You will learn one advantage the goats have over the machine in restoring the grassy balds of Roan Mountain.

Learn how the goats create an advantage for the rare Grays Lily.

If you would like to be a part of this restoration project, download the Goad Adoption Form.

You can adopt a goat for the 2010 season. You get to name the goat and receive a certificate of adoption and a lock of your goats hair. Pretty cool.

But there are a limited number of goats for adoption.  Adopt yours today.

Check it out here:  Baa-tany Goat Project Adoption Form.pdf

And I hope to see you on the mountain.

Ken

ken@MountainTips.com

Here is a short video with Jamey Donaldson of the Baa-tany Goat Project.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Go here for the Baa-tany Goat Project

Go here for the Friends of Roan Mountain

If you have questions email me: ken@MountainTips.com

Instead of calling in to work to say the raods are too bad, we can go skiing!

Last weekend’s snow storm was another good time.

   It has been too long since I went cross-country skiing on top of Roan Mountain.

 The antique 1980’s cross-country skis that I still use, were noticed and commented on.

And don’t forget next weekend’s Winter Naturalist’s Rally, Saturday at Roan Mountain. Great Outdoor Education:  brochure,  registration

Registrater by Feburary 9.

Let’s go outside and do something!

If you have blown your recreation budget on lift tickets already, then I have a deal for you!

Saturday, February 13, The Friends of Roan Mountain Annual Winter Naturalists’ Rally

Jam packed into one day are: three speakers (INDOORS) and choice of two hikes (OUTDOORS)

Go here: Winter Rally Brochure

Go here: Registration

Kid friendly, and always a learning experience!

I hope to see you ON THE MOUNTAIN!

This weekend, December 4 -5 -6, 2009 you can meet the artists and see where they do their thing. Learn more about the Toe River Arts Council here.

Go here to get you map of the Toe River Arts Council studio tour map.  More than seventy studios are open for your exploration.

Start early. Open studio hours are only 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. 

Centrally located in the heart of the western North Carolina mountains, Yancey and Mitchell Counties have some of the best kept secrets in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Notice: some studios are "artisticially" located.  Good walking shoes are a good idea. A navigator with an open mind for roads less travelled is good too.

Enjoy!

  Baa-tany Goat Project.

This is the second year of the Baa-tany Goat Project to restore the grassy balds on the Roan Highlands.  This is along the Appalachian Trail from Carver’s Gap, at the North Carolina – Tennessee state line to the slope of Grassy Ridge to the east.

Why? Because I see what will be lost in a few short years if nothing is done.  Jamey Donaldson is the research biologist in charge of the Baa-tany Goat Project.  He presented a pictorial record at one of the Naturalists’ Rallies.  You could see and compare the pictures for yourself.  Or, if you have hiked the grassy balds over  any length of time, you have seen for yourself the ever invasive blackberries growing where there used to be open grassy areas.  If you get a chance to see Jamey’s presentation, you will be stunned by how rapid the invasion really is.

 
So that is why I am interested in helping with the Baa-tany Goat Project.  By goat-sitting for a weekend, Jamey got to go off the mountain for a while.  I got to camp in the gap between Grassy Bald and Jane Bald. And do a little bit to help restore and preserve these wonders.

Saturday, August 1, Friends of Roan Mountain held their first Youth Naturalists’ Rally.

Listen to these enthusiastic kids after a full day on the mountain and ending their day with a 3 mile hike over the grassy balds:

Register now for the 47th annual

Fall Naturalists’ Rally

coming September 11-13: Friends of Roan Mountain.

Schedule of activities here.

’see you on the mountain.

Ken@MountainTips.com

http://www.MountainTips.com

Then I started counting how many wooden barns are left for me to enjoy seeing on my way from home to the Post Office.

The Barn Score was invented.

It is really simple and fun to find your Barn Score. Simply count how many wooden barns you go by between where you live and the nearest traffic light.

If you go by five old wooden barns before you get to the nearest traffic light, your Barn Score would be "5".

Now the rules have not been ratified by the international committee yet, so they are left up to each individual. It is up to the integrity of each individual player to interpret these rules.

    •What qualifies as an old wooden barn?
     •When you say “go by” do they have to be on the road or just visible from the road?
     •What about an old wooden barn that is part metal?
     •If the old wooden barn is half fallen down does that count as a half point?

The nearest traffic light rule keeps you from driving out of the way to avoid the traffic light and pad your score.

For those who live in a barn-deficient area, the scoring is similar but in reverse. How many traffic lights are between your home and the nearest wooden barn?  This of course is a negative Barn Score. If you pass eight traffic lights before you get to the nearest wooden barn, your score is “minus 8”.

Why is it important? Because, they are putting up more traffic lights and they are taking down old wooden barns. It is important to know your Barn Score now. That way you will know the rate of “progress” by how fast your score drops.

Our church has an annual Lord’s Acre Craft Sale every October. The most popular craft items are things made from "old barn wood".  We found our about a small barn that was going to be torn down to make room for a school bus turn-around. 

We jumped at the chance to get another supply of "old barn wood".  The 25 foot tall oak timbers, although sawmill cut, were pegged together!  Our best guess at the age of the barn is between 1870 and 1920 vintage.  If only we had more time, manpower and equipment. But I guess that is why it is easier and cheaper to tear them down.

If this starts you noticing more old wooden barns and appreciating them, then you have won. No matter what your score.

The next time you are leaving home, see if you can discover your Barn Score

 Thanks,

Ken@MountainTips.com

http://www.MountainTips.com

Here is Ed Speer of Speer Hammocks discussing hammock camping with some AT hikers. Interested hikers were checking out the many subtle variations of hammock design and accessories.

In addition to hiking equipment vendors, there were hordes of food vendors and craft tents.
Deep fried Oreo cookies anyone?
You need to get your energy boosted for the inter-active parade at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.

I don’t know who started it or when, but there is tradition of water balloons and squirt guns from both paraders and parade watchers.
It has usually been hikers in the parade versus the hikers not in the parade in the water-balloon and squirt gun battles.
But the excitement is contagious and cannot be contained.  Everyone, fire trucks, beauty queens and classic cars got at least sprinkled while parading through town.

The big battle was the hikers. I mean we are talking about massive roof top ambushes and pint-sized assaults from knee level.  I’m glad it was a warm and sunny day on Saturday.

This guy was an experienced Trail Days parader.

Why take a puny squirt gun for a parade all the way through town. You will empty it in the first block. Then you are just a target like everyone else.  Why not take five gallons in a pressurized long-range squirting banjo?

Mark your calendar and your Appalachian Trail maps for the 2010 Trail Days, Damascus VA.

Time for decision. There are so many really interesting “classes” to participate in and not enough time to do them all.

Which ones to choose?