Happy Farm Happy Barn Manure Management Workshop

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Frying Pan Farm Park

2709 West Ox Road, Herndon, VA  20171

Wednesday, 5 September 2018

6:30-8:30 pm

Come hear subject matter experts talk about horse farm waste management options, the do’s and don’t’s of waste management, composting techniques, benefits of “recycling” manure waste in pastures, and the available financial assistance to build a waste composting/storage facility right on your horse-keeping site. Presented by Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District‘s Senior Conservation Specialist, Willie Woode. Light dinner provided and registration is required. Visit the event website to learn more and register. Free event.

Green Breakfast presents green initiatives in schools

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Brion’s Grille – 10621 Braddock Rd, Fairfax, VA 22032

Saturday, 8 September 2018

Breakfast begins at 8:30 am, $10 at the door, cash preferred

The Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District (NVSWCD) presents its 94th Green Breakfast!  Meet Dr. Scott Brabrand,  Superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools.

Fairfax County Public Schools’ slogan is engage, inspire, thrive. Come for a discussion on the green initiatives taking place in Pre-K-12 indoor and outdoor classrooms with Fairfax County Public Schools’ Superintendent Dr. Scott Brabrand, who was appointed by the Fairfax County School Board in July 2017.

Dr. Brabrand began his career in FCPS as a social studies teacher in 1994, a career changer who was inspired by doing volunteer work in the schools. In addition, he has served as the Assistant Principal at Herndon High School and as an Associate Principal at Lake Braddock Secondary School before being named principal at Fairfax High School in 2005. He also served as a Cluster Assistant Superintendent in Fairfax County and more recently spent five years as Superintendent of Lynchburg City Schools. He is a graduate of Georgetown University, George Washington University, and received his doctorate in educational administration as part of Virginia Tech’s Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Program.

Breakfast includes an all-you-can eat hot buffet with fresh fruit and coffee, tea, orange juice or water. No prior registration required. If you have any questions, please contact the NVSWCD at [email protected].

Owl Moon program, September 22nd, registration open now

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Gunston Hall Visitor Center

10709 Gunston Road, Lorton VA 22079

Saturday, 22 September 2018

7 pm

Friends of Mason Neck State Park present their annual Owl Moon event.  Secret Garden Birds and Bees will present a program on Winter Owls.  You’ll learn about the short-eared owls, long-eared owls, saw-whet owls and snowy owls that make the Virginia, Maryland and DC area their homes for the winter.  The stars of the show will be several rescue owls that live here year-round, which you can photograph and view up close.

Owl Moon is open to members of the Friends of Mason Neck State Park and their families, and registration is required.  Members can register at Register for Owl Moon.  There will be a short annual meeting and refreshments will be served.  If you aren’t a member, you can join for as little as $20 for a full year, and bring up to 4 other family members to Owl Moon as well as other Friends events.  You can become a member at Join the Friends of Mason Neck State Park and then register for the event.

Will mice be served as refreshments?

Attend workshop: The future of our forests, 29 September

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Join the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal for a series of talks by leading experts on the eastern deciduous forest biome and a tour of SCBI’s research forests. Walter Carson, Ph.D. (University of Pittsburgh), Jenny McGarvey, M.S. (Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay), and Bill McShea, Ph.D (SCBI) will cover topics including deer browse, fire, invasive species, water quality, climate change and more. A detailed agenda and speaker bios are available on our website.

Do not miss the opportunity to learn from and interact with researchers who are investigating the future of our forests. This workshop is free, but registration is required. Space is limited.

Saturday, 29 September 2018
9:00AM – 2:00PM

Doors open at 8:30AM, program begins promptly at 9:00AM. Optional lunch with speakers and attendees from 12:45PM-2:00PM. Lunch not provided but available for purchase (see registration page for details).

Register online or contact Charlotte Lorick (540-635-0038, [email protected]) for more information and to register by phone.

Volunteer for children’s program at Hidden Oaks, 8 Sept

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Hidden Oaks Nature Center needs a naturalist to assist with a program for children and their parents on Saturday, September 8, 6:30-8:15 pm.  Program includes hearing animal bedtime stories, meeting live animals, and wishing goodnight to the center’s live animals.  

To volunteer or for more information, contact:  Suzanne Holland, [email protected] or 703-941-1065.

(If you’re recording your service hours, use E110: FCPA Nature Programs. Include the number of attendees in the Contacts field.(

Volunteer with Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture

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Ivy Mitchell, the farm education manager for Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture, is seeking master naturalists to to help with their field trips this fall. This project has been approved for volunteer hours as E252: Sustainable Growing Educator.

What it involves: Each field trip begins with a garden tour, in which you can point out parts of the plant and talk about the life cycle of a plant, as well as taste the vegetables. Then each volunteer is assigned to teach one hands-on station, while the groups of children rotate through the four stations. The two stations relating most to our mission is 1) “Pests and pollinators” (bees as pollinators) and 2) “Superb Soil” (about compost), and you can request to be assigned to one of these two stations in order to earn master naturalist volunteer hours. (The topics of the remaining 2 stations are chickens–they help eat some of the garden pests–and healthy vegetables.)

Time: Volunteers generally choose one day of the week to volunteer–Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday–through the season (fall/spring). This fall’s season runs from 27 September – 2 November, or 6 weeks, with training days during the 2 weeks before field trips begin (Thursdays or Fridays). However, scheduling can be flexible, and even if you can only commit to some of the days, Ivy can make it work.

Location: 9000 Richmond Hwy, Alexandria, VA. The farm is located on Woodlawn Estate, near Fort Belvoir.

If you’re interested, please contact Ivy Mitchell at [email protected]

Global Water 2020 seeks college intern for fall 2018

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Global Water 2020, an advocacy and facilitation initiative based in DuPont Circle, is working to solve various pieces of the global water security challenge. Their projects include: increasing access to sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in healthcare facilities, water in peacebuilding, WASH and water security financing, and WASH in the prevention of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).

Global Water 2020 is currently looking to hire a Fall 2018 intern. The intern will be an undergraduate senior or graduate student in public health, environmental health, environmental studies, finance, business, political science, international relations, international development, anthropology, sociology or related field.

Her/his responsibilities include:

•       Research U.S.-based and international non-profit, private sector and educational institutions working on global WASH and health efforts

•       Develop inventory of global WASH and health funders

•       Brainstorm and help identify domestic, regional and global collaboration opportunities

•       Help write, edit, and format materials for Congressional meetings

•       Track global and regional convenings and assist in prioritizing which events Global Water 2020 should influence

•       Maintain the Global Water 2020 website and social media presence

•       Support social media campaigns for global awareness days

•       Assist Global Water 2020 team in all other duties as assigned

The intern will work part-time (20 hours/week) at an hourly rate of $15.00. Global Water will prioritize candidates based in DC.

Interested applicants may email their resume and cover letter to Kelly Bridges: [email protected]. Please email your application materials as soon as possible, as Global Water 2020 will be considering candidates on a rolling basis.

Late summer wildflower walk at Clifton Institute, 1 September

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Asters and agrimony, louseworts and lobelias! Join Clifton Institute Board member Jocelyn Sladen for a delightful walk in search of late season wildflowers in the warm season grass fields and pond edges of Clifton Farm. Waterproof hiking shoes, hats, binoculars, cameras, water bottles, and insect repellent are recommended. RSVP required. Please register here https://cliftoninstitute.org/evrplus_registration/?action=evrplusegister&event_id=43  or by emailing [email protected].

Saturday, 1 September, 10:00am to 12:00pm. Date and time subject to change based on weather.

The walk will be held at the Clifton Institute. The address is 6712 Blantyre Road, Warrenton, VA 20187. From points north (I-66 at Marshall) take US 17 going south for about 7.5 miles and turn left on Blantyre Rd. From the south (Warrenton) take US 17 going north, go 2 miles north of the 17 bypass and turn right on Blantyre Rd. Once you turn on Blantyre, go 1.2 miles to 6712 Blantyre Rd. and turn left into one of our two driveways. The second driveway has a Clifton Institute road sign. Follow the driveway all the way to the pink house (the driveways connect before reach.

Raising monarchs, National Wildlife Federation, 22 September

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Monarchs and their amazing migration to Mexico are in peril for many reasons. In this informative session, learn about the monarch life cycle, migration, cycle, how you can attract them to your home garden or favorite public space, and how to raise them to send them on their fall journey. Resources for milkweed and garden design come with the program.

Instructor Georgina Chin is an elementary school teacher with a passion for monarchs and an instructor with Monarch Teacher Network.

National Wildlife Federation

11100 Wildlife Center Drive Reston, VA, 20190

22 September 2018

1:00-3:00 PM

Cost: Audubon Society of Northern Virginia members: $18; Non-members $22

Counts for continuing education credits for FMN members

FMN Photo Contest Winners

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Our earlier post noted the wonderful entries we received for our first ever Fairfax Master Naturalists photo contest.  Our  judges were only allowed to chose one photo for each category to forward to the statewide Virginia Master Naturalist contest.  For the statewide competition, the entries will be judged by a qualified group of judges who will select First place, Second place, and Third place for all four categories. Honorable Mention(s) will be awarded as the judges see fit. All entered pictures will be exhibited via a PowerPoint at the Fredericksburg Expo Center for the duration of the 2018 VMN Statewide Conference and Training.

We wish our entrants good luck and proudly announce our Fairfax Master Naturalist contest winners:

Silver-spotted skippers on buttonbush by Tami Sheiffer. Virginia fauna.

Sycamores at Riverbed Park by Ana Ka’ahanui. Virginia Landscapes and Habitats.

Milkweed seed by Fred Siskind. Virginia flora.

 

Mason Neck field trip by Ana Ka’ahanui. Virginia Master Naturalists in Action.