Trees Are Cool!

So it’s been a while since my last blog post so I figured I’d do two for today. More so I really just wanted to talk about something: IT’S HOT!!!!!! Today is the perfect combination of heat and humidity to make you want to curl up in front of an open freezer with a giant bowl of ice cream. Or you can do what John and I did and stay inside instead of mapping trees today. Spending all day in the sun can often get pretty hot and help us develop an awesome farmer’s tan, but days like this would just be unbearable. However, all these hot days remind me of a place on campus that’s a lot cooler, the forests!

As part of our research we’ve  read about the benefits of urban trees and one of the biggest benefits is that they help cool down the area. They provide shade to help reduce the heat island effect, they reflect the sun better than asphalt does, and did I mention that they provide fantastic shade? But in all honesty, when we work in the forest I can feel a real drop in temperature and rise in thermal comfort compared to mapping the trees on the quads. Just walking across campus for 5 minutes in order to get to the forest is more miserable than spending 4 hours under the canopy. Well that might be a big of an exaggeration but being in the forest is fantastic.

The day I realized how much I looked forward to our forest days made me think about the value of trees as cooling agents. Luckily for us the University of Richmond campus is very woody and has tons of cosmetic trees all over the place to provide shade. I couldn’t imagine living in a place without trees. It would be sparse, sad-looking, and so hot! So next time you take refuge from the sun under a tree, think about how much better it would be if your community was filled with twice as many trees.

And just for fun here’s a couple of pictures of John and I hugging trees taken with our GPS units

Me being a tree hugger

“I’m Not Just Counting Trees”

So I figured it would be a good time to talk about what exactly I’m doing this summer, and no it’s not just counting trees like everyone asks. This summer I’m mapping the trees on the University of Richmond campus using GIS (Geographic Information System). During my first semester of college I decided that I wanted to conduct research over the summer so I talked with my advisor, Dr. Lookingbill. He suggested the tree mapping as a way to build upon a project an undergraduate student did several years ago creating a list of all the plant species on campus. The part of the project that really caught my attention was the idea of calculating the amount of carbon the trees on campus held and the overall carbon sink value of our campus.

To prepare for the project I took Introduction to GIS to learn the mapping software. I loved the class and was excited to advance my GIS skills over the summer. John (my fellow research) and I started by creating a plan for the summer, developing methods for collecting data, constructing a data dictionary for the GPS units, and learning to identify trees. We decided to only map the trees on the Westhampton side of campus as the entire campus would be too big of a project for one summer. We also decided that instead of measuring every tree within the forests we would collect several transects within each forest to use as representative samples in our final calculations.

John is leaving next Friday and I will be here for 2 more weeks to finish wrapping up the project. Unfortunately it looks like we won’t finish, so my job is to create procedures of further data collection during the fall semester. I’m a bit disappointed that we couldn’t finish everything but I am also excited to have learned so much in the process about GIS. I’ll post a link to the online map when it is up and running!

Fresh Herb Experiments

Hi Everyone,

So since I have been living in an apartment this summer and am on a limited meal plan I have been cooking for myself most meals. Now, I’ve always loved playing around in the kitchen, but at home it was mostly throwing together some of Mom’s leftovers in an interesting way instead of just using the microwave. Here I’ve gotten to go shopping by myself (and realized that groceries are expensive!) , plan an entire meal, and experience food going bad because I didn’t use it soon enough (gross/bummer!).

As part of my cooking adventures I have decided to experiment with some fresh spices. I got the idea because outside of our dining hall is an herb garden that most people don’t know about! It has been mostly taken over by rosemary and mint, but there’s also some thyme, chives, and another spice I have yet to identify with my low level of expertise.

The herb garden outside of dhall.

Fresh picked rosemary, thyme, and chives

For my first exploration with fresh spices I used rosemary three days in a row. The first day I used it to pan fry chicken with olive oil and then added fresh tomato and feta cheese at the end (picture below). Unfortunately I added way too much olive oil and it got a little soupy. However, it was delicious! After that semi-success the next day I use two red potatoes I had purchased and did the same but tried to fry the potatoes with the chicken. This turned out well, but unfortunately I didn’t realize the potatoes needed to be cooked a lot longer than the chicken so they were still a bit raw when I sat down to enjoy my meal. The third night of my rosemary experiment I returned to the chicken and tomatoes with feta because it was just so delicious.

My first rosemary pan fried chicken with tomatoes and feta

After these few days of experimenting it was my birthday, and for my birthday I asked my parents to take me grocery shopping when they visited. I stocked up on some supplies and also purchased a basil plant to try my hand at growing herbs. In addition my parents brought up 3 cucumber and 3 grape tomato plants for my plot in the campus organic garden (I’ll elaborate more on that in a later post).

My basil plant (I lost one of the big stems repotting it)

And this brings me to my most recently culinary experiment. Using this recipie as a base I created a garlic chicken with egg noodles dish. I used rosemary from the herb garden to pan fry the chicken in the garlic butter sauce and added chives from the garden at the end as the recipe suggests. I also added Parmesan cheese. It turned out wonderfully. Next time I make it (and I will make it again) I will probably use more butter than olive oil to give it more of a butter taste and possibly add a bit of garlic (as I’m garlic crazy).

Garlic chicken and egg noodles

Overall I have been very satisfied by my culinary adventures so far. There is something intensly satisfying about taking the time to prepare a meal and then tasting the fruits of your success. And even if you’re not successful, you have learned an important lesson for next time.

Let’s Kick This Summer Off

Hi Everyone,

It’s been a while since my last post but I figured now would be a good time to update my blog. This summer I am conducting research on campus through the Geography Department. I am working on creating a map of the trees on campus and estimating the carbon sequestration of each landscaped tree, the forested area, and the campus as a whole.

As part of my research I am living in an on-campus apartments with three other researchers. One who is working on the campus tree mapping with me, one who is doing philosophy research, and one who is doing neuroscience research. We have a pretty fun apartment and so far get along great. Our apartment also has an affinity for cooking delicious meals and buying natural foods.

This summer I’ll share updates on my cooking adventures, attempts at gardening, explorations of Richmond, and anything else I get into. I’ll also get back to writing about sustainability and other things that interest me. So stay tuned!