Maple Syrup; Martin Luther King, Jr; and Migration - Blogging from A to Z Challenge

This year for the Blogging from A to Z challenge, I'm focusing on going through my homeschooling files that I've created from the time that Sophia and Olivia were in preschool.

Some of the files are still relevant while others I will be decluttering and recycling in the process. Each day during April, I will pick one of the files to focus on - either doing a hands-on activity or sharing some information from one of the files.

For the 13th day - letter M - I am focusing on Maple Syrup; Martin Luther King, Jr; and Migration.

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Maple Syrup

- A mokuk is a small container of birch bark in which the Native Americans used to collect maple sugar.

Source

- Minnesota has four species of maple trees used for producing maple syrup: sugar or hard maple; red or soft maple; silver maple; and boxelder. Most maple syrup is made from sugar maple sap.

- It takes 30-40 gallons of maple sap to boil down to make one gallon of maple syrup.

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

Some quotes that I found inspiring that he said:

- Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness....Life's most persistent and urgent question is, "What are you doing for others?"

Source

- Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

- We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.

- We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.

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Migration

In October of each, birds and butterflies are moving across the United States en route to their winter feeding groups. There's five places where you can go to see them in large numbers.

- Hawks in Marin Headlands (CA) - one mile from the north end of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. There are hundreds of raptors including red-tailed, Cooper's, and sharp-shinned hawks.

Red-Tailed Hawk.

(Taken on January 18, 2013.)

- Hummingbirds in Sierra Vista (AZ) - 75 miles south of Tucson. The city draws 14 different types of hummingbirds.

Hummingbird at our feeder.

(Taken on August 1, 2013.)

- Whooping Cranes in Austwell (TX) at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. There's only about 500 birds left worldwide. They are 5 feet tall and have a loud, eerie call.

- Tundra Swans in Alma (WI) that flew in from the Arctic Circle. They have a 7-foot wingspan and can reach speeds up to 100 miles per hour. Head for Rieck's Lake Park (north of Alma) along the Mississippi River to view up to 1,000 swans as well as herons, egrets, and bald eagles. They stay here until the first freeze and then fly to Chesapeake Bay.

- Monarch Butterflies in St. Marks (FL) at the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge on the Gulf Coast of northwest Florida. They stay en masse in salt-bushes and cedar trees before flying to Mexico.

Sophia and Olivia with a monarch butterfly on its release date

(and also my birthday)

(Taken on June 29, 2012.)

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In the process of going through the files that began with "M," I recycled 1 1/2 bags of papers and photocopies. I'm up to 12 1/2 bags of recycling since starting the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.