Week 5 - Nature Awareness 1

In your Dedicant Notebook, discuss what you felt when you were experiencing Nature. Did you have problems focusing? - Not so bad, but having my phone be empty of charge and me being unreachable made me twitchy. My wife is diabetic, so being out of reach and alone is generally a bad thing. It's going to take time to unlearn.

Did you have trouble finding your spot? - Nope, there's a lovely little park near my home. The first few rituals I ever did were there, so it's home ground.

Try drawing a map from your house or your office to this spot, but don't include street names or man-made objects; instead, use natural landmarks to remind yourself how to get there in the future. - Drawn, but I'm not up to doing ASCII art.

Were you able to hear things you've never heard before? - Not hear, exactly, but it was enjoyable to feel the trees and the air and the grass.

Did you catch a glimpse of the Earth Mother playing with children in the park? - not yet, but I think my worries got in the way, I'll do more sitting in parks.

What is the source of your drinking water? What rivers make up your watershed? - Lick Run Watershed feeding to Roanoke River through Western VA Water Authority, The Western Virginia Water Authority’s drinking water comes primarily from four sources: Carvins Cove Reservoir, Spring Hollow Reservoir, Crystal Spring and Falling Creek Reservoir

What are the prevailing winds? What are the major influences on your local clouds, rain and storms?

Due to mountains, the winds come from varying directions. Either from the west straight through, up the I-81 corridor, or cycling widdershins from the coast – usually due to some big storm. The mountains trigger most of the snow to land on their western slopes, so that reduces the amount of snow we get in the valley.

What is the composition of your soil? Is it acid or alkali? What are the major crops grown in your region?

Alkali. Soybeans, corn, tobacco, tomatoes, and by far the most? Pot, though the official numbers don't include it.

Identify 5 species of trees in your area. Then, learn 4 more!

Maple, Hickory, Beech, various Oaks, cherry, redbud, dogwood, willow, choke cherry

Identify 5 herbs for health in your area. Then, learn 4 more!

Yarrow, ginger, marigold, alumroot, mint, foxglove

Identify 5 species of birds common to your area,

red tail hawks, starlings, sparrows, hummingbirds, crows, turkey vulture

and 5 species of wild animal.

Rabbits, groundhogs, raccoons, white tail deer, squirell

Know the three major sources of air and water pollution in your area.

Carbon Monoxide, VOC, PCB's – cars, industry

Know how your area deals with trash and garbage. Consider recycling and/or composting.

Solid Waste Management handles trash in the area, and for residents, they do recyling as well.

Learn about environmental action groups in your area; consider joining and/or working with one or more.

Cutting down on all external commitments, so no joining in. Meagan with Blue Ridge Conservancy gets to native-plant my yard when I get one.  I've already got way too many pulls on my time to add another.