Treeline, Fall 2012

Fall 2012

Barry Keegan To Return Native American crafts expert Barry Keegan is returning to the Arboretum—bringing his replicas of bows, arrows, axes, buckskin, fire-making tools and pottery—to recreate the daily life of the Leni Lenape people, who lived in the Croton area at the time of Henry Hudson’s voyage.

The first two days of this event will be devoted exclusively to the 4th grade students at the Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School, but the public is invited on the last day, Saturday, October 20, from 11 am to 5 pm.

Keegan has been supervisor of Native American Programs for the New York State Historical Association and Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown, NY. He is currently a museum consultant and gives classes and demonstrations of historic and prehistoric crafts at a variety of events. He created numerous replica Lenape artifacts for an exhibit at Ellis Island and was filmed by the History Channel for “Mystery Quest: the Stonehenge Archer,” making a bow and arrows which he shot at bones to compare impact-marks to those on archaeological remains. He is also a contributor to Wilderness Way and the Bulletin of Primitive Technology.

Barry Keegan demonstrating a technique for starting a fire at the Arboretum during his acclaimed demonstration last year.

We’re Back!

. . . And So Are They

The Arboretum is officially open again after a much-regretted seven-month hiatus. Last year’s three devastating storms caused so much damage that we were obliged to close the entrance for safety. We hired a consulting forester, Forest All, to determine what had to be done, solicited bids for the recommended work, and engaged Steve Peterson Tree Service to do it. The tally for all this work exceeded $14,000, but there is a bright spot: See “It’s in the (Shopping) Bag” on page 2.

August and September are peak season for emergence of Asian LongHorned Beetles (ALB). They are 1 –1 1/2 inches long, shiny black with white spots and very long, white-striped antennae. The public is the first line of defense against these destructive invaders, so if you see one, call the toll-free hotline at 1-866-702-9938. And if you see ALB damage (dime-size holes in trunks) in the Arboretum, please go to www.crotonarboretum.org and contact us there.

It’s in the (Shopping) Bag Feed the Birds, the local source for everything related to wild birds, as well as unique, American-made gift items, is supporting the Croton Arboretum through the sale of reusable shopping bags emblazoned with our logo and the words “We Support the Croton Arboretum.” Feed the Birds is selling the bags for $6.00 each and donating100 percent of the proceeds to the Arboretum.

The Kelly green reusable bags are made of NonWoven Polypropylene (NWPP), a remarkable technological fabric that is recyclable, non-toxic, non-allergenic, and machine washable. Feed the Birds is at 326 South Riverside Avenue, Croton-onHudson, open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Tuesday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Bread indeed feeds the body. but flowers feed the soul.

The shopping bag project began as a result of the Arboretum’s appeal for funds

after being hit hard financially by the cost of three destructive storms last year. The Arboretum was closed for seven months and clean-up cost more than $14,000— using funds that would otherwise have gone to improving the boardwalk and trails, much-needed planting projects and educational programs.

“One of the reasons we opened Feed the Birds in Croton was the area’s strong interest in nature-related activities,” said store owner Rob Armanini. “Being the local nature shop, one of the obvious things for us to do was join the Arboretum. We quickly realized they are funded entirely by donations, and the importance of those donations became even more evident when several storms caused some significant damage last fall.

We wanted to help in an on-going capacity, and we’re proud to be supporting Croton's very own natural treasure."

—The Koran

A photo gallery from this summer’s garden tour, July 15, definitely straw hat weather, as one can see. Top row, left to right: Antonio and Marili Mora in their garden; the Hart-Slakas garden; Hosts Debbie Goddard and Kelly Adams. Bottom row, left to right: a home and community building at Campwoods Grounds in Ossining; Nyla Isele, cookie baker extraordinaire with three of our loyal docents, Pat Mackin, Celeste Baxter, and Lee Klein. See story, page 4.

Forest Bathing We were inspired to investigate Japanese research on forest bathing therapy after getting a call from an Arboretum visitor whose parent’s anxiety and anger markedly decrease after they walk in the Arboretum.

While “everybody knows” that a walk in the woods decreases stress, American medicine has been slow to actually measure the benefits. Starting in 1982, however, Japanese doctors have prescribed Shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) to decrease the risk and impacts of psychosocial stress-related diseases, including the anxiety, depression and anger associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Recent experiments studied the effects of forest bathing on immune system function. The most exciting result to emerge from these studies are that walks in the woods increase both the number and activity of natural killer (NK) cells, a component of the immune system that fights cancer. In one experiment, subjects took three two-hour walks over two days and stayed overnight in a hotel in the forest. As a control, blood tests were taken before the trip on a normal workday. The same tests were repeated after the second and third walks, and then weekly for several months. Elevated NK levels persisted for up to 30 days after the experiment. Follow up studies showed a significant increase in NK activity – which persisted for seven days after a day trip to the forest.

The study director attributes the improvement in immune activity to breathing air containing phytoncides (wood essential oils), which are antimicrobial organic compounds emitted by trees to protect themselves from insects and rot.

More research is underway, but these early results—although small scale—point to the possibility that regular walks in the woods are part of a healthy lifestyle that helps us stave off cancer and mitigate the ravages of dementia.

The Arboretum directors are committed to replanting the enormous number of trees lost and damaged during the storms of 2011, not only to restore the preserve but as an investment in the health of the human community.

Happily for all sorts of walkers, Marc Cheshire, one of the Arboretum directors, has created a great new color map of the Arboretum. You can print a copy from our website, crotonarboretum.org.

In the near future, we hope to use the map on outdoor trail signs at the Arboretum.

Thank You, THANK YOU!

A garden is the interface between the house and the rest of civilization.

—Geoffrey Charlesworth

The annual garden tour requires much hard work and great faith, as in “we’ll find five, six, seven new and great gardens, it won’t rain cats and dogs on the appointed day, temps will not be in triple digits, and locusts will not descend on Westchester.” The tour is the primary, and usually only, fundraiser for the Arboretum, and we are greatly dependent on its success. It brought in just over $3,500 this year, much needed after the expensive cleanup from 2011 storms.

We want first to thank our chairpersons, Laura Seitz and Jill Mader, who have produced miracles year after year and without whom there would be no tour. They somehow manage to find new, varied, and beautiful gardens every year, convince the owners to contribute major energy in preparing them for the tour, and manage all the details.

Garden owners are the next vital ingredient. We thank them for their generosity in opening their gardens to us and their enormous efforts to get their gardens in top form for the tour.

This year our hosts were Kelly Adams, Debbie Goddard, Jane Ozer and all of the CampWoods Grounds organization, Barbara Hart and Joe Slakas, Marili and Antonio Mora, Virginia Berger, and Jeff Murphy.

It takes many other volunteers, too.

Ticket sellers: Cathy Klein-Scheer, Laurie Salzberg, Jane Shumsky, the two chairs and the entire Board.

Docents: Fran Allen, Celeste Baxter, Marc Cheshire, Lee Klein, Mary Lally, Pat Mackin, Jean Rivlin, Laura Seitz, Martin Smolin, Pat Tetlow, Lois Waldman, and Sally West. Publicity and maps: Marc Cheshire and Carol Shanesy.

Refreshments: Nyla Isele produces an endless supply of lemonade and incomparable sugar cookies year after year. Photographs: Board member Ken Sargeant did the honors this year, with terrific results.

And then there is our plant sale, much anticipated by canny local gardeners and a major part of the garden tour net. This year plants were donated by Karen Drotzer, Betty Gatewood, Laura Seitz, Dianna Smith and Arboretum President Karen JescavageBernard. Karen trims, pots, and tends these gifts to get them looking their best. This year her carefully nurtured collection fell victim to a miscommunication involving power washing, and she had to start all over, but she persevered to an excellent sale.

Got comments? Drop us a line at the Croton Arboretum, PO Box 631, or at our website: www.crotonarboretum.org.