The Dirt Blog

By Gphoto [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons The fairly common native American persimmon tree (Diospyros virginiana) grows from Connecticut south to Florida and west to Kansas. Scattered throughout woodlands as well as home gardens, these attractive trees provide a brilliant fall display of leaves and orange, hanging fruits. The fruits, which persist after the […]

As we enter the holiday season, shoppers everywhere should consider buying local, not only for holiday presents but also for produce, meats, and dairy for holiday meals and celebrations. However, it is often difficult to know where to start when shopping for local, sustainable gifts. In this addition of TLC’s “The Dirt” blog, we will […]

Several weeks ago, I took my daughter Harper to our Horton Grove Nature Preserve in northern Durham County to hike some of the new trails our Conservation Corps just completed. It was a gorgeous, sunny fall day and the beeches beamed bright yellow. We stopped at the new wildlife viewing platform by the “prairie” and […]

Photo by Chelsea Clifford It was a perfect afternoon as the three Duke Conservation Society volunteers and I stepped out of the car. It was just after 12 p.m. on a Wednesday, with the temperature hovering around 70 degrees. No clouds blocked the sky, and the sunlight streamed through the leaves that were just beginning […]

Although people are generally dismayed with politicians and Congress, there is real, broad support for open space protection around the country. In total, voters approved over $29 billion in funding for land and water protection across a range of states and local governments last week. Some of the examples include: ●  Rhode Island – voters […]

by Kyle Obermiller Earlier this week, I spent an entire workday by myself at White Pines Nature Preserve  in Chatham County, and by the end of the day, my handheld GPS unit had logged 7.5 total miles of walking. This trip continued my mega-monitoring-Monday extravaganza, designed to complete routine maintenance of the hiking trails on […]

The fun part about having visitors from out of state is you can show them all the local gems that they can then experience for the first time. When I had a friend visiting from Virginia on a warm October weekend, I knew I had to show her one of Triangle Land Conservancy’s nature preserves. […]

I immediately fell in love with the Durham Farmers' Market when I spotted one of my favorite, often overlooked vegetables, the pale, knobby daikon. This Asian radish, also known as Japanese horseradish, has a milder flavor than the more common red radishes while retaining a nice, crisp crunch perfect for many different applications. (This Wikipedia […]

by Kyle Obermiller A few weeks ago, I attended the North Carolina Certified Burners course offered by the North Carolina Forest Service, at Montgomery Community College in Troy, NC. State employees, federal employees, private landowners, private business owners and workers, and one lone non-profit employee (that would be me!) all attended the class. The purpose […]

Are you the type of person that has a lot of “AHA!” moments? Those little bursts of brilliance and creativity you are certain will change the world? Well, maybe not the world, but at least the everyday lives of millions of your fellow Americans. I don’t want to burst your bubble; however, it is the […]