Petrie Island Nature Walk Series 2014

Petrie Island Nature Walk Series (June to September 2014)

Please join us for one or more of our Nature Walks down on the island this summer!  We're thrilled to be partnering with such great naturalists and nature lovers!  Book your spot soon!

 

CANCELLED: Saturday July 12th, 10 am – 12 pm - Petrie Island Nature Tour Series - Reading the Landscape w Bryarly McEachern. RESCHEDULED to Saturday August 23rd, 10 am - 12 pm (No Rain Date).

Sunday August 10th 2014, 10 am - 12 pm – Wild food and medicinal plants with Amber Westfall

No Rain Date

Saturday August 23rd 2014, 10 am – 12 pm - Reading the Landscape with Bryarly McEachern. 

No rain date.

Saturday September 20th 2014, 9:30 am – 11:30 am -  Woody Plants of Petrie Island with Owen Clarkin

Rain Date: September 21 2014(same time)

 

Registration is required – limited spots for all tours.  

 

Tour Price:

 

- Member prices: $7 (individual) $15 (family)

 

- Non-member prices: $10 (individual) $20 (family)

 

* Please Pay in Advance at the Nature Centre or Send a Check payable to Friends of Petrie Island to: FOPI c/o Al Tweddle, 1395 Sault Street, Ottawa, ON K1E 1G8 with details on which tour you wish to join, how many people and membership status.

 

All tours will go on light rain or shine – please dress appropriately for the weather and wear closed toe shoes.  Bring a water bottle, sunscreen and bugspray as needed.

 

Last minute up dates will be available on our Twitter and Facebook sites.

 

Meet in front of the Nature Interpretation Centre on Petrie Island.  Please come 15 min early so that we can sign everyone in before the tour starts.

 

Questions?  Please contact Katherine Forster through email: petrie.coordinator (at) gmail (dot) com or phone 613-700-0959.

 

FULL DETAILS OF NATURE WALKS:

 

 

Sunday, June 22nd 2014, 2 – 4 pm -  Wild Edibles with Peggi Calder 

Join us on Sunday June 22 for a tour of Petrie Island's Native Wildflower Garden to learn about wild edibles.  Enjoy a wonderful summer's day surrounded by blooming flowers.  Following the walk our tour guide, Peggi Calder will show and discuss fresh and dried samples from her farm and provide details on delicious and nutritious recipes for using these local plants in your next meal. Ms. Calder's Plant ID and Wild Edible Cookbooks will also be on display.  Small recipe brochure will be provided to all participants.  Get inspired to create your first wild edible dish!

 

Tour Guide Bio:

 

Peggi Calder is self-taught, having grown up in Northern Ontario with parents who hunted and fished. Her mother is a great cook who made delicious dishes from everything that her father brought home.

 

Peggi has been giving wild edibles presentations since 1988 at places such as Cooper Marsh, Upper Migratory Bird Sanctuary, Apple Hill Forestry Interpretation Centre, St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences Eco-Friends Day Camps,   Brownies and Guides, Horticultural groups, nature societies, local schools, and Women's Institutes.

 

She has exhibited at a CBC Gardening Fair, Plowing Match, Forestry Week, lead a 4H "Encounter the Outdoors" club and is certified by the Ministry of Natural Resources as a Project Wild, Focus on Forests and Fish Ways leader.

CANCELLED: Saturday July 12th, 10 am – 12 pm - Reading the Landscape w Bryarly McEachern. RESCHEDULED to Saturday August 23rd, 10 am - 12 pm (No Rain Date).

 

Sunday August 10th 2014, 10 am - 12 pm – Wild food and medicinal plants with Amber Westfall

No Rain Date

 

Discover the delicious, wild edible and healing, medicinal plants of Petrie Island. This walk will introduce participants to the wild food and medicine of the area through plant identification skills, ethical harvesting practices and preparation and uses of a variety of plants.

*Please note that we will not be harvesting plants on this tour, although you will be invited to take a nibble here and there as applicable. Our focus will be on plant identification, their uses and the principles of safe, ethical foraging in an urban environment.

* Participants are encouraged to bring notebook & pen and a camera.

Tour Guide Bio:

Forager, herbalist and herb farmer, when Amber Westfall is not in a patch of weeds somewhere, you'll find her in the kitchen cooking up wild greens and herbal brews. Through her business The Wild Garden, Amber provides community members with local, organic and sustainably harvested wild foods and herbs and leads educational walks and workshops on the edible and medicinal plants of Ottawa.

 

Saturday August 23rd 2014, 10 am – 12 pm - Reading the Landscape with Bryarly McEachern

No rain date.

 

What is a Carolinian hackberry tree doing up here? What are the plants telling us about the soil and hydrology at this site? What did this forest look like 10,000 years ago? What might it look like in 100 years? These are the types of questions we will explore during our interactive fieldwalk at Petrie Island. Put on your detective cap and join us as we uncover stories from the landscape! Remember, this jaunt will run sun or sprinkle - please dress appropriately.  This tour is limited to 15 people so sign up early!

 

Tour Guide Bio:

 

Bryarly is a graduate of the University of Vermont's M.Sc. Field Naturalist Program, which trains natural resource professionals in field ecology, environmental problem-solving, and communication. She combines her passion for ecological stewardship and education by doing contract work with organizations such as the Nature Conservancy of Canada, volunteering on the Board of the A2A Collaborative, leading field walks, and running nature connection programs for youth through Earth Path. She loves nurturing meaningful connections between people and place, and aims to support Ottawa schools in developing inspiring place-based curricula for their students.

 

Saturday, September 20^th 2014, 9:30 am – 11:30 am – Woody Plants of Petrie Island with Owen Clarkin

(Rain Date September 21)

 

Petrie Island is well-known for its relatively pristine natural environment, given the close proximity to Ottawa.  This low island contains a well-preserved natural plant community, with good examples of regionally uncommon woody plants such as Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), Black Willow (Salix nigra), and Bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia).  Come discover this unique ecosystem with us! This guided walk will emphasize interaction and public education, with all questions from participants welcome.

 

Tour Guide Bio:

 

Owen Clarkin grew up near Russell Ontario, and has been studying the trees of Eastern Ontario as a dedicated amateur since the age of 4. After finishing a conventional education in the natural sciences, he has begun more seriously to explore topics in tree ecology from an Eastern Ontario perspective, together with a core group of colleagues.