Mervo Students help with the AYS&G Garden and the Springfield Woods Friday 9/27/13

Students from Mervo will participate in a joint cleanup/greening event for the Antioch Youth Senate & Garden and the Friends of the Springfield Woods on Friday, September 27th at 12 noon. The AYS&G Garden is located the corner of E. 43rd and Wrenwood Ave. in Pen Lucy and Historic Wilson Park, Baltimore MD.  If you would like to get out and help us tidy the community, call AYS&G at 410-914-7561.

Butch Berry Stuff: The Black Vultures: Smells Delicious and Dead

Butch Berry Stuff: The Black Vultures: Smells Delicious and Dead: The Black Vultures of the Springfield Woods        copyright 2013  M. Berry Jr. Black Vulture Fact: As a defense measure when thre...

Butch Berry Stuff: The Black Vultures: Smells Delicious and Dead

Butch Berry Stuff: The Black Vultures: Smells Delicious and Dead: The Black Vultures of the Springfield Woods        copyright 2013  M. Berry Jr. Black Vulture Fact: As a defense measure when thre...

Making Morgan Park and Wilson Park Household Names

Prof. Dale Glenwood Green
Photo: MSU

From Sheila Kast and WYPR is an audio interview with Dale Glenwood Green, assistant professor in Morgan State University’s School of Architecture and Planning and Chair of the university’s Historic Preservation Program, with information on the beginnings of Morgan Park and Wilson Park and why these two historic African American neighborhoods need to be recognized.

In case you forgot or didn't realize it, the Springfield Woods is bordered on the north side by Wilson Park.

Making Morgan Park and Wilson Park Household Names

Wildlife of the Springfield Woods: Warning dead stuff!

 The reality of nature is that of  survival of the fittest.  Unfortunately in the Springfield Woods this young fox was found dead in the early summer.

"Red foxes live around the world in many diverse habitats including forests, grasslands, mountains, and deserts. They also adapt well to human environments such as farms, suburban areas, and even large communities. The red fox's resourcefulness has earned it a legendary reputation for intelligence and cunning.

Red foxes are solitary hunters who feed on rodents, rabbits, birds, and other small game—but their diet can be as flexible as their home habitat. Foxes will eat fruit and vegetables, fish, frogs, and even worms. If living among humans, foxes will opportunistically dine on garbage and pet food.

Like a cat's, the fox's thick tail aids its balance, but it has other uses as well. A fox uses its tail (or "brush") as a warm cover in cold weather and as a signal flag to communicate with other foxes.

Foxes also signal each other by making scent posts—urinating on trees or rocks to announce their presence.

In winter, foxes meet to mate. The vixen (female) typically gives birth to a litter of 2 to 12 pups. At birth, red foxes are actually brown or gray. A new red coat usually grows in by the end of the first month, but some red foxes are golden, reddish-brown, silver, or even black. Both parents care for their young through the summer before they are able to strike out on their own in the fall.

Red foxes are hunted for sport, though not extensively, and are sometimes killed as destructive pests or frequent carriers of rabies."

 For more info on the red fox and other animals, check out the National Geographic website.  There are photos, statistics and even a soundbite of what foxes sound like.:  http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/red-fox/

Butch Berry Stuff: The Black Vultures: Filthy and Disgusting

Butch Berry Stuff: The Black Vultures: Filthy and Disgusting: The Black Vultures of the Springfield Woods   Copyright 2013 M. Berry Jr. Black Vulture Facts:   The Black Vulture prefers to inha...

Birder Extraordinaire

Copyright 2013 M. Berry Jr

Remembering Baltimore Civil Rights Leader Walter P. Carter

Less than one block away from the Springfield Woods is Walter P Carter Elementary School on 43rd and St Georges Ave.  If you would like to know the life of the man behind the name on the school, watch this film tonight at 10:30PM on MPT-22 in Baltimore.  Here's a link to an interview with the filmmaker.


Remembering Baltimore Civil Rights Leader Walter P. Carter

Raccoon Lust

Wildlife in the Springfield Woods of Baltimore.

Springfield Woods Creative Challenge: "Let Freedom Ring" by Carla G

The second creative work in the Friends of the Springfield Woods Creative Challenge...

The Creative Challenge: From the "artifacts" found during the various cleanups, create a story or poem or graphic sequence which tells how it got in the Springfield Woods.
Creative works submitted will be published here on the blog. All rights are retained by the creators.

To submit your creative work, email: butchberry@hotmail.com and specify "Springfield Woods Creative Challenge" in the subject line.

the lost ring

The Springfield Woods Stream

Let Freedom Ring!

by Carla G

I am a Ruby Ring!
I once lived on the finger of a King!
Not a tough life,
But, still, I felt strife...

Suddenly! I decided that I wanted MORE!
So, one day, while my King and Lord Baltimore
were out on an evening stroll,
From my King's finger I fell,
And went on a roll
To FREEDOM!...

Well, times have changed,
And so have my moods.
I wish to be found now; saved!
Here, in the Springfield Woods!

Copyright 2013 Carla G

"The Ring" - Short Story by Al Brathway

The first story in the Friends of the Springfield Woods Creative Challenge...

The Creative Challenge:  From the "artifacts" found  during the various cleanups, create a story or poem or graphic sequence which tells how it got in the Springfield Woods.  Creative works submitted will be  published here on the blog.  To submit:  butchberry@hotmail.com and specify "Springfield Woods Creative Challenge" in the subject line.  

                                                                                    The Ring
by Al Brathway

There is an area in Baltimore, Maryland called the Springfield Woods, where an interesting situation happened in the spring of 2012. Sharon and her friend Tabitha had joined a neighborhood clean up group and their assignment was to assist in cleaning up Springfield Woods. Springfield Woods is a wooded area that is separated by a fence from an apartment building complex. Ten feet from the fence is a stream. Over the years the area between the fence and the stream has been used as an area where people have thrown their trash. You name it… Bottles, garbage, some furniture, whatever… The job was messy but Sharon and Tabitha were determined to get that area cleaned up!. The stream was (is) beautiful when not littered! What made the job more difficult was the fact that an under-brush grew in the ten foot space as well, but the girls were undaunted! They were going to get the job done.

The sun peeked through some light clouds and the day was grey looking when the girls started their task. It had rained lightly before they got started so the area was damp. They had their gear on. Heavy leather boots, jeans, water repellent jackets, hats and heavy gloves. They plowed through the garbage and dirt, bagging everything that was out of place. Hours passed and the light was short at this point but the girls had made a dent with their hard work.

Sharon had gotten to the stream first and decided to sit to catch her breath. As she sat by the stream, the flow of the water and the sound of it captured her undivided attention. It was like she was hypnotized. As she stared in the water, she saw something unique that did seemed out of place. Sharon took off her gloves and stuck her hands in the water. 

“Oh my god!” she screamed! “What?” Tabitha responded quickly. “What happened?” Tabitha rushed over to where Sharon was…

“Look at what I found!” Sharon opened her hand and a strange looking object sat in her palm. It was a ring covered in crud and the metal was worn from the water. 

“Look at that,” Tabitha quipped. “That’s a strange looking ring!” 

“Yeah,” Sharon answered. “I wonder where it came from?”

“I don’t know,” Tabitha answered, staring at it like it had some kind of weird power. Tabitha then snatched it from Sharon’s palm.

“What if there is some story behind it?” Tabitha asked.

“Story? Please! It’s nothing but a beat up, old ring. Looks like someone just threw it away. It is ugly!” was Sharon’s take.

“It is ugly… I think there is something to it! Let me have it?” Tabitha asked.

“Go ahead, I don’t want it!”

Tabitha pocketed it and the two girls packed up their stuff and called it a day.

A couple of days later, Sharon’s cellphone rang. 

“Girl, I gotta see you. Where are you?” Tabitha screamed into the phone.

“I’m on my way home.” 

“Okay, I’ll meet you there!”

An hour later, Tabitha shows up at Sharon’s apartment. Sharon just happened to live in the apartment building that was on the opposite side of the fence where the ring was found.

“Girl, you are not going to believe this!” Tabitha shouted!

“Believe what?” 

“I went online and I found this website called the Smoking Pistol. It had categories and one of them was rings, so I clicked on it. Guess what I found?” Tabitha asked.

“What?”

“The ring! I found the ring on there!” Tabitha was excited and nervous. 

“The story goes that this ring is a possession from apartment 666. It belonged to a man named Beldar who has lived there since the building was built. His family had some political pull in this neighborhood, back in the day, and he was one of the first people to get a spot in here!” Tabitha crowed.

“Okay… What does that have to do with the ring?” Sharon asked.

“The story goes that Beldar was a plastic surgeon. He stayed in most of the time.  He was hardly ever seen in the neighborhood!”

"That’s stupid,’ Sharon replied. “How did he eat if he didn’t come out? He had to go grocery shopping sometimes!”

“That where the story gets weird. There was a girl that used to shop for him. When anybody saw her, they would see her go to the store, then come back and not leave the apartment until it was time to go back to the grocery store!” Tabitha explained.

“Get outta here!” Sharon responded.

“Yeah… it goes on to say that when the girl grew up and got up enough nerve, she left the apartment to go to the store, she took the ring off, threw it over the fence and was never seen again!” Tabitha’s voice lowered. 

“You got the ring?” Sharon asked.

“I got it right here,’ Tabitha reached into her pocket and pulled it out. It was all clean and shiny from Tabitha cleaning it.

“We should go to the apartment and see what’s up!” Sharon suggested.

“Hell no! I’m not going nowhere near that apartment!” Tabitha responded. Sharon laughed.

“Give it to me!” Tabitha handed it over, looking at Sharon like she was crazy. 

“What are you going to do with the it?’ Tabitha asked.

“I’m gonna go to 666 and return the it!”

“Are you crazy?” Sharon laughed.

“I’m not crazy. I’m just gonna go there and return the ring. I’m sure they would appreciate it.” 

Three weeks passed and Sharon had not been seen in school. Tabitha had been to her place only to be told that she is missing. Sharon’s mother has done all that was in her power to find her daughter. It was like she vanished without a trace. There had been reports that a girl that people thought looked like Sharon was thought to be seen at the grocery store but to look at her up close, she did not look like Sharon.

If you think about it, a ring can represent a cycle… IJS!

© A. Dacostab Brathway, January 14, 2013

Dispatch from Baltimore GreenSpace!

Here's an announcement from Baltimore Green Space!


Hi Forest Friends,
Happy New Year! I wanted to invite you to this weekend's workshop and let you know about Greening University coming up in February. Janet Abramovitz is leading our second Villainous Vines workshop! We had a great time liberating trees from vines at the last workshop, so if you missed it now's your chance. There will be hot drinks for the morning adventure. Hope to see you there. Please share this information and let me know if you can make it!

Villainous Vines - Saturday, January 12th, 2013

9am -11am

Come for a workshop on Villainous Vines and the ABCs of English Ivy removal. We will meet by the Wilson Park Woods on Coldspring Lane between the Alameda & Craddock Ave. Park on Craddock Ave. Please RSVP for this event to katherine@baltimoregreenspace.org or for more info give us a call at 443-695-7504.

Greening University- Saturday, February 9th, 2013

9am-12:30 pm

New and Experienced Gardeners! Join us on February 9th for the annual Greening University. Expert gardeners will teach classes about soil, cooking, beekeeping, gardening with kids, community gardens, stormwater management and More! Director of the Baltimore Office of Sustainability Beth Strommen will give a short keynote presentation. 9am-12:30pm at Johns Hopkins Homewood Campus, Levering Hall. Free, but donations toNo are very welcome. For details and to register, please visit www.cphabaltimore.org/ayic-greening-university.
--
Katie Lautar
Program Coordinator
Baltimore Green Space

katherine@baltimoregreenspace.org

Preserving neighborhoods' treasured open spaces
http://baltimoregreenspace.org/

Broken Glass and a Ring

Another day, another bag of glass shards

Gollum

I was working in the Springfield Woods today, carving out some stairs to make it easier to get down the hill leading to the stream.  The job was harder than I thought it would be because of the buried shards of broken glass.  The broken glass nearly filled the garbage bag.  Yes, the bag was heavy as I hauled it out of the woods!

While digging in the dirt, sifting out the glass, I came upon a ring buried deep in the dirt.

Below see the before and after photos of the ring.

No, Gollum did not pop up asking for the "Precious."

The Ring as found.

 

The Ring after a cleaning.

 

Want to graft a Tomato to a Potato? Here's how!

http://www.ehow.com/how_7647547_graft-tomatoes-onto-potatoes.html

Click the link to get a step by step method for grafting a tomato plant to a potato root for a different tasting fruit (yes, a tomato is a fruit!!).



Ehow.com's article on grafting tomatoes to potatoes

Need Ideas? Take a walk in the woods!!

Here's an excellent reason to get out and take a walk in the Springfield Woods.  According to studies, being in nature (and away from all your tech) can increase your creativity.

Read this article from Pacific Standard Online by author Kevin Charles Redmon.
http://www.psmag.com/environment/put-down-the-ipad-lace-up-the-hiking-boots-51031/