off-season

Construction Projects Around Camp

March 16, 2011 By Green River Preserve Leave a Comment

We have begun several major construction projects at camp. First, we are building an addition to the back of our office to accommodate our new administrative staff. The addition will also provide some much needed storage space and meeting space. In keeping with our sustainable traditions, the addition will be constructed using wood and stone from the Preserve.

Secondly, we are renovating our kitchen and the ort room. In the kitchen, we are adding new bread ovens, new tile floors and expanding our pantry. We are completely redesigning our dish washing area to make it more efficient and tidy. Finally, the ort room is being enlarged and the worn and rumpled wooden floor is being replaced with an attractive stone-colored tile. Ort Man and Scrappy should be very happy with all the new upgrades.

Finally, after the successful test last year of a new tin roof on Big Laurel cabin, we are installing green tin roofs on four cabins, the Mentor Lodge and the Infirmary. The new tin roofs look great. They are more environmentally friendly than shingle roofs, and perhaps best of all, the sound of mountain rain on a tin roof is like a lullaby.

Filed Under: construction, off-season

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 – Trail Cam photo & Bear Signs

February 10, 2011 By Green River Preserve Leave a Comment

I “baited” the trail camera at Anders Bottom a few days ago. I had seen fresh otter, deer and turkey tracks along the stream so I was really excited about catching some of these critters on camera. For “bait” I used corn and sardines. Yum.

This morning I retrieved the photo card. This is what the "trail cam" recorded.

This summer we will have several trail cameras available for use. Just think how much fun we will have… Grand Slam by trail cam!

In the continuing search for new Green River camp sites, I explored the headwaters of Uncles Creek over the weekend. Along the way, I took this photo of a Chinese Chestnut planted in one of our wild-animal food plots. Notice the broken limbs. Look closer and you can see claw marks. If you are thinking bear, you are correct.

One of my mountain friends says that bear are wasteful. Bear will break off entire limbs or kill and entire tree to get at nuts or fruit. Deer, my friend explains, tend to prune rather than kill.

We saw fresh bear tracks in the snow beside the craft hut last week. Our bear apparently don’t take hibernation too seriously.

Filed Under: animals, bears, off-season, Photos, Sandy's Notes, trailcam, wildlife, winter

Tapping Our Red Maples

February 2, 2011 By Green River Preserve Leave a Comment

Our maintenance staff is tapping our GRP red maples for the second year. We are tapping nine trees this year as opposed to only two last year. Although I think we began a little late in the season (we are still learning), we have already retrieved more than seven gallons of sap.

Although all maples have sweet, edible sap, northern Sugar Maple trees produce sweeter sap than our southern Red Maples. The rule of thumb for syrup production in the north is 40 gallons of sap needed for one gallon of syrup. Therefore we can expect our Red Maples to have a greater sap requirement per gallon of syrup produced. That’s a lot of sap!

In making maple syrup, the thin, watery sap of the maple tree is boiled down gently to the sweetness and consistency desired. The longer the sap is boiled, the sweeter and darker the syrup will become.

Last year’s “crop” of about 4 gallons of sap total produced only about a dozen small bottles of light syrup, enough to allow our 2010 summer campers to taste the results of our efforts on the ends of their fingers. We are hoping for a greater result this year since we have tapped more trees.

We dream of someday being able to offer our syrup in the Camp Store and at the Dining Hall tables. It will be interesting to see how the 2011 season flows. We’ll keep you posted…

~ Linda

Filed Under: maple syrup, off-season, red maples, winter

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