Networking and Reading

Weeks 2 and 3

Chatted with Vicky Normandy.  She is an agronomist who, for the last 9 years, has focused on supporting organic farmers (her contact information was given to my by David Vose at Blue Sky Organic Farms).  Vicky also works with vineyards which are predominantly located in the Cottonwood/Sedona area and Ajo, Saguarito, Benson (S. AZ) area. She is pondering some potential projects, maybe tied to ways that plants can be stimulated to naturally fight pathogens with applications of things like neem or rosemary oil or other microbial preparations, and will get back to me next week.

Have been reading Lab Girl by Hope Jahren.  (In the spirit of sustainability I checked it out from the local library 😊  )    I'm loving it so far.  I first learned about the book after hearing an interview with the author on Science Friday on NPR.  You can listen to that (or read a transcript) here.


Following the success of this memoir she was also interviewed on morning edition.

I love the frontispiece (I think that's what you call it) quote.  It's very applicable to botany and sustainability:

The more I handled things and learned their names and uses, the more joyous and confident grew my sense of kinship with the rest of the world.
           - Helen Keller







I have received the Eden Project Guide to Botanical illustration - it's very focused on watercolor, so may be a leap too far for me at this point, but I'm excited to give it a go.  My Drawing Fundamentals class starts on Sept 20th and I have been shopping on Amazon for all my supplies.  I think that will be my next post - it's a whole new world of technical jargon and items I had no idea existed!








I have been creating a list of contacts and websites for the various citizen science initiatives on the West side, primarily associated with the White Tank Mountains Conservancy and the Maricopa Trail project.  There is considerable overlap with these two groups so it was hard to keep everything straight!  My first event with these groups is Oct 14th.  It's the New Steward Orientation for WTMC. However, before then some other Estrella Mountain folks and I will be meeting down at the Tres Rios Trail Segment along with staff from the Maricopa Trail and the Cities of Avondale and Phoenix (Sept. 23rd).  Our plan is to finally confirm the trail route, access points and other logistics for this segment that is a little complicated due to a combination of private land, city land, AZGF land, Waste Water Treatment facilities, PIR etc. etc....

My 30-day progress report is due on Wednesday the 13th. It seems straight forward enough and I hope to get it submitted a couple of days early :)  (That would be a first :)  )  Plus I'm delving more into this whole blogging thing - check out the emoji's, pictures, and links this week! Soon I'll be making $$ with click-thru links 😜.

AND... My first Olympic Distance Triathlon is getting closer and closer!  September 17th!