River of Words, 2008
When teacher Linda Cover walks into a classroom, she steps onto fertile soil, knowing that her students have a cumulative knowledge of their watershed. As a Spectra Arts teacher with...
Exploration
Book Review: Peninsula Tales and Trails
Peninsula Tales and Trails, by David Weintraub, Graphics Arts Books, 2004, 384 pages, $19.95 By any standard, Peninsula Tales and Trails is the most detailed, comprehensive guide to Peninsula parklands...
Book Review: Stairway Walks in San Francisco
Stairway Walks in San Francisco, by Adah Bakalinsky, Wilderness Press, 2004, 212 pages, $14.95 “A good walk is an organism of mysterious nuances that can affect us in subtle ways,...
Bay Area Ridge Trail
The Bay Area is home to several regional trails, from the Bay Trail near the water’s edge up to the Bay Area Ridge Trail, which traverses the high points of...
Book Review: California Native Plants for the Garden
Ask anyone who gardens with California natives to name a good, comprehensive book on that subject and you’ll always get the same answer: Marjorie Schmidt’s Growing California Native Plants....
Caching In
Think of the western scrub jay: screeching, assertive, a bully and glutton at backyard bird feeders. But also, as Judith Larner Lowry has noticed in her West Marin yard, caching...
Book Review: Designing California Native Gardens: The Plant Community Approach to Artful, Ecological Gardens
Designing California Native Gardens: The Plant Community Approach to Artful, Ecological Gardens, by Glenn Keator and Alrie Middlebrook, UC Press, 2007, 352 pages, $27.50 www.ucpress.edu The decades-long drought is definitely...
Book Review: The Landscaping Ideas of Jays: A Natural History of the Backyard
The Landscaping Ideas of Jays: A Natural History of the Backyard Restoration Garden, by Judith Larner Lowry, UC Press, 2007, 292 pages, $24.95 www.ucpress.edu Most people don’t think of restoration...
The Summit Loop Hike
This strenuous 5.3-mile hike circumambulates Mount Diablo’s summit, and traverses many of the mountain’s geological and botanical features. When I was there in early April 2006, the air was startlingly...
Kayaking Resources
The San Francisco Bay Area and Central California coast are full of wonderful places to explore in a kayak, from the Russian River south to Monterey and from bayshore wetlands...
