Sign at Park Entrance

Join A Rocha Prairie Canada in celebrating Manitoba Parks 50th anniversary on Parks Day 2010 at the Pembina Valley Provincial Park

A Rocha Prairie Canada invites people of all ages to come to the Pembina Valley Provincial Park on Saturday, July 17, 2010 from 9 am to 5 pm. Celebrate Manitoba Parks 50th Anniversary by participating in a day full of free family fun!

The morning activities will kick off with a 9 am “Birding for Beginners” walk. Luc Blanchette, one of the key members of the Pembina Valley Raptor Monitoring program, will take participants will on a leisurely stroll to discover more about our feathered friends who make the Pembina Valley their home. Other planned activities include a 10:30 am “Bee-Dazzling Insects” activity, and a 12:30pm guided hike out to the beautiful Panoramic Point. At 2:30 pm, renown geologist, Joey Hatcher from the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre, will be leading a Geology-Fossil walk.  For those who like Jeopardy, there’s a 4 pm “Parks Day Jeopardy Game show,” complete with great prizes.

Don’t forget to pack a lunch for an afternoon picnic in the park.

Participants are encouraged to bring sunscreen, insect spray, lots of water, proper footwear, and to dress for the weather. Activities will take place rain or shine.

While visiting the park, stop by the A Rocha Prairie Canada Field Study Centre for a panoramic view of the Valley.

For more information or to join our volunteer team, contact A Rocha Prairie Canada at (204) 246-2059 or email Angela at angela.mccormick@arocha.ca

Sunrise at Pembina Valley Field Station

Angela McCormick here! I’m the new Senior Interpreter – Eco Stewardship Intern for the A Rocha Pembina Valley Field Station. This is the first year nature interpretive programming has been offered at the field station and boy am I excited! Already things have been very busy.

From May 17 to 21, 2010, Nick Pharaoh (who is one of the field station’s site directors) and I attended Manitoba Parks Interpreter training at Red Rock Bible Camp in Whiteshell Provincial Park. We gained lots of info on developing and leading nature-oriented programs for people of all ages. Nick also led a great workshop on Verbal and Non-Verbal Communications that was very interactive and engaging. We did some great networking and met the interpreter who is working at Stephenfield Provincial Park, who invited me to come out to her park and do a family nature program, possibly on raccoons.

On May 29th, I participated as a judge for the orals competition aspect of the Envirothon’s Provincial Competition held up in Brandon, Manitoba. This year’s theme was all about ground water and the case study with questions that the high school teams had to do a oral presentation on was a difficult one. I was highly impressed with all the student presentations given and felt that time just flew right by. Before I knew it, judging was over and the winners were announced (click here for Envirothon results).

Ruth Hiebert's fawn Picture Jun.3,2010

On June 3rd, I led a guided hike around the Pembina Valley Field Station with a group of ladies from a local Church. Along the way, we were surprised when we found a very young fawn curled up right beside the trail in some tall grass. What a gift from God! The fawn didn’t even open its eyes as we walked past. Mother doe must have been near by but we never saw her. There were certainly a lot of deer tracks in the dirt though. The fawn was so beautiful and adorable curled up sleeping like that. We made sure not to disturb it and moved along quickly, so as not to worry mom. Picture is courtesy of Jake and Ruth Hiebert.

June 7-8 were very full days as Laura Enns (a college intern from Winkler) and I helped out with the Manitou Water Festival at Binny Park. We ran a Water Cycle Adventure program where students would pretend they are water molecules moving through the water cycle. More than 200 grade four students participated over the two days of the festival. Many thanks to Cliff Greenfield from the Pembina Valley Conservation District for all his hard work coordinating the successful event!

Yesterday, on June 13, I ran a nature walk for the Morden Mennonite youth group. We did an Animal Tracks and Signs program, exploring the different tracks, scat and signs that animals leave behind, which give clues to how they survive.

Right when we started the walk, a little Eastern Phoebe flew into a small shrub right in front of us so I utilized the moment to talk about Phoebes, how they are the most prevalent Flycatcher of Manitoba and are most well-known for constantly bobbing and fanning their tails while perched in one spot. While on our walk, we continuously came across small wood frogs hopping through the grass. One time, a wood frog hopped right towards one of the girls on the walk and she screeched just as the frog hopped over her foot and into the bushes. It was pretty funny! We returned to the house and had lemonade and cookies sitting in the shade. The youth group then donated some money to our organization as a thank you, which was very nice of them.

These are just some of the many environmental education activities we have offered since May. If you are interested in exploring our site and would like a guided walk or other nature activity, contact me (Angela) at the A Rocha Pembina Valley Field Station, phone number (204) 246-2059.

Birding is a big part of what A Rocha does internationally, and A Rocha Canada is no exception. We introduced two keen birders to you last week. Colin ‘Hawk-eye’ Conroy and Stan ‘Aves’ Olson are the leaders of the weekly birding expeditions. At 8 am every Thursday (weather permitting) they lead a band of enthusiastic keen beans through one of four locations in the Little Campbell watershed: Redwood Park, the Little Campbell Hatchery, the Little Campbell Estuary or the Campbell Valley Regional Park. Over the next two hours we quietly meander through forest, field, bramble, mudflat, wetland… eyes peeled and ears sharpened for any signs of bird life. Each bird spotted and identified is recorded down on the bird survey sheet. An average of about 30 bird species is observed each week. All the data from the past 6 years has been collated together and will ultimately used by Colin to measure the environmental health of the Little Campbell Watershed. Colin was grateful to have Anna to take over the helm of data entry, inputting the last 4 years of environmental data from the weekly bird walks in 2 days.

On the bird walks you have the reliables: Chickadees (both Black-capped and Chestnut-backed), American Robins, Spotted Towhees, Dark-eyed Juncos, Song Sparrows, Mallard Ducks (native to Canada)… Less commonly sighted are the beautiful Purple Finches, the vibrant Varied Thrushes, the clambering Brown Creepers, the gargantuan Great Blue Herons and the majestic Red-tailed Hawks.

Anna and I have just experienced our first few days at A Rocha Canada and are loving it. We arrived early in Vancouver after about 24 hours in transit. The plane to LA couldn’t take off soon enough as we waited in anticipation for the full flying experience: warm meals, cramped legs and loads and loads of movies. I managed to get through three movies (highlight being District 9) before drifting off for some brief snatches of sleep. Anna fared worse in the sleep department, struggling to get a meager hour’s sleep.  Having breakfast at 3am NZ time was a little unusual.

On route I realised that my maths had let me down, meaning that we would spend 7 hours in LA waiting for our next flight. US Immigration killed an hour of that, semi-comaed scrabble killed 30 minutes with the rest spent wandering back and forth until we decided to have a wee nap in the transit lounge. Again, I was the superior sleeper managing to put together a couple of hours over a series of dozes. We were horrified to learn that our 3 hour Alaskan Airlines flight had no in-flight entertainment nor free food! Alas we had to settle for juice and tea and some more sleep.

The final hurdle was Canadian Immigration. We had been warned that at least one volunteer had been turned away at the airport due to questions over whether the volunteering would require a work permit. So we were a little nervous when the immigration official who left us waiting for 5 minutes came back with a second officer, hand cuffs in-hand. Hurrah it ’twas a only a joke and they sent us on our way all stamped up.

Because we were early we had a bit of time playing guess the A Rocha staff. After several close calls, David Anderson (the new Centre Director) and Marine (a conservation intern from France) turned up with an A Rocha sign. We got to the centre just in time for dinner with Anica (A Rocha staff member) and Roxy (Centre Life Community Organizer) and then bed.

To ease myself in slowly, I began with a conservation science group meeting the very next morning. I couldn’t miss a good opportunity to get myself acquainted with science projects going on.

The rest of our week has been a week of gently getting eased into A Rocha life and all that it involves.  We have been getting to know the many people that live on and off-site, and are slowly getting ideas of what our roles here might be here.

It is fun seeing the different creatures that live here in Canada.  Squirrels, coyotes, crows, woodpeckers, owls, and humming birds can all be seen and/or heard here at the centre.  It’s an idyllic site with a barn, hothouse, a couple of houses, lots of chickens and roosters, big vege gardens, and various ponds.  It was a pleasant surprise when we arrived to find that this has been the warmest winter in Vancouver for 50 years or something.  There was snow in December but now the days are fairly warm and it looks like we’ll be heading into an early spring before long.

Hot Fudge Pudding

This has been a favourite Neufeld family dessert for many years.
It originated in Campus Cooks of Praire Bible Institute which was
given to us as a wedding gift just before we attended Prairie in
our first year of marriage.

Sift together in a mixing bowl
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
_ tsp salt
_ cup sugar
2 tsp cocoa

Stir in 1 cup milk
2 tbsp cooking oil

Blend in
1 cup nuts (opt)

Spread in 9×9 cake pan
Sprinkle with
1 cup brown sugar
_ cup cocoa
Pour over
1 _ hot water

Bake 45 minutes at 350
Makes 9 servings.
Best eaten warm!

1 ¾ cups potatoes, cooked and mashed if you had potatoes the day before, just cook some

more for the burger

1 tsp olive oil heat in a medium skillet, add

1 cup red onions, diced

, 2 cloves garlic minced and sauté for a few minutes until soft. Add

½ cup frozen peas

½ cup grated carrots reduce heat and cook until carrots are tender.

Transfer all the above ingredients to a big bowl; season

To taste with

Salt, pepper

1 tsp ground cumin Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined, add

Breadcrumbs to get a firm mixture. Form into 4 patties,

Breadcrumbs dip patties on both sides in breadcrumbs.

1 tsp. Canola oil heat on medium heat in a skillet and bake till golden

brown.

4 whole wheat buns slice open, garnish with lettuce and tomato slices and

Alfalfa sprouts

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You can substitute the peas with peppers, celery or any other vegetables.

Tip from the volunteers:

Instead of using breadcrumbs to get a firm mixture, you can try chia seeds. Thanks ladies for this tip, I googled it and I definitely will try it .

It also reminds me of the millions of people from all over the world who responded to the Earth Hour initiative, which is a symbolic message of hope for God’s Creation that His people do care very much about the world and the devastation being wreaked on it .

It is a refreshing, renewing optimism which shows that people do come together to help when natural disasters strike or when Creation is groaning. As Christians, we should be at the forefront of extending a helping hand to these situations.

Bryan

http://twitter.com/#search?q=arochacanada

Thanks.