more than ever. A new report by the Nature Conservancy states that attendance has been falling at America's national parks since the 1980s. They blame videophilia, but we can also see connections with Louv's findings. Other reports indicate that early positive experience with nature fosters a strong sense of stewardship and environmental responsibility. In other words, if we want the next generation to take care of the planet, we'd better let them play outside on it now.