Hiking: Food for the Soul

Which one sounds better:

1. Sitting on the couch and mindlessly staring at a glowing T.V. screen,

OR

2. Going on a leisurely hike through the woods while you can hear the birds singing and the steady crunch, crunch, of your feat on the pebbled path.

I--and I'm hoping a lot of other people--would pick the second suggestion over anything.

You probably know that hiking is great exercise and keeps you fit. While that is quite true, hiking is also good for the mind and soul.

I think that for a lot of people hiking helps them clear away any stress or unwanted thoughts from their mind and let's them have a clear perspective.

Any time you're around or in nature--and not just with hiking--is awesome and makes you feel extremely peaceful.

There are LOT'S of great places where you can go hiking around Hamilton and Dundas

First, there is the Hamilton to Brantford Rail Trail which is very large and well used. This trail is also great for biking, roller blading, and even cross-country skiing in the wintertime.

Then there is the very large network of trails that are beautifully strung inside the Dundas Valley Conservation Area, a natural conservation land that is abundant with many ponds, rivers, hills, cliffs, and valleys.

Either one of these magnificent places are a wonderful location to go hiking.

You don't need to know the way.

Just let nature lead you.

4 Great Nature Photos

Super Salamanders

Salamanders are shy, slim creatures that spend most of their time crawling through wet leaves of a forest floor, or keeping themselves nice and hidden beneath a rock or fallen tree.

Like I was saying in the previous blog about frogs, their are a few other cool creatures that are also classified in the family of Amphibians along with frogs, and one of them is the salamander. You can see that salamanders don't look that similar to a frog or toad, because they have long, narrow tails and they don't have super strong back legs for hopping.

Salamanders can be easily confused with lizards, but there are a few ways that you can tell them apart. First, salamanders have four toes on their front legs and five on the back, whereas lizards have five on the front and five on the back. Also, you may see that a lot of lizards have claws or nails, but that is not the case for salamanders.

For some species of salamanders, their lack of lungs makes them have a special way that they can breathe through their skin, or for underwater salamanders, they would have gills like a fish.

You might of heard of or seen a newt before, and if you've spotted one before, your probably thinking: Newts look exactly the same as salamanders, what's the difference? Newts are more often mixed up or confused with salamanders than lizards, because there is really only one simple way you can tell a newt and salamander apart. And that is by looking at their tail. Below you will see a picture of a Red Spotted Newt.

When you look at it's tail, it is more skinny and flat than a salamanders, which is more slender and skinny.

Salamanders and newts are really interesting and neat little animals, but remember, if you see one in the wild, just leave it where it is, in it's natural habitat. Try not to touch a salamander or newt or bring it home. All animals belong in nature.

All About Frogs!

Frogs are slimy, cool, and really common animals that belong to a group called Amphibians, which means that they can live and breathe on both land and in water.

The word "Amphibian" comes from two Greek words: "Amphi", which means "both", and "bois", which means "life". Amphibians are cold-blooded animals. That means that their body temperature is the same as the surrounding temperature. Their skin absorbs water into their bodies so they do not have to drink water to survive, like mammals.

Other types of Amphibians are toads, caecillians, and salamanders, which I will be talking about in tomorrow's blog.

When you think of frogs, you probably picture them leaping, or hopping around in the grass, or near a pond. Since frog's protection mechanism is to jump away from approaching predators, their back legs have to be SUPER strong. Below is a funny picture of a frog leaping of of a flower.

The largest frog in the world is the Goliath Frog of West Central Africa. It can grow up to 1 foot long! Now that's a big frog! The largest frog in America is the common Bull Frog. You've probably heard a Bull Frog croaking loudly before.

A frog's diet mainly consists of small animals like, insects, minnows, and worms. Different kinds of frogs have different ways of protecting themselves from predators. Some tropical ones like the Poison Dart Frog or the Red-Eyed Tree Frog have poisonous glands in their skin, which is released if threatened.

Frogs are very important and also part of the Eco-system which means whatever happens to them will affect other animals and even humans in different ways. We are all connected in the web of life.

Use Cloth Bags!

You must of visited a grocery store at least once in your life, and if you've been a lot of times before, you probably know that they have made a great change with the bags we use to put our grocery's in. They used to be clear and plastic, which are super bad for the environment, and I'll explain why.

Most people who used to or still use plastic bags throw them in the garbage when they are finished and have no use for them anymore. That is not a good thing because in a while, the bags end up in a landfill where they sit for tons of years because they can't decompose, which means that plastic bags can't fall a part or get old like a apple core would, for example.

But now, thankfully, we have reusable cloth bags in the grocery stores that you can buy for $1. The great thing is, once you buy a cloth bag, you can use it over and over again, which means non wasteful and better for the environment!

If your parents or family still use plastic bags, tell them about the cloth bags that you can now buy, and how much better they are for the environment! I think that they will be happy to reuse and not have to worry about any plastic bags ending up in a landfill somewhere!

Saving The Rainforests

Rainforest's are a HUGE part of our ecosystem because some of the most endangered and rare animals and plants can only live there, because of the climate. Rainforest's are usually very moist, warm, and they get a LOT of rain. Some specific plants can only live in very hot and wet places, so that's why Rainforest's are perfect for those types of plants, trees, and animals.

But, as you probably know, Rainforest's are being cut down to either be made into lumber, or make room for building or farm land. And because there are some endangered species living there, they become extinct which means that they can never come back.

It is very sad, because some of these endangered animals include of orangutans, golden toads, and the Bengal tiger. We need to find a way to save these beautiful creatures from going extinct.

But don't worry! If you are interested in helping out the Rainforest's, there are many cool sites that you can find on the Internet that explains about Rainforest's, and what you do to help.

One great website you can go on is: http://www.worldlandtrust.org/, and it allows you to adopt an acre of Rainforest's to keep safe!

Many organizations that are helping and trying to protect our Rainforest's include:

* The Fairtrade Association, it makes sure small farmers in developing countries get fair prices for their products.

*World Wide Fund for Nature, this organization works to protect tropical forests and rare species like the Bengal tiger.

*Forest Stewardship Council, it helps people to buy tropical lumber wisely.

HERE ARE SOME REALLY INTERESTING RAINFOREST FACTS.

- Rainforest's grow near the equator. The constant heat and high rainfall helps the trees to grow tall.

- Some Rainforest's have rain ALL year!

- Rainforest's are the richest places on Earth for plants and animals to live and grow.

- The island of Madagascar was once almost all Rainforest.

- Rainforest's get the most rain in March. They can get up to 13 centimetres!

- Few plants grow on the shady Rainforest floor. Most scramble upward to reach the sunlight high above.

- Many lizards live high in the treetops and some of them have flaps of skin along their bodies. They can spread these out to glide from tree to tree.

- Scientists have found more than 500 different species of butterflies living in the 19 sq. miles of protected nature reserve in Monteverde.

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Things that YOU can do to help Rainforest's!

1. Coffee was once grown beneath trees. Many new kinds are grown in open sunshine, so trees go and birds lose their homes. Buy shade-grown coffee to help the birds!

2. Buy Rainforest-friendly furniture!

3. Learn what food comes from Rainforest areas and try to buy products that have been grown in a responsible way.

4. Try to buy Organic and Fair-trade food items.

5. Help protect orangutans by supporting the World Wildlife Fund's "Heart of Borneo Program." Go to: http://www.panda.org/.

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Looking for a really interesting knoledgable book about nature?

Then check out "Earth Matters"!

Into poetry? Love nature? Well, check out The Voice of Nature on http://www.lulu.com/!

Helping Our Earth

Our earth is a very precious thing, and something we sould be amazingly grateful to have, for that we could not live without its constant abundance and nourishment.
But sadly, the earth is being polluted by all the carbon emmisions that cars, buses, trains, and airplanes let go of, and many other things that are usually caused by us, humans.

A lot of people are oblivious to what is happening to our sacred earth, but that's not how we sould be. We have to all be very aware of the negative changes that are taking place in the world we live in, so we can do the greatest thing--try and help it!

You don't have to try and do big things. No, little everyday helpful actions that you contribute to the world make a HUGE difference!

Let's start with things around the house, for example.


Do you ever just feel so exhausted, and all you want to do is relax in a luxuriously warm, bubbly bath? Some times I do too, and that's ok, but only if you do it once in a while. Not every day.

Having short showers are MUCH more better for the environment than having a bath, beacuse showers only use a very small amount of water, where as filling up a whole bathtub takes tons of water, and after your done having the bath, you just let the water back down the drain again.

So mabye try to set a goal for yourself, let's say reducing your baths to one or two a month. That will save a lot of water! And also, tell your family about reducing the water they use. That way, not only are YOU helping the environment, so is your family!

There are even MORE great ways to help out the earth, starting around your house! Here are just a few:


~ If possible, use a clothesline to hang up your close to dry instead of having a dryer. Dryers use up a lot of energy.

~ Convince your family to buy Energy Star appliances, such as fridges, stoves, and washing machines. They are more efficient and use less energy.

~ Look into purchasing Low Flow toilets, shower heads, and faucets. They use much less water than regular appliances.

~ Use a real wood burning fire place instead of a gas or electrical one.

~ Try to buy food products that are grown locally! Food that is grown in Africa have to be shipped all the way to Canada, making a lot of pollution in the process.

~ The three r's! Recycle, Reduse, Reuse! Make sure that you have a recycle bin and a compost bin (the blue and green bins) so that you are composting food waste, and recycling paper products!