Blog Post, Educational educational resources, recycle, reuse, tie dye

Twist Tie & Tie Dye

by Ogeechee Riverkeeper June 2, 2021

Do you ever wonder what happens to the small trash from food or other product packaging after it has been thrown in the trash? Some ends up in landfills and depending what it’s made from, it may or may not break down. Some ends up in our waterways which is a problem for the plants, animals and people.

Instead of throwing these things away, try reusing them. Start saving these packaging materials next time you buy groceries, farmers market items, or online shopping.

Materials:

Twist ties from produce, bread, etc.
Rubber bands from produce, packaging, etc.
Bread clips
Plastic bags (without vents or holes)
Fruits & veggies if tie-dying. Suggestions: coffee grounds, turmeric powder, beets, avocado pits, purple cabbage, spinach & carrot tops

How to Reuse:

Twist ties make great organizers for electrical cords. Bind gently to not kink the cords.
Rubber bands can be used for so many things around the house, it’s good to just have a jar of them around…or you can tie dye with them!
Bread clips make a wonderful tiny palate for small art. Use fine point sharpies to design and then glue them onto a surface. See ideas for unique greeting cards, holiday ornaments, fridge magnets and more!
Small plastic bags are great for picking up pet waste without having to buy specific bags! If you don’t have a dog, save them and re-gift them to someone who does or recycle them – check local guidelines for recycling.

Tie-Dye:

Instead of putting fruit and vegetable waste straight in the trash or compost, save it in the fridge until you’re ready to tie dye-naturally. You can use many veggies or scraps but they all have varying degrees of pigment.

To start out, try beets or turmeric as they have a naturally stronger pigment. Some of the colors others make might even surprise you!

Use gloves when handling dyes, even though they are natural. Do not dry in the sunlight as they will fade and only wash as needed with a mild detergent and cold water.

Turmeric – yellow (be careful as this will stain many surfaces)
Beets – red
Purple cabbage – red/pink
Avocado pits – light pink (use more than one)
Spinach, carrot tops – green/yellow

More resources for natural tie dye with fruits and veggies

We’d love to see your dyeing skills! Email your photos to info@ogeecheeriverkeeper.org or tag us on social media.

Activity is open to all ages and meets the needs or can be combined with other activities for the following Georgia Standards of Excellence in visual arts.

VAK.CR.2 Create works of art based on selected themes.
VAK.CR.4 Understand and apply media, techniques, and processes of three-dimensional art.
VA1.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.
VA2.CR.2 Create works of art based on selected themes.
VA6.CR.2 Choose from a range of materials and/or methods of traditional and contemporary artistic practices to plan and create works of art.

Blog Post, Educational educational resources, teacher resources, video, yoga

Nature-based Yoga Class

by Ogeechee Riverkeeper January 31, 2021

Enjoy a gentle flow style yoga class with a watershed ecology theme alongside Melanie, our education & outreach coordinator (RYT 200 Yin 50 hour). Contact melanie@ogeecheeriverkeeper.org for more information.

Suggested Activity

Listen for these vocabulary words during class and see if you can remember the definitions:

Watershed
Headwaters
Ecosystem
Environmental stewards
Wiregrass ecosystem (aka Longleaf Pine Ecosystem)
Ectothermic
Keystone species

Activity is open to all ages and meets the needs or can be combined with other activities for the following Georgia Standards of Excellence in science and environmental science.

S3L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the similarities and differences between plants, animals, and habitats found within geographic regions (Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plains, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau) of Georgia.
S4L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem.
significant role of water in Earth processes.
S4E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to demonstrate the water cycle.
S6E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to recognize the significant role of water in Earth processes.

Blog Post, Educational educational resources, stream ecology, video

Stream Ecology

by Ogeechee Riverkeeper November 4, 2020

Find a safe, calm body of water to sample using a net, light-colored bucket and clear cups.

Fill the bucket with a few inches of water; sample with a net and dump contents into the bucket including plant material. Scoop cups into buckets to identify macroinverts and other aquatic life up close. Once you are done sampling, dump all contents back into the water, including plant material because there are microinvertebrates living in the plants.

Take pictures of what you find and draw the animals/insects. If you are unable to identify what you find on site, take notes about each animal/insect and research when you get home.

Activity is open to all ages and was adapted from Rock Eagle 4-H Center Education Program Curriculum. It meets the needs or can be combined with other activities for the following Georgia Standards of Excellence in Science:

S2E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how weather, plants, animals, and humans cause changes to the environment.
S3L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the similarities and differences between plants, animals, and habitats found within geographic regions (Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plains, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau) of Georgia.
S4E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to demonstrate the water cycle.
S5L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to group organisms using scientific classification procedures.
S7L4. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to examine the interdependence of organisms with one another and their environments.

Blog Post, Educational contest, poem, poetry, winners

Nature poetry

by Ogeechee Riverkeeper October 17, 2020

Updated: October 28, 2020

Turn to the outdoors for poetic inspiration. Sit and observe nature for a few minutes. Notice what you hear, smell and feel. Take your impressions, focus on specific descriptions, and compose a short poem.

Tips:

Read other poems to get an idea for the styles you like.
Use comparisons (simile and metaphor).
Read it out loud to yourself so you can hear how it sounds.
Listen to tips from Kwame Alexander, NPR’s poet-in-residence

Submit your entry by Wednesday, September 30, 2020 to info@ogeecheeriverkeeper.org. Include your name, age, poem (20 lines or less) and the location that inspired it – attach a photo if you want! ORK will award a t-shirt to the top three poets.

Activity is open to all ages and meets the needs or can be combined with other activities for the following Georgia Standards of Excellence in language arts.

ELAGSE3RL10. By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

This contest is now closed. Read the winning entries below.

The Mill Pond at George L. Smith II State Park
By Wesley Hendley

Paddling through cypress trees and tupelos,
The air cools, the sky grows dark.
Raindrops surround the boat with tinkling music.
Thunder rumbles, lightning pops!
The torrent comes,
But summer storms don’t last long.
Quiet returns.
The calm water has a glassy sheen.
Then a rainbow points the way to its treasure.

Reverie in Smith State Park
By Peter Relic

Crush the scull
through the water’s top,
a black silk parachute
gilded with bream
rippling across the face
of the lake.
Mind like a millstone
thirsty for grist,
hair piled high as
a wagonload of corn,
you lie back in rented kayak
as if it were your
new turquoise coffin
and stare straight up
at cypress sentinels
and tupelo goalposts,
to chart the ghost
of a gopher tortoise
skating across the sky.
You gonna paddle or not
grunts the tour guide.
What can you say?
We should all be so lucky
to go out this way.

The Bridge
By Mark Dallas

He carries his chem kit under the bridge to test the water.
A few drops of thiosulfate change the sample from indigo
to amethyst to clear, revealing the level of dissolved
oxygen. Now, the darting barn swallows eye the man who stands
so close to their nests stuck to the beams above him.

So many
times he’s canoed here, upstream from the lake to the south, taking
in the cypress and tupelo, herons and hawks—while floating
through the effulgence of sunlight filling the water, the trees.
Paddling beneath the bridge, he thinks each car that rumbles above
inhabits another world—of deadlines and noise. So often
he’s driven the bridge himself, in that other world, most times looking
down longingly to see where the water measures on the cypress
trunks. The bridge is a nexus of two worlds he knows so well.

But once a month he drives to a place in between, parks beside the
road, walks down to the halfway world of test tubes and barn swallows.
He holds aloft the sample bottle—a small vial of the creek—
after the first three chemicals but before he adds the starch
indicator and sodium thiosulfate: the sample
glows golden in the sun. This is the place he’s bottled the
effulgence, the place in between, the bridge between two worlds.

Blog Post, Educational education, watershed trivia

Watershed Trivia

by Ogeechee Riverkeeper July 1, 2020

A watershed is a system of how water flows through an area moving sediment, water and dissolved materials into a common point. Think of how a river or creek flows into or out of a lake. The Ogeechee Watershed (see map) has many types of ecosystems within it including freshwater from the Piedmont region, to blackwater rivers and swamps in the Coastal Plain region and runs all the way to the Georgia coast.

Description of Activity:

Submit your trivia answers to info@ogeecheeriverkeeper.org by July 31. We’ll send a free t-shirt for the first one to get all answers correct. Although it is tempting, try not to go straight to Google for answers. Go outside, and look for the answers. Use books and maps rather than the internet for your research, if possible.

Trivia Questions:

How many watersheds does GA have? Bonus: Name 3.
How many major river basins does GA have? Bonus: Name 2.
What are the 5 geographic regions of GA?
Name two creeks in your watershed.
What is the biggest city in your watershed?
Name three animals that live in the Ogeechee River watershed.
Name one rare plant that lives in, but is not limited to, the Ogeechee River watershed.
How many people does the Ogeechee River basin provide drinking water for?
Name as many state parks as you can that are located in the Ogeechee River watershed.
What is an aquifer?

Activity is open to all ages and meets the needs or can be combined with other activities for the following Georgia Standards of Excellence.

S2E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how weather, plants, animals, and humans cause changes to the environment.
S3L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the similarities and differences between plants, animals, and habitats found within geographic regions (Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plains, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau) of Georgia.
S4E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to demonstrate the water cycle.
S6E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to recognize the significant role of water in Earth processes.