Being encouraged by one's family definitely helps, and there is much that parents can do to teach their children about nature and the environment. When my great-grandparents came to Canada, they had a choice of several farms and they chose the one which was most scenic, because that was what my great-grandmother liked.
Her son (my grandfather) used to stay up late at night and read the Encyclopedia Britannicas by oil-lamp, so that he could learn about the different kinds of plants, trees, animals and birds etc. He became very knowledgeable about the subject and he got along well with the Indians, as they both shared a concern about nature. He passed on his knowledge to his son (my father) who, in turn, taught me a great deal about it.
When I was young, we still lived on the family farm and my mother used to take us on walks to the nearby lake, a pond, the woods and fields. She taught us about the different plants, birds, etc. which we saw and when we were a bit older, she taught us about gardening.
As a student, I did not have as much to do with nature but I gradually came back to it. I learned a great deal from the Conservation Authority at Tommy Thompson Park in Toronto. I also joined the Toronto Field Naturalists and went on their nature walks and attended their lectures. This was a good learning opportunity as well, because the group included very knowledgeable people, some of them retired biologists.
Then I found that I could learn more about nature by going on outings by myself, because in a group there is more of a tendency to pay attention to the other members of the group than to be able to use your senses and experience nature as a deeper meditation. So, I went on quite a few outings by bicycle or on foot to various parks in Toronto.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Wildwood Parkette
Hidden away on a side-street named Wildwood Crescent, in Toronto's Gerrard and Woodbine area, is a small park along the railway track called Wildwood Parkette. Its significance is the number of wildlife species which can be found in the city, if even a small space is friendly to them.
Because the grass and wildflowers are seldom cut along the railway track, a surprising variety of plants can be observed there, and the seeds from them resut in wildflowers popping up on the park lawn. The wildflowers include milkweed, Canada goldenrod, Queen Anne's lace, chicory, common sowthistle, butter-and-eggs, white sweet clover, small hop clover, white clover, red clover, tumble mustard, dandelion, pigweed, bluet, and columbine. The far side of the tracks has a beautiful, long patch of dame's rocket, and the fence on the park side has Virginia creeper.
Insects include monarch butterflies, bumblebees, cabbage white butterflies, cicadas, field crickets, and carpenter ants.
Much of the side of the park which is along the tracks has trees, both inside and outside of the railway fence. I once watched a yellow-bellied sapsucker systematically making holes in a branch of one of the Scotch pines. Another time I saw a barred owl, resting up on a tree branch during the day.
Other birds seen there include: song sparrow, junco, robin, marsh hawk, chickadee, crow, ring-billed gull, starling, pigeon, house sparrow, mourning dove, cardinal, blue jay, hermit thrush, golden-crowned kinglet, house finch, yellow-shafted flicker, and tree swallow.
Railway tracks also serve as corridors along which mammals travel, most notably coyotes. One time a women living a few streets further south reported seeing a deer in her back yard, and it would have travelled along the railway tracks and then down to her garden.
Because the grass and wildflowers are seldom cut along the railway track, a surprising variety of plants can be observed there, and the seeds from them resut in wildflowers popping up on the park lawn. The wildflowers include milkweed, Canada goldenrod, Queen Anne's lace, chicory, common sowthistle, butter-and-eggs, white sweet clover, small hop clover, white clover, red clover, tumble mustard, dandelion, pigweed, bluet, and columbine. The far side of the tracks has a beautiful, long patch of dame's rocket, and the fence on the park side has Virginia creeper.
Insects include monarch butterflies, bumblebees, cabbage white butterflies, cicadas, field crickets, and carpenter ants.
Much of the side of the park which is along the tracks has trees, both inside and outside of the railway fence. I once watched a yellow-bellied sapsucker systematically making holes in a branch of one of the Scotch pines. Another time I saw a barred owl, resting up on a tree branch during the day.
Other birds seen there include: song sparrow, junco, robin, marsh hawk, chickadee, crow, ring-billed gull, starling, pigeon, house sparrow, mourning dove, cardinal, blue jay, hermit thrush, golden-crowned kinglet, house finch, yellow-shafted flicker, and tree swallow.
Railway tracks also serve as corridors along which mammals travel, most notably coyotes. One time a women living a few streets further south reported seeing a deer in her back yard, and it would have travelled along the railway tracks and then down to her garden.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Glen Stewart Ravine
Glen Stewart Ravine is in the Toronto Beach area, running south from Kingston Road just east of Glen Manor Drive. You go down a long flight of wooden steps and follow the trail.
Before you even get down to the woods, you have likely seen house sparrows, starlings, crows, blue jays, grackles and robins, as well as pigeons and ring-billed gulls flying overhead. At the bottom of the steps, there is a very tall tree with a hole away up high, where downy woodpeckers go in and out.
In the leaves below may be hermit thrushes, house wrens, and even a whippoorwill. Chickadees and flickers call in the background. Along the path, you may look up and see a crow's nest away up high, a nuthatch at eye level, and, in the fall, golden-crowned kinglets.
If you take the steps up to Balsam Avenue, you may see a hairy woodpecker and winter wrens. If you go straight ahead, rather than up the steps, you come to a more open area where there may be goldfinches. There are migrating warblers in spring and fall. In fact, according to a City of Toronto booklet entitled "Glen Stewart Ravine Nature Trail", up to 110 species of migrating birds may be seen in this ravine.
Foxes used to have a den in the ravine as well. One day I saw a young fox run across Southwood Drive near Glen Ames Road and go behind some houses towards the ravine.
A number of years ago, small signs on metal posts were put in front of the largest trees to number them and tell what kind of trees they were. The 12 numbered trees, starting at the southerly entrance and heading up north along the right side of the main path - the left side has a nice stream running along it - are:
Red Maple
Eastern Hemlock
Yellow Birch
Northern Red Oak
White Oak
Mountain Maple
Alternate-leaved Dogwood
Black Cherry
Witch Hazel
American Beech
Sugar Maple
White Ash
If you visit this ravine, you may wish to bring a tree book with you and see how many of these trees you can find. Stay on the main trails, because erosion of the sandy soil is a problem, and the trees need the soil preserved for their roots.
Before you even get down to the woods, you have likely seen house sparrows, starlings, crows, blue jays, grackles and robins, as well as pigeons and ring-billed gulls flying overhead. At the bottom of the steps, there is a very tall tree with a hole away up high, where downy woodpeckers go in and out.
In the leaves below may be hermit thrushes, house wrens, and even a whippoorwill. Chickadees and flickers call in the background. Along the path, you may look up and see a crow's nest away up high, a nuthatch at eye level, and, in the fall, golden-crowned kinglets.
If you take the steps up to Balsam Avenue, you may see a hairy woodpecker and winter wrens. If you go straight ahead, rather than up the steps, you come to a more open area where there may be goldfinches. There are migrating warblers in spring and fall. In fact, according to a City of Toronto booklet entitled "Glen Stewart Ravine Nature Trail", up to 110 species of migrating birds may be seen in this ravine.
Foxes used to have a den in the ravine as well. One day I saw a young fox run across Southwood Drive near Glen Ames Road and go behind some houses towards the ravine.
A number of years ago, small signs on metal posts were put in front of the largest trees to number them and tell what kind of trees they were. The 12 numbered trees, starting at the southerly entrance and heading up north along the right side of the main path - the left side has a nice stream running along it - are:
Red Maple
Eastern Hemlock
Yellow Birch
Northern Red Oak
White Oak
Mountain Maple
Alternate-leaved Dogwood
Black Cherry
Witch Hazel
American Beech
Sugar Maple
White Ash
If you visit this ravine, you may wish to bring a tree book with you and see how many of these trees you can find. Stay on the main trails, because erosion of the sandy soil is a problem, and the trees need the soil preserved for their roots.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
How Nature is Viewed
On the television show "The Nature of Things" on January 16, 1997, there was a discussion about how nature has been viewed in proprietary terms, rather than for its own sake. In other words, there is too much of an attitude that nature is a commodity to be used and that it is not useful unless it is destroyed. How much progress has there been since then?
There is more awareness of the need for recycling, and this is a positive step forward. However, the materials which are not recycled are still taken to places called "landfill sites", as if the land needs to be filled, rather than appreciated as it is.
There has been terrible destruction of the Oak Ridges Moraine, with governments doing little to stop the so-called construction (actually, destruction), which has threatened Toronto's future clean water supply from the kettle lakes and permanently destroyed much valuable farmland.
Lawn pesticides for cosmetic use have been banned province-wide in Ontario, and this progress. However, golf courses, which take up large areas of land, were excluded from the ban and pesticides are still used on foods which people actually eat.
Thus, although there has been some noteworthy progress - as a result of the hard work of caring naturalists - there remains a lack of right-brain awareness on the part of those who are imprisoned in the goals of money and power. Those in that category still regard nature as a commodity in the same way that they view other people as a commodity, to be used for those goals. This attitude, in turn, stems from viewing themselves as being commodities. That is, they are caught up in the misbelief that they have to impress other people to have any value themselves.
There is more awareness of the need for recycling, and this is a positive step forward. However, the materials which are not recycled are still taken to places called "landfill sites", as if the land needs to be filled, rather than appreciated as it is.
There has been terrible destruction of the Oak Ridges Moraine, with governments doing little to stop the so-called construction (actually, destruction), which has threatened Toronto's future clean water supply from the kettle lakes and permanently destroyed much valuable farmland.
Lawn pesticides for cosmetic use have been banned province-wide in Ontario, and this progress. However, golf courses, which take up large areas of land, were excluded from the ban and pesticides are still used on foods which people actually eat.
Thus, although there has been some noteworthy progress - as a result of the hard work of caring naturalists - there remains a lack of right-brain awareness on the part of those who are imprisoned in the goals of money and power. Those in that category still regard nature as a commodity in the same way that they view other people as a commodity, to be used for those goals. This attitude, in turn, stems from viewing themselves as being commodities. That is, they are caught up in the misbelief that they have to impress other people to have any value themselves.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Ideas for New Eco-Products
More items would be recycled if people could think of creative uses for them. In fact, there used to be an environmental group in the Toronto Annex in which the members would get together to come up with new uses for things they were ready to throw out.
Here is one idea which a friend of mine thought of: Make eco-planting pots out of crushed, organic materials, such as carrot peelings, to grow carrots. A plant would come in the pot, and you would simply set it out in the garden. You would not have to transplant it, because the pot would become the exact kind of nourishment which the plant would need.
Another idea would be to have eco-labels to put on containers which have commercial-looking labels. You would be more likely to recycle the container if you could put a label on it with a nice picture of a flower or bird and an uplifting message. The message could be information about the flower or bird, and people could read the messages and learn about them, for example, at the breakfast table.
Here is one idea which a friend of mine thought of: Make eco-planting pots out of crushed, organic materials, such as carrot peelings, to grow carrots. A plant would come in the pot, and you would simply set it out in the garden. You would not have to transplant it, because the pot would become the exact kind of nourishment which the plant would need.
Another idea would be to have eco-labels to put on containers which have commercial-looking labels. You would be more likely to recycle the container if you could put a label on it with a nice picture of a flower or bird and an uplifting message. The message could be information about the flower or bird, and people could read the messages and learn about them, for example, at the breakfast table.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
The Importance of Cattails
Cattails are a well-known native marsh plant, but their value for both humans and wildlife is less known.
According to the Peterson Guide to Edible Wild Plants, the pollen of cattails is high in protein and can be made into a protein-rich flour. The young shoots and stalks, immature flower spikes, sprouts and rootstocks can all be eaten.
Cattails also provide food for geese and muskrats. They provide shelter and nesting cover for redwing blackbirds.
Cattails can be grown in a backyard pool, in shallow water.
There are many valuable native plants like cattails which can be used as food. Yet, marshes and forests were destroyed by the early settlers for agriculture - to grow non-native plants which took back-breaking labour to cultivate! Had they known the food value of the native plants already there, they could have saved themselves all that trouble - and preserved the environment as well.
Marshes and other lands are stll being ruined by developers, along with the valuable, future food supply which they could provide. What will the increasing population eat?
According to the Peterson Guide to Edible Wild Plants, the pollen of cattails is high in protein and can be made into a protein-rich flour. The young shoots and stalks, immature flower spikes, sprouts and rootstocks can all be eaten.
Cattails also provide food for geese and muskrats. They provide shelter and nesting cover for redwing blackbirds.
Cattails can be grown in a backyard pool, in shallow water.
There are many valuable native plants like cattails which can be used as food. Yet, marshes and forests were destroyed by the early settlers for agriculture - to grow non-native plants which took back-breaking labour to cultivate! Had they known the food value of the native plants already there, they could have saved themselves all that trouble - and preserved the environment as well.
Marshes and other lands are stll being ruined by developers, along with the valuable, future food supply which they could provide. What will the increasing population eat?
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Why Controlled Burns Do More Harm Than Good
It is better to trust nature's own, innate wisdom than to try to impose human control over it.
Sometimes people become impatient with the invasion of natural habitat by alien plant species. They think that they can instantly restore the native species, rather than let nature take its own course. The fact is that alien species invade an eco-system which has already been disturbed by human interference, such as a place where trees have been cut down for agriculture. If the alien species are left to grow, they will re-condition the soil and then the native plants, which are better adapted to this climate, will take over again on their own.
One extreme example of the "control freak" mentality was the controlled burn at the north end of Toronto's High Park a few years ago. An area which had been regularly trampled by humans and canines was deliberately set on fire by self-proclaimed do-gooders, with very unnatural naptha gas mixed with diesel. The resulting clouds of smoke would have singed three leaves, disturbed wildlife in their homes, and polluted the air with toxins.
The plants which sprung up after the fire were native, all right: probably the largest poison ivy patch in all of Ontario. There was a narrow, one-foot wide pathway through the middle of this "field", which our naturalist group was guided through on an outing. If anyone had lost their balance and had to put their hand down on the ground, they would have spent the next two weeks reaching for calomine lotion. If another controlled burn were ever conducted to get rid of the poison ivy, the air would be filled with poison ivy smoke, which would go right into people's lungs for some distance away.
The other main plant which sprung up after the fire was lupins. Lupins are flowers with beautiful spires of colour, and our guide tried to tell us that they are "native". He was right, in that every plant is native to somewhere. He mentioned Nova Scotia as being a place where a lot of them grow, but they are no more native to there than to Ontario. According to Canadian Gardening's "Natural Gardens", most of the wild lupins in Ontario are garden escapes of Russell hybrid lupins from California. The lupins in Nova Scotia were introduced from British Columbia.
Another widely used excuse for controlled burns is that fire releases the seeds from the cones of the Lodgepole Pine, which would not grow without the help of fire. However, the Lodgepole Pine is native to British Columbia, not Ontario, and British Columbia already gets enough fires without anyone setting them.
Sometimes people become impatient with the invasion of natural habitat by alien plant species. They think that they can instantly restore the native species, rather than let nature take its own course. The fact is that alien species invade an eco-system which has already been disturbed by human interference, such as a place where trees have been cut down for agriculture. If the alien species are left to grow, they will re-condition the soil and then the native plants, which are better adapted to this climate, will take over again on their own.
One extreme example of the "control freak" mentality was the controlled burn at the north end of Toronto's High Park a few years ago. An area which had been regularly trampled by humans and canines was deliberately set on fire by self-proclaimed do-gooders, with very unnatural naptha gas mixed with diesel. The resulting clouds of smoke would have singed three leaves, disturbed wildlife in their homes, and polluted the air with toxins.
The plants which sprung up after the fire were native, all right: probably the largest poison ivy patch in all of Ontario. There was a narrow, one-foot wide pathway through the middle of this "field", which our naturalist group was guided through on an outing. If anyone had lost their balance and had to put their hand down on the ground, they would have spent the next two weeks reaching for calomine lotion. If another controlled burn were ever conducted to get rid of the poison ivy, the air would be filled with poison ivy smoke, which would go right into people's lungs for some distance away.
The other main plant which sprung up after the fire was lupins. Lupins are flowers with beautiful spires of colour, and our guide tried to tell us that they are "native". He was right, in that every plant is native to somewhere. He mentioned Nova Scotia as being a place where a lot of them grow, but they are no more native to there than to Ontario. According to Canadian Gardening's "Natural Gardens", most of the wild lupins in Ontario are garden escapes of Russell hybrid lupins from California. The lupins in Nova Scotia were introduced from British Columbia.
Another widely used excuse for controlled burns is that fire releases the seeds from the cones of the Lodgepole Pine, which would not grow without the help of fire. However, the Lodgepole Pine is native to British Columbia, not Ontario, and British Columbia already gets enough fires without anyone setting them.
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