"Those Bees That Drill The Rafters"

I lightened this photograph so you can clearly see the subject... a cool black wasp with a white ring around its abdomen.  I didn't know this kind of wasp, but thought it was really pretty.  Myra Robertson at Blue Sky Water Society tells me that it is probably the kind that bores holes in the soffits but does not sting.

I like to go out with Myra to see the place, because we share a reluctance to harm bugs, plants and other living things.  We saw a lot of interesting life that day.

We Make These Darts

Here is thistle at the end of the season.  In Oklahoma, the state has a Thistle Eradication Program and I think landowners can get herbicides to eradicate them because they hurt horses and cattle with their stickers.  Here Myra is showing the thistle down.  Each fuzzy piece has a tiny seed on the end.  It is a common Cherokee art and skill which has been passed down thru tradition from generation to generation, to gently unwind the full thistledown at the tail of a dart for use in Cherokee blowguns.  These thistle darts are used by skilled hunters to practice with targets and sometimes take birds for food.  Thistles in flower attract those big black and blue swallowtail butterflies.  They congregate on the purple flowers, sometimes two or three at a time.  You can find a few different varieties of thistles in this area.  This photograph was taken at Blue Sky Water, Sequoyah County Oklahoma near Marble City on Indian Land. 

What Is It?

Myra Robertson suggested this photographic subject when we were walking the grounds at Blue Sky Water.  It must be a kind of fungus on the underside of a tree branch on the hillside.  Sometimes fungus makes good dyestuffs.  We talked about holding a natural dye workshop in November or in Spring.

Wild Chickory In The Ozarks

Here's a lovely little flower that has had a place in history.  Chickory was the popular precursor to morning coffee in early days before coffee was widely available.  It was dried and roasted then steeped like tea for mild bitter drink.  This chickory was growing on the sometimes-dry steep hillside at Blue Sky Water.

Blue Sky Water

Today I had the opportunity to go to Blue Sky Water Society's land near Marble City.  It is so beautiful this time of year with the perfect weather.  Insects were alive-- butterflies and wood bees.  I took a few pictures.

Greenway of the Cherokee Ozarks

September 29th marks the date that stakeholders will meet together and talk about forming a Greenway of the Cherokee Ozarks.  To date, regional meetings have been conducted in Vian, Marble City, Tahlequah, Salina and Colcord to explore interest in the Greenway concept, and we've had a good cross-section of local folks from end to end, interested in the project and who think it is a good idea.

Blue Sky Water Society is the local host for this event, Steve Woodall Consulting is our facilitator, and the National Park Service's Joy Lujan is our community development technical assistance team mate.  I'm helping with a few things-- reservations, some invitations, the Blue Sky Water tees, totes and water bottles art.

If you would be interested in collaborating on the Greenway, we'd love to invite you here and now to be a part of this worthwhile project. 

You can join greenwayofthecherokeeozarks@yahoogroups.com or email me for a direct addition to that list. 

You are also invited to subscribe to the Greenway blog:

  http://greenwayofthecherokeeozarks.blogspot.com/ 

Check out this article in the Current:

http://www.currentland.com/ViewArticle/272/Default.aspx

Follow on Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/CherokeeOzarks

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* Kathy Tibbits, Attorney at Law, OBA#10233, Licensed U.S. Supreme Court
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