My Side of the Mountain

 (or I should say Our Side of the Lake)

This past year, Connor and 4 other boys participated in a book club which I led.  During the course of the year, we read a number of really good books and a couple of so-so books, but I saved one of my all-time favorites for the very end. 

 When I was a young girl, my absolute favorite book was My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.  I vividly remember reading the book 13 times and desperately wanting to see if I could survive off the land.  Fortunately, I had a Dad who was willing to indulge this desire (so I didn't have to run away from home ).  One weekend he took me to  the Allegheny Mountains in upstate New York (where we owned about 80 acres of land ).  There he let me "survive" in the woods by myself, while he stayed in our tiny cabin/shack.  I spent most of the weekend looking (albeit rather unsuccessfully) for food. I quickly learned that wild onions are not very filling and the root of Queen Anne's lace tastes a bit like muddy carrots or parsnips.  During one of the nights I slept out under the stars, I had a raccoon crawl on top of my sleeping bag.  I was excited, but a tad bit scared, as I laid there absolutely still.  Needless to say, it was a grand adventure for a young girl, but by the end of the weekend, I was one hungry camper.

Well flash forward many years.  I wanted my son and his friends to also have a wilderness-like experience.  So for our final book club meeting of the year, I invited the boys over for an adventure sleepover.

The afternoon started off fairly mild with a swim in our lake.  The kids were hot and they wanted to cool off.  Afterwards, it was time to learn some "survival skills." 

Bob taught them how to shoot a bow and arrow.

In fact, he made a few targets and organized a little competition between the boys. 

They shot for Bionicles--which as you might imagine, was a great incentive for a group of 8 year old boys.

Connor wound up getting the highest score, but everyone went away a winner.

Next up, Bob taught the boys riflery and they all got to try out Connor's Red Ryder BB gun.

It was then time to burn off some energy, so they spent the next hour or so jumping on the trampoline.

The boys then set up the tent (which wasn't exactly Sam Gribley's hollowed out Hemlock Tree ), but it was shelter nonetheless.

After dinner and sunset, I taught them how to build a campfire.  They were able to get one going and roasted up marshmallows and s'mores.

The next morning, everyone was up early and fishing by 7:00 a.m..  The boys did catch enough fish to eat for breakfast, but we released them all instead.

Afterwards it was time to go on a hike to gather some more food for breakfast.

Fortunately, we had chocolate chip pancakes as a back-up, because the boys didn't quite pick enough blackberries to feed everyone.

On the other hand, they did catch a couple of turtles which we could have eaten if we were REALLY, REALLY desperate.  But we weren't so instead we just played with them for a bit before releasing them back into the lake.  

After all that activity, they were ready for another dip in the lake. 

By 11:00 a.m., everyone was on their way home and at 11:30 a.m., this is how I found Connor.

Apparently, wilderness survival is exhausting.

A Capitol Good Time

Just catching up...

Several weeks back, I organized a field trip to the Virginia State Capitol Building and the Governor's Mansion for our homeschool group.  Once again, we used a knowledgable guide from Richmond's Valentine History Museum.

The tour started off in the morning with a walking tour of Capitol Square, which is a beautiful little park that surrounds the Capitol Building and the Governor's Mansion.  The square has all sorts of monuments and statues of famous Virginian historical figures, such as the ones below.

However, the most recent monument in the Square is different than all the others. It's origins are rather interesting.  Several years ago, the young daughter of (the then) Governor (Mark Warner) asked her Dad why all the statues in the Square were of old men who were up high off the ground.   As a result, the newest monument is a street level memorial that honors a group of young black students who challenged segregation in Farmville, VA in the 1950's.  Their challenge became part of the famous Brown vs. the Board of Education case which ultimately ended segregation in public schools.

We also got to visit "Old City Hall" which is an absolutely spectacular building,

and then we got to go inside the Governor's Mansion.  After the tour of the mansion, we had a picnic lunch in front of the Capitol Building and after lunch, we got a guided tour of that building.  Can you guess who designed Virginia's Capitol Building? 

Yep--it was Thomas Jefferson.

Inside the Capitol Building, we got to see the most life-like stature of George Washington in existence.  Reportedly, the sculptor took all sorts of plaster molds of Washington and as a result, the final product is almost an exact replica of what he looked like in real life.

 All in all, it was a great tour and we will definitely return.

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The Experimental Farm at Virginia State University

Today our homeschool group went on a really interesting field trip to the Experimental Farm at VSU.  The farm's primary research focus is threefold--aquaculture, greenhouse production and ruminants. 

Our first stop was to the aquaculture center and this was the segment I personally found most interesting.  The farm has 50+ fish ponds where they primarily raise channel catfish and an experimental hybrid fish that is a cross between a fresh and saltwater bass.

After a short lesson, our guide let the kids fish for catfish

and then the whole group worked together to use a siene net to capture the fish in one of the ponds.  We caught a number of catfish as well as a fish called a needle nose gar, which was downright prehistoric looking.

The farm also raises tilapia, but by law, tilapia needs to be raised indoors.  They are a non-native fish species and the game and fisheries department doesn't want to take any chances that they could accidentally be released into the wild.  One rather disheartening thing I learned today is that just about all the tilapia that Americans eat, comes from China.  Now why that should surprise me given the fact that EVERYTHING comes from China is beyond me.  However, given what we know about what China puts in their infant formula and given what we know about their pollution control standards, I do not want me nor my family eating any fish that was farmed there.  Unfortunately, at this point in time, tilapia production in the U.S. is fairly limited because it costs about 40% more per pound to produce than the imported tilapia.  

On a brighter note, the guide showed us a barrel about 3 1/2 feet in diameter that was made out of a thick mesh and is used to raise fish.  Reportedly, you can raise about 200 pounds of fish in each barrel by placing it in a pond or a lake that is at least 8 feet deep.  Needless to say, I'm very excited to try raising fish like that in our lake and want to learn much more about it.  It appears to be something we could do to become more self sufficient.  (Besides, it would be nice to have at least one enterprise on our little hobby farm that produced more than it cost! :)) 

Next, we visited the greenhouses.  Our first stop was to a hydroponic greenhouse and again, it was very interesting.  I had always heard about hydroponics, but had never seen it up close.  The farm was raising lettuce, tomatoes and some ethnic fruits and vegetables, such as Asian bitter melons, via this method. 

We also looked at hoop houses that were being used for fruit production.  It turns out, they're great for raspberries, blackberries and strawberries.  Incredibly, there were even raising papaya and guava trees in these hoop houses and remarkably they've so far survived two Virginia winters.

Our next stop was to the ruminants, where we learned all about alpacas, fiber production, parasites and one of the world's diritiest jobs--which involves rubber gloves, reaching into ruminant nether regions and searching for worms .

Just as an aside, I wanted to take this guy home with me.

From there, we headed over to a pen which was temporarily being used to house ewes and their  9 week old lambs who were in the process of being weaned.

The farm raises three types of hair sheep, all of which are raised for meat (vice wool).  The farm's primary research focus is on heat cycles and maximizing production.  One interesting experiment they are currently conducting is that they've put an unneutered ram (who is sterile) in this pen.  The ram has a paint pack affixed to his underside and when he mounts the ewes, he leaves a splotch of red paint on their backs.  Each day, the researchers track which ewes got a little bit of "action" so to speak.  The bottom line is that they are trying to perfect a way to get three successful lambing seasons in two years instead of just two.   It turns out, a sheep breed from St. Croix is doing extremely well in Virginia and shows much promise.

A large part of the research the farm is doing is for the expressed purpose of finding ways Virginia farmers--primarily tobacco and peanut farmers--can keep farming their land. 

All in all, this was a great field trip.  The kids learned quite a bit and once again, they got to see food being produced.  The kids in our homeschool group definitely know that food doesn't just come from supermarkets .  In fact, several of the kids left the field trip wanting to become either animal scientists or agricultural experts when they grow up. 

Even us moms got into it.  By the time we left, we were batting around the idea of starting up a homeschool-run CSA.  And if nothing else, I'm inspired to learn much more about becoming a "fish" farmer for my family.