good deeds: reduce your kitchen footprint

Tip #1: Eat lower on the food chain.

Why? Fruit and vegetable production is generally better for the planet than meat production.

To find out more, read "Plants for Supper? 10 Reasons to Eat More Like A Vegetarian" by Bonnie Liebman here

For a huge list of great tips for living a greener life inside and outside of your home, visit the Greenpeace Green Guide.

Copies of my whimsical 8" x 10" art print are now available over at my Ramble & Frolic Etsy Shop. Click here:  Eat Your Veggies Print

 (it's a beautiful and crazy planet.

go forth and ramble!)

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Susan Faye on Pinterest

sightings: feathered friends: osprey

The ospreys are back!

Where: Along Hwy 153, aka the SW Bellevue Hwy, west of Amity, Oregon, just beyond the Broadmead Road junction.

Factoid: In the winter, The male and female of a Pacific Northwest osprey pair migrate separately, and head south to Mexico, then reunite at their nest in the Pacific Northwest sometime between mid-March to mid-April. The couple will use the same nest each year.

Factoid: An average nest can weigh more than 200 pounds and measure close to 4 feet across. The osprey's diet is 99% fish, so nests are built very close to a river or creek

Because ospreys have a  tendency to build nests on power and telephone poles, (which can pose dangers to the birds and can cause disruption of power), extensions are sometimes built above the pole, as in this case.

 

 

Factoid: Eggs are laid from mid April to mid May and will hatch about five weeks later.

 

Looks like some greenery from the surrounding farmland took root over the winter.

Nice touch!

Time to settle in.

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earthlings: flora: western skunk cabbage

scientific name: lysichiton americanus 
aka: yellow skunk cabbage, American skunk-cabbage or swamp lantern 
habitat:   swamps, marshes, bogs, wet woods, along streams and in other wetland areas of the pacific northwest, planet earth
bloom time: february through april
field notes: if you do not like the smell of a skunk eating rotting hamburger, stay upwind of this beautiful and showy earthling.

Indigenous humans used its large, waxy leaves for food preparation and storage, lining berry baskets or using them as a wrap around salmon and other foods when baked under a fire.

It was also used as a food source in a pinch, however, it must be prepared properly to avoid its poisonous effects in the raw state.

A thriving plant can have leaves as long as 135 cm long (4 feet, 5 inches), making them the largest leaves of any native plant in the Northwest.

 It's a beautiful and crazy planet.

Go forth and ramble!

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Susan Faye on Pinterest

destination: jewell meadows, oregon

Jewell Meadows Wildlife Area
Where:  79878 Oregon Hwy 202/ Oregon/ USA

Ramblers: Susan and Dave

Season: Spring 
Earthlings spotted: Roosevelt Elk
 

Jewell Meadows provides a winter habitat and supplemental feeding for Roosevelt elk in the Coastal Hills range in the northwest corner of Oregon. Open pastures with a creek and nearby woodlands border Oregon State Highway 202,  where you can enjoy excellent viewing of up to 200 elk.

The main meadow is a year-round refuge with no hunting or public access to the meadow. You must admire from afar. Be sure to bring binoculars and your telephoto lens!

 Unicorn? No, that appears to be an albino elk!

The wildlife area has two paved parking areas, four viewing areas and interpretive signing. Restrooms, an interpretive kiosk, and brochures about the area are available.

Best times to visit: 

November - April for elk viewing 

Year-round for bird and wildlife viewing.

 For more information, click here: 

Jewell Meadows Wildlife Area

 

Directions:  From Portland, travel west on Hwy. 26 to the Jewell Junction, just west of Elderberry Inn. Turn north on Hwy. 103, which parallels the Nehalem River for nine miles to Jewell. At Jewell travel 1.5 miles west on Hwy. 202 to the refuge area on Fishhawk Creek. Parking areas are provided at strategic points to aid viewing. 

 

     

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sightings: fauna: sea lions

Where: East Basin Mooring, off Leif Erikson Dr, Astoria, Oregon
Earthlings sighted: California Sea Lions

 Lots of them.

Napping sea lions

Big, medium and small sea lions. Gargantuan sea lions.

Sea lions having polite disagreements.

More napping sea lions.

 

Sweet baby sea lions.

And for the grand finale: 
a sea lion chorus singing in 4 part harmony.

     

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sightings: fauna: baby earthlings

Spotted yesterday near Lebanon, Oregon: 

A quartet of brand new baby earthlings, enjoying the soft green-ness of their new planet, and perfectly unaware that each is a tiny testament to the eternal promise of spring.