artifacts

Hello from the farm!

April 23, 2013 By Rachel Meriwether 3 Comments

Life is busily underway here at the GRP farm. Spring time chores are slowly being checked off the list; mulching fruit trees, planting a new blueberry grove, starting new seedlings.

Plastic goes on the hoop house

Earlier this month we got the hoop house covered and back in business and now it is brimming with baby seedlings!

Broccoli seedlings

Full hoop house!

The spring veggie starts have already gone out into the field and all our summer starts are doing a good job of popping up their little heads in the warm hoop house.

Potatoes have also been planted and just in the last week we have started to see leaves above the soil.

Potato trenching

Potato pops up!

Carrots, beets, radishes, and turnips were direct seeded a couple weeks ago and have sprouted and already had their first thinning.

Native pollinators

We are anxiously anticipating the arrival of a new colony of bees later this week and think they will do a great job ensuring we have plenty of plump delicious blueberries to enjoy. Though our native pollinators are already doing a good job.

Five new chickens moved to the farm yesterday and are already making themselves at home. They are a mixed flock and will be giving us brown, blue, and green eggs!

The rain has been making it a challenge to get everything done we need done in a timely fashion but yesterday it was finally dry enough to plow the farm field again in preparation for planting out those summer seedlings. With the help of Steve, Anne, and Phen we now have beets, lettuce, and strawberries at the camp field.

Artifacts

The soil in this field is constantly yielding treasures and artifacts of all kinds. Sandy tells us that the arrowhead with the serrated edges is the oldest of them all and dates to somewhere around 7,000 BC! Amazing.

Trillium

The woods surrounding us have also begun to offer up spring time wonders, the trilliums are blooming everywhere and we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of the lady slipper orchids any day now…

So until next time we hope everyone is having as beautiful a day as we are!!!

Filed Under: archaeology, arrowhead, artifacts, farm, farm to table program, GRP, nature, Uncategorized

Sandy’s Notes – Arrowhead Discovery

February 17, 2011 By Green River Preserve Leave a Comment

Last summer, Elsa Cline a camper in Session 6–discovered an "arrowhead" near her cabin in Girlsville. It was made of quartz, beautifully designed and in perfect condition. She found it near where a broken pipe located about two feet underground had been dug up for repair in the spring.

A digital photograph of the unusual point was sent to Dr.Alan May, an archeologist at the Schiele Museum in Gastonia. Dr. May reports that the artifact is a Palmer corner notched point. The Palmer dates from around 10,000 to 8,000 B.C.! Until Elsa made her amazing discovery, the oldest point discovered in base camp was a Guilford Lanceolate point dated from around 4,000B.C.

Green River campers live in cabins built in 1988 on a wooded ridge beside a small stream. Now we have evidence that Native Americans camped on the same ridge and probably played in the same cold, clean water that our campers enjoy today. For nearly 12,000 years people have camped where we camp.

Filed Under: archaeology, arrowhead, artifacts, off-season, Sandy's Notes

Sandy’s Notes – Animal Tracks & Stone Age Tracks

January 26, 2011 By Green River Preserve Leave a Comment

On my way to scout for a new camp site for the coming summer, I stopped by Ander’s Bottom to set up a trail camera on the stream bank. The trail camera photographs anything moving within its range day or night. Something is happening to our trout and I believe the trail camera may help solve the mystery.

I wish all campers could see the Green River in the snow. The water is clear as the air. Other than the sound of the stream, the forest is absolutely quiet. I see no fish in the stream but close to the river are tracks of coyote and deer and there are ‘turkey scratchings’ in the leaves. There are still acorns on the ground so the animals have sufficient food so far this winter. On the sand bank of Newman’s Pool, I see fresh evidence of a large animal. The water is brutally cold, but this animal apparently has been in the water. I put sardines in front of the trail camera. I’ll let you know what happens.

As I mentioned, Green River needs a new camping shelter for this coming summer. I decided to explore some of the Uncles Creek watershed to look for a suitable location. I found these tracks on a logging road. Later I found similar tracks crossing the road over a small stream.

Can anyone identify these tracks?

Near a small creek I discovered some “percussion flakes”, a sure sign of Stone Age people. Near the knapped stone, I found this. (See photo). I love the Green River. On a Sunday walk I can find tracks of mysterious animals and find stone “tracks” from the Stone Age.

Filed Under: animal tracks, archaeology, artifacts, off-season, Sandy's Notes, winter Tagged With: animal tracks, archaeology, snow, spearhead, winter