For the past couple of years my grand mom has asked me if I wanted to participate in “Philly cares”, which is a community. My grand mom and my aunt participate through their workplace.  This year was the first time I was actually able to do it and I am so glad that I got the chance.

Philadelphia Cares Day is organized by Greater Philadelphia Cares, a non-profit organization that creates and manages community service projects designed to meet critical needs in the region.  Philadelphia Cares Day started in 1993, and since then there have been thousands of people who have volunteered their time for this one-day service event.  This year, more than 80 schools will benefit from fresh coats of paint, refurbished libraries, landscaped green spaces, restored playground equipment, and much more. 

 My grand mom and my aunt work for General Electric (GE) and this year the volunteers from GE serviced Woodrow Wilson Middle school. The GE team painted 483,000 square feet of hallways, created a “teachers lounge”, and refreshed the outside landscaping and gardens.  This year is the 14^th year that GE employee volunteers have been participating in the event to help the School Districts of Philadelphia. Not only did GE volunteers help this year but they were also joined by some Wilson students & teachers and 30 volunteers from Philadelphia Painters Union District Council 21.

Volunteers sign up for different areas of service that they were interested in and then they were split into groups.  My grandparents, my aunt, and I were signed up to do some landscaping work. We pulled weeds, mulched, and got extremely dirty. We were also supposed to be planting as well but ran out of time on that day and a few volunteers returned the following weekend. In the beginning of the day the weather was not on our side.  It was raining, and possibly sleeting for a little, and was pretty cold. Throughout the day the weather improved a little and we may have even saw the sun towards the end.  Although the working conditions of this day weren’t the best it still felt so good to know what the students would get out of our helping. The principal of the school was so energetic and very appreciative about us being there. I could tell that this was a school that needed and would benefit from our help.

Our dayconsisted of a lot of hard work but it was all worth it and a fun time as well.  We all enjoyed each other’s company. This event means alot to the people that volunteer every year. I know my grandparents changed their plans in order to make it and i’m sure many other volunteers did the same thing. Participating in Philly Cares is a small way to make a big difference in the lives of the children who attend the schools we “help to clean up”. I will be sure to participate in Philly Cares next year and for years to come.

 Getting dirty pulling weeds.  My aunt and I getting mulch for the garden.

Since the summer is coming to an end Jane and I decided to do something to say goodbye. We canned tomatoes and peaches for the winter. There is a local orchard called Highlands Orchards where you can go to pick your own fruit. Jane and I went there and picked our own peaches. That was the first time I actually saw fruit on a tree. I know that’s pretty sad since I am 21 but it was very cool. It was even more fun to go from tree to tree and decide what peaches we wanted to take. It was great knowing that the peaches we would  be eating later on in the year were handpicked by us.

Jane has a book about canning food that has the instructions for each specific food. It’s a very detailed process but once you get the hang of it, it goes by fast. The peaches were a little harder to do than the tomatoes. The jars that the fruit will go in all have to be cleaned and sterilized. The fruit has to boil for a certain amount of time before you can skin them. Once you skin them there is a science to putting them in the jars. There has to be a certain amount of head room, no air bubbles, extra juice added. It is all a very interesting process. I thought it was cool to learn because this is what people used to do with their food all the time. Rather than buy it in a grocery store. I feel like there will be a time when people realize how bad processed foods really are and will go back to growing their own food. The tomatoes that we canned were from Jane’s garden. This was even more satisfying because not only did we hand pick them but she grew them all herself.

 I can’t wait to eat the food that we canned later on in the year. Jane and I love peaches so it will be great that we can eat them in the middle of the winter when you can’t get them anywhere else.

Friday was quite an exciting day for the Kirkland family and me. It was not your typical day in the office. Jane, Rob, Heather (Jane’s 7-year-old family friend), and I drove to Bumpass Virginia to pick up the new addition to the Kirkland family. Jane and Rob decided to adopt a dog from an organization called Atlantic Region Central Border Collie Rescue http://www.arcbcr.org.

His original name was Leo but we thought it sounded too much like no and didn’t want him to be confused. We decided to change his name to Buddy. Buddy is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. He is to be one of the most beautiful dogs I have ever seen. He has such a pretty color. He is also one of the sweetest dogs. When Buddy was younger he was abused and is now very anxious and scared because of that experience. I am sure that Buddy is going to be so loved at this home that he will soon come out of his shell. He is doing so well already and it has only been three days. Although he is a little scared he has the most adorable personality. He loves to be pet and cuddled with: especially when the one doing the petting is Heather. The two instantly fell in love with each other the second they met. On the way home, Heather wanted to ride in the back of the car with Buddy. Of course we let her. 

On the car ride back Heather had an interesting experience with Buddy. Heather and Buddy were sitting in the very back of the van when Buddy started getting a little rowdy. He scraped at the door and seemed to be uncomfortable. We thought he was upset about leaving his previous owner but then we quickly realized it was something else. Before we knew it Heather screamed “he just threw up all over!” We turned around and sure enough he threw up, all over the back seat. Somehow he managed not to get any on Heather. She started freaking out immediately and making barf faces. I was trying to make sure she didn’t throw up also while rescuing her from the surrounding pile of throw up. Her face was priceless and I couldn’t help but laugh! It was the most throw up I’ve ever seen from a dog.

I can’t wait to make even more memories with Buddy as he becomes more comfortable with his new family. Hopefully they will be a little less smelly and messy.

Last week Jane and I paid a visit to Springton Manor (a local farm) to take pictures for some of her upcoming books. Jane’s friend Heather tagged along and is in some of the pictures. We got so many great pictures with the animals on the farm. Jimmy, the man who takes care of the barn, was nice enough to let us hold some of the animals. We were able to take pictures with a baby pig, a baby goat, and a rabbit. The baby pig was so adorable; I really wanted to take them all home. When the mother grunted all 15 of the baby pigs came running over to feed. They were climbing all over each other to try to get some milk.

Heather was having so much fun getting her picture taken and having the animals in the pictures made it even better. Heather also got her picture taken with some lambs, horses, and butterflies. While we were there, we visited the very popular butterfly garden. It is such a neat place to visit. The butterflies fly around as if you are not even there. They land so close to you, and sometimes they even land on you. There butterflies that they have are very pretty. This day turned out to be very successful, we got many great pictures.  Springton Manor is a very interesting place to visit, especially in the summer.  The butterfly house is very fun and unigue.  The best part about this is…it’s free!  Can’t beat that!

Here I am with a baby Barn Owl.Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Jane’s friends Jonathan and Susan Wood and their daughter Rachel. Jonathan is a falconer, rehabilitator, conservationist, and educator. You can read about his Raptor Project here. He travels around the country with his raptors to educate the public about raptors and conservation. He recently did a commercial with Regis and Kelly for TD Bank. 

Among his raptors are a Golden Eagle, Barn Owls, American Kestrel, Harris’s Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, Barred Owl, a Spectacled Owl, and an Eastern Screech Owl.

This is the baby Harris’s HawkJonathan was in Exton, PA yesterday to help Jane promote her books at Barnes and Noble. I was not able to make the show but Jane and I met with Jon’s family for lunch. As if it was not interesting enough to meet Jonathan, I met some of his birds too. I held a baby Barn owl and a baby Harris’s Hawk. At first, I was scared to hold them because they look so fragile; I thought I would break them. Once I held them, I was glad that I did. I sat down in the grass and held them each on my lap. The baby barn owl was biting my belt loops on my shorts; it was too cute.

I’m a lucky girl. Over Thanksgiving break, I had the opportunity to go to England with Jane and Rob. I was even able to bring my best friend Jenny. I never expected that I would get the chance to take a trip like this and then boom, the opportunity just popped out of nowhere! I had never flown before. Imagine how hard it was to have an eight-hour flight for my first flight ever. It was an overnight flight but I could not sleep the entire ride. I do not know if it was because I was on the plane or because I was too excited to let myself fall asleep.

We stayed in Oxford, England.Our apartment was so cute. It was two bedrooms, two baths, and it had a little kitchen and living room. It was smaller than an apartment here would be but then again everything is smaller in England (especially the cars). Our apartment was right in the middle of town. We were close to the center of shopping and there were lots of restaurants as well as colleges and historical buildings. Oxford is definitely a college town, everywhere you turn there is another college. Oxford University has about 40 different colleges.

As soon as we arrived in England Jenny and I decided we were going to start making a list of the things that were different. The first and most obvious thing we noticed was that the people drove on the other side of the road. It took so much time to get used to and I sure am glad we did not have to drive while we were there. Along with more buses, they have a lot more people who ride their bikes, which is what I would do if I were there. There are so many people and the streets are so busy compared to what I am used to (the suburbs). Even though they speak English, they do not have the same names as we do for some things. For example, backpacks are called rucksacks, French fries are called chips, take out food is called “take away”, all fast food seems to be called “MacDonalds”, restrooms are called toilets, and their yield sign says, “Give way”. One of the things that surprised Jenny and I was that they listened to the exact same music as us. When we were in restaurants, they seemed to be playing a radio station from home. I’m not sure what I expected them to listen to; all I know is that I was surprised. Another difference was that they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving or have black Friday shopping. It was sad that we missed those traditions but it was more than worth it!

Oxford is the most beautiful town. We explored many of the old and historic buildings. My favorite place in Oxford is called Christ Church College. It was a huge, old, and beautiful campus. A tour guide took us under his wing and we learned so much about the college. Some Harry Potter movie scenes were filmed there and the Hogwarts dining hall was modeled from the dining hall at the college (left). The college is more famously known as the place where Alice and Wonderland was written. Our tour guide knew so much about the story, the author, and the characters. It was so interesting to listen to the history of something that was written so long ago but still loved today.

Another amazing place was the Oxford Castle. Years ago it used to be a prison and now it is a hotel. The last night we were in town we had the option to take a “haunted” tour of the castle. It was very interesting to hear the stories and it was honestly a little scary. Most of the tour was dark and we were given flashlights as our only light. Our tour guide was great and you could tell he really loved the history of the castle because he was so into telling the stories. Towards the end of the tour the guide took us up the tower that overlooks the whole city. It was a little too foggy to see everything but it was still easy to tell that it was a great view.

Jane, Jenny and I took a day trip to London and it was so great. We took a double decker bus tour. There were so many historical things to see there im surprised I remember them all. Let us see if I can list them: Big Ben (right), Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, London Bridge, the Tower of London, and the London Eye, Hyde Park, and Harrods department store. One of my favorite places that we saw was Big Ben. I was most excited to see this because my brother was picking on me for not knowing what it was before I left. I Took lots of pictures to show off to him. The Palace was amazing, as you would imagine. The guards in front were interesting to see and they were all dressed up in uniform. Harrods was also a great experience. I have never seen a department store so big, and it was packed! It was decorated for the holiday season so it was even more enjoyable to walk around in. They have food in there and so much candy! Jenny and I were in heaven with all of the chocolate they had there.

The last night that we were in Oxford, there was a festival to celebrate the lighting of all the Christmas lights in town. The whole town was decorated and they were having a bunch of things going on: a band, a lighting show, pyrotechnics, and girls walking around on stilts (left), food, dance teams, haunted tour of the castle and more. It was such a great night and a cute event for the town.

The flight home was much better than the one there. Although it was a little longer (thanks to head winds) I was able to sleep for a couple of hours so that made the time go by faster. I was also glad that the seats had individual screens so you could watch movies if you wanted to. That really helped to pass the time. We all had such a great time spending Thanksgiving break in England but we sure were glad to be home. Everyone missed his or her own beds and their families. I am so lucky that I got to experience such a great place like England. After that trip, I decided that I definitely want to travel to a lot more places and I am sure that is why Jane and Rob invited Jenny and me along. They wanted to open our eyes to a bigger world and that’s exactly what they did!

There are many more pictures from the trip. If you want to take a look at them click here!

The last week in July was so fun-filled and interesting that I don’t even know where to start. Jane and I attended the Pennsylvania Governors Institute for Environment and Ecology. There were so many exciting people to meet (none of course as exciting as Jane) and I learned a lot more than I could ever imagine.

The conference was at the Seven Springs resort in Pennsylvania. If anyone has ever been to this resort they will know what I mean when I say it is a beauty. The hotel itself looks sort of like a castle, with a huge tower made of stone walls. The resort is known for its skiing and snow tubing so there are a bunch of slopes surrounding the resort. In the summertime there obviously isn’t any snow but there is a huge slide going all the way down one of the slops and from what I hear is just as fun as tubing or skiing. The food was great and there were many things to do if you didn’t have anything to occupy your time .

The first night of the conference was called “networking night”. There was a huge conference room set up with a whole bunch of tables for the different vendors. All of the teachers had to go around to each vendor and get them to sign a paper all while listening to the speaker. Jane had warned me that the teachers try and fly by but man I wasn’t expecting it to be as crazy as it was. The teachers would quickly walk up to you and ask your table number. Then they would search through their packets to find your page and be like “here, can you sign this!” The teachers wanted to get out of there because it was their only free night. I do understand that but I thought that they would find Jane rather interesting so I made sure they listened to what she had to say before I signed anything. Each person who came to our table got to pick which one of Jane’s books they would like to take home with them. It really seemed like the teachers were fascinated by Jane and her books. I was so surprised at how many people knew exactly who she was. I could hear them whispering when they were walking up, “There is Jane Kirkland she is the author of that No Student Left Indoors book”. And I work for her-I’m just saying that’s pretty cool.

The second day was my favorite. Jane and I didn’t have anything scheduled for that day until nighttime so we went sightseeing. We decided to visit one of the most famous houses in the world located in Bear Run Pennsylvania. The house is called Falling Water (pictured to the right) and was built by Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright built this house in 1936 for the Kaufmann family and friends to use as their summer home. The Kaufmann Family owned a store and was very wealthy so they paid Wright to build their summer home on top of a waterfall. This house is unlike anything I have ever seen. The house was literally built right on top of a waterfall. There are steps that lead right down to the water. This house is so beautiful I would love to buy for myself! The floor of the house is made of rock and it all the decorations are very modern although this house was built quite some time ago.

Not only the house itself is beautiful but the surroundings of the house are outstanding as well. The Kaufmann family would use the property as a summer camp for their friends and family. The Northern Pennsylvania Conservancy took over the house in 1963 and has been taking care of it ever since. There are many different types of tours that you can take of the house and grounds surrounding it. The Barn at Falling Water was also purchased by the Kaufmann family and is now used as a nature center. They also have a very nice gift shop and a museum at Falling Water. I recommend everyone visit this house whenever they get a chance to-it is unforgettable.

We also ventured to a town near Falling Water called Ohiopyle and visited their state park. Jane and I took some really great pictures (there I am on the rocks, top right). We found a little garden and it had a fritillary butterfly (pictured to the right) and a hummingbird moth(pictured to the right) sipping on the flowers. The hummingbird moth is such a cool insect to see because it moves so fast, much like an actual hummingbird. At the state park there was a nice bridge that overlooked a river, it was very pretty.

The rest of the conference was filled with meeting very interesting people, fun workshops, and great speakers. I really enjoyed this conference and I experienced so much. I am really lucky that I get to do these kinds of things for my work. The conference was busting with school teachers and that’s what I’m leaning towards for a profession so it was nice to be surrounded by the people that I might someday be a part of.

For a couple of weeks Jane and I have been raising butterflies to study their life cycle and release them. We ordered eggs, caterpillars, and some adults from a breeder who overnighted them to us. We ordered two different species of butterflies, Monarchs and Eastern Black Swallowtails.

Monarchs have a life cycle of 6 weeks: 4 days as an egg, 2 weeks as a caterpillar, 10 days as chrysalis, and the remaining 2 weeks as an adult. The lifespan of the Black swallowtail is similar: 6 days as an egg, 10-14 days as a caterpillar, 8-12 days as a chrysalis and the remaining 2 weeks as an adult. It has been so cool watching them grow up. They have been our little children. In this picture is a Monarch caterpillar (left) and a Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillar(right).  Notice the different color patterns between the two species. 

Monarchs lay their eggs on the underside of the milkweed leaf.  The eggs are so small that even if you looked for them you might not see them unless you knew exactly what you were looking for. Monarch adults lay their eggs on milkweed because that is the food that the caterpillars eat and when the caterpillars hatch they don’t have to leave the plant. The caterpillars eat their shell and then they start on the leaves of the milkweed.  Milkweed is poisonous to predatory birds but not to the Monarch caterpillars. If you see a milkweed leaf with the edges eaten off chances are you will find a caterpillar. When the caterpillars first hatch it amazing how small the caterpillars are. They literally look like a little piece of string. They are probably thinner than a toothpick! Caterpillars only do two things- they eat and poop, a lot. As they eat they grow bigger and need new skin so they molt (shed their skin) and depending on the species they sometimes change colors after molting. The Monarch caterpillars pretty much stay the same color. They are a bright yellow-green color with white stripes.

The Eastern Black Swallowtails lay their eggs on parsley, dill, and Queen Anne ’s Lace (which is a very beautiful plant and easy to pick out). We are feeding our Black Swallowtails parsley because Jane grows it on her deck so it is easy for us to get and we have lots of it. The Black Swallowtail caterpillars start out being brown with a white stripe. After the first few times they molt they turn orange and white. As they get even bigger and molt more they are bright orange, white, and black.

Every day Jane and I give them a new bunch of milkweed and parsley. It is practically gone by the next day. As the caterpillars get bigger, they eat a lot more. At first we were keeping the caterpillars in critter cages but as they got bigger we decided to make a little caterpillar habitat for them. The habitat is actually a big netted cage and we made the inside of it look like nature. Caterpillars need to hang from something when they make their chrysalises so we put a little ladder and a branch in there for them. Jane and I bought plant vials to stick the milkweed in so it would stay fresh for them. We used foam boards to stick the vials in and have the milkweed standing upright because that’s what it is like in nature. The Black Swallowtails aren’t quite big enough to have their own house yet so we are still keeping them in a critter cage but soon we will have to move them over because they too, will be ready to make their chrysalises. They need to be hanging when they make their chrysalises.

I love watching the caterpillars grow and comparing the different sizes. It is such a fun project and not many people get the chance to do it. However anyone can. You can go out looking for the eggs yourself, now that you know where to find them. Or you can find a breeder and buy some, like Jane and I did. It is amazing experience and something I think anyone can enjoy, no matter what age.

When I woke up for work this morning it was just like any other day. Little did I know that today would be my first animal rescue! I was driving to work on Route 100 when I saw something round crawling in the road. I quickly realized that it was a Box Turtle and it needed my help. The street was fairly busy and the Box Turtle was trying to cross the road. It might have been trying to find a place to lay its eggs. I knew the turtle wouldn’t stop until it got across the street, so I had to stop and help it. I turned the car around and pulled off in a driveway close to where the turtle was crossing. I was only a couple of minutes away from work so I knew the turtle would be fine in my car until I could release it at the lake near my work.

I waited for the cars to pass and then I picked the turtle up by his shell. I put it on the floor in front of my passenger seat figuring it wouldn’t move because it was tucked away in its shell seemingly too scared to come back out. However, the turtle started to get comfortable with its surroundings. The turtle started climbing up into the area where my glove compartment is located. I pulled over again, grabbed an old sweatshirt from my trunk, and placed the turtle in it on my front seat. This time the turtle stayed put.

When I got to work I was so excited to tell Jane about my rescue. I left the turtle on my front seat and ran inside to get a box to carry it inside and show it off. I have been trying to get some pictures of a turtle for a while now and here was my chance! The turtle was so beautiful and had great colors. The turtle didn’t seem to like being contained so we didn’t want to keep it for too long. We tried to make it more comfortable by putting some water in the container because turtles love that. After that we went outside on the deck to take some pictures with it. Surprisingly it didn’t give us too much resistance.

After we took the pictures we were ready to release it. We wanted to release the turtle where we had found it but we were afraid that the turtle would try and cross the street again. Jane said she knew the perfect spot to put it. We went around the corner to a meadow located close to the lake. When we put it back on the ground we could tell the turtle was happy to be out of the box and in nature! I am so glad I finally got to take some pictures of a turtle and an adorable one at that! I guess I am truly part of the Take A Walk® group now that I have my first animal rescue under my belt!

After we released the turtle we did some research to find out if it was a male or female. There are a couple of ways you can differentiate between a male and a female Box Turtle. First, take a look at the carapace (the top shell). They are different shapes and the female shell is bigger and rounder where the male is a little smaller and seemingly more flat. Second, the turtles have different plastron (bottom of the shell). The male plastron is concave and the females are almost completely flat. Third, you can tell the difference between the sexes by their eyes. The males have very red or orange eyes and the females have light orange or brown eyes. After going through the pictures that we took of our new friend, the turtle, we decided that he was a male.

Last week was a pretty exciting week at the “office”. We were outside for most of the time taking pictures. Jane and I set out to take some pictures for her postcard and my bio at the website. We started off at the bird boxes at Marsh Creek State Park. Inside the one of the Bird box was a family of Tree Swallow chicks. Jane took them out of the box and we both got a chance to hold them and take pictures with them. It was amazing. The Birds were so little and innocent. If you have ever seen a baby bird you will know what I’m talking about when I say that they are adorable and so fragile. Many people think that if you handle baby birds the mother will abandon it (like mammals do) but that is not the case. The reason for this is because birds don’t have the sense of smell that mammals do. For decades scientist have been banding baby birds in their nests and that how we know it is okay to do this. It’s not very often that you get the chance to hold a baby bird but working with Jane I am presented with many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. It is amazing how human-like the Tree Swallow parents are. Whenever we got around the nest they dive bomb towards our heads to try and scare us away from their babies. They have many similar characteristics as a human parent. What parent wouldn’t try and dive bomb a stranger interfering with their children?

Next we went to another park that had a pond. We wanted to get pictures of ourselves with some wildlife. It had to be wildlife that was safe for us to touch as well as safe for the wildlife (such as turtles, butterflies, and frogs). At first we tried to catch some turtles but every time they saw us coming they scurried into the water. Next we made a couple of attempts to catch a frog but they all jumped away from us. Until finally the Frog Wrangler (AKA me) caught a frog rather easily. I did it with a butterfly net. After I caught the frog we found a shaded spot to take pictures with our new friend croaky. Jane held the frog first and as it got closer to my turn I got a little freaked out but I held him anyway. Croaky felt as you would expect a frog to feel: cold, slimy, and wet. It was a little creepy at first but all worth it.  Of course we returned him to his home.

Other exciting things that we saw during our outdoor adventure were Great Blue Herons, a baby Catbird, a baby Brown Thrasher and lots of butterflies puddling. Jane and I were trying to get some videos for her vlog (take a look at her video log). While Jane and I were walking one of the park trails we heard the call of a baby bird. As we continued to walk we saw a baby Catbird just a few feet in front of us. The bird kept opening its mouth and calling for its parents to feed him. The bird was so round and fluffy; he looked like a little adorable fuzz ball! We spent a good amount of time watching, I took photos including the one here, and Jane took videos of the baby Catbird. The whole time we were there the mother and father bird kept flying all around us.

Next we saw a baby Brown Thrasher, which is an absolutely beautiful bird. We didn’t get to take any pictures or video of it but it was the first one we saw this year so it was pretty exciting. Next we saw two Great Blue Heron flying right over our heads at the lake. This bird is quite the sight to see because it is huge! Great Blue Herons can be 38-54 inches tall and their wing span can be 66-79 inches wide, that’s one big bird! 

The last bit of nature we observed that day were some puddling butterflies. There were many different kinds, some we still didn’t identify. There were definitely some Orange Sulphurs, Cabbage Whites, Great Spangled Frittillaries, Meadow Frittilaries, and Red-spotted Purples.

This Take A Walk adventure was exciting because it was filled with so many different types of nature. It is amazing how quickly I have learned about these animals I am seeing. It is becoming easier for me to identify the animals, especially the birds. I am even starting to recognize their calls.