Yellow-headed Blackbird – Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. George Genereux Urban Regional Park.

Songs of the Songbirds!

International Dawn Chorus Day is the first Sunday of May! What an amazing day to listen for our Black-capped Chickadees, Robins, and Meadowlarks, with the Red-winged Blackbirds and Yellow-headed Blackbirds bringing in the harmony.

The day honours the birthdate of Chris Baines is an English naturalist, one of the UK’s leading independent environmentalists. He is a horticulturalist, landscape architect, naturalist, television presenter and author.

This year the first Sunday of May is May 1, when the City Nature Challenge is taking place! This year besides being Saskatoon’s first year for the City Nature Challenge, it is_ we believe_ to be the first year to record sounds on iNaturalist. Let us see how many song birds can be recorded for International Dawn Chorus Day! What great fun that will be! We will make an announcement at the end of the City Nature Challenge about how many people placed sound recordings during their time outside in nature.

Help show the world what Saskatoon’s biodiversity looks like – and sounds like—grab your smartphone, the free @inaturalistorg app, & join this year’s #CityNatureChallenge from April 29–May 2! Great for all ages; find details at FriendsAreas.ca #CNCYXE

Celebrate 50 years! Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional park were planted to trees in 1972, 50 years ago. Come out and say Happy Birthday!

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Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers )Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!

Donations can be made through Paypal, Canada Helps, Contact Donate A Car Canada, SARCAN Drop & Go 106100594 for the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc.

United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Use the UN Decade’s Visual Identity
Make it your own
Spread the word about the UN Decade
Let’s Bring Back Forests
Let’s Green Our Cities

“Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward. Bend to the winds of heaven..”
Richard St. Barbe Baker

#CityNatureChallenge #iNaturalistCanada #Biodiversity Founded by @NHMLA and @CalAcademy Community Science hosted by #friendsdareas #NatureCanada #CityNatureChallenge #BioBlitz #CitSciMonth #CommunityScience #CitizenScience #UrbanNature #UrbanBiodiversity #NatureInTheCity #NatureIsEverywhere #NatureForEveryone #NatureNerd #cnc #outdoors #nature #conservation #photography #biodiversity #citizenscience #inaturalist #wildlife #plantlife #wanderlust #naturelovers #optoutside #instagood #picoftheday #volunteer #training #parks #optingoutside #CNCYXE #CNCYXE2022 #FriendsAreas #FriendsAfforestation #citizenscience #communityscience #EcologicalEmergency #naturelovers @sasktel #inaturalist #saskatchewanbirds #yxebirds #getoutdoors #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #citynaturechallenge2022 #yxe #thegreatoutdoors #citynaturechallenge2022 #citynaturechallenge #Canadacitynaturechallenge #citizenscience #Volunteering #nativeprairie #grasslands #wildlife #bees #pollinators #prairiepollinators #ExploreSask #NatureSask #wildlifewatcher #prairielife #sasklife #nativeprairie #speciesatrisk #conservation #KeepSaskWild #socialdistance #citizenscience #wildlifephotography #beesknees #LeavetheLeaves #NoMowMay #nature4all #FriendsAreas #FriendsAfforestation @FriendsAreas #saskatoon #saskatooning

Little Known Facts About Edible Cattails – And Why They Matter

So, cattails and you, and why all parts of the cattail plant are amazing for a wild spring, summer or fall harvest. “The shoots or hearts, also known as “Cossack asparagaus,” are best harvested in spring or early summer, prior to the devlopment of the flower stalk” source So after harvesting the shoots, just rinse, soak in vinegar for 15-20 minutes and then rinse. <a href="http://<!– wp:paragraph –> <p>So, cattails and you, and why all parts of the cattail plant are amazing for a wild spring, summer or fall harvest. "The shoots or hearts, also known as "Cossack asparagaus," are best harvested in spring or early summer, prior to the devlopment of the flower stalk"<a href="https://wildfoodgirl.com/2013/cold-hearted-cattail-salads/"> source</a> So after harvesting the shoots, just rinse, soak in vinegar for 15-20 minutes and then rinse. </p> Cold Cattail and Tomato Salad is a great way to start out enjoying your Cattail harvest.

Remember to harvest your cattails alone, and without your puppy dog with you, as spring is nesting time for many waterfowl and animals. Humans are not the only animals who forage on cattails. “Wherever there are cattails, there’s food. The seeds, roots and shoots attract plant-eating animals, and predators that eat the cattail’s visitors. Ducks and Canada geese sometimes eat the tiny seeds, and geese dine on the plant’s new shoots and underwater roots…. Muskrats gnaw on the roots, and use the leaves to build a shelter, called a lodge, to keep themselves safe. It’s common to see red-winged blackbirds hanging around cattails. After the male finds a mate the birds use plants including cattail leaves to build their nest.” source

As you embark on the Cold Cattail and Tomato Salad, consider the nutritional benefits from Cattails, such as Manganese, Vitamin K, Magnesium, Iron, Vitamin B6 and Sodium. According to Health Benefits of Cattail, Uses And Its Side Effects, Cattails, help with mitigation of Anaemia, preventing cancer, controlling hypertension, reducing atherosclerosis risks, controlling diabetes, and is also a natural antiseptic.

Nature is the source of human subsistence but the transformation of nature into food is a cultural process that is not independent of power relations. The colonization of America comprised the systematic repression of indigenous ways of knowing and even after the elimination of political colonialism the relationship between European cultures and the others is still one of colonial domination. The colonial repression of different knowledges also affects the culinary epistemology that informs food preparation and consumption.
Xilkia Janer

Muskrat West Swale Wetlands. Chappell Marsh. Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Saskatoon, SK, CA

Chappell Marsh. West Swale Wetlands. Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Saskatoon, SK, CA — Muskrat West Swale Wetlands. Chappell Marsh. Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. Saskatoon, SK, CA

Always be careful about safety when around water . So today, is another momentous day to celebrate Tourism Week In Canada. Pop out for a visit to the afforestation areas, enjoy the delightful spring weather, and enjoy this man-made forest on the prairies.

Send in a comment on how you succeed with your foraging adventure! Stay tuned throughout tourism week for more Cattail recipes for your outdoor foraging foray.

“All of these things are food for insects, for birds, for bears, deer, elk and moose, and if we compromise that by our foraging … it won’t be long before these things are no longer here,” … Julie Walker recommends people plant some of these species in their backyard gardens — or at least stop the war on weeds and let and nature take its course. Many native species have qualities that can benefit a home garden, like requiring little to no maintenance and being drought-resistant, she added. People can also forage on public lands, as long as they learn to recognize healthy populations of wild plant species.
Jessica Barrett. Edible Forest: Guided Walks teach which weeds and wild greens you can eat.

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Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers )Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date! Canada Helps

United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Use the UN Decade’s Visual Identity
Make it your own
Spread the word about the UN Decade
Let’s Bring Back Forests
Let’s Green Our Cities

““Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward. Bend to the winds of heaven..”
Richard St. Barbe Baker

Spring is on the way!

Here is a little bit of spring!!!
You Tube video Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and the West Swale Wetlands

A bit of early morning birdwatching, with a few ducks and ducklings interspersed with blackbirds!

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

For more information:

Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits

P4G Saskatoon North Partnership for Growth The P4G consists of the Cities of Saskatoon, Warman, and Martensville, the Town of Osler and the Rural Municipality of Corman Park; planning for areas around the afforestation area and West Swale outside of Saskatoon city limits

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

You Tube Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

You Tube George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)

Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!

QR Code FOR PAYPAL DONATIONS to the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. — Paypal

Payment Options

Membership : $20.00 CAD – yearly
Membership with donation : $50.00 CAD
Membership with donation : $100.00 CAD

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ^***

“St. Barbe’s unique capacity to pass on his enthusiasm to others. . . Many foresters all over the world found their vocations as a result of hearing ‘The Man of the Trees’ speak. I certainly did, but his impact has been much wider than that. Through his global lecture tours, St. Barbe has made millions of people aware of the importance of trees and forests to our planet.” Allan Grainger

“The science of forestry arose from the recognition of a universal need. It embodies the spirit of service to mankind in attempting to provide a means of supplying forever a necessity of life and, in addition, ministering to man’s aesthetic tastes and recreational interests. Besides, the spiritual side of human nature needs the refreshing inspiration which comes from trees and woodlands. If a nation saves its trees, the trees will save the nation. And nations as well as tribes may be brought together in this great movement, based on the ideal of beautifying the world by the cultivation of one of God’s loveliest creatures – the tree.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker.

“I believed that God has lent us the Earth. It belongs as much to those who come after us as to us, and it ill behooves us by anything we do or neglect, to deprive them of benefits which are in our power to bequeath.” Richard St. Barbe Baker

Unmoored by the Wind?

The trees and vegetation, which cover the land surface of the Earth and delight the eye, are performing vital tasks incumbent upon the vegetable world in nature. Its presence is essential to earth as an organism. It is the first condition of all life; it is the “Skin” of the earth, for without it there can be no water and, therefore, no life.~Richard St. Barbe Baker

Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus)

“Our task must be to free ourselves … by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.” —Albert Einstein

Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) habitat is in cattail marshes such as Chappell Marsh in the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. The female is not a brightly coloured as this male.

Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus)

The Yellow-headed Blackbird is amazingly sure of foot, even when perched upon swaying cattails. Though they appear delicately perched upon the the heads of the cattail, which disintegrate into a cottony fluff from which the seeds disperse by wind, the yellow-headed Blackbird, stays his post, and is not unmoored.

“Let us heal the naked scars in the earth and restore her green mantle. Let us set our Earth family in order”.~Richard St. Barbe Baker

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park

For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

For more information:

Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SW 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West OLRA

Twitter: StBarbeBaker

Please help protect / enhance /commemorate your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)

Payment Options

Membership : $20.00 CAD – yearly
Membership with donation : $50.00 CAD
Membership with donation : $100.00 CAD

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ^***

You Tube Video Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

You Tube Video Richard St Barbe Baker presented by Paul Hanley

You Tube Video Richard St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and West Swale wetlands

You Tube Video Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area – Saskatoon’s best kept secret.

You Tube Video George Genereux Urban Regional Park Hoar Frost

You Tube Video George Genereux Urban Regional Park Saskatoon

You Tube Video George Genereux Urban Regional Park

“I believed that God has lent us the Earth. It belongs as much to those who come after us as to us, and it ill behooves us by anything we do or neglect, to deprive them of benefits which are in our power to bequeath.” Richard St. Barbe Baker

“We feel that our greatest victory remains to be won when man will realize his oneness with the trees, the creatures and with all living things, not ours to destroy, but to be handed on for the enjoyment of future generations.” – Richard St. Barbe Baker

The trees and vegetation, which cover the land surface of the Earth and delight the eye, are performing vital tasks incumbent upon the vegetable world in nature. Its presence is essential to earth as an organism. It is the first condition of all life; it is the “Skin” of the earth, for without it there can be no water and, therefore, no life.~Richard St. Barbe Baker

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