We consider ourselves lucky to be a part of a likeminded community – one that understands the importance of preserving these 900+ acres and educating our community on the importance access to nature plays in our lives. A huge part of that involves inspiring and educating the next generation of environmental conservationists. All of the…
Month: June 2016
2016 Eastern Comma Visual Artist-in-Residence, Meg Harder
In April and May of this year North House welcomed its latest guest, Meg Harder, a budding local artist who for two months lived and explored the property to find inspiration for her eclectic work. Made possible with funding support from the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund and Musagetes, Harder’s residency was the latest iteration…
Tick Prevention 101
Last week I started my first week of butterfly monitoring. Some of my coworkers were finding ticks on themselves and I considered myself lucky that I had yet to experience an encounter, at least this year. One day, I sat down in my chair, touched behind my ear, and pulled off a dog tick. After…
Become a Scientist for a Day: The Benefit of BioBlitzes
People tell me I have a pretty cool job, and I would have to agree. I get to spend a lot of time outdoors surveying for butterflies and other bugs, snakes and salamanders, fish, birds and more. Interacting with nature is not only a great way to spend time outdoors; it also affords us the…
#TBT to Spear point found at rare dates back 10,500 years
We’ve decided to jump on the #TBT (Throwback Thursday) social media train and share old articles from our newsletter! This #TBT post Spear point found at rare dates back 10,500 years comes to us from the Fall 2012 rare review, and was written by rare Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) and Archaeology Committee member John MacDonald. Enjoy! As an Archaeologist, volunteer…
Common Raven Returns to Waterloo Region
The Common Raven Corvus corax is a splendid bird, glossy black, unless viewed up close, where its iridescence of purple, blue and green dazzles the eye. It is the largest of all the corvids with a heavy pick-axe bill. In flight it displays a wedge-shaped tail and wings featuring splayed-finger primaries . It is a…
Leave No Trace
One of my favourite parts of my job as rare’s Junior Conservation Ecologist is the network of trails I walk each week. It’s amazing to see how the different habitats on the reserve transform throughout the changing seasons! I feel lucky to live and work in my hometown community, and I am so grateful that…
From farm…to oven – A Springbank Farm pizza oven experience.
On a glorious fall day in late November, the Springbank Farm pizza oven project finally became a success, and as we fired it up and gathered around the gardens at lunch time to enjoy the inaugural fresh baked pizza, relief was unquestionably written all over my face- building a pizza oven in Canada meant a…
The rare Blog 