Pick Up Trash

Day 1: Pick up Trash

Okay, I know it sounds simple and like a no brainer, but how many times have you been out and about and seen plenty of trash? I often carry a few extra grocery bags in my gear bag. While these are great multi-purpose tools (use as a dry place to sit on the wet ground, carry home "natural treasures", etc.), they can be a handy way to pick up trash while we are out and about.

While home visiting for college one summer, we had a great evening watching the fireworks in a small Georgia town. Knowing the traffic would be horrible, my family lingered longer while the crowds dispersed. As we waited on the hillside, we started picking up the trash near our spot. Our circle gradually became larger and another family that stayed behind started picking up trash as well. In a short amount of time, we had picked up ALL the trash on the hillside left behind from the Independence Day crowds. We easily saw the impact we made and realized how small acts of kindness do not have to take much time, don't have to cost money, and can easily be done by seeing a need and pitching in.

In geocaching, one guiding principle in Cache In, Trash Out (CITO). Basically, if we are gecocaching, we should try to leave the area better than we found it. We have practiced this principle many days and many ways as we stop for a quick geocache or hike. It doesn't take much time and can be an adventure in and of itself. It feels good to see our impact. Special CITO days are organized throughout the year to gather with fellow geocachers, yet it also can be done on a regular basis as we interact with our daily world. As an added benefit to geocaching, a recent study has shown physical and mental health benefits for geocaching. Get your cache on and pick up a little trash!

Even if not geocaching, we find picking up trash to be a normal activity we do when we're out on hikes. I found these pictures from last February. I didn't blog about it and actually am not quite sure where we are, but am glad that we captured one way to show a little nature kindness!

And, the boys? They were not worse for the wear! In fact, they seemed to have a great time while having a little outdoor time and nature service! Now they seem to be the ones that suggest picking up the trash when we're out and about.

A few considerations: 

1. Having something to put trash in is helpful, like extra grocery bags. These can be folded very small or put in old film canisters (hard to find now!) to carry on the go. It's nice to not have empty beer cans floating around the area.

2. Hand sanitation can be nice. We don't use them very often, but the small bottles of liquid hand sanitizer can be handy when we're out and about. Gloves could also be worn as further protection.

3. Some trash shouldn't be picked up! A fellow Indiana Master Naturalist found meth lab trash while cleaning up one day. Avoid questionable items. 

NATURE APPRECIATES YOU. THANKS!

What adventures have you had picking up trash?

Cobus Creek

Saturday was a beautiful day! We headed out to Cobus Creek County Park for the day. This was my husband's first time to the park, but I've taken the kids several times and even had a class here for Indiana Master Naturalists. We took out wildflower books to fields to identify prairie plants. This is the newest Elkhart County Park. I like that it has such diversity, with prairies, woods, a creek, a pond, the sensory garden, play area, and sand volleyball pit. I recommend a visit to this park!

I snapped a shot of the map when we arrived. It actually came in quite handy as we were navigating the trails. In the past, I've been out on the trails a little longer than we expected with friends because we didn't know the trails very well. I offer this tip: Take a picture of the trail map so you can review while walking.

There is a small play are at the park. My kids really like the big stones that are out! Next we checked out the Sensory Garden. This is a neat concept and has many textures, smells, tastes, etc. even in winter. I was relieved to see no gardeners here today. We appreciate their efforts!

The boys enjoyed the pond and rocks. Ice is such a fascinating thing to investigate! I think the green rocks would have been moved if not cemented down. Smart move, Elkhart County Parks!

More textures!

When we were watching the ice, my nephew mentioned this is how the continents once were . . . five minutes later, my husband started a lecture about how the continents once were together . . .  a little late.   Good connections for them all, though!

Later, we took a hike through the woods. We saw holes in the ground and wondered what might live there.  

Interesting trees to climb . . . this was like a fortress of sorts. The kids loved it!

Note the many birdhouses in the background . . . there are several informational placards throughout the park. I appreciate this as learning tools when we're out.

We checked out the creek and talked about trout.

Note the footprint on the rock in the middle? My niece exclaimed there was a fossil! Turned out to be a footprint. Still, she understand the concept!

My son found more treasures! I'm reminded of this type of blocks whenever I see these. I also think of the invention of velcro and hitchhiker seeds.

We found this beautiful tree conglomeration. This is huge! This was our attempt at "tree hugging".

We also found a geocache. This was a little tricky as the kids wanted to follow the direct route to the geocache; however, we needed to follow the trails to get there. This was a unique hide. It's always neat to see the ingenuity of containers and how they are hidden.

Travel bugs are kind of neat. They have unique tracking numbers so you can track everywhere they've been. If you take a travel bug, it should quickly be taken to another geocache so it can move along its way. We've seen some neat ones, like a plastic hamburger that wanted to travel to the best burger joints. People take pictures with it along the journeys and upload them to the website. We left it there as we don't have a good track record with travel bugs. 

There was a little bit of SWAG. We didn't bring any extra stuff to trade so it stayed there. We hadn't planned on geocaching, but checked the app on my phone while out for geocaches. This app was $9.99, which is more than I've ever paid for an app. Compared to the mega money we've paid for GPS units in the past, the endless papers printed, and information downloaded, the $10 for the app is a steal! All the needed information is right there and we don't have to do as much planning ahead to go geocaching. I can just pull out my phone and see if there are any caches nearby.

The kids loved this little grouping of rocks!

And some "loose parts". The sticks were a hit with all ages!

We found quartz embedded in the rock.

We also noted these two rocks seemed to fit perfectly together.

We even tried to see if they would fit, but it was quite heavy. Still we could see close enough that these were once one.  Here is a little information on weathering and erosion.

We found woodpecker holes and hideouts.

We found the frozen pond and other nearby wetlands. The kids found the ice fascinating.

Another gall . . .

More berries . . .

A fisherman passing by. There were a fair amount of people out at the park. While it was balmy for this time of the year (about 57 or so), one man was in shorts and a t-shirt. Others were walking their dogs. One man was just sitting in his car reading the paper. It was good to see people use this great park!

While I'm sure it wasn't JUST us, I think we're partially to blame for this fence from a previous visit. At least I'm glad they are clear that they don't want us to walk in this area. Sometimes I wish this park had more posted rules as we've had the gardeners tell us specific rules, yet they weren't posted for us to know.

We ended with a treat back at the van. Treats can be powerful!

Fair Weather Geocaching

Thursday of last week, the boys NEEDED to go outside and play. By Friday, I NEEDED to go outside and play! We didn't have much time before we got dinner ready. So, we opted for a little geocaching in north Elkhart. Have you been geocaching? Geocachers use GPS devices to find small containers hidden in different areas. For our family, geocaching combines technology (geeky husband!), nature, family time, the thrill of the find, and a little exercise and fresh air. Do you see the small black object in between my son's hands on the guard rail? That's a geocache! In this case it was a small magnetic box with a log sheet inside. Once a geocacher finds a cache, it is signed, replaced, and logged at the geocaching.com website.

Our journeys brought us here . . . do you know where this is? :-) We drive near here a fair amount, but have never scouted Ideal Beach to see what it is really like.

There was even a small miniature golf area. Outside of the area is a geocache in a small Lock & Lock box that contained a few small trinkets for trade and the log book. Basic etiquette says to "trade up" if a person trades for the SWAG contained in a geocache. Try to leave something a little nice than what you take. My kids often clamor for the trinkets--I need to put some in my nature bag and have some ready in the car for when we are out and about.

We tried another geocache nearby, but never found it in these evergreens. Instead, we picked up a fair amount of trash near the road. CITO is an initiative to Cache In Trash Out. Basically, leave the place a little better as you geocache in the area and take any trash you find with you. We try to keep recycled grocery bags with us to help with trash pick up. It also feels good to see the results of our efforts.

We saw berries . . .

And a gall . . .

And had a little horseplay!

This little guy did not want to give up our hunt. We'd checked underneath all the nearby evergreens and in the nooks and crannies for a cache yet it eluded us.

We picked up one more cache on our way home. As you can tell, guard rails are popular places for geocaches. There is usually one in the light fixtures at Wal-mart parking lots, though we prefer a little hike before we find our cache.

Here are some basics on geocaching. We've been doing it for about 5 years now, but have been fair weather cachers. The weather was pretty fair on Friday! What questions do you have about geocaching? We'd be happy to answer them! More to come . . . 

2013--One Little Word: EXPLORE

I recently posted about our adventures in 2012 with the word GROW. Near the end of 2012, my husband mentioned the word EXPLORE. It seemed to resonate with the direction of several areas of our lives and what we're trying to put out there for our children. My husband and I met in Germany and both lived overseas for 6-8 years each, so we are lucky to have EXPLORED many parts of the world. However, life is still full of exploration and each new stage of raising children is seen through new eyes.

I checked an online dictionary for definitions of explore.

ex·plore  (k-splôr, -splr) v. ex·plored, ex·plor·ing, ex·plores v.tr. 1. To investigate systematically; examine: explore every possibility. 2. To search into or travel in for the purpose of discovery: exploring outer space. 3. Medicine To examine for diagnostic purposes. v.intr. To make a careful examination or search: scientists who have been known to explore in this region of the earth.

Wow! This really sums up what we want to do with this blog, in our personal lives, with our children, and in our aspirations to connect others with nature!

I also enjoyed looking at the synonyms for varying definitions of EXPLORE:
research, search, prospect, google (love that this is now a verb!), mapquest, re-explore, beat about, investigate, look into, pioneer, spelunk (this would be fun to do more of!), cave, map, diagnose, name, plum, put out feelers, travel around, tour, scout, traverse, range over, consider, examine, scrutinize, inquire into, research, inspect . . .

Since I love to research things, I investigated the term EXPLORE on Pinterest. What inspiration!

While there will certainly be an organic nature to our word EXPLORE this year, some things we hope to traverse a bit more include:

1. Do more geocaching, because it takes us to places we would never have discovered otherwise!

2. Investigate new preparedness skills, such as ham radio (for me and the oldest boy--my hubby is already an amateur radio geek), beekeeping, chickens, etc. My husband found a 13 in 2013 challenge. Maybe we'll look into this more. My husband got some homesteading books for Christmas!

3. Scout sources for more local foods. Scrutinize eating habits to include more whole and healthier foods. This might include growing food, connecting with local farmers, farmers markets, local restaurants, etc.

4. Inspect natural places in the Michiana area--what, did we just tour 6 Nature Centers in the last week? Guess we're starting off our explorations early!

5. Travel around as many water ways as we can nearby. While I went out on a nearby lake several times, my husband went down rivers with his group of boy scouts in 2012. I'd love to do this more as a family. We can do this with a baby, right?

6. Beat about the campfire and tent camping circles more.

7. Range over options on how to get outside with various ages of children, including a young one. He was out on a hike at 9 days old--we can keep this up, we hope!?!

8. Prospect new connections and continue cultivating friendships. Thanks for joining us in our journey!

Where else will we go? To the moon and beyond?

More inspiration . . . I've got "Roam where you where want to . . . roam around the world" by the B52s in my head. Yes, showing my age! "Stand in the place where you are" by REM is beating about my head as well!

Quotes on EXPLORE from Good Reads:

“We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” 
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods

“Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.”
― Edwin Hubble

“In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.” 
― Ansel Adams

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” 
― H. Jackson Brown Jr.

“Nothing is pleasanter to me than exploring in a library.”
― Walter Savage Landor

“Life is an experiment in which you may fail or succeed. Explore more, expect least.” 
― Santosh Kalwar

“Come to the book as you would come to an unexplored land. Come without a map. Explore it and draw your own map.” 
― Stephen King, Hearts in Atlantis