Week Two
Date: 01/17/07 (Wednesday)
Time Spent: 2 hours
Activities: Journaling and twig observation
Learning: Twig complexity, winter's calmness, spring's buds arriving
Date: 01/24/07 (Wednesday)
Time Spent: 1 hour
Activities: Getting acquainted with site partners, discussing activities, designating site partners (Lauren & Suzanne = Mixed Forest B, Derek & Alina = Mixed Forest B)
Learning: Review of what each site contained, from plants to energy. I worked to educate my team of what changes occurred last quarter and what plans I would love to see accomplished this quarter. We also agreed to meet weekly on Wednesdays to review, and discuss any accomplishments or challenges we are having. This meeting was very productive and will aid in our learning for the remaining of the quarter.
Date: 01/24/07 (Wednesday)
Time Spent: 2 hours
Activities: Reviewing materials regarding site specifics (i.e. books, website)
Learning: I spent some time on my local library website finding materials that will aid to my understanding of what plants are appropriate in a Northwest mixed forest. These books include The Ann Lovejoy Handbook of Northwest Gardening by Ann Lovejoy, Life in an Old Growth Forest by Valerie Rapp, and Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest by Arthur R. Kruckeberg. All of these books will aid in me and my group’s understanding of the habitat we are aiding. I found additional websites that will also provide additional learning and resources including Blue Planet Biomes website www.blueplanetbiomes.org [1], and Olympic National Park’s website www.nps.gov/olym/ [2].
TOTAL CUMULATIVE HOURS: 5 hours
Week Three
Date: 01/29/07 (Monday)
Time Spent: 2 hours
Activities: Journaling twig and stems at site
Learning: Developing a better understanding of the terms discussed in class involving twig identity, developing a better eye for each complex part of each twig
Date: 01/31/07 (Wednesday)
Time Spent: 2 hour
Activities: Working with site materials and partners, creating Site Materials Summary
Learning: A closer review of my site materials collected revealed how useful each item was going to be. Ann Lovejoy’s book will provide a strong foundation about mulch, pruning, and what plants can be introduced. Valerie Rapp’s book will provide a strong foundation of forest basics and introduction. And Arthur Kruckeberg’s book will be an additional resource of plant specifics. We agreed as a team that we would divide up the site materials and work on a summary collectively (each material assignment was labeled next to each item number). I can’t wait to dive into my new materials and see what life I can bring to my forest.
TOTAL CUMULATIVE HOURS: 9 hours
Week Four
Date: 02/06/07 (Tuesday)
Time Spent: 2 hours
Activities: Raking leaves, pruning the Red Elderberry bush with Alina and Lauren
Learning: We spent our time working in Mixed forest B today, giving most of our attention to the forest floor and the dying Red Elderberry bush. It was amazing to find all the green underneath the maple leaf mulch. There is tons of Trailing Blackberry. The Sword Ferns need some pruning as well. This site also has some different plants to offer to my current knowledge from Mixed forest B, so my excitement grew bigger today. We tentatively scheduled a regular meeting of working together on the site for every Tuesday.
Date: 02/06/07 (Tuesday)
Time Spent: 1 hour
Activities: Editing and reviewing habitat introduction
Learning: There’s still so much to learn about my site to understand how it can grow from a baby forest to a mature forest. This rough draft challenged my current understanding and showed that I need to spend additional time with my materials to grow my understanding of this forest’s needs.
Date: 02/07/07
Time Spent: 1 hour
Activities: Weekly group meeting
Learning: Catching up with what we need to do this week and distributing out activities. Planned project time for Monday and Tuesday.
TOTAL CUMULATIVE HOURS: 13 hours
Week Five
Date: 02/02/07 (Friday)
Time Spent: 1 hour 30 minutes
Activities: Plant identification activity, reviewing and modifying Habitat Introduction
Learning: It is becoming more apparent that Mixed Forest B is primarily a deciduous forest. There are so many buds on each tree and shrub that it’s exciting to see that life is about to burst open to welcome the coming of spring. This makes plant identification difficult, but the effort has been rewarding in gaining more confidence in twig identification.
I made some minor modifications to the Habitat Introduction and Lauren agreed to work a bit more on it.
Date: 02/12/07 (Monday)
Time Spent: 2 hours
Activities: Raking leaves, pruning the Red Elderberry bush with Alina, Lauren, and Derek, pruning Sword Fern, discovering our site beneath all the Maple leaves!
Learning: Once again we spent our time working in Mixed forest B today, giving most of our attention to the forest floor and the dying Red Elderberry bush. We are finally in a place where it is looking maintained and cared for. We discovered a new plant that was buried under a large Maple Tree fallen branch. The plant was still healthy and vibrant, just a little bent over. We removed the fallen branch, and positioned a log next to the base of the new plant to support it in growing upwards.
Date: 02/13/07 (Tuesday)
Time Spent: 1 hour
Activities: Distributing mulch over parts of Mixed Forest B, Alina raked the leaves on the trail of Mixed Forest A and pruned some plants in B, Derek chopped and sawed fallen branches to make curbing for Forest areas
Learning: Mixed Forest B is looking more and more cared for. The newly discovered plant is thriving well and beginning to stand upright, even after only one day. Discussion was made around what to do with Mixed forest A, and what needs to happen to the Alders and what needs to be added. We agreed to cut down some Alders but not all. At this time it is difficult to determine the plant needs in both forest areas since we are not sure what perennials are there that still need to show face.
Date: 02/14/07 (Wednesday)
Time Spent: 30 minutes
Activities: Weekly group meeting
Learning: TBA
TOTAL CUMULATIVE HOURS: 18 hours
Week Six
Date: 02/17/07 (Saturday)
Time Spent: 2 hours
Activities: Reviewing and reading Ann Lovejoy’s book The Ann Lovejoy Handbook of Northwest Gardening
Learning: This book was an important tool for review to better explain how to prune, maintain, and plant in the garden. This book will not only assist me with my Personal Garden, but will also assist me with the Longhouse Garden. I’m excited to get started with my new knowledge of plants and garden maintenance.
Date: 02/14/07 (Wednesday)
Time Spent: 1 hour
Activities: Weekly group meeting with Alina
Learning: Alina and I discussed the next week’s activities needed to work on. We decided that we wanted to focus on Mixed Forest A to plant any plants available from Saturday’s sale and continue to remove those pesky piles of cedar mulch.
We also took the time to discuss what we wanted to do during for the presentation. Since the majority of our group couldn’t make it to this meeting, we followed up in class with our additional group members and decided on the following:
Alina – Goals & Accomplishments, Powerpoint organization master
Lauren – Site Description
Derek – Native Practices
Suzanne – Plant Lists with medicinal and technology uses
No time was spent this week in the Longhouse Garden due to bad weather. More time is planned for next week.
TOTAL CUMULATIVE HOURS: 21 hours
Week Seven
Date: 02/28/07 (Tuesday)
Time Spent: 2 hours
Activities: Working on PowerPoint presentation with Alina
Learning: So far there is not a ton of learning in working on this presentation. We set up the initial draft of how we wanted it to look and work. We will be continuing this next week.
Date: 02/29/07 (Wednesday)
Time Spent: 2 hours
Activities: Taking pictures of winter in the forest. Observing new growth and changes.
Learning: Wow! It’s amazing of how much the buds have grown and how much the plants are getting ready to pop! I can’t wait until a couple more weeks go by, we will have some beautiful flowers all over the forest.
TOTAL CUMULATIVE HOURS: 25 hours
Week Eight
Date: 03/05/07 (Monday)
Time Spent: 4 hours
Activities: Working on my section of the group PowerPoint presentation
Learning: My section is primarily focused on the medicinal and technological uses of plants within my site, both current and past uses. This has been a very involved process of finding pictures and uses, but educational. Most of all, these plants of interest have made a permanent impression upon my memory. I’ve picked new plants and dived in a little deeper to a few important facts, instead of a list of uses similar to that of last quarter. Please refer to the group’s PowerPoint presentation for more information
Date: 03/07/07 (Wednesday)
Time Spent: 2 hours
Activities: Meeting with group members to work on plans for their sections of the group’s PowerPoint presentation
Learning: We reviewed what we’ve done up to this point. I gave them some ideas and we discussed what parts they are planning on working on. We agreed to meet again tomorrow night to finalize the project.
TOTAL CUMULATIVE HOURS: 31 hours
Week Nine
Date: 03/08/07 (Thursday)
Time Spent: 2 hours
Activities: Working with Lauren and Derek to finish PowerPoint presentation
Learning: Derek and Lauren arrived prepared to work on their section of the group’s PowerPoint presentation. Derek agreed earlier to work on the Native American significance to the forest, and arrived with a great idea of incorporating Native legends and myths into the presentation. I supported his idea by using the PowerPoint as a backdrop of pictures and words for his stories.
Lauren agreed earlier to work on site signage and introductions, so I assisted her in importing her material into a presentation format with pictures and words. I was thrilled by her use of colorful language and creative introductions to a site that has become so precious to me.
Alina is planning on staying in contact with over e-mail to finish her section of the presentation, goals and accomplishments.
Date: 03/07/07 (Thursday)
Time Spent: 4 hours
Activities: Finalizing group presentation
Learning: Tonight was the final process of putting together the pictures, words, and format of the presentation. I learned so much about the importance of the forest beyond just individual plants and signage. The forest that I’ve worked with for 20 weeks has become a habitat of medicine, folklore, and wholeness. I had the same epiphany working on my individual presentation after watching the final product. I realized just how much my sub-conscious demonstrated to me all that I’ve learned these last few months. What a wonderful feeling!
TOTAL CUMULATIVE HOURS: 37 hours