Backpacking pictures

So here are the backpacking pictures!!!

Lindsey, thank you so much for sending me the pictures!

how to make a plastic bag flower

Usually when you do something with plastic bags(crochet, iron, braid,etc.) you use the bag part of the bag, and the handles go to waste. Here is a project for the handles(although if you want to you can just use the bag part to cut out the circles).

Materials:

• 4 plastic bag handles
• safety pin/ needle and thread, button, hair clip, glue

Directions:

(for a pin)

1. Cut the middle seam off of one on the handles and flatten out the halves to make two squarish/rectangular pieces of plastic.

2. Cut out a circle from each squarish/rectangular pieces of plastic.

3. Repeat steps 1&2, until you have used up the four handles. Vary the size of the circles.


4. Stack your circles on top of each other, with the smallest circles on top.


5. Pinch the middle of the stack, and fold the stack to look like this:


6. Stick your safety pin through all of the layers of plastic.


Fluff it up a bit, and you have a recycled flower pin!



How to make a plastic bag flower barrette:

1. Do steps 1-4
2. Sew a button on to the stack, but as you sew it on, grab bits of plastic with your needle so it gets poofy.

This is how the back should look

Here's the front!

Link parties!

Backpacking trip--day 1

Last Wednesday, two teachers  and 9 girls(whose ages ranged from 12-14) piled into a large white van and drove to the traildhead of the spider meadow loop trail(we were only going part way). Jenny and Lindsey are the names of the two teachers, and they were taking us backpacking. This was the third time in 2 years that they had taken girls from our school backpacking.

In the summer of 2009, there had been only one backpacking trip, and this summer there have been two. The second one was the advanced trip, and the one I am talking(or writing) about now.

So anyway, after 2 days of planning and gathering gear(that had been Monday and Tuesday), and a loooooond van ride during which we listened(and sang along) to: Lean on me, you've got a friend in me, imagine, fairytale, don't stand so close to me, hoedown throwdown, as we go on we remember, lets get down to business(played and sung very loudly), and many more, we were at the trail head.

We pulled our very heavy backpacks on to our backs, and then walked for five miles. The hike was beautiful and fairly easy, with many river crossings.

I did the same backpack trip last year with my family, and even though I'd seen the meadow before, its beauty was still astounding. The meadow is bowl shaped, and a mile across. All around the meadow there were peaks, some still with snow on them.  My description doesn't at all do the meadow justice, so hopefully I'll be able to find some pictures of it.

We decided on a campsite that in our opinion is the most beautiful one in the entire meadow. We had easy access to running water(not potable, but we had several water pumps), an amazing view, and enough room for our five tents.

It was nearly 5:00 pm when we got there, so after all the tents were put up, and the water bottles refilled, the group of three who was supposed to make dinner did so.
You see, we split up into groups of three, were given an extremely tight budget, and walked to Safeway to get food for the 2 meals each group was in charge of(I was in the breakfasts-for-both-days group).

Dinner was  Spanish rice with chicken, and couscous.
After dinner we stayed up talking until it was dark, and went to bed.

By the way, pictures and accounts of the next two days of backpacking are coming soon!!!!

More invasive weeds

You may or may not remember our previous posts about invasive weeds, but I was kind of in the mood for another post about noxious weeds, so here they are(I apologize for the horrible pictures--they were taken at sunset):

Nipplewort (Lapsana Communis)
Nipplewort is native to Europe and southern Asia, and the young leaves are edible. It has a longish stalk, and little yellow flowers that look kind of like mini dandelion flowers.

English Ivy (Hedera helix)

We've posted about this before, but here is some more info on it. It is native to most of Europe, and western Asia, and climbs when possible, but if there are no vertical surfaces, grows as a ground cover.

Blackberries

There are four kinds of blackberries I know about in the pacific northwest:

• 
  
  Himalayan blackberries(Rubus armeniacus or Rubus discolor)
• 
  
  Evergreen blackberries(Rubus laciniatus)
• 
  
  Creeping blackberries(R. procumbens)
• 
  
  Cell phone blackberries(that was a joke)

Himalayan and Evergreen blackberries are invasive, and the picture below is one of the two (I'm not sure which), and both have sharp thorns. They also both have very sweet berries. Creeping blackberries are native, and, as the name states, creep. Their thorns are much less sharp than Himalayans and Evergreens. They also have berries that while still are delicious, have a much more delicate flavor than the other two.

Holly(Ilex aquifolium)

First an foremost, to anybody named Holly, I'm not talking about you. You have a very pretty name, and I really hope I don't offend you.

Though this plant is invasive, it is not an official noxious weed, as there is a board that has to say it is bad enough to be a noxious weed. My dad is actually trying to get it made official, because that way there is a lot more the county can do about getting rid of it.

Holly can only be killed effectively with an injection of herbicide, which makes it even worse.

scary environmental fact

Did you know that 100 million pens are thrown out daily? 

Image via Wikipedia