Announcing the Quarterly Botanical, A Column on Plants and Herbs
Two weeks ago, I hinted at an upcoming announcement I had for the Withywindle Blog. Well, we’re getting close enough to the launch that I can share the big new! Starting at the end of February, there will be a new, regular column on Withywindle Nature called the Quarterly Botanical. Written by clinical Herbalist Maria Noël Groves, the Quarterly Botanical will feature articles on trees, plants, wildflowers and herbs, along with recipes, herbal tips and more.
Maria guest posted at the Withywindle Blog last winter, and her article was very well received. She’s an amazing Herbalist and writer, and I’m so excited that she will publish articles here on a quarterly basis! Maria’s been working with herbs for over 15 years and has published articles in Herb Quarterly, Remedies and Edible White Mountains magazines, as well as having many, many other online and in-print appearances. If you’d like to learn more about Maria or her business, Evergreen Botanicals, head over to her website at: www.WintergreenBotanicals.com.
We’ll publish a new edition the Quarterly Botanical each season; if you have a topic you’d like to see in the our column, contact us and we’ll send Maria your request.
Windows on Wildlife: Help Protect the Gray Wolf
Welcome to the 28th edition of Windows on Wildlife! This week’s edition is late getting published, so the deadline for linking up this week will be extended into the weekend. If you have a recent post about wildlife you would like to share (it can be anything: birds, insects, mammals…) scroll down to the end of the post and add your site. I will compile and post all additions the following week. Please don’t forget to link back here (I’d love it if you’d add the Windows on Wildlife button to your post which you can find on our sidebar) and visit other blogs that have articles to share. Thanks for stopping by!
photo: doublejwebers
The gray wolf was delisted from the Endangered Species list in 2011. The result is that the fate of the gray wolf now lies with each state where wolves reside. Many states have started to allow – and actively promote – wolf hunting, and the delisting results in less protection for migrating individuals coming into the US from Canada – which right now is the only way a wolf population will return to the Northeastern US.
What’s most upsetting is that this delisting was done as a result of political pressure – not scientific research!!!
The Center for Biological Diversity is urging people to contact their members of congress to tell them to support a letter written to the US Fish and Wildlife Service opposing this premature removal of protection for wolves.
Gray wolves once roamed the vast majority of the country, but were nearly wiped out by government extermination programs. Their recovery in the northern Rockies and Great Lakes has been a success, but the job of returning wolves to the American landscape is still far from complete.Right now members of Congress are ready to step in. Representatives Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) are circulating a letter to the Service opposing the premature removal of wolf protections.U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) has already signed on as a lead co-signatory.
Please call your member of Congress at (202) 224-3121. Urge him or her to save wolves by signing onto Reps. DeFazio, Markey and Grijalva’s letter; then get more information and take action by clicking here.
This is a species that still deserves protection – if you’re not willing to make a direct call, click the link above, or visit the Center for Biological Diversity’s website to send a letter to your member of Congress.
Do you have a post about wildlife to share? Join us by linking up below!
Linking up this week with Nature Notes:
Feedback Wanted on Self-Publishing – Animal Tracking Guide Coming Soon!
I just started a new project that I hope to have completed by the end of the winter – I am self-publishing an animal tracking book, which will serve as a guide to beginners who want to get outdoors and learn how to track.
I’ll talk more about the book itself in future posts, but I’m really interested in getting feedback from bloggers and authors who have already self-published, or are in the process. What did you learn about the publishing process? What worked for you? What would you do differently if you publish again? Pros and cons of self-publishing as opposed to going with an established publisher?
Additionally, I’d love feedback from readers. What’s your opinion of self-published titles? Do you avoid them? Love them? Willing to pay for one? Why or why not?
This will be my second self-published title, but the first one that will be for sale only – no free downloads! (I promise I do have a free e-publication come soon as well!). And unlike my first book (which is in dire need of a second edition with corrections…), I’ll have an ISBN attached to this book, and hope to sell it in other online book selling venues (Amazon, etc.) in addition to my bookstore.
Please share your thoughts in the comments on reading self-published books, and the process of self-publishing, if you’ve ever been through it, or are contemplating it. I’d love to hear what people think!
Animal Tracking Workshop in Central Massachusetts, Feb. 17th, 2013
I am offering a tracking workshop from 1 – 3 PM on Sunday February 17th, at the Wachusett Reservoir, in Sterling, MA. This workshop is open to people of all tracking abilities, beginners included. We will be both on and off trails and exercise level will be moderate. I recommend bringing snowshoes if snow is deep – and given the forecast for tomorrow, it probably will be! I don’t have direct access to rentals, but you can rent snowshoes at your nearby EMS or REI. And if you’re looking to buy a relatively inexpensive pair, check out SierraTradingPost.com
; they have great discounts on high-quality outdoor gear (and I’m an affiliate, so if you shop them through the link above or on the sidebar, you’ll help fund my discounted school programs!)
Pre-registration is required so I know in advance if I have enough students to run the trip. The cost for the program is $5/person, and $15/family of 3 or more. I will send specific directions to the trail head by email when you pre-register, which you can do through our contact form, or by emailing me directly at: cynthia@withywindlenature.com.
Windows on Wildlife: A Sit Spot for Nature Observation
Welcome to the 26th edition of Windows on Wildlife! If you have a recent post about wildlife you would like to share (it can be anything: birds, insects, mammals…) scroll down to the end of the post and add your site. I will compile and post all additions the following week. Please don’t forget to link back here (I’d love it if you’d add the Windows on Wildlife button to your post which you can find on our sidebar) and visit other blogs that have articles to share. Thanks for stopping by!
My Windows on Wildlife post today is only indirectly related to wildlife. While I was out on my mini tracking expedition two weeks ago, I came across this lovely little place in the Hemlock grove, next to a stream that runs through right through the grove. I’ve been wanting to find a good “sit spot” for observing wildlife, and nature writing for over a year, and I believe I’ve finally found it.
If you’re not familiar with the “sit spot” concept (it’s used by many outdoor educators, often with different names), Coyote’s Guide to Connecting With Nature describes it this way:
The idea is simple: guide people to find a special place in nature where they become comfortable with just being there, still and quiet. In this place the lessons of nature will seep in. [The] Sit Spot will become personal because it feels private and intimate; the place where they meet their curiosity; the place where they feel wonder; the place where they get eye-to-eye with a diversity of life-forms and weather patterns; the place where they face their fears – of bugs, of being alone, of the dark – and grow past them; and the place where they meet nature as their home.
Coyote’s Guide is a manual for instructors and mentors, as much as it is a philosophy of being (and teaching) outdoors. As a naturalist, I deeply value the concepts that the Guide puts forth, but I want to also make sure that I’m doing them myself before applying these techniques with students. The Sit Spot is such a strong concept, and I’ve been wanting to make it part of my weekly routine but never really connected with a place until now.
My hope is that I will visit there several times a month and take the opportunity to write (if my fingers are warm enough) about and observe the space and animals around me. I plan on photographing it from a variety of angles and in different seasons – the picture above doesn’t do it much justice.
Do you have a special place in the natural world that you return to regularly? What does it inspire in you?
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This week’s edition of Windows on Wildlife takes us to Ranthambhor National Park in Northern India for the second week in a row (part 2), courtesy of Swapnil at Exploring the World.
Want to be included? Add your wildlife post in the link-up below!
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