Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education Bird Count and Hiking

Last weekend I attended my first Bird Count at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education.  We joined a group in progress, in charge of one quadrant of the nature space, we had to keep our eyes peeled for any flickering in the trees or shrubs and our expert birder helped us identify and keep track of what and how many we found. There was a surprising variety of species for the middle of Winter in Philadelphia, but he said this was the southern migration location for many Northern birds.

Birding guide helps our group spot species in the meadow

My sister in her new owl hat

Photos from the Bike Path

Cooking From The Garden and Farm

I've been cooking every weekend, mostly because I have no money and need food and getting it from the garden where it grows for free is the only way to eat, but I love cooking so it's been a fun time. I stopped by the garden last weekend and found turnips, chard, over-grown scallions, chives, fennel and the usual herbs and a few leaves of collards that were not hole-city. Oh, and a few red tomatoes!

I got them home and wanted to capture my harvest so I started taking pictures on the counter, which turned out to be a great backround for green veggies. I'm just so proud I can grow a vegetable. They may not be gorgeous, but they're mine!

I cooked up some Middle Eastern Stew, then muffins, first with banana, barley, oat, then with pumpkin from the Halloween pumpkin and pumpkin seeds.

Washing Greens

Cutting the Chard

This weekend I cooked up similar but better stew, Yam and Chard Stew.

1 large yam

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 turnip (I used three small ones)

1/2 yellow onion

10 large chard leaves

1/2 cup rice (I mixed basmati and arborio)

3/4 cup red lentils (I got them from Margerum's Herbs)

1/2 tablespoon curry

1/2 tablespoon cumin

salt and pepper

I'm working on my food photography in hopes of getting some cookbook or local farm/food vendor advertising work. If you know anyone, let them know I'll do it for free to get some experience!

I convinced my family to fork over $4.50 a lb. for a bird from a local farm in Lancaster and despite all of the complaining about the price of turkeys at ShopRite, it was beautiful and tasty. We joked about having no idea how to cook a turkey without a pop-up button or wrapped in plastic, and it did take an hour longer than we thought it would, but it was super good.

I brought over beets and Peruvian Purple potatoes from the garden (further convincing my family I was crazy), but my mom loved the potatoes and you barely need butter they're so smooth. My mom has a funny masher that makes everything look like fat noodles.

John Heinz Wildlife Refuge

You probably haven't heard of it or you haven't been there, but John Heinz is an awesome nature space in Philadelphia. A large round trail surrounds a lake and surrounding wetlands are home to great blue herons, egrets, barn swallows, owls, wild turkeys, shore birds, ducks, geese, plus the woodland trails and birds like black capped chickadees, juncos, nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, goldfinches. They keep a list at the desk of birds sighted that day. They have a huge education center that won many awards for green and sustainable design and they have nature walks every weekend. You can bring your dog, use the new wheelchair accessible part of the trail across the boardwalk/bridge, or hike all the way around, which takes quite a while, especially if your stopping to look at things on the way, which I recommend.

Today I stopped by to drop off my photographs at the gift shop (stop by and support the refuge!) and take pictures. The sky was beautiful and the winter takes away the foliage and the big birds, but you can suddenly see the architecture of the trees, the fungus growing on decomposing trunks, the rocks on the beach, the seed heads of dormant plants and the icy water reflects the blue sky.